Chapter 15 – A Spark of Confidence

“So, what do you intend to do?”

 

While they ate, Qin Yun finally voiced the question that had been gnawing at him. As expected, Yun Jingfei froze mid-bite, her chopsticks suspended in the air and her brows knitting together in puzzled surprise.

 

“What?”

 

“Your intentions,” Qin Yun clarified. “Surely something drove you to agree to this marriage.”

 

Yun Jingfei’s brow tightened further. Whatever comfort she’d felt moments ago vanished, replaced by a shadowy unease she couldn’t quite name.

 

“You think I wanted this?” she snapped. “I had no choice.”

 

“There’s always a choice,” Qin Yun said bluntly, remaining calm. “Life is made of nothing but choices. You’re just in denial.”

 

“Denial?! The fuck do you mean?”

 

Without realizing it, her words shed their royal polish, turning sharp and raw. Qin Yun remained unfazed, almost as if he had been waiting for this eruption all along.

 

“You’re denying your own agency.” Qin Yun said plainly, which couldn’t help but give her pause. “Answer me this: Do you think you are responsible for your current state?”

 

“What?! You think this is my fault?”

 

“Just answer the question, please.”

 

Yun Jingfei clenched her jaw. She had hoped this man would be unlike the others. Every instinct screamed at her to leave, but the invisible cage of the formation held her fast for another week.

 

She was utterly trapped.

 

“No,” she replied plainly. “That was just bad luck.”

 

“But was it, really?”

 

“What are you trying to say? You think this was foul play? What do you even know!?”

 

“I had some time to think,” Qin Yun ignored her heightened emotions. “Honestly, it surprises me that nobody thought about it. It seems so simple.”

 

“What are you on about? Spit it out!”

 

“Before that, do you know how our clan makes a living?”

 

“Stop changing the subject. You’re all over the place.”

 

“This is important,” Qin Yun gave her a slight smile. “I’m laying out the stage for you to understand.”

 

Yun Jingfei grumbled but answered regardless.

 

“Uncle said you’re assassins.”

 

“That’s just our side gig,” Qin Yun replied dismissively. “It makes for good money, but it’s also inconsistent. You can’t build a good foundation on that alone.”

 

“Then, what?”

 

“Information. The Qin Clan is the region’s largest information broker. We have spies in every major and/or minor organization, be it sects, clans or even empires. Some of our spies have even managed to infiltrate some of their inner workings.”

 

“The Cloud Imperial Palace?” she replied, stupefied.

 

“Indeed,” Qin Yun nodded.

 

She knew that spies often tried to infiltrate the palace. There had been purges more than once when she still lived there. She couldn’t imagine those spies might survive.

 

“What about the Imperial Guard? Don’t they know there are Qin Clan spies?”

 

“I’m sure they do,” Qin Yun shrugged. “The emperor knows our business model. He used our services more than once, after all, which affords us some amount of leniency. From time to time, some low-ranking spy gets caught, but some losses are deemed acceptable.”

 

“They are your people, though,” Yun Jingfei replied. “Are you sure you should be so callous?”

 

“Why shouldn’t I be? The only reason they got caught in the first place was their incompetence. If they didn’t want to die, they should have just done a better job. Nobody forced this work on them.”

 

Yun Jingfei hesitated, logic whispering that his words made sense, yet something deep within her rebelled against accepting them.

 

She remembered far too well how uncaring the Cloud Imperial Palace, and by extension its emperor, was to his own progeny. In her twenty years of life, Yun Jingfei had seen her father a handful of times despite living in the same palace, and felt his warmth even less.

 

She wanted to believe the man before her was different, but doubt crept in.

 

“I am different,” Qin Yun said, as if reading her mind. “I told you before, I firmly believe that people have agency over their lives. Choices have consequences, and one must learn to live with the outcome, even if that outcome is death.”

 

“And what, pray tell, makes you any different?” Yun Jingfei asked, unconvinced.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

 

“When your father orders his millions of troops into a conflict against his neighbours, does he concern himself with their individual well-being?”

 

Yun Jingfei recalled the sight of his father during court. Only once was she allowed to attend, during the last skirmish five years ago. Even as reports of casualties were delivered by the officials, she didn’t see her father so much as acknowledge the loss of life. His expression remained stony. And only when the news of victory was delivered did her father finally smile.

 

The tens of thousands that died never crossed his mind. They were but numbers.

 

“How is that any different from you?” Yun Jingfei asked, unbeknownst to her, trying to defend her father regardless.

 

“The difference is that the Qin Clan’s spies are never ordered to do anything. They choose their assignments of their own volition, as well as the outcomes. But enough of that, this wasn’t what I was getting at. If the Cloud Imperial Palace isn’t safe, what makes you think the Soaring Phoenix Sect is beyond our reach?”

 

Yun Jingfei’s eyes widened slightly. She hadn’t considered the possibility. How could she? Ascetic Sects were well known for being nigh impenetrable. Only a select few were allowed to enter its inner circle.

 

One would need to at least be the core disciples of one of the elders, like she was, which numbered fewer than a few dozen.

 

Who could the spy possibly be?

 

“Don’t bother,” Qin Yun shrugged. “Not even I am privy to who it might be. For spies of this calibre, only the elders have access to that information.”

 

“Aren’t you supposed to be a pariah? Why would you know so much?”

 

“Quid pro quo.”

 

“Uh? What do you mean?”

 

Obviously, a language such as Latin wasn’t commonly found in this land. Qin Yun doubted anyone would be able to understand.

 

“It means I have something they want, valuable enough for equivalent exchange. Information for information.” Qin Yun said, rather proudly.

 

Yun Jingfei understood the last point Qin Yun was trying to make, but not much else made sense to her. Her patience was growing thin.

 

“Do you always speak in such a roundabout way? You keep switching from one topic to another without making a point. It’s getting exhausting.”

 

Qin Yun could only give her a wry smile, for she wasn’t wrong. He had indeed been going about this in a roundabout way. He had no choice, for the point he was trying to make was rather uncomfortable—for both of them.