The Ministry of Punishments' prison.
In the cramped, dim cell, the Chancellor walked slowly in with the light behind him. He went straight to the far end and looked at the man inside.
"General, have you ever regretted it?" he asked.
The General Who Assists the State shifted his gaze slightly and fell silent.
How could he not regret it?
If only that blow had killed him outright.
Instead, he had merely been knocked unconscious.
Who could have imagined he would wake up again, only to be thrown straight into prison without having accomplished a thing?
Looking at the man who had once enjoyed such boundless glory, now reduced to a disheveled prisoner, the Chancellor sighed inwardly.
A trace of exasperation flashed in his eyes. "Look at you. Why wouldn't you listen to my advice? As long as it benefits Southern Zhao and its people, what does it matter whom His Majesty takes as his Queen? Yet you insisted on having your own way."
"The Queen's standing is every bit as exalted as His Majesty's, if not more so. Had our king not shamelessly... moved him with his sincerity, do you think just anyone could have persuaded him to willingly become their Queen?"
"Do you know why, over these past six years, the people of the Jin Kingdom have remained well fed and clothed, and its army strong, despite every natural disaster and man-made calamity? It is all thanks to our Queen personally overseeing the Ministry of Revenue and keeping the treasury full year after year."
"Now that he has come to Southern Zhao, do we still need to fear hordes of starving people with neither food nor clothing?"
He looked at the general, disappointment flickering in his eyes.
Every word cut to the heart. "Yet you chose to support