"I want you to kill the crown prince."
Frozen in shock, Xiu Rong's heart stopped along with her breaths as she fought the mocking smirk to escape from her mouth.
Did she hear the Emperor's command to kill his own son?
Should Xiu Rong ask him again to make sure?
No, that might snuff out the flames of her short candle of life.
Tension filled as both of them waited on each other to break the silence.
Nobody did.
Beads of sweat trickled down her temples as she opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water in a panic because this situation was eating her inside out.
The enclosed space turned darker as the campfire, which provided additional warmth and light and kept the insects away, slowly abated.
The dancing flames burst in its last final blaze of orange and blue before the strong breeze extinguished them.
The Emperor didn't seem fazed by the presence of this strong breeze as it continued to swing the lamplight overhead when all of the windows were shut tight.
Swallowing hard, Xiu Rong's muscles went rigid when she glanced upwards bit by bit at the lamplight, the only source of luminescence in this small room, and she already prepared herself at sight.
It was the apparition of a ghost with extremely long tresses floating like large snakes in the atmosphere and its hair strands settled weightily at her back.
It felt like cold fingers brushing against her nape, which sent the tiny hairs of her skin stand on its end.
Xiu Rong shivered in her thick long-sleeved robes as if she suddenly caught a chill in this hellhole.
The ghost's face was as white as flour as her ghastly slender hands continue to slap the rope holding the lamplight from the ceiling while the rest of her remained still.
Xiu Rong's eyes bulged in fear as it roamed around the ancestral spirit's form.
Lips trembling, they stared at each other awkwardly, but she didn't know where to look when the ghost only had skin craters where her eyeballs should have been.
Its mouth dropped a red sticky substance, dripping on the doused campfire just below it.
The small embers sizzled and fizzled out and the tendrils of smoke scattered in the humid air.
The Emperor gritted his teeth as his arms shot out at her collar, shaking her awake. "Have you gone mute, shaman?"
Not only did the Emperor thought she lost her voice, but he also assumed that she was out of it.
"I asked you to kill the crown prince." He snarled, and Xiu Rong flew to his wrists and squeezed them hard, forcing him to let go.
Next, he might choke her to death when his fingers were close to her throat.
"Will you follow the Emperor's command or not?"
"I apologize, Your Highness." Xiu Rong's voice broke as she cried out, breaking the Emperor's hold on her. "But I can't do it."
"How dare you defy the Emperor?!"
"Because I can!" Xiu Rong spat with venom.
The Emperor might only see the deer skull mask she had put on, but she made sure to look him in the eye and express all her frustration and rage in that intense gaze. "I am your secret weapon, but that didn't mean you wouldn't injure yourself by accident if you weren't careful while you wield me, Your Highness."
"Don't forget that you are under my control, shaman!" Breathing with exertion, the Emperor released her ceremonial robes' collar only to stand up from his squatting position and took a step forward across the campfire which separated them.
He pushed her shoulders against the wall.
Xiu Rong wasn't surprised that the Emperor strangled her without remorse.
"It would be. Difficult. To. Kill. The. Crown. Prince. Your. Highness." Xiu Rong coughed in between words as if the Emperor's chokehold on her almost broke her neck and destroyed her throat.
The Emperor began. "Many of my political allies were looking forward to the Crown Prince to ascend the throne while I still reigned! I couldn't stand this burden wearing heavy on me!"
"Why did I have to endure having to stay in the shadows of my son, the Crown Prince, when he hadn't done much to prove himself that he was capable of ruling the Kingdom?" Snarling, the Emperor repeatedly banged her head against the wall like a rag doll, and she whimpered with every hit. "My son is only a twenty-nine-year-old man. I don't understand why people would compare me, the Great Emperor, to him. What did he do to earn their praise? Nothing!"
Sharp bursts of pain reverberated in her skull.
The Emperor wouldn't stop until her cranium split into pieces and spill her brains out.
Xiu Rong let out a piercing scream because she couldn't hold the agony anymore.
The Emperor released her in an instant.
Glowering at her, the Emperor covered the ringing in his ears from that high-pitched sound echoing in his mind.
