Shrek? That place branded a nest of rebels? The one Lin Ye and my imperial brother destroyed themselves... Overwhelming terror seized her in an instant. "I wasn't sure... I didn't know where he came from..."
"Xue Qinghe" let out a barely audible sneer.
Clatter!
A dossier was casually tossed onto the gold-tiled floor at her feet, its pages scattering.
Xue Ke saw several words that stabbed at her eyes: "Shrek," "Flender," "Yu Xiaogang," "collusion with Xue Xing"... Beside them, the associated individual's name was clearly marked-"Tang San."
Copies of signed and sealed testimonies were attached below.
Her body swayed violently.
It's true... Those rumors... They were true... He deceived me? Used me?
"Xue Qinghe's" voice slithered into her ears like an icy venomous snake. "My dear sister, did you truly not know?"
He slowly rose, his bright yellow dragon robes casting a heavy shadow across the hall.
"Xue Qinghe" stared at her devastated face, enunciating every word with cruel mockery steeped into his voice. "No, you knew. If I say you knew, then you knew."
Xue Ke lifted her head in disbelief.
"Brother!" Xue Ke cried in panic. "You... Why are you..."
What's happened to him? Is he still the brother who cherished and protected me?
"Xue Qinghe" had already stepped before her, his towering figure engulfing her completely, without a trace of warmth.
"Xue Qinghe's" voice seemed to rise from the nine depths of the underworld, severing her last shred of hope. "You have only yourself to blame for trusting someone you never should have trusted. He, Tang San, is a thorn the empire must pull out, a stumbling block on the road ahead for the Thousand-Facets King and me."
His icy gaze swept over her bloodless face. "In the Heaven Dou Empire, my will is iron law. Not