Jin Shu arrived at the capital just as the sun dipped below the horizon. The journey from Bck Mountain City had taken nearly the entire day, even on the fastest horse the Jin family owned. If the beast had been one from Earth, c the five hundred li would have taken weeks.

  “Wow! So many people!” Yin’er excimed from her per Jin Shu’s shoulder, her bright eyes wide as she surveyed the massive, snaking line of travelers waiting at the capital’s gates. From above, it might have looked like a winding dragon weaving its way toward the city.

  “Our business is urgent,” Jin Shu muttered to himself. “We’re skipping the line.”

  He urged his horse forward, cutting past the waiting crowd. Murmurs rippled through the throng as they noticed the young rider. A few people stepped forward, ready to scold him for his brazenness, but when their eyes nded on his finely embroidered robes and fident demeanor, they hesitated. Perhaps he was the son of some noble family?

  As Jin Shu reached the t gates, a young guard, not much older than him, stepped forward to block his path. “Halt! State your business!”

  Without hesitation, Jin Shu pulled an intricate golden seal from his robes. The ruched into its surface shimmered with ahereal glow, marking it as somethiraordinary. “This is the Seal of the Golden Prince,” he said, his toeady but firm. “I have urgent business with my uncle. I’d appreciate it if you’d let me through.”

  The guard frowned, her gaze lingering on the seal before she extended a hand. “Let me see that.”

  Relutly, Jin Shu handed over the seal, wary of creating a se. Before he could react further, the guard grabbed his wrist and yanked him off the saddle, smming him to the ground.

  “Impersonating a royal is a crime punishable by execution,” she said coldly, pinning him in pce. “But since you’re young, I’ll be generous. A few years in the dungeons should teach you a lesson.” She gestured to her fellow guards. “Take him away.”

  “Let go of Daddy!” Yin’er screeched, ung herself from Jin Shu’s shoulder. Her small form collided with the guard’s helmet, knog it off. The croed as the guard’s face was revealed—a young woman, her features sharp and unpromising.

  “Yin’er, stop!” Jin Shu shouted, cradling her protectively in his hands. His heart raced—any further resistance could end badly.

  The two uards stepped forward, drawing their swords. “Don’t resist!” one barked.

  Jin Shu raised his free hand, keeping his movements slow and deliberate. Fighting wasn’t an option here, not with the capital’s soldiers. “I’ll e quietly,” he said calmly.

  As he bent down to retrieve his seal, the female guard snatched it first, holding it aloft with a smirk. “Hmph! This fake seal will be iigated. You’ll expin yourself in the dungeons.”

  With a curt nod, she motioo the uards. “Take him away.”

  She picked up her helmet and pced it ba her head. “Hmph! I've lived my entire life in the capital and seen all the princes…” She blushed as she remembered his face. “He sure was handsome enough to be called a prihough…”

  ***

  “You arrested who!?” A stern bellow cut through the night air like a sword cleaving flesh.

  The young guardswoman, who had been reting her first arrest with pride, immediately stiffened. Her chest, puffed up moments ago, defted as the voice reached her ears.

  “Um, he was an imposter… right?” she stammered, fling as a pair of pierg eyes locked onto her.

  The man before her was Shen Gong, captain of the southern gate. His fierce reputation preceded him. Before his current role, he had been a decorated general with over a hundred victories to his name. Normally, a man of his caliber would never have been relegated to such a lowly position, but he had incurred the wrath of the Empress. His crime? Refusing to appoint the Prince as his lieutenant general.

  “No man will take a spot in my army without due course,” he had decred before the Emperor. “If they 't rise from the bottom and cw their way to the top, then they are no true soldier!”

  The Empress had demanded his execution, but the Emperreeing with Shen Gong’s principles, had demoted him instead, assigning him to guard duty at the southern gate for ten years to appease his wife.

  “Damn it, Li Xue!” Shen Gong barked, his hand twitg as it hovered over the hilt of his sword. “If you weren’t my brother-in-arms’ daughter, I’d have taken your head here and now!”

  “This is…” He held up the seal in his hand, its golden surface shimmering faintly uhe torchlight. His voice lowered, trembling slightly. “The Seal of the Golden Prince.”

  Li Xue paled.

  “You absolute fool,” he growled, his tone a mix of anger and disbelief. “Where is the owner of this seal?”

  “W-well… normally, we’d execute anyone impersonating a royal,” Li Xue stammered, avoiding his eyes. “But he was—uh—handsome! I mean, young! Yes, young! So, I had him pced in the dungeons instead. They should still be interrogating him… It’s only been an hour.”

  Her eyes darted nervously, tears threatening to spill. “W-who is the Golden Prince? I don’t remember any prih that title…”

  Shen Gong’s nostrils fred as he loomed over her. “You arrested the Golden Prihe son of the Phoenix Princess and the Emperor’s nephew.”

