Chapter 6 I’m Willing to Give It My All

Chapter 6: I Am Willing to Give It My All

"Borrow his head... for a moment?"

Can a person live without a head?

Sima Daozi’s pupils contracted. "You mean to kill me?"

"How dare you!"

Even though the Heavenly Scroll had already informed the world that he, the Prince of Kuaiji, had usurped power from the late emperor, committed numerous misdeeds, and was thus intolerable to the new ruler, he never imagined that the first to move against him would be Wang Shenai, the Crown Princess.

The fact that she spoke first, not Wang Xun, made Sima Daozi instinctively realize—

The true decision to kill him must have come from Wang Shenai.

This mere thirteen-year-old child!

His voice turned sharp. "Does the Crown Princess truly believe that offering my head will serve as a pledge of loyalty to that Emperor Yong'an? The Wang clan of Langya is deeply intertwined with our Sima clan. If the Jin Dynasty falls, you too..."

"Who said we must perish with you?" Wang Shenai retorted, cutting him off.

"Imperial Uncle, oh Imperial Uncle, you are indeed a pillar of the royal house, but don't forget—the appearance of the Heavenly Scroll might not be entirely favorable for that future Emperor Yong'an."

"For the Wang clan of Langya to make a clear choice now is hardly opportunism. In fact, it might even be seen as a timely rescue, wouldn’t you agree?"

Wang Xun remained silent but nodded in agreement.

Just look at Sima Daozi—before even identifying his target, he was already eager to kill indiscriminately.

Such behavior would hardly be an isolated case.

Once Emperor Yong'an's identity was exposed, the dangers he faced would be no less than now.

If the Wang clan of Langya were willing to gamble, acting decisively now would make any future schemes—even a betrayal of Emperor Yong'an—much easier to carry out.

As Wang Shenai had said, this was no time for hesitation or inaction.

Killing Sima Daozi brought far more benefits than risks!

"You have already lost heaven's mandate. There is no need to struggle further," Wang Shenai said coolly, raising her hand the moment she finished speaking.

She had no patience left for Sima Daozi’s empty words.

If he was of no further use, then death it would be.

The archers Wang Xun had summoned were all personal guards of the Wang clan of Langya, with little reverence for the Eastern Jin imperial family—let alone the Prince of Kuaiji before them.

The instant Wang Shenai lifted her hand, a dozen arrows flew.

Amid the whistling of arrows cutting through the air, a voice cut off abruptly. "You cannot—"

No. There was nothing she could not do.

Sima Daozi’s eyes widened.

Arrowheads had already sunk into his chest and forehead, only the fletchings quivering outside.

All his defiance and resistance turned to dust in that instant, scattered by the wind.

The last remnants of his consciousness faded swiftly, leaving him unable to discern whether the Heavenly Scroll's prediction of being torn apart by five horses was more brutal or if this death was more ignominious.

But one thing was certain—his earlier struggles and plans had all been rendered meaningless.

His body hit the ground before his final breath even left him.

At this moment, less than half a day had passed since the death of Emperor Xiaowu, Sima Yao.

Wang Shenai tilted her head back, wrenching her gaze away from the bloody scene before her and up to the painted beams above. Yet the metallic stench of blood still assaulted her nostrils.

Earlier, Sima Yao’s suffocation by Noble Lady Zhang had been largely concealed by the night. But now, death lay exposed before her—and worse, it was by her own command.

Had she eaten anything since last night, she would have vomited from the horror.

But her nails digging painfully into her palms reminded her—she couldn't show the slightest weakness now. She could not disrupt her own path to survival.

She could not!

Her face stayed expressionless. With her hands clasped behind her back and her breath held, she strode out of the hall. Only when she reached the gardens outside did she finally exhale, her breathing came easier.

Then came the sound of footsteps behind her.

It was Wang Xun. "Crown Princess, should we follow the Heavenly Scroll’s prophecy and have Sima Daozi torn apart by five horses?"

Wang Shenai turned in shock. "Uncle, how bloodthirsty!"

Wang Xun stammered briefly. "..."

No! It was Wang Shenai who had first decided to kill Sima Daozi, not him! At most, he had merely suggested seeing it through completely—where did this "bloodthirstiness" come from?

At... at most, he was merely adapting to the circumstances.

Besides, hadn’t Wang Shenai reminded him? Political maneuvering was not only useless now—it should be abandoned entirely.

Wang Shenai took a deep breath. "No need. Have them take the Prince of Kuaiji’s head instead. I have another use for it. Additionally, Uncle, I need you to do two more things."

Wang Xun nodded. "Speak."

The night had brought too much. Even with Sima Daozi dead, he felt utterly drained. And despite knowing that, as the elder, he should be the one strategizing, he found himself deferring to Wang Shenai’s plans—and growing to trust her instincts.

This subtle shift was something he couldn’t quite define as good or bad. For now, he could only take one step at a time.

"Earlier, Sima Daozi mentioned he had sent killers after Liu Laozhi. Whether or not he is the Grand General Liu mentioned in the Heavenly Scroll, Uncle, please try your best to save him. He could be valuable to us."

"Furthermore, though Sima Daozi is dead, his allies still live. We must call in reinforcements as quickly as possible."

The forces at their disposal today numbered only two or three hundred—nowhere near enough to control the capital of Jiankang.

Danger could strike again at any moment.

She didn't kill Sima Daozi only to lose her own life next.

The sickening smell in the air was finally swept away by the autumn breeze in the courtyard. Wang Shenai closed her eyes, her jaw twitching briefly as she clenched her jaw. When she opened them again, her expression was calm. "I entrust these two matters entirely to you, Uncle. As for me—"

"I must now go see someone."

