On one fine day, the idle Su Xin and Qu Feiyun were together in their natural spot in the imperial garden.

“What do you mean leave?” Qu Feiyun was caught offguard with Su Xin’s declaration and her eyes bulged out in shock.

She was frightened. For Su Xin to think about leaving the palace—no, rather Qu Feiqing—it was quite unfathomable.

“No.” Qu Feiyun shook her head quickly, looking at Su Xin with a determined gaze. She wanted to shake off this preposterous thought from her head.

Or else, h.e.l.l would break loose.

“You must not leave.”

“Why?” Su Xin was surprised at Qu Feiyun’s intense reaction. Most of all, her words preventing her from leaving.

Qu Feiyun and Qu Feiqing never had any familial relations.h.i.+p to begin with. They even had no feud with other. Basically, Qu Feiyun was invisible to Qu Feiqing’s eyes and Qu Feiyun refused to engage with Qu Feiqing.

She couldn’t discern if this was done out of care or courtesy from being related by blood. It was such a strange reaction.

When Qu Feiqing set off with her b.l.o.o.d.y conquest for the throne, Qu Feiyun was still a child then.

Like Qu Feiqing, her mother had been a concubine under the late emperor.

The harem was a battlefield, and naturally some women developed self-preservation skills just to survive.

Qu Feiyun’s mother was one of these concubines. She was smart enough to play as a wallflower, blending into the background so that she would not be under the scrutinizing eyes of the other concubines competing for the emperor’s favor.

With such a skill, she had raised Qu Feiyun safely, away from the terror and evil of devious concubines and political schemes.

When Qu Feiqing set off a reign of terror and killed family left and right, Qu Feiyun’s mother laid low to avoid confrontation, saving her hide whilst s.h.i.+elding the young Qu Feiyun from the bloodshed and things that could traumatize a child.

Qu Feiyun grew up being protected by her mother; one of the Qu who came out unscathed after Qu Feiqing overturned the Qu Liu country.

She did not experience danger as a child, however, when she grew up and began to understand the ugly side of reality, Qu Feiyun became terrified at the fact that she was the sister of the same person her mother had been protecting her from.

Being naive to the horrors of the world, she couldn’t help but fear her sister. Yet at the same time, she had an unwavering respect for Qu Feiqing’s courage.

After all, they were of the same status—both women, both concubine-born and had no future. Qu Feiqing shaped her own future and became the emperor and this was a feat no ordinary woman could do.

No matter what she thought of Qu Feiqing’s atrocious ways of dealing with people, there was no denying that Qu Feiqing was her imperial sister.

Regardless of her past or att.i.tude, as a fellow woman and sister, Qu Feiyun hoped that Qu Feiqing would find her happiness.

Moreover, she had came to discover, with a happy Qu Feiqing, their lives are so much better.

From the moment Su Xin came, Qu Feiyun saw the gradual change with her emperor sister’s demeanor.

Far off from the moody, lifeless Qu Feiqing she had come to a.s.sociate with, the current Qu Feiqing has shed off her frightening and domineering aura.

It was like ice being exposed to the sun and slowly melting from the heat. Although it was a subtle change, it was much better than before.

Qu Feiyun thought that if Su Xin left abruptly like this, her sister would turn into a more fearful person. Far more than how she used to be. Just thinking about this made Qu Feiyun’s stomach turn into knots from dread.

She did not want to see the day where Qu Feiqing becomes a living, emotionally detached corpse who only kills without mercy or thought.

“Isn’t the imperial palace majestic? Why are you leaving?” Qu Feiyun asked Su Xin, unable to understand her reasons for such an extreme thought.

There are many people who lack the chance to step foot in the imperial palace and would trade anything just to have a glimpse, yet this girl was simply leaving. As if it was nothing grand to be ruffled about.

T/N: h.e.l.lo, I’m back, how is everyone?!