Chapter 1: A Disastrous Start?

Great Qing. Xuanzheng Hall.

Civil and military officials lined both sides of the hall, watching the figure kneeling in their midst with cold indifference.

“Sixth Prince, say something! His Majesty is waiting for your explanation!”

The elderly eunuch beside the dragon throne pressed him anxiously.

“I have nothing to explain.” The Sixth Prince, Li Che, was pale, but his gaze remained steady. “You accuse me of using sorcery to murder the Crown Prince? If you are determined to condemn a man, you will never lack a charge.”

The old eunuch glanced sideways at the emperor. His expression had not changed. Steeling himself, the eunuch continued.

“Then how do you explain the wooden effigy found in your room?”

Li Che said nothing. He simply looked at the sovereign seated on the dragon throne.

Explain? What was there to explain?

Would a founding emperor, a man who held the entire court and realm in the palm of his hand, so readily believe this nonsense about sorcery?

His imperial father had not summoned him here to hear an explanation… He wanted him dead!

How had a father and son come to this?

A look of resolve flashed through Li Che’s eyes.

“Even a tiger… does not eat its own cubs.”

He murmured the words. Strength rose from somewhere within him, enough to lift a body stiff from kneeling.

The officials close enough to hear ducked their heads in terror, wishing they had been deaf.

Li Che’s hollow gaze passed over the indifferent faces around the hall.

Malicious accusations, his own father’s suspicions, brothers turning on one another—each coiled around his heart like a venomous snake, until he could scarcely breathe.

He clenched his fists. His nails sank deep into his palms, and blood dripped between his fingers onto the cold stone steps.

Closing his eyes, Li Che drew a deep breath and took several steps back.

His gaze settled on a pillar.

“If there is another life, let me be a farmer’s son. Never again a son of emperors!” His eyes were red, his cry hoarse.

The ministers had turned to look when the Sixth Prince rose.

Now they watched him break into a run with every ounce of strength he possessed, driving his head straight into the solid vermilion pillar.

He moved so fast that even the generals present failed to stop him.

He had meant to die.

Thud!

At the dull impact, Li Che crumpled onto the hall floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

Blood poured from his forehead, staining the ground beneath him.

“Your Highness!”

“The Sixth Prince! He’s taken his own life!”

The hall erupted. Ministers hurried forward and gathered around Li Che, yet none dared approach too closely.

Only then did the figure on the dragon throne move.

The emperor slowly rose and looked down upon Li Che’s corpse.

His eyes were indifferent, as though he were inspecting some insignificant object rather than his own son.

“Where is the imperial physician?”

A physician carrying a medicine chest rushed forward. He held his fingers beneath Li Che’s nose, then felt for a pulse at his neck.

“Your Majesty, the Sixth Prince… has passed away.” The physician fell to his knees and pressed his forehead hard against the floor.

The entire hall went silent.

Something complicated flickered across the emperor’s face, then vanished.

Whether the emperor liked it or not, the Sixth Prince of this world was dead.

At that very moment, however, a Li Che from another world regained consciousness…

Hiss…

My head.

Pain twisted through his skull like a knife. A jumble of memories flooded in, swelling until his head felt ready to burst.

Where am I? The Great Qing Empire? Li Che… His name was Li Che too? A prince, sixth son of the emperor, driven to kill himself right in the palace? Some father he’s got.

Wait. His dead mother was a princess of the previous dynasty? So he’s got royal blood from both dynasties, and he still dared plead for the old dynasty’s surviving children? An idiot with a savior complex…

He was kind to everyone, and people in the palace even called him a “virtuous prince”? Damn. Every fatal buff stacked at once. If they didn’t kill you, who would they kill?

The Crown Prince suddenly fell gravely ill, then they found a wooden effigy for casting curses in this guy’s room? So this is another world’s version of the sorcery purges?

Fighting through the pain, Li Che digested the memories. For a moment, he felt dazed.

He had crossed into an ancient dynasty in a parallel world, become an unwanted prince, and landed at the precise moment his emperor father had hounded him to death?

Talk about a disastrous start.

Working himself that hard had been a terrible idea. He was only in his twenties. Had he really just dropped dead?

His team had only just discovered a new mineral deposit in the Northeast—a rich one. If they managed to develop it, he might have secured a permanent position as a mineral exploration specialist this year.

What now? Keep lying here? Wait until the eunuchs dragged his corpse away, then make his escape?

I’m a science and engineering guy. Palace intrigue is way out of my depth!

Just then, the emperor spoke from above the steps.

“Huang Jin. Read the decree.”

“As you command.”

The elderly eunuch stepped slowly out from behind the emperor, his face heavy with grief, a roll of yellow silk clutched in his hands.

Under the eyes of the entire court, he approached the Sixth Prince’s “remains” and unfurled the silk.

“By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: The Sixth Prince is endowed with keen intelligence, virtue, and ability. We hereby invest Our sixth son, Li Che, as Prince of Ninggu, with authority over the lands beyond Shanhai Pass. He shall not enter the capital without an imperial summons. So it is decreed!”

As Huang Jin’s measured voice rang out, the ministers bowed their heads low to conceal their shock.

His Majesty… had gone too far.

Only now, with the Sixth Prince already dead, did he grant him a princely title.

It was an obvious attempt to escape the infamy of driving his own son to suicide—a transparent deception.

He had not even called the grant posthumous. That way, the histories would never record that the Qing Emperor had forced his son to die.

Instead, they would say that the Sixth Prince had practiced sorcery, yet the emperor had bestowed a princely title upon him rather than punish him. Unable to endure his shame, the prince had then taken his own life.

And Prince of Ninggu, of all titles?

What sort of place was Ninggu Commandery, beyond Shanhai Pass?

It was where they exiled former officials of the old dynasty and the worst criminals!

The land belonged to Great Qing in name, but in practice it was a buffer between the empire and the barbarian tribes, who swept south to plunder whenever they pleased.

The old eunuch reverently rolled up the decree and took a few steps closer.

Looking down at the Sixth Prince, he let a strange smile flit across his kindly face.

He bent slightly and murmured, so softly that only he could hear:

“Your Highness, the Crown Prince asked me to pass on a message. You were so fond of pleading for those people, weren’t you? Now you can join them.”

The smile vanished, replaced by an expression of heartfelt sorrow.

He stooped, about to tuck the decree into the Sixth Prince’s hand.

Then—

A blood-covered hand shot up. Before the old eunuch’s blank stare, it seized the decree.

Li Che slowly raised his head. Blood streamed from his scalp over his face, making him look utterly fearsome.

His mouth spread into a grin, his eyes gleaming fiercely.

“Where? Where did you say my fief was?”

The eunuch’s whole body went limp. His mind had stopped working, and he answered on instinct.

“B-beyond Shanhai Pass. Ninggu Commandery.”

Li Che yanked the decree back and hugged it tightly to his chest, as though afraid the man might change his mind.

“Your son, Li Che… No. Li Che, Prince of Ninggu, accepts the decree!”

He could not suppress his grin.

Ninggu Commandery, beyond Shanhai Pass?

Wasn’t that the Northeast of his own time?!

Now this is a problem I know how to solve!