Princess Agent: Season 1

Chapter 26

"Leave some people here, the rest of you, follow me!"

The guards rushed out of the room in a flurry, leaving just three men to guard the body of old Grand Master Zhuge.

Other children all looked at Chu Qiao, terrified. She, who just coaxed away the guards of Zhuge courtyard, with a crossbow in hand, no longer showed any sign of fear on her face. She smiled at the servants checking on the corpse of the second Grand Master Zhuge, and whistled loudly in a light-hearted manner. "Hey! Stop what you are doing."

The three guards turned their heads and the color drained from their faces immediately. But before they had time to yell out a single cry, three arrows were fired in rapid succession and struck the three astonished skulls at the same time, like shooting stars. Their bodies fell simultaneously, their blood flowed, loyally following their Master Zhuge to hell.

"Ahhhhhh!" a child slave suddenly screamed.

Chu Qiao covered the child's mouth at once. "You should have yelled when I told you to, rather than choosing this moment to make my life difficult."

The children's faces were the color of clay as they sobbed quietly.

Chu Qiao breathed a long sigh, then slowly spoke, "What I'm about to say is very important, you have to listen carefully if you want to stay alive, understand?"

They stopped crying and stared at her with their eyes wide.

"Me? I am one of steward Zhu Shun's people. That old goat has always harassed children and has lost all humanity. Steward Zhu Shun could put up with it no longer and I was sent here to kill him. We are getting rid of him for good of our society, and none of you are allowed to rat on steward Zhu Shun; no matter what kind of torture the Zhuge household imposes on you. You may not tell. Steward Zhu Shun will save you, do you remember that?"

The children nodded their head quickly, like a group of frightened bunnies.

Chu Qiao smiled faintly. The net had been cast, now they could only wait for the fish to flop in. Whether these kids would willingly take on the torture without telling or not, the people of Zhuge household would doubt their words. But all of Qing Shan court saw firsthand that it was Zhu Shun's men who brought her to the court of Zhuge household, and this fact alone would ensure that he would never get out of it. Death is inevitable, it's just a matter of how.

She glanced at the trickling hourglass. There was enough time to sneak back and help Xiaoba, who was escaping from the back door. Yet just as she was leaving through the front door, a hand suddenly clasped her ankle tightly. Chu Qiao looked down and saw it was a guard on his last breath.

"You deserve to die for playing jackal to the tiger!" Chu Qiao's eyes were cold as she pulled out the arrow from the man's forehand in a single motion. The body twitched a few times, then stopped moving altogether. Chu Qiao strained to pry open his hand, but couldn't pull her leg out after multiple tries. She abruptly lost her mind in a fury, pulling out the sabre at the guard's waist and then chopped off his hand with a thud.

"What are you doing?" a low voice rumbled, not particularly loud but filled with malice. Dressed in a fiery red fur coat covered in snow and followed by a large company of retinues from the Qing Shan court, Zhuge Yue looked somberly at the child whose hands were covered in blood, pausing after each word.

Chu Qiao looked up as her pretty eyebrows knitted together. Why was Zhuge Yue here? But that's not important to me anymore. She gazed at him calmly, ther corners of her mouth raised in a faint smile. "As you can see, I've killed this filthy old man, who deserves to die ten thousand times over for his sins."