Smack! Serena Feng tossed her brush aside and flopped back into her chair.
I wonder if General Warren Yu can help me through this crisis. If not, I might have to stay 'sick' until all the princes return to their fiefs.
Warren Yu, Warren Yu, I'm counting on you now. I've never met those princes, but judging from Adrian Dongling, they're all ruthless. To save my life, I made them my scapegoats—they must hate me. Even if they go back to their fiefs, they won't let me off.
From this poisoning incident, Serena Feng clearly realized that many want her dead. Some won't act directly, but if the opportunity arises, they'll go with the flow. After all, no one cares if a solitary woman lives or dies—her death wouldn't change anything.
To protect her own life, Serena Feng had no choice but to fight back. But her own power was too weak—she could only seek outside help.
Ninth Royal Uncle Nolan Dongling and William Wang Jinling were out of the question—they're right under the Emperor's nose, and turning to them would be too risky. After thinking it over, Serena Feng decided to seek help from General Warren Yu.
Before leaving, Warren Yu told her that if she ever faced a problem she couldn't solve, she should send word to him. He's far out on the frontier, beyond the Emperor's reach, free to act as he pleases.
With nothing to lose, Serena Feng picked up her brush and wrote a letter explaining her situation, asking Warren Yu if he had any way to help her escape. If not, she'd think of something else.
Using a special channel, Serena Feng sent the letter out. Ten days later, she received Warren Yu's reply: Don't worry, he'd prepared a special birthday tribute for the Emperor. Because of that gift, the Emperor would have to protect her.
Warren Yu sounded completely confident. Although Serena Feng believed he wasn't one to boast, she still worried—what kind of gift could make the Emperor spare her?
The Emperor is not someone you can reason with easily. If this ends up making him dislike General Warren Yu, that would be disastrous.
Only later, when Serena Feng met Warren Yu, did she understand the source of his confidence—he had given the Emperor exactly what he wanted: military maps of Southern Lyn, Lyndaria, and Northlyn.
No one knows where those maps came from; all that's clear is that, because of these three maps, the Emperor became even more determined to wage war on the three kingdoms. But that's a story for another time.
Sitting in her study, Serena Feng was weighing her options in case Warren Yu couldn't help her escape, when suddenly a thunderous boom split the night. Startled, she went to the window and opened it to look outside.
"Fireworks? Since when does Eastlyn have fireworks—especially colored ones? Could this be Liam Li's doing? What is he up to?" To Serena Feng, Liam Li was a thorn in her side; she couldn't sleep peacefully while he lived, and he felt the same about her.
Serena Feng soon found out what Liam Li was up to. As dozens of fireworks burst into beautiful blossoms overhead, Feng Manor erupted into chaos.
"Fire! Fire! Hurry, put out the fire!"
"Help!"
With a deafening roar, flames shot up, and in the blink of an eye, half of Feng Manor was engulfed in fire. Even Serena Feng's courtyard was swept up, the blaze turning half the sky red.
"A fire? Impossible." Staring at the raging flames, Serena Feng was stunned. Feng Manor's fire-prevention measures were always meticulous—even if a fire broke out, it shouldn't have spread so fast, swallowing half the manor in an instant.
Only when the air filled with the stench of kerosene did Serena Feng realize: 'Liam Li, you bastard!'
He actually destroyed her home—her only home.
A tear slipped down Serena Feng's cheek. Her fists clenched, her whole body taut; her eyes blazed with fury, her face—lit by the fire—looked like a blooming rose, beautiful but bristling with thorns.
Her home... the home she'd longed for across two lifetimes, gone in an instant.
Put out the fire? Impossible. The house was all wood—how could you save it from an inferno like this?
Serena Feng's face flickered in the firelight, fierce and resolute.
"Miss, Miss, hurry!" Mira Tang and Jada Tang rushed in, found Serena Feng frozen at the window, and dragged her out.
Serena Feng didn't resist—her two maids pulled her out into the courtyard.
Boom...
Just as she escaped, Serena Feng watched her painstakingly built operating room collapse in flames.
My operating room!
Boom...
The front courtyard collapsed too.
My home!
Serena Feng's heart bled—her home destroyed before her eyes, consumed by flames, and she could do nothing.
"Miss, let's go. As long as you survive, everything can begin again." Her two maids, desperate to keep her from despair, tried to comfort her.
But Serena Feng's voice was shockingly calm, as if nothing had happened: 'I know. Let's go.'
With that, she led her two maids out. But as they reached the gate, Serena Feng suddenly stopped: 'You two go ahead. I still have something to do.'
She shook off their hands and dashed back toward the inner courtyard, vanishing into the fire.
"Miss, don’t!"