Dai Youheng returned to the inner chamber and called in an even voice, "Ling Ya."
A figure appeared silently, as though seeping out of the shadows, and knelt on one knee with the utmost respect. "At your service."
"Ling Ya, your highest priority for now is to secretly protect my mother, Bai Wanning, and my younger brother, Dai Luoli," Dai Youheng ordered. "I'm certain that venomous woman will target me a few times first. Once she fails, she'll leap over the wall like a cornered dog and turn her sights on them, trying to use my mother and brother to threaten me. When that happens, you must intervene at just the right moment, stage their apparent deaths, then secretly move them somewhere absolutely safe."
Once his mother and brother "died" at the Duchess's hands, he would have an irrefutable pretext to overturn the chessboard and consign Zhu Man and her followers to eternal ruin! Whether purging the Duke's Mansion or explaining his actions to outsiders, he would hold the absolute moral high ground.
"Your subordinate obeys!" Ling Ya answered without hesitation.
"Once that's done, I have another task for you." Dai Youheng paused, his tone softening slightly. "I know you've worked hard lately, but this next task is closely tied to your future plans for revenge."
Ling Ya abruptly raised his head, a blazing light bursting from his eyes. "Young Master, you're too kind! Without you, I'd still be a slave barely clinging to life in the Black Market. How could I ever have attained my titled cultivation or hoped for revenge? I'd die ten thousand deaths to serve you! And if it aids my revenge, then even through mountains of blades and seas of fire, I wouldn't so much as furrow my brow!"
Dai Youheng nodded in satisfaction. "Good.