Hushiyi's hands trembled slightly as he followed 02 through the mini maze of the dimly lit courtyard towards the Grand Prince's study. He exhaled slowly, releasing long, streaming whitish vapours from his nose.
"Who else is there?" Hushiyi asked.
"Other than me, master's uncle and 05," 02 replied, betraying nothing in his voice. It made Hushiyi more nervous.
"Is it about the accident?"
02 shrugged. "Your highness, I can't second guess my master."
His curt answer didn't help but Hushiyi knew better than to try pulling information from 02. Yinyue had trained her closest bodyguards never to second guess her. They were her extra arms and hands, representatives to carrying out her orders without question.
Even if 02 knew something, he wouldn't tell Hushiyi.
Of course, it was about the accident, Hushiyi thought as his eyes drifted to the sheathed sword in 02's hand — the same sword used to kill the three women with.
It wasn't Hushiyi's sword.
Hushiyi recalled the sword sheathed in a leather scabbard hung in the corner of the guest room he stayed in. It looked untouched, with a thick layer of grey dust collected. He hadn't noticed it there before. His memories, except for one, blurred from the moment he unsheathed the sword out of curiosity.
All he remembered was an odd moment of clarity bursting into his head. In that moment, he could see all involved in his mind — the face of the Dayan Empress, his seventh half-brother, with the three women's fathers plotting before him. Then Yinyue's bloodied corpse laying at his feet in front of a fortified city. Everything seemed like a nightmare.
Then a mysterious voice whispering in his head: he must kill all those who stood in his way. Hushiyi closed his eyes momentarily. He recalled resisting the voice to kill the women. They were in his way.
His mind turned blank once those three women appeared in front of him. Next moment, their corpses laid on the floor with the sword in his hand.
What turned him into a frenzied animal? How was he going to explain to Yinyue that a voice in his head controlled him like a puppet?
His last memory was of Chiyin removing the sword from his hand and breaking the spell, then he realised he slaughtered the three women in cold blood.
Those women — how did they get into the Grand Prince's residence? He didn't take them with him. Nor did he give orders for them to be released from their house arrest in his Yancheng's residence. Yet the Grand Prince's servants said he was the one who received the horse carriage, which brought them there.
Hushiyi clutched his head while he racked his mind for answers. Bits and pieces of images floated through his thoughts like a huge puzzle waiting to be fitted together. He braced himself for the coming storm awaiting him as each step he took towards her study grew heavier, like weighted by chains of guilt.
Even Hushiyi didn't believe he himself was capable of such butchery. In his panic, he turned to the only kin present he could trust — Chiyin. That was his biggest mistake.
"Are you feeling unwell, your highness?" 02's voice spoke, breaking him from an uncanny trance.
Hushiyi gazed at 02's brows furrowed in a worried knit with lips drawn into a tight line, and at the porch leading to the closed doors of the study. "I'm fine."
That was a lie. Hushiyi didn't feel fine.
His mind dragged him deep within his thoughts that he almost had no memory of reaching their destination. Time did a skip, exactly like the same situation with those women two days ago. One moment they stood alive in front of him, the next moment the room splattered with their blood. Hushiyi couldn't even recall if they screamed.
Everything seemed like a long nightmare Hushiyi had awoken from. That fateful night was his worst night in his life. He had to keep justifying those brutal actions to himself.
02 nodded hesitantly and went to the door. Before he could tap on the door with his knuckles, Yinyue's voice spoke from behind the doors, "Come in."
The doors opened with its shrill creaking grated Hushiyi's ears. He took a deep breath and followed 02 in.
Chiyin stood silent in front of Yinyue with his head hanging low like a petulant child being admonished by a parent while 05 stood at the side of the door when Hushiyi entered.
Yinyue's eyes fell on the sheathed sword in 02's hands when he offered it to her. Hushiyi noticed her eyes widening at the sight of the scabbard. She quickly turned with her back facing them like she was hiding her face from them.
"Leave it on the table," she said gruffly, with a tinge of disdain in her voice. 02 placed the sheathed sword carefully on the table.
"02 and 05, stand guard outside."
Both bodyguards exchanged knowing glances at each other and then exited the room quickly.
"I covered up as much as I can," Yinyue said with a sigh once the doors closed. "But I wished you told me about the women."
Chiyin nodded, agreeing with her words. Hushiyi stared at him. Chiyin shrugged nonchalantly, telling him in no certain terms he didn't want to play sides. Hushiyi was on his own with Yinyue.
"There's nothing I can say to explain why I did what I did," Hushiyi blurted out. "I should've—"
"We are grasshoppers tied to one rope. If you sink, I sink," she cut him off.
Those words would usually give Hushiyi a sense of relief. In this case, it didn't. He realised his folly after he killed them. Those women were the Empress's spies. The Empress might hold on this matter as an excuse to get rid of them. How, he didn't know, but he knew the Empress could.
"Where did you get the sword?" Yinyue asked suddenly.
Hushiyi noticed Chiyin's eyes pouring over the scabbard of the sword in silence. Chiyin looked intrigued enough not to open his mouth. Did their uncle recognise the sword?
"It was in my room," Hushiyi replied. It was the fact, but he wasn't sure if Yinyue would believe him. He noticed how her back stiffened up in a pose. The whole situation about the sword puzzled him.
Something about her behaviour and voice told Hushiyi that the sword had a problem, or a great secret.
"That sword's scabbard…," Chiyin said and paused when Yinyue turned around to face him.
"What about the sword's scabbard?" She asked.
His finger pointed at the leather with the decorative embossed curvy patterns. Yinyue narrowed her eyes at the patterns.
"What do you see?" Chiyin questioned both of them.
Both Yinyue and Hushiyi replied, "decorative work."
He shook his head at the both of them. "That's not decoration."