The sun was already high when Xu Tianran sat staring blankly at a secret report.
The report's few short lines detailed how Ju Zi had left with Meng Chen and Ye Xishui.
Xu Tianran pressed his fingers against the report, bending them with excessive force and nearly gouging through the paper.
He read the report over and over, his fingers digging harder with each reading, until at last, with a ripping sound, the thin sheet bearing the report tore.
Xu Tianran recalled Ju Zi's reaction when he had spoken those words to her that day.
After carefully searching his memory, Xu Tianran finally remembered the knuckles she had clenched red as she lowered her head and agreed, and the suppressed resentment in her eyes before she left.
Xu Tianran had always assumed that resentment came from his Ju Zi's reluctance to leave him, that she had ultimately compromised and understood-the expression of a woman forced to accept a task she did not want but had no choice but to carry out.
Only now did he understand. What had Ju Zi ever been unwilling to do? She had already left with someone else. She must have had a wonderful time playing with Meng Chen that night, hadn't she?
Stabbing pains surged through Xu Tianran's heart. He seethed with hatred. If not for that assassination attempt years ago, how could he have been left unable to function as a man?
"Ju Zi... you actually betrayed me!"
Xu Tianran clenched his fists so hard that his nails dug into his palms, drawing blood.
He turned to the wall displaying a map of the Sun-Moon Empire's territory, his eyes filled with fanaticism.
"Ye Xishui... Meng Chen... just you two wait. I'm only one last step away from taking that throne!"
He walked up to