"What makes you think so, Strategist Yang?" Wei Liuying kept her composure. Her eyes were still looking straight to the figure in front of her eyes as she asked in a melodious tone.

Yang Xian chuckled and entered the room with a swift motion. His eyes were looking straight to Wei Liuying with traces of amusement. "Those who want to harm Ji Shu will not choose to harm Wei Xiao Hua because there's no point in doing that. They should rather kidnap her and make Ji Shu come to them or destroy her reputation completely. What happened look like a child's play."

Child's play.

If Wei Xiao Hua heard that, she would be thoroughly enraged. Having her skirt torn in front of so many people was an utter embarrassment that no women would want to go through.

"If women heard it, no one will want to be courted by you, Strategist Yang," Wei Liuying said unhurriedly.

Yang Xian chuckled. "I'm not that foolish to offend women in the public. Because of that, I know that the perpetrator must have targeted Wei Xiao Hua. Wei Zilin is too stupid. Wei Yijun can't do something like this while he was with you all the time. Or to be exact, he was in the same hiding place all the time just like what you supposed to do."

"And you think I'm not there?"

"No. You're the one who can execute the plan properly. All you need to do is to make sure that everyone believed that you're still hiding while in truth you go back to hide. Even though the distance seems ridiculous, I know that you're capable enough to pull that off." Yang Xian stopped in front of Wei Liuying. "And you're the only one who's asking for the names because you want to pray for their well being in Prince Ji Shu's hand, right?"

Wei Liuying raised her eyes. Two pairs of black eyes were staring at one another as their figures were reflected in each other's eyes. They were clear that what Yang Xian said was the truth, but their eyes betrayed none of their inner emotion.

Both of them were experts when it came to concealing their real feelings.

"You're smart, Strategist Yang," Wei Liuying broke their standstill as she uttered her answer after a while.

Yang Xian chuckled. "Thank you for your praise."

Wei Liuying neither acknowledge it nor denied it, but Yang Xian understood what she was saying. She would never tell what she did to anyone in her entire life. Yang Xian also didn't wish to urge her to speak if she didn't want to.

"Why do you suddenly make risky move?"

"If you don't have much time, what options would you have?" Wei Liuying asked slowly. Originally, she still has two years since she was only 14 years old, yet unfortunately, her sister didn't want to let her off the hook so easily and hastened the schemes. She looked back at Yang Xian. "Besides, there's nothing that I lost."

If she didn't stop Wei Xiao Hua from seeing the ladies, she was sure that the content of the conversation that they talked about would be her. Sooner or later, her reputation would be completely tarnished as everyone talked about how shameless she was to try seducing Prince Ji Shu.

Even if it was not the truth, who would care?

Rumors were more interesting than the truth.

Yang Xian rubbed his chin and pointed outside. "Don't you feel bad that you had inevitably put those young masters to their grave?"

"People will die sooner or later. My hands have always been stained with blood. Adding some more, what's the different?" Wei Liuying asked back once more.

From young, she had already taken the lives of so many servants in her residence. Those who tried to harm her, scheme against her, or tried to trip her, were all sent to their death by her. Some were directly inside the residence while some others were through external means.

With her mother also asking her to help scheming, the number of lives that Wei Liuying had taken wouldn't lose even if she compared to a soldier who had gone to war a few times. There were a lot of blood spilled just because the servants have much lower status and wished to overstep their bounds.

They wanted to be like the phoenix that reborn from the ashes.

But they forgot, the risk from offending their masters were terribly high. Just one wrong step would be more than enough to send them to their graves. The odds to be successful was very low.

"You're very calm," Yang Xian said.

Wei Liuying looked back. "There's no one who's genuinely innocent. If there's such a person in this world, I can only say that he or she's very lucky as everyone would be forced to see the brutal reality of this cruel world."

Yang Xian nodded. He knew that. Ever since he was young, he had to take numerous lives simply because he wanted to survive. In the wilderness, only the strong would be able to survive as it was a harsh life.

In that kind of environment, killing had become an everyday activity.

No one would want to get used with it, but in this kind of world, those who could keep their hands clean were extremely lucky.

"Are you not afraid?"

"If I'm afraid, I should never take a step out of my room," Wei Liuying said with a smile. "Death is always near me. All I can do is to use whatever means in my disposal to make sure that I can evade it."

"Even if it means sacrificing the innocent?"

Wei Liuying looked back at Yang Xian. "Do I need to repeat my words again, Strategist Yang? There's no one who's genuinely innocent. What I did is only to help them reach their end much faster."

Yang Xian shook his head lightly. He also understood what Wei Liuying said, but even if she said that she had to do it for her own survival, she also prayed for them. After all, it was inevitable that they had suffered because of her schemes.

People were selfish individual.

As long as it was in their favor, it was all fine. Those who offended them all have to die. No one would care for unrelated people around them.

But they completely forgot one thing:

The world didn't revolve around them.

When it came to this, all that mattered was simply what they wanted. There was no longer any right or wrong. It all turned into a conflict of interest where things were unable to be resolved with peace.

"You should rest."

"I would have rest earlier if not for an annoying intruder and a shameless eaves dropper," Wei Liuying said calmly.

Yang Xian arched his eyebrows. He shrugged. "Then I won't impose on you anymore. However, I want you to know that you're not the only one who's bearing the burden of those who were dead. Many positions can only be obtained through stepping on the dead bodies."

Including general and strategist.

Wei Liuying looked at Yang Xian, who had departed into the night once more. What he said, she understood. There were many times when they have to make difficult option because there was no other way out.

Sacrificing soldiers to achieve victory… isn't that what a strategist have to do? It was a cruel way to describe his work, but it was also appropriate. Even though what he did was to make sure that they win with fewest casualties and obtained the most benefit, it was inevitable that there would be countless dead bodies in his path.

From both his enemies and comrades.

It's his burden and responsibility as the leader, which was not something everyone could bear.

'I'm thinking too much today.'

Pushing all thoughts from her mind, Wei Liuying walked to her bed. She needed to rest.