Su Qiao raised the sword in her hand. "This was the sword my mother used back then."
She carefully examined the sword for a while, then looked at Su Qiao's face.
The Empress finally confirmed that the petite but exceptionally beautiful woman before her, who also possessed remarkable martial skills, was the child her imperial younger sister had once held in her arms.
"Su Qiao?"
"You should be called Su Qiao."
"Your name was given to you by the Former Emperor back then."
She waved her hand to dismiss the hidden guards, then gestured for Su Qiao to sit at the table by the window.
"Where is your mother?"
Su Qiao did not stand on ceremony. She put away her sword and sat down directly. "Does Her Majesty the Empress still want to kill her?"
"Unfortunately, even if you wanted to kill her, you no longer have the chance. Her old injuries flared up more than two years ago. She was mauled by a wolf on the mountain and died."
"She's dead?"
Su Lan, the Empress, was somewhat incredulous. She lost herself for a moment. "How could that be...?"
Seeing that she did not seem hostile, Su Qiao dropped a hint:
"She spent so many years on the battlefield. She had no shortage of hidden injuries."
Even though they had once served different masters and stood on opposing sides, her mother, Prince Ying, had still made tremendous contributions to the Great Su Dynasty.
Su Lan sighed. "Actually, I never truly blamed her for what happened back then."
"Your mother was carefree and uninhibited by nature, bold and unrestrained, and unwilling to be bound. She should never have been dragged into it.
But she had a younger sister with enormous ambitions, and in the end, she had no choice but to