Three Steps: From Assassin to Empress - Chapter 51

Chapter 51: The Unveiling

The sky was about to break. The window of the quiet room was suddenly pushed open. A youth, dressed in black, flashed into the room, his sword carrying a bone-chilling cold.

Ying Xiu quickly took a bath, barely managing to wash off the scent of bl00d. Assassinating the emperor was exceptionally dangerous, and the assassins involved had to improve their cooperation through brutal combat.

He wasn’t injured tonight; the bl00d on him belonged to others.

Ying Xiu sat on the stool, his damp, dark hair hanging low. Water dripped down the back of his neck. He slowly dried his hair with a soft towel, and after briefly using a hand fan to dry it, he haphazardly tied it into a ponytail.

His self-made ponytail was never as good-looking as the ones Xie Zhou tied for him.

Facing the bronze mirror, Ying Xiu clumsily tried to imitate Xie Zhou’s technique. After a few attempts, he gave up, leaving himself with a tangled mess of hair.

He felt a little discouraged and couldn’t be bothered to fight with his hair, so he lay down on the stool.

A while later, the youth on the stool slowly fell asleep, his limbs curled up like a shrimp. His skin was snow-white, his soft black hair was messily tied at the back of his head and fanned out in a dark shape. The golden ribbon of his ponytail hung down over the edge of the bed.

The folding door silently opened. A shadow slowly enveloped the soundly sleeping youth. The newcomer bent down and covered him with a blanket.

The dark figure hesitated, then sat down and cautiously untied the messy ribbon in Ying Xiu’s hair, letting his raven hair fall into his arms.

The sleeping youth seemed to feel something. He habitually nestled closer, his slender body shifting until he was curled up in the man’s arms.

The dark figure froze for a moment, his body stiff. Then, he slowly held him close, just as he had done before.

Ying Xiu had a beautiful dream. He dreamed that he was sleeping in the same bed as Xie Zhou. He was hugging and nuzzling him.

Xie Zhou didn’t resist at all, obediently letting him nuzzle all over.

Later, the dream suddenly turned into a nightmare. He dreamed that his hands were tied up with a ribbon, unable to move. Something was pressing against him, its edges sharp and cold…

Ying Xiu woke up in a cold sweat. His inner clothes were wet and sticky against his body. Did I not dry off properly last night?

He couldn’t figure it out. He sat on the bed in a daze for a long time before getting up to take another bath.

Just as he was getting out of bed, Ying Xiu suddenly remembered something. He pulled aside his thin, white robe to look at his wrists. There was no mark on them.

He leaned in and smelled a faint fragrance on his wrists, like some kind of ointment.

—This is Xie Zhou’s home. Who could have snuck in?

Ying Xiu had a simple mind and didn’t take it to heart. However, while bathing, he couldn’t help but look at his wrists. He felt like they were a little red. Maybe I scraped them during training?

An assassin never cared about his wounds. Besides, these weren’t even wounds. He just took it as his imagination and continued his training every night.

…

The Growing Distance

The atmosphere in the residence was very strange. Even the youngest attendants noticed it. The young master had not come to see His Majesty for a long time. To be exact, they hadn’t seen each other since they started living separately.

His Majesty was still calm and detached, with no emotion on his face, making it difficult to guess what he was thinking.

As for the young master, he stayed behind closed doors. He slept in the quiet room during the day and disappeared silently at night.

It wasn’t until an attendant came to find Ying Xiu that he realized it had been a long time since he had seen Xie Zhou. He counted on his fingers and realized it had been a full seven days.

The attendant suggested that he take the initiative to go see Xie Zhou. Ying Xiu hesitated for a moment. “I dream of him every day.”

For the past seven days, he had dreamed of Xie Zhou every single day, long dreams that felt like drowning, from which he couldn’t escape.

He could only keep falling, then wake up in a clammy sweat from a passionate, soul-stirring embrace.

It was very strange. Even someone as slow-witted as Ying Xiu had noticed it.

Is this what they mean by “what you think about all day, you dream about all night”? The ancients were not lying to me.

After thinking for a long time, Ying Xiu still refused the attendant’s suggestion.

If the assassination succeeded, they would have a lifetime to be together. If it failed…

What difference did one more meeting make?

It would only add to his sorrow.

…

The Final Breakup

What Ying Xiu didn’t expect was that the retainer would come to find him.

He opened the folding door of the quiet room and saw the cool figure standing in front of it. For some reason, he felt a little flustered. “Xie Zhou? You’re here.”

The youth’s voice was dry and nervous, as if he hadn’t been expecting his arrival.

Xie Zhou’s dark eyelashes trembled slightly as he looked down at him. “Do your words still hold true?”

The very first thing the other person said was a calm question, which made Ying Xiu even more flustered. He stammered, “What?”

He remembered the wish he had written on the prayer paper—

To be with Xie Zhou forever.

…Could Xie Zhou be talking about that?

Ying Xiu felt inexplicably guilty. He was still comforting himself, thinking that after the assassination was over, he would escape with Xie Zhou and live a good life.

The retainer, a full head taller than him, stood quietly in front of him. His shadow enveloped Ying Xiu closely. His gaze was calm, devoid of any emotion, as he looked down at him.

The retainer’s voice was still gentle and patient, trying to coax him. “You said before that you wanted to walk the paths I walked as a child.”

He asked, “Do you still want to?”

Ying Xiu was stunned. He had been so busy with his high-intensity training that he would fall asleep as soon as he got back. He had forgotten about this completely.

Under Xie Zhou’s gaze, he couldn’t bear to say no. After a lot of hesitation, he slowly nodded.