Someone who appeared unimportant in the palace but had suddenly become crucial now that Sima Daozi was dead.

...

"Crash—"

Li Lingrong knocked over the sandalwood brocade box before her, stumbling backward several steps.

The head inside the box tumbled out, rolling across the palace rug and leaving a trail of blood.

She gaped in disbelief, darting between the head on the floor and Wang Shenai's face before her. The wave of dizziness nearly made her collapse, threatening to rob her of consciousness.

The screams of the palace maids pierced her ears, making her tremble with the realization that what she was seeing was no illusion.

"You killed him..."

Her instincts screamed at her to lunge forward and strike down the murderer before her, just as she had done earlier with Noble Lady Zhang. Yet, a chilling terror and helplessness glued her feet to the floor, rendering her immobile.

Only a shocked cry escaped her: "Why did you kill him?!"

Wang Shenai raised her gaze, two streams of tears already streaming down her face.

Li Lingrong: "...?"

Wait—she was the one who committed the murder, so why was *she* crying?

Before the question could even form in her throat, the young Crown Princess wiped her tears with her sleeve, sobbing even harder, as if it were not the Dowager Empress Li Lingrong who had lost a loved one, but herself.

Wang Shenai swallowed hard, but the more she thought of her current predicament, the more her tears flowed. Her voice shook with resentment: "Did I *want* to kill him? The Heavenly Scroll foretold it—Imperial Uncle was doomed to die sooner or later. Better his death mean something."

"You—"

Her reddened eyes met Li Lingrong's, cutting off the Dowager Empress's unspoken words: "Your Majesty came from humble origins. Then you must know what kind of public outrage the Heavenly Scroll's revelations will stir across the land, and how the late Emperor will be mocked!"

Li Lingrong froze.

Unlike those noblewomen from prestigious families, she had little education. She'd lived comfortably only by sheer luck and bearing two sons.

But she knew one thing—just as swallows from the Wang and Xie families' halls never flew into commoners' homes, her powerful princely son had never cared about the people.

After the Battle of Fei River, the court slowly reclaimed lands and expanded several refugee prefectures. Yet, the people in these regions were never properly registered. Instead, most became Sima Daozi's private assets...

Some of these things had even been boasted to her by her own son.

If the Heavenly Scroll hadn't revealed this, it might have been bearable. But now... now it was different!

Wang Shenai repeated, as if persuading the Dowager Empress—or perhaps herself, who had just committed the act: "He was destined to die. The only difference was who would kill him."

"But why—"

"Your Majesty," Wang Shenai clutched her sleeve, her words desperate, "you've already lost a son. Do you wish to lose your grandsons as well? A man doomed to die, in exchange for the survival of the Crown Prince and the Second Prince—why hesitate?"

"In fact, we should spread the word that before the late Emperor was killed by Noble Lady Zhang, he was slain by the rebellious Prince of Kuaiji. After a night of fierce battle, the traitors were finally executed. That sounds much better."

Li Lingrong nearly bit her tongue, stunned that Wang Shenai could suggest such a thing.

She couldn't bear to look at the bloody head on the floor, avoiding its unseeing eyes. Instead, she fixed her gaze on the Crown Princess. "And then? What about Yuanxian?"

Sima Yuanxian—Sima Daozi's son, her own grandson!

From the Crown Princess's standpoint, protecting the Crown Prince and the Second Prince was logical. In the face of "he was doomed to die anyway," Sima Daozi's death seemed inevitable. But what of Sima Yuanxian?

Could she lose two sons in one night, and now a grandson as well?

She couldn't be blamed for her bias. Compared to the simple-minded Sima Dezong and timid Sima Dewen, Sima Yuanxian was truly clever, bold, and sharp-witted—a rare talent.

What if...

"Your Majesty, but he *cannot* be the future Emperor Yong'an!" Wang Shenai's cold words hit Li Lingrong like a bucket of ice water.

"If he were, the gods on the Heavenly Scroll wouldn't have condemned Imperial Uncle so harshly, nor would they have said he repeatedly caused trouble for Emperor Yong'an."

"The Second Prince is more likely to be the future emperor than he is!"

"Sacrificing one more person to save many—especially to protect you and your two grandsons in the palace—we can't hesitate."

"Your Majesty, I never wanted it to come to this, but..." she added, her voice broke, as if she had struggled with the decision.

But the times and fate had forced their hands.

Faced with this relentless barrage, Li Lingrong's lips trembled, rendered speechless for a long moment.

Or rather, with her meager education, she stood no chance against Wang Shenai's relentless arguments.

Even as tear stains still marked the younger woman's face, making her seem like nothing more than a fragile girl, Li Lingrong found those eyes harder to meet than the dead man's unseeing gaze.

"...Then why come to me?"

Wang Shenai sniffled. "The Emperor has passed, Imperial Uncle is dead, the princes are young, and under the Heavenly Scroll, vultures circle everywhere. I beg Your Majesty to issue an edict mobilizing the Beifu Army to protect the throne! This order *must* come from the Dowager Empress."

"I... I don't know how to do this!" A flash of shame and deeper terror crossed Li Lingrong's already dark complexion.

The Han Dynasty's dowager empresses had the ability to govern as regents—she had no such skills.

She wasn't even sure she'd survive. With survival uncertain, she had no time to grieve her son's death for long, nor who to blame.

Wang Shenai clenched her teeth and stepped forward. "Then let *me* do it! Faced with this disaster, I am willing—to give it my all."