Chapter Text
“The lord and lady of the Xiu are dead!” The lawmen exclaimed as they ran through the city. “I repeat, the lord and lady of the Xiu are dead! Their bodies were found in Jiangshu park this morning!”
His friend was a traitor.
He died by suicide and he’d been cruel enough to take his kind wife with him.
Yuansu hadn't known the true depths of Youjian’s ambitions. To strengthen his clan, to control, to decide other people’s fates.
The one who’d exposed this had been the Ghost, the renowned criminal that low born people prayed to for justice, not Yuansu.
“Spare the innocent of the Xiu!” The Ghost’s voice boomed over the crowds of people. “If you remove all the stone, there will be no road! Show grace and they will pay you back with righteousness!”
The thing was, Yuansu knew that voice
Namthöse. A nun who beat him every single time at weiqi in the park with moves he couldn’t predict. She made him flounder when he realised she’d cornered him, spurring on feelings his wife would call cheating.
“… then what’s the highest you’ve ever bet on something?”
“There was once a time I bet my entire life on something.”
“Did you win?”
“I’m planning to.”
He inhaled sharply when everything settled into place in his mind.
It went that deep? This-this conspiracy, if he dared call it that. Youjian had been one of them. Who had taken something that wasn’t his and met his punishment because of it.
... Was the Ghost just someone trying to win back some honour and glory when what had been theirs had been destroyed?