Ying Xiu put on a black veil when he went out, looking a little furtive. The retainer stood beside him, and the two of them walked slowly along the fields outside the residence.

In the capital, at the feet of the emperor, where every inch of land is as precious as gold, why are there fields here?

Ying Xiu didn’t notice that something was off. He unconsciously took Xie Zhou’s hand, their fingers intertwined, walking one step at a time.

In the distance, ancient trees reached for the sky. The fields beneath their feet stretched out. The tree shadows were low, and the birds chirped.

The youth forgot to keep his distance from Xie Zhou. He asked subconsciously, “Xie Zhou, which path did you walk?”

He didn’t get a response from the person beside him immediately. He turned his head and saw that Xie Zhou was looking at him.

The retainer’s eyes were extremely deep. From a distance, they looked pitch black, but up close, they were as clear as ice and jade, with a sharp contrast between black and white, like the two colors of jade.

Ying Xiu, unprepared, fell into such a gaze and couldn’t help but blush.

“Ying Xiu,” Xie Zhou’s gaze never left Ying Xiu. “If there’s something you need to say, just say it.”

As long as you are honest, trusting, and open up to me without reservation, I will give you everything you want.

Ying Xiu somehow understood what Xie Zhou meant. He hesitated, his eyes trembling, and he no longer met Xie Zhou’s gaze. Instead, he looked at the distance.

On the way back, Ying Xiu just looked at the scenery along the way and didn’t look at Xie Zhou beside him.

Behind the curtains of the towers in the capital, the figures of young officials could be vaguely seen on the high floors, both men and women, all as beautiful as the rising sun in spring.

Ying Xiu was staring blankly at the clouds in the sky, but Xie Zhou followed his empty gaze and saw a group of youths on the high floor.

At the age of silk and satin, their laughter was like bells.

The retainer looked down at his own hand. His wrist was like cold jade, his knuckles were prominent, his fingertips were covered with fine calluses, and his veins were faintly visible.

These were clearly not the hands of a young man.

Ying Xiu always felt that there was something strange about Xie Zhou, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. When he looked closely, he seemed no different from usual.

Soon, he couldn’t bother to explore the changes in Xie Zhou. The owl stopped on his shoulder, and the message quickly burned to ashes under the lamp.

—The mission is tomorrow.

Ying Xiu had to say goodbye to Xie Zhou. If he didn’t make things clear before he left and he died, Xie Zhou would still be waiting for him. What would he do?

When an attendant heard that Ying Xiu wanted to find out where Xie Zhou was, he was clearly happy. “The young master is in the waterside pavilion. I’ll take you there now.”

It was almost night. The lights in the waterside pavilion had long been lit. The light from the lanterns was reflected in the lake, along with the shadow of the long pavilion, hanging upside down in the mirror-like water.

The Southern Dynasty had a lot of rain. Even though it wasn’t raining at the moment, the air was still damp and misty, as if they were walking in a hazy fog.

The attendant leading the way stopped. He handed the glass lantern to Ying Xiu and stood still. The meaning was obvious: Ying Xiu had to walk the rest of the way alone.

The golden-robed youth took the glass lantern. The bright light changed and flowed, illuminating the beautiful ornaments on his clothes.

It was strange. The young master, who would usually make a jingling noise with every step he took, was silent all the way, without a sound.

The attendant looked at Ying Xiu’s slender and elegant figure and slowly retreated.

Ying Xiu walked very slowly. He walked along the water path, looking at the fish and green algae in the lake on both sides.

The lake water was clear, and he could see through it at a glance. The seventeen-year-old youth walked and stopped, looking at it many times.

The pavilion in the middle of the lake was right in front of him.

Ying Xiu looked up and saw that someone was waiting for him in the pavilion.

The retainer was sitting upright, holding a konghou. He was calmly tuning the strings, just like when they first met.

His heart was beating violently. Every step Ying Xiu took felt like he was stepping on his own heartbeat. It was thumping so hard it sounded like a drum, yet it felt like it could become cold and still at any moment.

“Xie Zhou,”

Ying Xiu stood outside the waterside pavilion, the lamplight dim.

The retainer looked up at him, his eyes calm, waiting for him to speak.

With eyes as clear as ice and snow, he seemed to have already seen through Ying Xiu’s intention. Ying Xiu was lightly poked by the thought in his heart, and the lamplight flickered slightly.

“I…”

Ying Xiu looked at the lamplight and the lake water, but he didn’t look at Xie Zhou.

He decided to just say it, not caring what the person holding the instrument in the pavilion would think. He quickly said the words he had been rehearsing for a long time:

“You are indeed very handsome, but I’ve grown tired of looking at you. Can we take a break?”

The youth was very polite, almost asking for a separation cautiously.

The retainer looked at him deeply. After a long time, he finally nodded. “Mhm.”

The other person’s voice was very soft. It was carried to Ying Xiu’s ears by a gust of wind from the river. He froze, unable to believe that it had gone so smoothly. Xie Zhou had agreed so easily.

He had agreed to break up.

Boom.

His head suddenly buzzed, his thoughts in a mess. Ying Xiu stood outside the pavilion. The glass lantern in his hand fell to the ground, shattering into a thousand pieces of light.

It was as if he had just woken from a dream. He squatted down, picking up the pieces in a panic. He stammered, “I-I’ll pay for the lamp.”

“…There’s no need.”

The white-robed retainer’s voice was distant.

Ying Xiu picked up the pieces and didn’t look at the person in the waterside pavilion again. He turned and walked away.

The path back was pitch black. The light he had brought was already shattered in his arms.

…

Now that the breakup is official and the assassination is set, what will happen in the climactic confrontation between Ying Xiu and Xie Zhou?