Chapter 8: Chapter 8

After her family fell, she knew that she could no longer hide under their wings. So using her grandfathers contacts, and the shadow guard, she forged out her own power. Slowly taking over some inconspicuous positions. She didn't dare to touch any power that her father couldn't accept. She knew that even if she was his daughter, he could still ruthlessly dispose of her, if she crossed his bottom line.

So unlike her brothers who fought for power both overtly and secretly, dipping their hands into both civil and military positions. She chose to start building an information network, one that could span throughout the entire empire, and the best place to gather information was naturally in brothels.

Men have always been prideful and vain, add onto that their lustful nature, and it's not hard for the prostitutes to entice them into revealing some sensitive information.

Although it could be debated that she is benefiting off of the misery of her fellow women, the princess didn't care. She was not a saint. Born into the royal family, their are few who are truly kind, and those that are, won't live long anyway.

But she still holds someone dearly in her heart, so she knows that she can't be powerless, otherwise she'll be used as a tool for someone else.

Therefore after a few years of slowly building up her network, she also began to use the secrets acquired to benefit herself. She didn't have any ambition towards the throne, and as long as those brothers of hers didn't try to harm her interests, she was willing to live in peace.

However the reason that the people of the capital are so frightened of her, is simply because if she is offended, she will never show mercy. Many times, some short sighted person wanted to take advantage of her embarrassing position, as a helpless princess to climb up the royal family. These people were small minded, believing that if they got her body, she would be forced to bow to them.

Some of these people happened to be the lackeys of various brothers of hers, so without hesitation she showed the people of the capital what would happen if they dared to offend her.

One of those people was the eldest son of the head minister of rites. The ministry of rites was in charge of most of the culture related events in the empire. Mainly for auspicious events that centred around the royal family, be it weddings or sacrifices, all of them were involved. With the superstitious nature of the people in the empire, the head of the ministry of rites could be said to hold considerable sway in the court.

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His son however, was a licentious and idle waste. Using his father's position to get away with many heinous crimes. Many of which were harassing innocent girls, causing them to either be sent to the nunnery, commit suicide, or to be killed off silently by their families, so as to save face. This wasn't surprising since the reputation and innocence of a girl was said to be the most important thing to them. Knowing that her virginity had been taken by the son of a powerful minister, they could only dispose of the girl.

It was such a scumbag that set his eyes on the Princess without a family backing. He thought just as before, as long as he 'did the deed' first, then she could only obediently become his wife. Because even if she had no maternal family, she was still a direct princess, and their children would also have royal blood.

He knew that he couldn't simply break into the princess's mansion, so he planned an opportunity at a gathering for the children of the court. When she was unprepared, he would have a maid drug her wine, and take her to a nearby room to rest, where he would enjoy the spoils. At least that's what was supposed to happen.

Unfortunately for the son of the ministry of rites, the princess was well aware of his plans, thanks tk him revealing it during his stay at the brothel. So when he saw that she left the Banquet early, he felt very regretful, deciding to formulate another plan to get his hands on her, not knowing that the consequences of his attempt would leave him no room to maneuver.

Only a few days after that gathering, during the night, after playing in the brothel and choosing to enjoy the cool breeze of the night, followed by a few of his attendants, who had committed no less crimes than him. A group of people clad in black dragged them into a nearby alley, and began to torture them. Their muffled screams, and fearful begging were heard by the residents of the houses next to the alleyway, but the first rile of living in the capital, is to mind your own business. So the screams drew no attention, and the closest patrol seemed to have disappeared as well, leaving the group plenty of time to exact their torture.

When dawn broke over the capital, the people were frightened by the sight they beheld. Outside of the mansion of the head minister of rites, the corpses of his eldest son, and his sons attendants were swaying gently from the early morning wind, their bodies hanging from the front gate were skinned perfectly, their eyes bulging in terror and their faces stuck in an expression as if experiencing excruciating pain.

Their skins that had been carefully removed so as to preserve the appearance as much as possible, were worn on a few dogs chained in front of the mansion. The message sent was frighteningly clear. 'These men, were beasts in human skin'.

This alarmed many of the ministers, and even the emperor was shocked by this event. He ordered an investigation, but found only countless crimes that had been committed. When the ministers in charge of investigating relayed the information they had found, even the head minister of rites couldn't raise his head to ask for justice. After all, it could be said to be retribution, but the worst part of all of it was, there was too many potential suspects, but none seemed to have the power or ability, to complete such a complicated execution. 

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