章 123: An Old Friend
Trigger: brief but explicit mention of suicide, if uncomfortable, please skip to paragraph 5!
Envoy Zhang Xiu, courtesy name Zhang Qiling.
Once upon a time, or, come to think of it, not all that long ago, before Liu Yao used the corpses of his brothers as the stairs upon which he ascended to the throne, he'd been crown prince of Great Ye and he hadn't learnt the meaning of loneliness yet. Sure, his father was a philandering wastrel albeit an imperial one and his mother didn't love him the way she loved his little brother, but Liu Yao had company nonetheless, in the form of his two study companions.
One he fell hopelessly in love with and the other he regarded as a bosom friend, one of the few and far between.
クリエイターの想い 
Queeniecat
Queeniecat (1) I couldn’t find historical basis for how criminals were addressed in ancient times and decided to do a loose translation of what I’ve seen in media, please take with a pinch of salt (like a lot of things in this novel!)
(2) Those who went barefoot are unafraid of those who wore shoes: a saying that means the higher someone is in status (e.g. wealth, power, rank) the more they have to lose when they go up against someone who has less than they do.
(3) A common saying that explains that it is difficult to know how a person truly feels underneath appearances.
(4) Ziyu: literally ‘jade child’. Courtesy name of this important character, whose real name isn’t been revealed yet! Comes from the saying ‘a gentleman is like jade’.
A/N: Thank you very much for reading! <3 I know lots of new characters are being introduced in volume 3 (on top of other old characters) but I promise they're here for a purpose >< Hope you've enjoyed so far!
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