The scrap of paper was still warm from the flame when Liu Lanzhi closed her fist around the ash.
She read it twice. The first time to understand the words. The second time to believe them.
The outer court is saying you have taken the Eleventh Prince to secure your position. The rumor began in the eastern quarter three days ago. It has reached the ministers.
Three days ago. Before the invitation arrived. Before the servant with the water appeared. Someone had been seeding this story before Su Yue made her first visible move.
In her first life, the rumor about the Eleventh Prince had not started until weeks after the Emperor's death. Su Yue was moving faster this time. Or maybe Liu Lanzhi simply had not been paying attention before. She had been too busy surviving, too busy keeping her head down, too busy watching everyone else play while she sat on the sidelines.
She was not sitting on the sidelines anymore.
