Dayan Empress’s Gift

A metallic tang of blood hit Chiyin's nostrils the moment he entered the blood splattered guest room and glanced at the back of Hushiyi stood on the balcony overlooking the mountain.

"What's the meaning of this?" Chiyin asked cautiously, surveying the carnage in the guest room. The air smelled like a butcher's corner. Even the room resembled an animal slaughter shed.

Three bodies dressed in blackish blood stained women's clothing laid on the floor. His annoyance at being recalled from his task of looking after the injured 01 disappeared.

Chiyin racked his brain, wondering if he knew those dead women. He stayed in the Grand Prince's residence since he arrived. The nearest entertainment district was at least half a day's ride away from the Grand Prince's residence in Bian.

Chiyin didn't fancy the dingy brothels in Bian town. Fooling around in a brothel also meant risking sexually transmitted diseases. A dirty risk he won't take. Their only form of entertainment didn't match his idea of a fun night flirting with pretty dancing girls and female musicians.

"Those are not my problem, right?" Chiyin snuck a peek at their faces to try identifying them.

Their faces, too bloodied to be recognisable. From the side, he could see their mouths gaping wide open in a silent scream. Pieces of fleshy chunks scattered among the crimson pool. Their long hair spread over, caked with blood.

He cringed at the inhuman sight.

"Problems sent by the Dayan Empress," Hushiyi turned sideways with part of his face veiled by the chilly night's darkness. The icy glint in his eyes and chilling detachment in his demeanour sent shivers down Chiyin's back. Hushiyi displayed no hint of remorse or regret in his gruesome act.

Chiyin heaved a sigh and stopped halfway at the sight of the bloodied sword in Hushiyi's hands. His grip on the blood slicked sword remained steady, dripping the last droplets of blood onto the wooden floor, staining it further.

"I waited till Yinyue left," Hushiyi continued without a tinge of emotion while wiping his sword against curtains already splattered with red-brownish dots. Each swipe of his blade against the curtain removed the bloody traces, revealing the sharp, gleaming steel beneath.

Chiyin almost blurted out the lack of need to hide the ghastly deed. Both brother and sister are trained killers. Then he thought better of it.

"When were they sent?" Chiyin asked.

"Weeks ago, when our dear Emperor-father gave the order to wipe out Luoran.

Chiyin stepped around, careful not to step on the blood still flowing from gashes on their bodies. He didn't want the scent of blood from the three human carcasses on him.

"Let me guess, the Emperor didn't send them. They were accompanying presents."

Hushiyi nodded. "From the Dayan Empress."

"Ah, a beauty trap," Chiyin chuckled. The trick was too old — stuff beautiful women to spy on the intended target through seduction. Done and dusted over centuries.

"And Yinyue's side?" He asked, curious if the Empress would send men too.

Hushiyi glared at him and narrowed his eyes at Chiyin. "I want to keep the women a secret from her."

"Doubt she even cares," Chiyin said.

"I care."

With those words, Hushiyi flicked his sword to get rid of the remaining blood on the now shiny blade.

"What a waste!" Chiyin muttered under his breath at a magnificent sword used on worthless spies.

"I can gift them to you."

Chiyin gagged at the offer. He wasn't some pervert with a fetish for dead people. Necrophilia was for those sick in their heads. Besides, those didn't resemble women anymore. Just lumps of flesh.

Chiyin wagged his finger. "Your meat, your keep. I was referring to your sword. It's better to use it in an actual fight than in this situation here. So why did you summon me?"

"I need you to do something," Hushiyi turned around to Chiyin, who busied himself examining the new and old splatter stains on the wood panelling.

"Uh, sure if it's within my capabilities," Chiyin replied.

"Bone Dissolver."

Chiyin tilted his head at Hushiyi's request and his eyes drifted to the sight of the sprawled bodies. In Dayan, a master could kill his slave and no one would question why. The Bone Dissolver melted away even the bones after three days.

"Those aren't slaves, are they?" Chiyin asked him.

"Illegitimate daughters of some low ranked officials under the Empress's thumb. Don't pity them. They received training as spies." Hushiyi walked over to the nearest body and grabbed the hair of a dead woman, pulling her head up.

"Gave you a chance to leave, but you didn't want to," Hushiyi mumbled. "So don't blame me for your death."

Hushiyi didn't feel like killing the three women. They refused his offer of giving them freedom to be self-sufficient. Instead, they grew too persistent, pestering him until he imprisoned them.

His patience broke when one of them tried to drug him.

"How did you get rid of the previous women?"

"What previous women?" Hushiyi asked. It was the first time the Dayan Empress dared to send him gifts.

"It won't stop at these three. You can't continue killing each woman sent. Trouble won't disappear from dissolving their bodies into nothing," Chiyin pointed out.

Killing every woman sent was not an option. Each death created more enemies in the Imperial Court. Hushiyi and Yinyue together formed a faction on their own and they had more than enough enemies.

Hushiyi also couldn't accept the idea of a harem — too many women meant too many mouths. He witnessed how the women acted in his father's imperial harem.

"Should have kept them to service the lonely men," Chiyin added.

"Not safe for the men who serve in Yandi's military. I already intercepted a few messenger pigeons in Yancheng," Hushiyi muttered under his breath.

"No. I mean the lonely men, the ones not in Yandi's military."

Hushiyi wagged his hand. "Can't."

"Why?"

Yinyue recruited more than half of the able-bodied peasants in Yandi as a citizen soldiers to create a covert defensive force for Yandi. The Empress must never know about that scheme because she would frame them for rebellion.

The Yandi officials have sons of marriageable ages, but they marry within their social circles. Hushiyi couldn't risk sending them as concubines to the official's sons because the Empress will work through them to pry important information from the officials.

"Because the ones left are beggars, travelling traders and criminals."

"Send them back. Better them alive and crying to their fathers. You really need to talk to Yinyue about this," Chiyin suggested. "I suggest you don't dissolve these bodies. I also need those clothes and a horse carriage with one horse."

"What for?" Hushiyi raised an eyebrow at the strange request.

"Horse carriage crash off the mountainside and lure some hungry wild beasts on them," Chiyin said. "Better three deaths from an accident than three missing persons."