  Li Xue’s face drained of color. “T-the Phoenix Princess? As in that Phoenix Princess?”

  Shen Gong didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he grabbed her by the colr, dragging her along as he stormed toward the interrogation room. “The te Emperor’s beloved daughter, the current Emperor’s doted-upon sister, and the terror of the capital in her younger years. That Phoenix Princess!”

  Li Xue’s legs wobbled as she stumbled after him. Gulping audibly, she whispered, “I’m dead, aren’t I?”

  Shen Gong didn’t respond, his focus entirely on reag the interrogation room before any further damage was done.

  As realization sank in, Li Xue’s body went limp. She hung in his grip like a rag doll, resigo her fate.

  ***

  Jin Shu sat in a rough wooden chair in a cold, damp room that reeked of mildew. Opposite him stood a burly interrogator, his voice harsh as he demanded, “Why were you impersonating a member of the royal family?”

  “I’ve told you already. Send someone from the pace. I am Sun Mei’er’s son, the Emperor’s nephew,” Jin Shu replied, his tone calm and measured.

  Bang!

  The interrogator smmed his fist onto the wooden table, crag its surface like a spider’s web. “Don’t lie to me, brat!” he roared. His eyes then nded on the small tiger cub curled around Jin Shu’s neck, and a cruel smile crept onto his face. “You’re quite fond of that little beast, aren’t you?”

  “If you so much as touch a hair on her head, I will kill you,” Jin Shu said, his voice like ice.

  “You dare threaten me!?” the man spat. “Guards, restrain him!”

  Two guards stepped forward, their heavy boots eg against the stone floor. Yin’er, her fur bristling, hissed fiercely at the approag men.

  “And grab that little beast while you’re at it,” the interrogator added with a smirk.

  “Touch her, and all of you will die,” Jin Shu stated, his tone unyielding.

  The guards chuckled, brushing off his words as childish bravado. But as they reached out, Jin Shu began eling his qi toward the earring that held his on. He was moments away from ag when the door flew open with a thunderous bang!

  “Who dares!?” the interrogator shouted, spinning toward the sound. His fury dissolved instantly as he paled. “Ah… C-Captain Gong! What brings you here?”

  Shen Gong’s gaze burned with authority. “Let the prince go. Now!”

  “P-prince? rihe interrogator stammered, his face losing what little color it had left. Suddenly, Jin Shu’s earlier words hit him like a hammer. “L-let him go!” he barked at the bewildered guards.

  The guards stepped back, releasing Jin Shu.

  Shen Gong approached and bowed deeply. “Yhness, please five our offense.”

  Jin Shu rose from the chair, brushing off the dust on his robes. “And you are?”

  “Shen Gong, Captain of the Southern Gate, Yhness.”

  “Just Jin Shu will do.” Jin Shu extended his hand. “A pleasure to meet you, General Gong. I’ve heard tales of your battles.”

  Shen Goated for a moment before g Jin Shu’s hand in a firm grip, only to feel an equally firm response. His surprise showed briefly. “The pleasure is mihough I am no leneral, Yhness.”

  “We’ll see about that,” Jin Shu said, releasing his grip and turning toward the door.

  Shen Gong followed. “What would you have doh the offenders, Yhness?”

  Jin Shu stopped, looking over his shoulder. “Have them stripped—”

  Before he could finish, he coughed loudly, the thick dust in the underground room catg in his throat.

  Shen Gong straightened, misinterpreting the order. “…Yes, Yhness.”

  “Wait, what?” Jin Shu asked, fused, as Shen Gong turo g Li Xue, who had been hiding behind him.

  “Aah! P-please don’t do this, Yhness!” Li Xue cried, clutg at Jin Shu’s sleeve in desperation.

  “And who are you again?” Jin Shu asked, blinking.

  “T-the guard from the gate!” she said, her voice trembling. “You ’t do this to me! How could I return to my duties after having my maidenhood ruined!?”

  “Maidenhood? What are you talking about?” Jin Shu asked, bewildered.

  “You ordered us to be stripped!” Li Xue excimed, her face beet red.

  “Huh?! No, I didn’t! I ordered the interrogator to be stripped of his rank for threatening my Yin’er. You and the uards were just doing your jobs!”

  “But you said, ‘Have them stripped—’”

  “I coughed on dust before I could finish!” Jin Shu groaned as he facepalmed.

  As they walked out, Yin’er perched on Jin Shu’s shoulder, huffed indignantly. “ime, Daddy, let me hahe guards. They’re easier to knock down than squirrels!”

  Jin Shu sighed. “I’ll keep that in mind, Yin’er. But ime, aim for the interrogator.”

  MadFireGod