I am from the Military Intelligence Section 9

Chapter 008 · A Bewitching Court

By lantern light in her private pavilion, Lanfei now called Qingxia sat motionless. Outside, worried maids hovered. Three days had passed—the longest, most agonizing days of her life.

She had awakened expecting her accustomed quarters—Hotel suites… military safehouses… but found only lacquered eaves and jade pillars.

A secret time rift, or sorcery…

When she glimpsed her reflection, she saw not Tang Xiaoshi, elite agent, but the Crown Prince’s betrothed.

That sharp realization crushed her. No wonder marines had tried to kill her aboard that bomb-rigged vehicle—only high command could have anticipated her every move.

Grim resolve steeled her: she would bargain for her freedom by trading the only leverage she held.

A sudden rap at the door: “Your Highness, Consort Roufei is here.”

Qingxia rose. Roufei, drenched from the rain, bowed tremblingly. “My lady…” she began, then wept.

Lanfei met her sister-in-law’s gaze evenly. “You weep for the fallen?”

Roufei’s tears fell onto Lanfei’s wrist. “Sister… one day, we shall rise again.”

Outside, a royal decree had been posted: Qingxia, once Crown Prince’s Consort, was to be imprisoned and executed at the marketplace in three days’ time.

With Roufei’s loss came a new scramble for power—and Lanfei knew that the harem’s intrigues were only beginning.