LUO FAN
"Stop the nonsense," Ruan Yanjun scolded. "Just tell him already."
We were back at the same table as yesterday. The flies had returned, and, as before, my uncle seemed unbothered, swatting them away lazily while sipping his tea. Whether there was another fly in his drink, I didn't want to find out.
My uncle sighed and placed something on the table in front of me. It looked like a golden token, and it was surprisingly heavy when I picked it up.
"What is this?" I asked.
"It's the token of Crown Prince Wei Xiaoli, proof of his rightful claim to the throne."
I frowned. "Then why are you showing it to me?"
"I'm giving it back to you."
I stiffened, overwhelmed with confusion but too shocked to fully process it. The truth had begun to dawn on me, but I was reluctant to acknowledge it. My uncle must have seen the question written on my face.
"A-Fan, the story of your childhood isn't as simple as you think."
A sudden fear gripped me. Many times, I had been asking Ruan Yanjun about the things that he knew that I didn't know, yet now, faced with answers, I wasn't sure if I still wanted to hear them.
But I couldn't run from this. Whatever the truth was, I had to confront it.
"Yesterday, I told you about your father," my uncle continued. "But we were talking about two different persons. The man you knew as your father was the chief eunuch of the former Emperor Xin. He was castrated at the age of twelve as a requirement to becoming a eunuch, so he couldn't possibly have been your biological father."
My fingers clenched on my lap.
Why hasn't anyone told me this?
"So who are my biological parents?" I asked.
"You are the son… of Emperor Xin. You are Wei Xiaoli."
I froze, stunned, unable to form words.
"On the night of the assassination, the former emperor knew his fate was sealed, and he knew they wouldn't spare you. So he ordered his most loyal servant to take you away and raise you as his own. That servant was the man you knew as your father, Luo Zhong."
I sat there in silence, my mind reeling. Everyone's eyes were on me, waiting for my reaction.
"Was it the current emperor who killed my father?" I finally managed to ask.
"Yes."
"His own brother?"
"That's right."
"And my master – did he know?"
"Your master and the current emperor are close. They're equally complicit."
A sharp pang filled my chest. It was hard for me to believe that the master I thought had the purest of souls had spilled the blood of his own brother.
I lowered my head, fighting the tears welling in my eyes.
"After that, your adoptive father founded a secret group. Their goal was to someday overthrow the emperor and restore you to your rightful place. Unfortunately, he died before he could see his dream realized. But your Uncle Xiao, who loved you dearly, didn't give up. He smuggled you into the capital and brought you to Frost Mountain, hoping your former master would agree to raise you. Trusting that you were in safe hands, the Silverblades pressed forward with their mission. Before they could complete their plan, however, Prince Jiayi learned of your true identity from a spy and informed the emperor about it. As your blood relative—and perhaps out of some lingering guilt over his brother's death—the emperor chose not to act against you directly. Instead, he ordered your master to halt your training, probably to keep you from becoming a future threat."
"So my master had known my identity all along?"
"Yes, but he never spoke of it."
I remember when Jiayi had suddenly started hating me. That was six years ago. He used to not mind that I was getting ahead of him in training, but from then on, he became very jealous of me and hated the very sight of me. He probably saw me as a threat to his future throne.
"They thought they did not have to do anything as long as they kept you contained," my uncle continued. "But who would have expected that you have been training secretly behind their backs. So when news broke that you have achieved the seventh level, they realized it was time to neautralize you before you became a formidable foe."
"Is the emperor aware of the existence of this group?"
"He is, of course, that is why we are being hunted, and they are still searching for our hidden weapons."
I tightened my grip on the token.
Wei Xiaoli. Could that really be me—the crown prince, long thought dead?
"And my mother?" I asked.
"Empress Yuhua," my uncle replied. "She died only months before your father was assassinated."
I lowered my eyes, fingers tightening around the fabric of my robe. The weight of the revelation pressed down on me, so overwhelming that it hardly felt real.
"Excuse me," I murmured, leaving the token on the table as I stood. "I need time to process all this." Without waiting for a response, I turned and quickly left the dining hall.