Closing her eyes, Xiu Rong concentrated on her rasping breaths when she felt the warm and sticky liquid trickled on from the top of her head down to the nape of her neck.
Raising a limp hand, Xiu Rong touched the back of her own skull and saw the blood smeared on her long fingers.
The rusty iron scent of her own blood permeating around the room made her gag.
"I. Think. Your. Loyal. Subjects. Admire. His. Intelligence. Kind. Hearted. Nature. And. Good. Looks." Xiu Rong told him as she inhaled and exhaled at a snail's space.
She smiled, too late to realize that the Emperor couldn't see her amusement.
Laughing, Xiu Rong moved to lean against the wall to keep her from fainting and dropping to the floor in a pathetic heap. "I heard. From the. Shamans. That. He. Is. The. Epitome. Of. Excellence."
Without warning, the Emperor slapped her hard that it totally dislodged the deer skull mask she wore and thrown to the side." I did not ask for your opinions, shaman."
Xiu Rong gave the Emperor a sardonic grin as her wound began to heal quickly, sealing itself shut until only a white scar was left.
The pain inflicted on her body might still be there, but her wounds were gone in such a short time.
Dancing with the devils as a black shaman had its perks.
"I thought you were asking me. Nevertheless, I would not take part in killing the Crown Prince, Your Highness." Xiu Rong jutted her chin with arrogance as both of her hands clawed on the dirt. t was just a simple act of confirmation that she was still alive, and the head injury didn't take her out of this world yet.
"Just the mention of 'killing' and the 'Crown Prince' in the same sentence sent shivers down my spine."
Xiu Rong might have dabbled with black magic, but she had no intentions of dying early without dragging the Emperor to Hell.
Glancing above their heads to face the ghost who watch the spectacle in boredom, she added, "I will not mess with his Royal Ancestors."
The Emperor pulled her upright while their faces inched closer.
He scowled, "What do you mean?"
"Your Highness." Xiu Rong shook her head as she punched the wall with her fist in frustration. "You don't understand how strong the bloodline of your ancestors was." The ancestral spirit who played with the lamplight was merely waiting for her to release the 'gu' before she showed her true power. "I already told you beforehand that we shouldn't attempt to change that."
Baring his teeth, the Emperor said in a grudging whisper. "You are my last resort, Xiu Rong."
"My assassination attempts of my own son didn't work." His face turned red with rage as his nostrils flared. "I want you to kill him."
"It can't be done, Your Highness. The Ancestral Spirit is the strongest on your Empress' side of the family."
"In fact, the guardian is here with us to stop our plans to murder their beloved descendant." Xiu Rong finally told the Emperor, hoping that it would scare him by withdrawing his plans.
"You lie!"
"I already told you that cursing people with 'gu' will kill me if I couldn't defeat their spirit guardian!"
'"You know the consequences of not obeying my commands, you dirty wench." The Emperor bellowed, his spittle building up at the corners of his mouth. "Your life in exchange for his."
"You are shooting yourself in the foot here, Your Highness." Xiu Rong reasoned, pleading as she clung to his arms, "I am your asset. I'm not the enemy here. You forgot how many enemies I killed for you so that you will remain on the seat of power."
He released a guttural growl and threatened her, "It would be easy to deprive you of this luxurious life and announce to the Kingdom that you practice black magic as a respected shaman in the Ministry of Rites." A Kick at the side of her stomach. Hard punches here and there. "You will be stoned to death or beheaded by the guillotine!"
"Alright!Alright!" Groaning in pain, Xiu Rong finally gave in after an idea crossed her mind. "I would kill your perfect son."
The Emperor released her for good and stood up from the small chamber, looking down at her like she was shit he had unfortunately stepped on.
The Emperor planted his feet apart, his head almost hitting the swinging lamp.
After clearing her throat a couple of times, she crawled to the small cabinet where she trapped all of her 'gu' in a glass jar and asked, "When do you want him to die?"
"I want you to kill him tonight while I watch what you do in front of me." The Emperor narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion. "I have to make sure that you would go through with it."
"Have you prepared for it?"
"Do you mean the Crown Prince's Funeral Rites?"
"No." Xiu Rong said. "My reward."