The curtain fell, dividing the stage and backstage into two separate worlds of light and shadow.
Qin Muye pulled the curtain tighter, making sure Jiang Qingli wouldn’t see the situation backstage if she happened to glance over from the stage. Only then did he turn and look impatiently at Qin Yu. "Will it kill you to shut up?"
The latter chuckled. "Muye, honestly, why are you always so hot-tempered?"
Qin Yu leaned against the wall, a cigarette held between her fingertips. Smoke swirled around her as she spoke.
They stood far apart, one on the left, one on the right.
They were half-siblings, sharing a mother but not a father, yet they bore very little resemblance to one another.
What they did share, however, was the undisguised disgust in their eyes as they looked at each other.
Qin Muye couldn’t be bothered to waste a single word on her. But with Jiang Qingli nearby, he didn’t want to leave either. "Done with your little act? Then get lost," he said viciously.
Qin Yu took a drag from her cigarette. "Why should I get lost?" she said lightly. "Captain Qin, this is a military district, not the Imperial Palace in the First District. I am a special consultant, and my rank is higher than yours. Is this how you address a superior officer? Is that what Yuan Liang taught you?"
Qin Muye scoffed and slowly straightened up.
Qin Yu had good genes and a tall, slender figure, but she still seemed frail in front of Qin Muye.
The young man stared at her, his voice slow. "I can call you my superior officer, fine. But let me remind you—when I return to the First District for the annual leave, I’ll still be a Prince. And it wouldn’t be out of the question for me to break your leg again."
Qin Yu raised an eyebrow. "Suit yourself."
She said the words, but her bravado faltered. A faint, lingering fear now tainted the disgust in her eyes.
As a noblewoman of high birth, she had received the most elite education the Imperial Family could offer since childhood. She had also inherited the obsession with bloodline purity that the old guard held so dear.
Ordinary nobles were beneath her notice, to say nothing of a bastard like Qin Muye, whose father was a commoner from the slums.
Yet, when Qin Muye first returned to the Imperial Family, the other princesses were all occupied with official duties. Qin Shu, after dropping him off, had immediately left for the military district and had no free time either.
Qin Yu had received a request from Qin Shiyi to look after Qin Muye.
Pinching her nose, she brought Qin Muye to the Imperial Palace. At first, Qin Yu put on a good show of being kind, arranging everything personally. Even Qin Shiyi saw her preparations and praised her for being meticulous.
But Qin Muye, whether through intuition or something else, remained cold and distant toward her. They never even had any physical contact.
It wasn’t until three months had passed that Qin Muye’s attitude toward her softened slightly.
One day, Qin Yu hosted a banquet.
She extended a casual invitation to Qin Muye and, as expected, received no reply. Paying him no more mind, Qin Yu proceeded with her grand and lavish party.
The nobles she knew well came to pay their compliments. When the conversation turned to Qin Muye, they laughed with exaggerated disdain.
One of them, perhaps sensing her displeasure, cautiously asked if she truly thought of Qin Muye as her brother.
Qin Yu said impatiently, "Don’t bring up some half-breed bastard with who knows how much commoner blood at my banquet. It’s utterly tasteless."
"Only someone like Qin Shu, desperate to curry favor with the second-in-command, would take him seriously. I, for one, wouldn’t deign to use him to please Her Majesty."
The crowd roared with laughter.
But midway through their laughter, the entire group suddenly fell silent, all eyes turning in the same direction.
As if sensing something, Qin Yu turned her head. There stood the very boy they had just been mocking, dressed in a rare set of formal clothes.
It seemed he had intended to attend the banquet after all.
Qin Yu quickly put her hands behind her back and gestured to the nearby guards to get rid of him.
She couldn’t let Qin Muye ruin her reputation in front of everyone, no matter what.
But Qin Muye was faster. In the blink of an eye, he was standing before Qin Yu.
The moment their eyes met, Qin Yu’s heart seized. She felt like prey cornered by an apex Hunter.
Before she could speak, Qin Muye snatched a champagne flute from a table, flung its contents into the faces of the nobles who had been instigating the mockery, and turned to leave.
Screams erupted around her. Qin Yu wiped away the few drops of champagne that had splashed onto her cheek, feeling not a shred of relief at having been spared the worst of it.
The banquet ended in chaos.
Qin Yu stood in the trashed banquet hall and looked at a guard.
"Report today’s events to Her Majesty. And tender my resignation on my behalf."
"Just say... I slipped on spilled champagne and broke my leg."
The events that followed unfolded much as Qin Yu had anticipated.
Qin Shiyi sent investigators, but everyone in Qin Yu’s palace gave the same story. Then, they summoned Qin Muye.
Qin Muye was defiant and untamable, even more so with his own mother. He simply slung a bag over his shoulder and stormed out of the Imperial Palace gates, right into the swarm of media that Qin Yu had tipped off. They snapped away, and in an instant, the headlines of every major website and newspaper were plastered with photos of his sullen face.
The residents of the Upper City District were already displeased with this ill-mannered Prince from the Lower District.
Fueled by paid online trolls, public opinion turned against Qin Muye in a one-sided onslaught of accusations.
Within a few short hours, you couldn’t open a website or an app without being bombarded by unflattering photos and photoshopped memes of Qin Muye. His inbox was flooded with death threats and gruesome images.
At that point, of course, no one cared how the whole thing had started.
The scale of this targeted campaign of cyberbullying was enough to destroy any mentally fragile youth.
Qin Shiyi, having no time for anything else, had no choice but to have Qin Muye dragged back.
The mother and son had a massive argument.
Qin Muye moved to the most remote corner of the Imperial Palace, refused to have even a single servant, and acted like a total recluse.
Qin Yu was quite satisfied with this outcome.
But what she never, ever expected was—
Qin Muye suddenly appearing at her bedside in the middle of the night!
After confirming that her legs were perfectly unharmed, Qin Muye had grabbed a table lamp and smashed her shin bone!
He’d then threatened to break her other leg if she ever tried any more of her little schemes!
’He was an absolute madman!’
The revered Princess, who was used to interacting only with respectful gentlemen, had never witnessed such raw violence. She was so terrified she fainted on the spot.
She wanted to kill Qin Muye for it!
But bizarrely, Qin Muye had left no trace. Not even the most sophisticated security cameras had captured a single image of him. It was as if it had all been a dream.
But even to this day, though her leg had long since healed, if Qin Yu closed her eyes, she could still see the raging storm from that night, the sky split by lightning and thunder.
It was the most humiliating mark on Qin Yu’s otherwise perfect record.
’And Qin Muye dared to bring it up again!’
Qin Yu snatched her cigarette and viciously ground it out against the wall.
It left a jarring, grey-brown scar on the pristine white wall, a mark imprinted with unspeakable murderous intent.
Suddenly, from the other side of the curtain, a military officer’s raised voice cut through. "Has anyone seen the Third Princess?"
Someone else replied in confusion, "I don’t know. It’s strange, I’m sure I saw her come in earlier..."
Qin Yu straightened up and pushed aside the heavy curtain.
When she reappeared in front of everyone, her face once again wore her usual gentle, serene smile.
Looking apologetic, she walked toward the stage and offered a small smile to the others. "My apologies for the wait. Muye just pulled me aside for a quick chat."
"It’s no problem, no problem at all."
Of course, no one there would dare to suggest otherwise.
Besides, Qin Yu had always maintained an impeccable public image.
Qin Yu’s position was beside Jiang Qingli.
As they were confirming their stage positions, she suddenly looked over at Jiang Qingli and smiled. "Qingli, you’ve made a good recovery."