Chapter 129

"Where... was this?" She slowly sat up, but when she tried to stand, she stumbled and dropped back down. Looking down, she saw that her hands and feet were shackled. Then she looked up, and the scene before her suddenly took on a grim, tragic air.

Sturdy prison bars cast from steel, gleaming locks, every manner of torture device hanging or laid out on the floor—a row of braziers glowed red with burning charcoal, filling the dark, damp cell with billowing heat. The frequent crackle of sparks made her feel sick all over.

This sinister, terrifying, impregnable cell was definitely no crude lockup for people who stole a couple of eggs, fought Li Ergou next door, or harassed respectable women! Judging by its scale and furnishings... could this be where they held condemned prisoners?

Had her identity as a woman been exposed? Had they convicted her of deceiving the emperor while she was unconscious?

She remembered those bastard Personal Guards tearing open the collar of her clothing. At the thought, she hurriedly felt her chest. The fabric there was intact; only the neckline had been torn wide. It seemed they had not discovered her greatest secret after all. But why tear her clothing for no reason? And why at the neck...

Wait. The Minister of Works' seal she wore around her neck was gone!

Those bastards! They had not been trying to expose her as a woman. They knew she carried a life-saving token bestowed by His Majesty, so they had struck first and stolen her Minister of Works' seal!

Click.

As she thought, she heard the cell door open. She raised her head. The newcomer was already standing over her. For the second time, she faced Li Xiangfan, the dynasty's powerful prime minister.

"Who told you to beguile His