Chapter 106: Clarity

Though she'd said she was to teach the rules, everything the old woman said, Su Ya had learnt while in the Shejin Royal Palace. There was nothing the old woman could teach her, and so, saying, "In a bit, someone will come to fetch you," she left, leaving Su Ya and her maid to ruminate in the room.

But though she'd said "in a bit", Su Ya's wait was quite long. This room, like the Prince's manor, was dilapidated and empty, without a sense of vitality. Su Ya didn't even know how much time had passed; she only knew that she'd remained in this room for a long, long time.

"Is this how the Great Li treats an Envoy?" Su Ya's maid was the first to be unable to hold out. From her childhood, she'd followed by Su Ya's side, and she'd never seen Su Ya so wronged.

Su Ya raised her hand, gesturing downwards to indicate that the maid clam herself. She herself rose, and paced a few circles in the room. The furnishings of this room were that of a dozen or more years before, and in some places, insects had bored through them, hanging limply in the air, and when one touched them, quite a lot of dust would rise.

"Cough cough." She couldn't help but cover her nose and cough. As matters stood, how could Su Ya not guess the history of this room? Quite probably it had already been derelict for a long while, and it didn't seem like one could reside there.

Even if they wanted to imprison her, they wouldn't have sought a place like this.

Unintentionally, her right hand fell upon the door, and the door, which had been slightly ajar, fell wide open in an instant. Only now did Su Ya realise that she'd been shut in by herself the entire time; she'd already been able to come and go unobstructed.

Did she want to go out?

Su Ya was somewhat hesitant, but this hesitance only lasted a moment; in the next instant, she strode out into the courtyard.

The long still stage finally welcomed its first actor.

The maid hurried after, dogging Su Ya from behind, and paced in circles with her around this tiny courtyard.

"Is there anyone here?" at Su Ya's indicating glance, the maid immediately raised her voice to call out.

But no matter how she looked about, all that replied her was the ascending sun, and the call of birdsong.

Suddenly, a creaking sound came from the eastern wing. The two's gazes immediately fell on that door that was opening slowly. Sunlight fell into the room, and a person who looked identical to Su Ya emerged from within.

So, the third actor appeared, and her face carried an equal bafflement. But this bafflement was, in the next moment, broken by Su Ya's interrogation. "Who are you?!"

That woman, who appeared strikingly similar to Su Ya, hearing this startled, and then the next instant, said, resolutely and sternly, "I ought to be asking that, shouldn't I? I'm the Envoy of Shejin, the Fifth Princess of the current King of Shejin, Su Ya!"

Hearing these words, Su Ya's mental state was naturally hard to stabilise, and without thinking, she raised her hand, her finger thrusting directly at that person. "You're Su Ya? If you're Su Ya, then who am I?"

"Who knows who you are," that person, silently enjoying suppressing Su Ya, pressed her victory and continued attacking, "a pretender is a pretender."

"You—"

Having spent half the day sitting on a frigid bench, and then suddenly seeing someone with a face the same as hers, she unexpectedly couldn't win against her with words. Fury rose in Su Ya's heart, and she felt a tangy sweetness bubble up in her throat. But she knew quite well that at this moment, she couldn't make a fool of herself by acting ignorantly.

Her gaze was drawn by a tall pavilion off to the side whose roof couldn't be seen, and Su Ya felt indistinctly that there were people in that pavilion.

"What 'me'," that person continued her aggression, "can you not even speak, pretender?"

This person before her wore the same face as her, and called her a pretender with each turn. Su Ya felt as if, in her entire life, she'd never faced such humiliation. But usually, the more on edge one was, the less they'd be able to speak, and she could only point at that person, and say "you" over and over without completion.

Atop the pavilion, the audience's states differed as well. Song Juguang leaned back in the taishi chair, her fingers tapping irregularly against the arm, her expression leisurely as if she truly were watching a play. Xie Qianbing, though, sat upright and still, her brows furrowed tightly, doing her utmost to see something from the confrontation between the two.

Only Liang Jiwen remained, her head bowed, what she was thinking unknown.

As one act ended, another began. It seemed as if the maid who'd been behind Su Ya the entire time had recalled something, and she suddenly cried out, pointing at that person, "Ulan!"

Hearing this name, Su Ya startled, and turned her head to look, disbelievingly, at the maid behind her, and then turned her head once more to look at that woman who looked similar to her.

Su Ya couldn't be more familiar with this name. As Batur, behind her, who had served by her side from childhood, so too had Ulan. Because they shared interested, Su Ya and Ulan's relationship was even closer.

But—

Ulan had, undoubtedly, been devoured by a wild wolf along a mountain road.

At that time, the entourage had been passing through the depths of a mountain, and Ulan had said she'd go looking for water, and had never returned. Su Ya had arranged people to look for her, but all they'd found was the remnants of a corpse. The hairpin by the corpse had verified its identity, and from then on, no one mentioned Ulan's name.

Su Ya couldn't have imagined, either, that when she heard this name again, it would be in the Great Li's capital.

But hearing this, the face of that woman who shared the same features as Su Ya didn't show the slightest bit of panic, but retained the bearing of a princess. "Ulan was one of my maids, who died long ago. What, does the maid you this pretender found somewhere wish to place a dead person's name on me?"

Actually, the reason that Batur had called out the name "Ulan" just then had been because the voice of the person before her was somewhat similar to Ulan's.

One's features could be changed through some methods, but one's voice was hard to change. Even if one consciously imitated it, in moments of desperation, one's original tone would be revealed.

"It's you who's the pretender!" Su Ya, at this moment, finally came back to herself, and shouted powerfully.

