Li Suifeng was so frightened he nearly wet himself.

He dropped the knife in his hand, his legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground.

It was the first time he had ever killed someone.

One slash had severed the female spy’s carotid artery.

Blood spurted out, warm and sticky, splashing across his face.

His first kill—in the imperial study, right in front of the Emperor.

He quickly snapped out of it, knelt on the ground, and stammered, “Y-Your Majesty, please forgive me! This woman was insolent, disrespectful of Your Majesty’s authority, and brazenly insulted you. I simply couldn’t tolerate it and acted on impulse…”

Yue Niang had told him—this woman could not be allowed to live.

But even after she said so many things to provoke the Emperor, the Emperor hadn’t ordered Furong’s death.

So, he had to do it himself.

“Any man of Great Wei with a spine would not have remained unmoved by those words,” the Emperor’s anger seemed to ebb away with Furong’s death.

He stepped down and helped Li Suifeng to his feet. “Marquis of Xiangyang, you are a loyal subject. It seems I misjudged you in the past.”

Li Suifeng was overjoyed.

He had thought his merit would be negated for killing Furong—but to his surprise, the Emperor had recognized his loyalty and skill.

Just as he was about to speak—

Commander Qiu interjected, “The Yue Kingdom would never send only one spy. The Marquis of Xiangyang killed this woman on impulse, which has made it far more difficult for the court to track down the rest. I humbly suggest—”

“Cough! Cough! Cough!”

Li Suifeng burst into a fit of coughing.

Clutching his chest, looking weak and frail, he knelt again. “Commander Qiu is absolutely right… cough cough… I was wrong not to report the spy earlier… I should have waited for her to contact other Yue agents, then captured them all in one sweep… It was my impatience, I am guilty… cough cough… Please, Your Majesty, punish me!”

He kept coughing, blood on his face, his robe soaked red.

Commander Qiu stared, dumbfounded.

What a shameless Marquis of Xiangyang—resorting to a damsel-in-distress act like a woman!

Unbelievable!

Just then, he felt a cold gaze upon him.

The Emperor’s eyes were fixed on him, and he said sharply, “You, the great Commander of the Capital, failed to uncover a spy who had infiltrated for two years. The spy was only caught thanks to the Marquis. What use are you then? I give you five days—find every last spy. Or you can hand over your command!”

Cold sweat poured down Commander Qiu’s face.

He had thought today would bring him glory, not a death sentence!

All he could do was bow deeply: “Yes, Your Majesty. I accept the command!”

The Emperor turned to Li Suifeng. “Beloved subject Li, how do you feel? Shall I summon the imperial physician to examine you?”

Li Suifeng quickly replied, “The imperial physicians serve the royal family—how could they tend to a lowly official like me? I was only startled during the struggle with the spy, nothing serious.”

“Very well.” The Emperor rubbed his fingers thoughtfully. “If I recall, you were once stationed at the Tongzheng Department?”

Li Suifeng forced a dry laugh. “That department just received a group of brilliant new scholars. I thought young people were better suited to such work, so I resigned.”

That had been nearly a decade ago.

He’d never had much scholarly learning, often skipped work, and eventually, the director had found a pretext to kick him out.

Back then, being jobless felt like freedom.

But ever since Yue Niang had been kidnapped, he realized how dangerous it was to have no real power.

When trouble came, no one helped.

Even trying to investigate the commoner Zhen Heng turned up nothing.

When it came down to it, without power, anyone could trample over you.

“Beloved subject Li is a loyal patriot—truly a pillar of the state. How about this—” The Emperor paused in thought, “The Zhaixing Pavilion is about to be built. I’ll put you in charge. I’ll grant you the position of Fifth-Rank Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Works. What do you say?”

Li Suifeng’s eyes went wide.

Then he instantly knelt and kowtowed, “Thank you, Your Majesty! Long live the Emperor! I shall not fail you!”

Commander Qiu was livid.

He should never have brought Li Suifeng along to report back!

A sure path to glory had been completely wrecked!

As they left the palace, Li Suifeng was in high spirits.

Commander Qiu huffed and rode off ahead.

Li Suifeng paid him no mind, leisurely riding his horse back to the marquis’ residence.

It was already quite late.

At the estate, everyone was anxiously waiting.

Especially Bai Ruzhu—she paced restlessly, muttering to herself nonstop.

The old Marquis, however, remained calm. “Though this is Suifeng’s first private audience with the Emperor, he’s over thirty now. He’ll know how to handle things. Don’t worry.”

That only made everyone more nervous—especially Li Zhiyue.

She hadn’t expected that her father, after living over thirty years as the dignified Marquis of Xiangyang, had never privately met the Emperor outside of court.

Honestly, with how carefree he was, it was a miracle he’d kept his title this long—must be their ancestors’ blessings.

As the family fretted, a scout stumbled in, shouting, “Old Marquis! Madam! Young Master! Miss! The Marquis has returned—safe and sound!”

The “calm” old Marquis bolted outside faster than anyone.

The rest followed close behind.

Under the night sky, they saw Li Suifeng approaching slowly on horseback, humming a little tune, as if out for a spring outing.

Bai Ruzhu’s anxiety instantly turned to anger: “Does the Marquis not know how worried the whole family was? Why didn’t he ride home quickly? Humming like that—what is this, a joyride?”

She was just finishing her scolding when the firelight revealed—his face was covered in blood.

Her expression turned pale. “You’re injured?!”

“How could I be? I’m perfectly fine!”

Li Suifeng dismounted—but probably from the shock earlier, his legs had gone numb.

He stumbled and fell to the ground.

Bai Ruzhu panicked. “Yun-ge! Help your father up!”

Li Suifeng tried to act strong, but his legs really were too weak.

The fear from the palace was finally catching up—his hands were shaking too.

Bai Ruzhu and Li Muyun supported him on either side, helping him into the house.

She checked his body carefully, only relaxing when she confirmed he had no wounds.

“I’m fine, really,” Li Suifeng said, gulping down a cup of tea. “You have no idea how brave I was. I killed that spy right in front of the Emperor! And not only did His Majesty not punish me—he called me ‘Beloved Subject Li’ and praised my loyalty and patriotism. He said I’m the pillar of the nation! Hahaha!”

The old Marquis couldn’t believe it. “The Emperor has never called me that!”

“Well, I earned it!” Li Suifeng thumped his chest proudly. “Father, can you believe it? His Majesty even promoted me to a Fifth-Rank official in the Ministry of Works—uh, I forgot the exact title, but I’m in charge of the Zhaixing Pavilion construction!”