TSFLIP Chapter 540

Someone reported Duke Dingguo’s remark to His Majesty, but the emperor only chuckled and didn’t punish the duke.

Fengguang wandered through the imperial garden, stroking her chin. Her father was strange, her mother was weird—but none of that was her concern. What she needed to focus on was the second male lead—the man who would soon appear during the wedding of Feng Mieyin and Meng Xi. He would enter the palace in her entourage as a court musician.

Si Jia was that musician-or, more accurately, a deadly assassin disguised as one. That said, his musical skills were truly exceptional. No one knew how he carried out his kills. Even Fengguang had no idea. The original novel deliberately left his methods vague to preserve his air of mystery. There were no descriptions of how he struck or how he managed never to miss a target.

Si Jia was someone Feng Mieyin had met while using her alias, “Mr. Ghost.” He was the first to discover that Mr. Ghost was her. Feng Mieyin found him intriguing—he was a killer, yes, but with the aura of an aloof, immortal celestial. Because of that contradiction, she’d deliberately flirted with him. That was just how she was—free-spirited and reckless, never missing the chance to tease anyone she found attractive, regardless of gender.

What she didn’t realize was that the person she teased wasn’t some harmless little bunny—he was a wolf in disguise.

Not long ago, the king of Liubi Kingdom—Feng Mieyin’s father—died suddenly. His death showed no signs of foul play, so the official cause was listed as a sudden illness, and the crown prince took the throne.

But Feng Mieyin knew her father had been murdered—and that Si Jia was the one who had done it.
Why? Because her father had mistreated her and forced her into a political marriage.

Fengguang sighed. The novel gave so little detail about Si Jia’s assassinations. If Meng Xi claimed to “like” her now, and if he ever mistreated Feng Mieyin, there was a real possibility Si Jia might come after her next. The man had practically achieved mythic status—an assassin people whispered about like a god. Without knowing his methods, how could she even hope to dodge him?

From the start of her mission, she had labeled this entire situation as high-risk.

“Your Highness, the palace banquet is about to begin,” a maid reminded her.

Snapped out of her thoughts, Fengguang looked up. Night had fallen. Yesterday, the delegation from Liubi Kingdom arrived. Tonight, the court was holding a welcome banquet for Feng Mieyin. Everyone would be there—Feng Mieyin, Meng Xi… and Si Jia.

Fengguang remembered that during this very banquet, there would be an attempted assassination. Not a grand, bloody massacre—just a single, targeted strike.
And the target wouldn’t be Meng Xi.
It wouldn’t even be the Xia Dynasty.
It would be Wang Ci—her mother, the Empress.

Even if she didn’t want to go, Fengguang had no choice. She took her seat beside the Empress, watching the ministers below the stairs drink and toast one another, jostling for position. Off to the side sat the delegation from the Liubi Kingdom.

By tradition, only the emperor and empress were allowed to sit on the elevated platform. Princes and princesses had to sit below. But that custom had long since become meaningless in the Xia Dynasty—this was a court where the emperor had once brought the infant Princess Changning into the morning court, had let the three-year-old stand atop the dragon throne, and had even turned a blind eye when the five-year-old had hit her tutor.

After so many breaches of etiquette, what was one more?

Fengguang completely ignored the burning gaze Meng Xi kept casting her way. Her attention had been caught by another man entirely—the one seated behind the general from Liubi Kingdom.

He wore a simple white robe, whiter than snow. His features were gentle, his expression serene, yet his aura was icy cold. He wasn’t the most conventionally handsome man—Meng Xi, for instance, had a more striking face.

But this man didn’t draw attention through looks. What stunned people about him wasn’t his appearance, but his otherworldly elegance, the quiet stillness that seemed to radiate from his very bones.

The man sensed her stare and slowly looked up—his eyes locking directly with Fengguang’s.