But unexpectedly, that woman whose features were extremely similar to Su Ya's had long since expected such a scene, and calmly pulled out a letter of passage issued by the King of Shejin from her breast, unhurriedly waving it before Su Ya. "Take a good look—if I were the pretender, how would I have a letter of passage? And where's your letter of passage?"

The words left Su Ya tongue tied once more, but it was also because of this that Su Ya was able to entirely recognise the identity of the person before her.

It was Ulan.

Her letter of passage had been held by Ulan the entire time, and after Ulan had disappeared, the letter of passage had disappeared as well. Luckily at that time, the minister the Great Li had sent to receive them had interacted with her before, or otherwise, things really wouldn't have been able to resolved.

"I didn't mistreat you," Su Ya said, looking at Ulan with lowered eyes, "so why are you doing this?"

Ulan couldn't admit her identity, and merely continued to sneer, "What nonsense are you saying? You can deceive others, but don't deceive yourself as well."

The reasons for doing so, Ulan could say, but she absolutely couldn't do it here. She had grown up by Su Ya's side from childhood, that wasn't false, and that she and Su Ya were close was true as well. But no matter what angle one looked at it from, Su Ya hadn't been a good master.

The first twenty years, she'd lived too comfortably. Her disposition had grown into one of arrogant domineering as well. When she was in a good moon, she'd tolerate anything, but when she was in a poor mood, she'd take it out on her subordinates. Whether it was Ulan or Batur, they'd all been beaten by Su Ya who knew how many times.

As for when Su Ya had lost her status later on, the whip in her hand had struck at them day after day. And when Ulan hadn't been able to tolerate it further, when she'd wanted to drag Su Ya to die with her, the Second Prince had come looking for her with a human face mask.

Were she simply to wear this mask, she'd be able to pass herself off as Su Ya. At that time, that Su Ya would leave for the Great Li as an envoy had been settled, and the task that the Second Prince had given Ulan was for her to pass herself off as Su Ya, and prevent the diplomatic convoy from bringing the life-saving medicine for the Prince of Shejin back to Shejin.

The Second Prince didn't wish for the Prince of Shejin to live, either.

Ulan didn't care about whether the King of Shejin lived or died; in the end, it didn't matter who sat on the royal throne; her fate was to act as a servant for others. But the terms the Second Prince had given Ulan, she had no way to refuse—as long as she were to complete her task, and return to Shejin without issue, from then on out, the identity of Su Ya as Fifth Princess would be hers.

She'd never have to wait on others again.

Of course, Su Ya didn't know this; she was far too haughty, and believed that she'd be loyal to her forever. As a result, Ulan had escaped from the diplomatic convoy without issue, and entered the capital with the letter of passage.

There was just one bit she'd miscalculated; she'd walked too slowly, and arrived a few days after Su Ya.

As she thought, the emotions in Ulan's eyes were unclear; wearing a mask made in Su Ya's image, at this moment, her expression was the same as the one Su Ya had worn countless time prior when she'd picked up her whip and was prepared to strike at those by her side.

But when Su Ya saw all this, she absolutely didn't feel as if she were "looking in a mirror", but rather, a loathing rose in her heart.

Su Ya had never seen herself in anger, but what she hated most was her own angry appearance.

Seeing Ulan wasn't speaking, Su Ya grew even more on edge. She drew the whip coiled at her waist and struck, the snap sounding in the courtyard.

Atop the high balcony, Liang Jiwen, seeing this scene, grew on edge in an instant; after all, as she saw it, Ulan was the true Su Ya. She tilted her head to look at Song Juguang, hoping that she could give some order to halt everything. But Song Juguang still wore the expression of one watching a play, sitting in her chair, and didn't have the slightest intent to interfere.

"They're about to start exchanging blows," Liang Jiwen, unable to keep sitting, rose from the chair, "aren't you going to handle it?"

But before she'd spoken the rest, Xie Qianbing tugged at her sleeve and pulled her into her embrace, and her mouth was covered by Xie Qianbing as well. Liang Jiwen, eyes widening, turned her head to look at Xie Qianbing, but she only saw her shaking her head at her.

"Quiet down a bit," Song Juguang, lowering her voice, admonished.

Though from the courtyard the balcony wasn't visible, the air wasn't soundproof. This ruckus that Liang Jiwen had made, if its sound were to carry to the courtyard, then this play would come to a grinding halt. But before she'd gathered all of the evidence, how could Song Juguang let the play come to an end?

Perhaps because there wasn't any trust between the two of them, Jiang Changbai had already not tasked Song Juguang with any duties in a long while, and it was only with great difficulty that she'd allowed her to determine which envoy was the real one, and so naturally Song Juguang was taking it seriously. Actually, she'd long since known which of the two in the courtyard was the real one and which was the fake, but she'd never had any proof; she couldn't tell Jiang Changbai that she'd divined it.

In the court, such words could only be said by Qin Anhe alone, but her skills weren't that advanced, and she'd been blinded by something this time, and no matter what she said, she couldn't divine it.

So Song Juguang could only let these two envoys act out a play.

But Xie Qianbing didn't know what plans Song Juguang had, and halting Liang Jiwen from speaking had been done instinctively.

Luckily, Su Ya, Ulan, and Batur were on tenterhooks, and none of them noticed abnormal movement from above. The whip drew a circle in the air, but before it struck Ulan, she easily caught it.

The scene she'd rehearsed countless times in her head finally at this moment came into reality before Ulan. She finally had the status to do this, and finally could end this nightmare that had paced her mind for countless nights.

But Song Juguang narrowed her eyes. She had seen clearly that, when the whip had swung towards Ulan, for an instant, she'd cowered.

That was a fear that had been engraved into her bones.

Song Juguang finally stood, and strode to the railing, clapping her hands with a smile. "Alright, stop."

That whip that the two were struggling over, in the instant the word "stop" was spoken, snapped.

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