"Get up."
Lin Wanwan's voice sounded remarkably calm amidst Ruolan's fierce blood oath.
She stepped forward and personally helped the woman, whose forehead was covered in blood and gore, up from the cold floor tiles.
Her movements were light, yet they carried an undeniable power.
"I don't want your life." Lin Wanwan looked at Ruolan's eyes, which were red with excitement and gratitude, and said, word by word, "What I want is your loyalty."
"From this moment on, my loyalty belongs entirely to Your Majesty!" Ruolan choked back tears, but her voice was incredibly firm.
Having experienced a dramatic shift from hell to heaven, her feelings for the queen before her had transcended simple loyalty. It was a complex emotion mixed with awe, gratitude, and utter trust.
She knew that this empress was a completely different kind of person from the empress dowager she had previously served.
The Empress Dowager enslaved her with fear and despair, driving her to her death.
The Empress, however, moved her with hope and a new beginning, giving her a way out.
Her choice was already self-evident.
"Alright." Lin Wanwan nodded in satisfaction. "In that case, I will now give you your first task."
Ruolan immediately composed herself, held her breath, and respectfully bowed her head: "Please give your orders, Your Majesty."
"My first task is," Lin Wanwan's lips curled into a meaningful smile, "to continue playing the role of the 'eyes' that the Empress Dowager has planted beside me."
"What?!" Ruolan suddenly raised her head, her eyes filled with shock.
She thought that once the Empress Dowager had won her over, she would find a way to transfer her away or make her pretend to be stupid and stop passing on any messages to the Empress Dowager.
She never expected that the first order the Empress gave her would be to... continue being a spy?
"Your Majesty, this..." Ruolan was somewhat puzzled.
“A pawn planted next to the enemy can only play its greatest role when it is unaware that it has been exposed.” Lin Wanwan’s voice was calm and clear. “Since the Empress Dowager is so eager to know about Kunning Palace, then I will let her ‘know’.”
"However, from now on, what she can and cannot know will be decided by me."
Ruolan, being exceptionally intelligent, instantly understood Lin Wanwan's meaning.
Your Majesty, you're trying to make her a "double agent"!
Using her trusted channel, the Empress Dowager, she sent false information to Cixi Palace to confuse the other side and disrupt their plans!
This tactic of "turning the tables on them" is truly brilliant!
Ruolan felt an even deeper respect for this young empress.
"This servant understands!" She nodded emphatically.
"Very good." Lin Wanwan took out the note that Ruolan had "stolen" from her sleeve and handed it back to her.
"You leave the palace immediately," Lin Wan-wan instructed. "Take this note and deliver it to the Empress Dowager exactly as you planned, using the method you had previously devised. You must make her believe that this is top-secret information that you risked everything to steal from me."
"Then, you must carefully observe her reactions, listen carefully to every word she says, and remember everyone she has met. Do not overlook any detail, no matter how small. This is your first 'pledge of allegiance' to me."
Ruolan took the thin note, which seemed to weigh a ton, and felt her palms burning.
She knew this was more than just a note.
This is her rebirth, and also the beginning of her dedicating her loyalty to her new master.
"Yes! This servant obeys!"
She carefully hid the note, bowed deeply to Lin Wanwan again, and then turned and quickly left.
This time, however, her steps were no longer filled with panic or fear, but with an unprecedented firmness and determination.
...
The night grew deeper and deeper.
Lin Wanwan didn't sleep. She was waiting.
Waiting for her first pair of "eyes" to bring back her first piece of intelligence.
Finally, just before midnight, the door to the inner room was knocked three times very lightly and rhythmically.
This was a pre-arranged code.
"Come in."
Ruolan's figure flashed in silently, like a ghost.
She had changed out of her palace maid's attire and put on the most inconspicuous clothes of a little eunuch. Her face had also been slightly modified, and if you didn't look closely, you wouldn't recognize her true face at all.
"Your Majesty." Ruolan knelt down, her voice filled with suppressed excitement.
"How did things go?" Lin Wanwan asked bluntly.
"Your Majesty, everything went smoothly!" Ruolan raised her head, her eyes sparkling. "As you instructed, I delivered the note to Granny Qin through the small kitchen in Cixi Palace. Granny Qin immediately presented the note to the Empress Dowager."
"How did the Empress Dowager react?"
"After seeing the note, the Empress Dowager indeed believed it!" Ruolan's voice carried a hint of satisfaction. "I was hiding in the shadows and heard her fly into a rage, accusing you, 'You cunning Empress, trying to pull a fast one!' She immediately ordered Granny Qin to send people to secretly investigate all the caravans in the capital that had dealings with the Western Regions, to find out the origin of the 'Phoenix Tail Orchid' and try to cut it off at its source!"
Upon hearing this, Lin Wanwan's lips curled into a cold smile.
really.
The Empress Dowager has taken the bait.
A non-existent "phoenix tail orchid" was enough to throw her into disarray, causing her to waste a lot of manpower and resources on something destined to be futile.
"Very good." Lin Wanwan nodded approvingly. "Anything else? What else did she say? Who did she meet?"
"Yes!" Ruolan's expression instantly turned serious. "This is also the most important point in my opinion!"
"After sending someone to investigate the 'Phoenix Tail Orchid', the Empress Dowager immediately dismissed everyone except for Granny Qin. I risked getting close and vaguely heard them having a private conversation."
"This servant overheard the Empress Dowager saying to Granny Qin: 'We must be wary of that old fox from the Lin family. We must inform the Prince of this matter as soon as possible, so that he can also make preparations.'"
"A prince?" Lin Wanwan frowned deeply. "Which prince?"
“This servant…this servant didn’t hear very clearly, but it seems…Granny Qin addressed that prince as…”
A hint of doubt and contemplation flashed in Ruolan's eyes.
"The Regent".
"Regent"?!
These three words exploded in Lin Wanwan's mind like a thunderclap!
Her breath seemed to stop for a moment.
Regent?
Where did this regent come from in the Great Zhou Dynasty?!
After the late emperor passed away, Xiao Che, though young, was the rightful successor, and there was never any talk of a "regent" assisting in the government!
Now that Xiao Che has been in power for many years, there is no possibility that there is a regent!
This sudden, unfamiliar title, like a huge, thick fog, instantly enveloped Lin Wanwan's mind.
She realized that her previous guesses might have been... too naive.
Behind the Empress Dowager, there is probably a force that is much larger and more terrifying than she imagined!
A powerful force capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with the imperial power in the court!
Lin Wanwan slowly stood up and walked to the window.
She pushed open the window, and the cold night wind rushed in instantly, making her clothes flutter and calming her head, which was still feverish from shock.
She looked out the window at the dim, cloud-covered moon, and her gaze became calmer and sharper than ever before.
I see.
The harem is merely one corner of the chessboard.
The real storm, the real battlefield, is in the imperial court.
Before, she was nothing more than an insignificant pawn on the chessboard, someone who could be sacrificed at any time.
But now, things are different.
Lin Wanwan turned around and looked at Ruolan, who was kneeling on the ground, looking at her with a firm gaze.
She knew that from this moment on, she finally had her own...first pair of eyes.
A pair of eyes that could help her see through the inner palace and even the ever-changing political landscape of the court.
In this grand game of power, with the world as its chessboard...
She was finally no longer alone.
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