The mad princess forces love upon him, and the aloof imperial advisor trembles every night.

The sound of canes striking the ground outside the courtyard had ceased sometime earlier. All was silent. Only the Fifth Princess's cheerful humming echoed softly in the blood-soaked bedchamber.

"Princess," the personal maidservant approached cautiously, "that lowly servant's body..."

"Feed the tiger." Chu Qingyao's voice was light and cheerful. "My little flower has activities this afternoon, so she should nourish herself first."

She paused, as if remembering something, and her tone became tinged with a naive cruelty: "Oh, right, make sure to remove the bones completely. The last 'sheep' we fed had a bone stuck in Little Flower's throat, and it was uncomfortable all day."

The old woman's back stiffened, and her fingertips dug into her palms as she managed to maintain a steady tone: "...Yes."

She bowed and left the inner hall. As she walked down the corridor, her legs went weak, and she nearly collapsed. A young maidservant nearby quickly steadied her, but was pushed away by the old woman.

"Go do your work." The old woman's voice was hoarse. "Here, if you want to survive, you'll learn what you should see and what you should be blind to." The little maid turned pale with fright and staggered away.

Chu Qingyao walked to the window and pushed open the carved wooden window. A gust of wind rushed in, carrying the damp scent of earth after the rain, but it couldn't dispel the faint smell of blood in the hall. She took a deep breath and found the smell... pleasant.

Just like back then, when I watched Chu Qingyue's mother, that lowly maid, being cut into pieces and thrown into the tiger cage, the air was filled with that same smell.

Chu Qingyao opened her eyes, her fingertips lightly tracing the hideous scratches beneath the silk scarf around her neck. Her smile deepened. "Chu Qingyue... whether you did it or not, I will not forgive you."

"Because your very existence is a sin." She turned to her reflection in the mirror and whispered, "Why should a lowly servant's daughter be more beautiful than me? Why... after crawling back from hell, dare to stand before me?"

She turned, her gaze falling on the blood-stained gold hairpin on the dressing table. The hairpin still bore fragments of Shuang'er's flesh, gleaming a dark red in the candlelight. She walked over, picked up the hairpin, and slowly and meticulously wiped it with a silk handkerchief.

"I am the legitimate daughter, my blood is phoenix blood. You are a concubine's daughter, born of a palace maid, as lowly as mud." She gracefully and calmly reinserted the gold hairpin into her hair.

"From childhood to adulthood, you were only fit to kneel at my feet, looking up at the embroidery on my skirt, not even qualified to touch it. But you insisted on climbing up, insisted on getting in my way."

"So what if you're back now? So what if you're the Princess Who Protects the Nation? So what if Father bestows titles upon you?"

She leaned closer to the mirror, staring at her seemingly gentle eyes reflected there. "I'm just a madwoman who crawled back from hell, covered in filth. And the place where madwomen belong... is hell."

Outside the window, a crow landed on a branch, cawing hoarsely. Chu Qingyao turned to look at it and suddenly smiled: "You also think I'm right, don't you?"

The crow tilted its head, its dark eyes reflecting her beautiful yet distorted face.

——————The Third Prince's Residence - Secret Chamber—————

Meanwhile, in the secret chamber of the Third Prince's residence, candlelight flickered.

Chu Xuanjing's face was ashen. After listening to Zhuifeng's detailed report on the complete eradication and uprooting of the Blood Blade Sect, he toyed with a black jade chess piece in his hand, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force.

"Well done, Chu Qingyue... well done, killing three birds with one stone." His voice was icy, but his eyes gleamed with a mixture of excitement and apprehension.

"By using the Blood Blade Sect's useless blade, she not only slapped the boss hard across the face, but also removed one of my arms, and established her authority in front of the Emperor and the officials, clearing herself of suspicion of 'indiscriminate killing'... It was so brilliant... it makes me want to strangle her right now."

Zhui Feng whispered, "Your Highness, Lord Jin Xue was too ruthless and merciless. Not a single member of the Blood Blade Sect escaped. Does the Eldest Princess... already know about our...?"

Chu Xuanjing did not answer immediately. He stood up, walked to the "Ten Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" painting on the wall, and gently pressed it with his hand—the scroll slowly rolled up, revealing a hidden compartment on the back.

He took out a yellowed secret document from the hidden compartment, but did not open it; he simply held it in his hand.

"Hmph, if she had that ability, she wouldn't have been sent away for a political marriage like a dog seven years ago. She might have some means to destroy the Northern Underworld Kingdom. Otherwise, with her appearance, she wouldn't have survived more than three months in a dangerous place like the Northern Underworld."

He paused, turned around, and the candlelight cast a deep shadow on half of his face. "But tell me, what enabled her to survive in Beiming? Was it wisdom and strategy? Was it her iron cavalry?"

He chuckled, a laugh tinged with undisguised contempt. "No, it's her face, it's her body. The people of Beiming are extremely lecherous; that's common knowledge."

"She survived, she fought back, she destroyed a country—do you think it was because of the skills her mother, who was a palace maid, taught her? Or because of the military strategies she learned on her own in the Star-Picking Tower?"

Chasing the wind in silence.

"As for the Jinxue Pavilion..." Chu Xuanjing walked back to the desk, put down the confidential document, and picked up a white jade chess piece, placing it side by side with the black jade chess piece.

"In five years, they went from being unknown to becoming the most famous assassin organization in the martial arts world. The assassins in the organization act openly and honestly, never wear masks, and leave behind the unique snowflake token of the Jinxue Pavilion after killing someone."

"The Pavilion Master, Cangming, is even more mysterious and unpredictable. He always wears a black iron mask, and no one knows his origins or has ever seen his true face. Even whether he is male or female is a matter of much debate. Why would such a powerful force, with such a Pavilion Master, obey a princess who has just returned to the capital and has no real power despite holding an empty title? Why would he slaughter the entire Blood Blade Sect for her, even at the cost of making enemies of the entire assassination world?"

He tapped the chessboard lightly with his fingertips, producing a rhythmic, soft sound.

"What do people in the martial world seek? Nothing more than profit, fame, and power." He raised his eyes, a cold glint in them.

"What can Chu Qingyue offer? An empty title of Princess Zhenguo? The authority to command 30,000 personal guards? These are insignificant in the eyes of the martial arts world."

Zhui Feng suddenly understood something and gasped, "Your Highness means..."

"The only thing she could offer, the only thing that could move someone like Cangming—" Chu Xuanjing's lips curled into a playful yet cold smile.

"Only she herself... that face that could bewitch the world, that body that had been 'tempered' in the Northern Underworld for seven years to the point that it could arouse any man's desire to conquer and abuse, and that... just the right amount of madness and vulnerability in her bones."

He paused, a hint of amusement creeping into his smile:

"No matter how mysterious or powerful Cangming is, as long as he is a man, he cannot escape this hurdle. Let alone someone like Chu Qingyue... breathtakingly beautiful, yet so insane that one can't help but want to destroy, possess, and drag her down with them."

A brief silence fell over the sealed room. The candlelight crackled and popped, creating a tiny flame.

Chu Xuanjing suddenly asked, "How much cash do we have left in our treasury?"