The punishment for betrayal

July 2ndーThe Jade mansion. 

"How is this even possible? This is practically insane." Helen Qin took several deep breaths to calm her pounding heart. She paced back and forth in the living room,  fanning herself with a magazine.

"What is it?" Livian who was also in the living room was irritated by the clang that her high heeled shoes kept making. 

"See for yourself." She shoved the business magazine at him. 

Livian took it suspiciously, flattened it out and didn't need to search before he saw the headline on the front page.

[The theatrical end of The Qin Empire.] The headline read. 

Livian's eyebrows scrunched into a frown. What kind of nonsensical headline was that? He went ahead to look for the exaggeratedly long article.

The article was mainly about how Cedric had knocked up a girl and forced her to have an abortion because apparently, he was with another woman and he disliked children. Just like that, an innocent unborn life was lost. With such an irresponsible man—who didn't even care about life—as the heir to The Qin Empire, wasn't the end predictable? 

"Cedric again. It's always about Cedric." Livian pinched his nose bridge. After calming down, he sat up straight with confusion written all over his face. "Is this one of those scandals orchestrated by that troublemaking woman?" He asked, referring to Shera. 

"Now you understand why I'm restless." Helen stopped in front of Livian, her hands almost pulled at her hair. "Does that woman have eyes of a demon? We covered everything up. I personally made sure not a single soul knows about this matter. Even that girl… I paid her off so she could leave Olphire and never come back. How… how did this woman still find out? Is she a supernatural?" 

"What's going on here? What's all the noise about? " Patriarch Qin asked, making his way to the living room. 

Helen shoved the newspaper at him as an answer. 

"What's so hard to deal with here?" he frowned at his wife and son who were making a mountain out of a mere molehill. "We only have to dispell it as a lie. There's no evidence, is there?"

The couple went ahead to talk about their next moves. 

"Livian, what do you think?... Livian?" 

Livian was not even listening to what they were saying. When Helen tapped his shoulder with her long nails to call for his attention, he jolted to his feet and left the living room in his confused state. 

"What's wrong with him?" Helen asked. 

"Who am I to ask?" Patriarch Qin curled his lips into an exaggerated scowl. He was too worried about his dearest son to care about his foster son. 

_

Livian thought hard about everything that had been going on. 

That woman had promised to return and when she did, she first attacked Cece. No one could forget how she had appeared at her wedding to cause chaos and get her arrested. Now, she was putting Cedric's scandals to light. 

"What's going to happen to Cedric?" He muttered, pacing the hallway. "Will he also… no way." 

If she got rid of Cedric, who would be next? Him? Their parents? Leo? 

"I cannot let this happen." He said resolutely. Cedric's plan might never get to work before that woman completely destroyed him and the whole family altogether. He would have to step up and stop her.  

___

The Mansion of Black. 

Shera poured herself a glass of red wine in the cellar. 

She held the glass and raised it in the air as a toast. "To you, Tazja. For making me realize that slow revenge is so much sweeter." 

[Just so you know, I do not support revenge no matter how slow or fast it is.] Tazja appeared with its signature confetti and announced. 

"I don't need you to support it." Shera twitched her lips. She was in a good mood. Patriarch Qin would probably dispell the article. Once she had someone post the evidence in the rumor forums, he would have no choice but to swap the heir and that was going to slowly sow dissension among the brothers. 

He was going to be the one to brandish the sword that would start a war between his own sons. She may not even need to do anything significant. 

Now, she only needed to wait for the right time and unleash the third scandal. 

[Master…]

"What? Are you going to add points for my vices because I'm scheming?" Shera guffawed at Tazja who had just reappeared to warn her. 

[When have you ever not schemed?] Tazja didn't even want to count it. That was probably why her vice statistics was so horrifying. 

[Trouble is brewing in La Rose Noire. Do you want me to tell you?] Tazja changed the topic, swiftly pulling out a manuscript. 

"No." She dismissed without batting an eyelid. Since when did she need help dealing with matters in her company and in her organization? 

[Oh, I see. Then should I brief you about what your competitors, the Qins, are thinking?] 

Shera was annoyed. "Get out!" 

...

Soon after Tazja left, Purple knocked and came in at her signal. 

"Purple." Shera said her name sternly. 

"Yes, master?" A bad feeling build up in the depth of Purple's stomach. 

Shera looked up into Purple's eyes. "Do you know your position in La Rose Noire?" 

"Yes. I'm your personal assistant, master." Purple tried not to tremble. 

"You do understand your position." Shera let out a tiny smile, scaring the hell out of Purple. "What about… why my previous eleven assistants are no longer in La Rose Noire? Do you know that?" 

Purple's legs shook. Her mouth trembled as she used up all her might to sound as coherent as possible. "T-they… died because they betrayed you." 

Shera let out a low-sounding "mmh" and sipped on her wine.

 Purple's heart raced wildly. Was it her turn to die? Her lips trembled as she wondered whether she would be spared if she apologized now—or at least be killed in a less painful way. 

Just when she was about to flop to her knees, Shera spoke. "Why are you here?" 

Purple was in disbelief. She had been in La Rose Noire for long enough to know that when Shera dropped a topic, it meant that she was done with it. So did that mean she had been spared—just like that? What was that then, a warning? She could bet that Shera never spared anyone, let alone have time to warn them.

Now that she thought about it, Shera had always been strict with everyone in La Rose Noire. Failing one task was all it took for someone to be eliminated. She had failed a few times but each time, Shera merely scoffed and gave the task to someone else or gave her more time. 

Sometimes she wondered whether Shera really treated her differently… 

She brushed the thought off. Pfft. Why would Shera treat her differently? 

"Mmh?" Shera probed when she saw that Purple was not speaking. 

Purple snapped back. "Master, Livian Qin wants to book an appointment to speak to you."