Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
A streak of lightning flashed in the dark clouds above Jingdou. An instant later, the muffled sound of thunder boomed out, making the entire Royal Palace shake. The heavy rain poured down and soaked everything. In a short amount of time, the water gathered above the palace and flowed down through the cracks in the glazed tile. The noise was thunderous.
It was spring. If there was thunder, it should be dry rumbling thunder. However, this stormy weather couldn’t help but appear strange. No one knew if it was the heavens who were angry or the Emperor.
The Emperor walked through the great doors of Guangxin Palace and turned to slowly close the door. He took a piece of cloth from around his wrists and carefully brushed up his wet hair, without a single piece of out of place. This did not reflect his current emotion.
The Eldest Princess half leaned on the low couch. He watched him and suddenly smiled unsteadily.
Suddenly, a bell-like laugh rang out in the empty Guangxin Palace. The laughter echoed in the wind and rain. Although it was sharp and clear, it could not be hidden. It traveled in all directions and appeared to be unusually strange.
The Emperor’s expression did not change. He slowly walked forward to the low couch and Eldest Princess.
Behind him was a pin-straight role of wet footprints. The distance between each print was equal. The line the footprints formed looked like they had been drawn.
He wasn’t silent for long. The Emperor looked coldly at Li Yunrui. “Why?”
The Eldest Princess Li Yunrui sank into silence.
She furrowed her pretty brows as her spring onion-like fingers gently drummed against the low couch at her side. Her misty eyes glittered with confusion and innocence like that of little girl.
She seemed to be thinking and confused, and she seemed to not know why.
She finally raised her head and tilted up her face. She looked calmly at the most powerful man in the world standing in front of her. Her red lips and white teeth parted slightly. She quietly said, “Why, why?”
It had been a long time since the Emperor had asked that question, but he seemed to be patiently waiting for an answer.
Without waiting for the Emperor to continue questioning her, Li Yunrui suddenly sucked in a cold breath. She blinked her large eyes and used her hand to cover her mouth. “You are asking why?”
“Why?”
She suddenly smiled and stood up. Without any show of weakness, she stood in front of the Emperor and stared at him with a resentful gaze. She enunciated each word clearly as she asked, “Brother Emperor, are you asking why your sister is over 30 and has not yet married or are you asking why I seduced the top scholar when I was 15? Or, are you asking why do I have so many handsome male companions?”
She gently bit her lip and took another step closer to the Emperor. She stared into his eyes and spoke in a voice that was chilled to the bone, “Why? Why did the Eldest Princess Li Yunrui give up glory, wealth, and an easy life to instead maintain the palace treasury for so many years? Why did she, this idiot, force down her revulsion to help the Qing Emperor collect talent? Why did she tax herself physically and mentally to have a relationship with the surrounding countries? Why did she secretly organize the Junshang Conference to kill people the Emperor could not conveniently kill and carry out the plots that would dishonor the court?”
“Why?” Lin Yunrui stared intently at the Emperor. She shook her sleeve and said in a sharp voice, “Brother Emperor, why do you think it is so? Why would I be so stupid? Why are you always playing the most brilliant role, while I must be satisfied in playing the darkest of roles behind your back? Why must I suffer this reputation?”
The Emperor looked at her silently, coldly, and with pity.
The Eldest Princess suddenly laughed maniacally. “Is this not all for you? My dearest brother, you want to leave a good name in history, so those dirty things had to be done by someone else… But, have you ever thought about me?”
“Me?”
The Eldest Princess angrily grabbed his dragon robe and viciously said, “I also want to ask you why! Why must you take away what belongs to me? Why don’t you have any feelings? Look at your illegitimate child. You took everything of mine away and gave it to him. Why? I know I would be willing to lose everything as long you wanted it… But, it can’t be to him! Why was it to him of all people?”
Li Yunrui breathed hard for a while and then quickly regained her calm. Using a pitiful gaze, she glanced at the Emperor then slowly said, “It’s a pity your illegitimate child still only wants the Fan family name.”
The Emperor looked at her silently and then slowly said, “You’ve gone crazy.”
“I’m not crazy!” Lin Yunrui yelled angrily in a sharp voice. “I was crazy for the past dozen years! But, today, I’m not crazy!”
“You’ve gone crazy,” The Emperor said coldly. “You asked many ‘whys,’ as if all of this originated with me. But, have you thought about the fact that your living for power has already reached a strange level.”
“Strange?” Li Yunrui furrowed her brows. A contemptuous expression flashed across her face. “If it is strange for women to just want power, then what does that make you, the most powerful person in the world?”
“Impudence!” The Emperor squeezed out a very low voice from his throat and raised his hand with a desire to strike.
The Eldest Princess raised her face and looked at him coldly. She looked at his hand and did not care at all.
“I gave you everything you have,” The Emperor slowly lowered his hand and coldly said. “I can easily take all this back.”
“I earned everything I have with my own hard work.” The Eldest Princess looked at him coldly. “If you want to take everything back, you’ll have to kill me.”
Another boom of thunder rang out outside the Palace. The wind and rain seemed to have grown stronger. The Emperor gazed at his sister and suddenly laughed. His laughter carried an extreme chill. “Perhaps you think that I would not be willing to kill you?”
“Of course, you would be willing to kill me.” A sense of mocking suddenly flashed through Li Yunrui’s eyes. “Who in this world would you be unwilling to kill?”
The Emperor, who had been calm the entire time, was suddenly pierced in the depths of his heart by this gaze.
Li Yunrui looked into his eyes coldly and said, “Brother Emperor, wake up. Don’t always pretend that you are someone who values friendships and loyalty. Presumably, you’ve already gone to the Eastern Palace and demonstrated your disappointment as if you’ve been hurt in the depths of your heart, but who are you fooling? Don’t fool yourself. You’ve long wanted to get rid of me. However, you feel some remorse for me deep in your heart, so you need to find an excuse to persuade yourself.”
Harshly, she said, “Yes, you just need to convince yourself so that you feel it is not your fault that you personally killed your sister. The sister who has been by your side since youth and has given up years of her life for you after she grew up. Rather, it is because… I deserved to die!”
As she said the words “deserved to die,” Li Yunrui’s voice sharpened.
When the Emperor heard the words “Eastern Palace,” he had already closed his eyes. A moment later, he slowly said, “In the end, you are still my sister and mother’s favorite. If it had not come to this, I would have ensured your wealth and position your entire life, no matter what. Your disruption of the court, the accumulation of private soldiers, use of the Ming family, and organizing the Junshang Conference, each is a major crime of lying to the Emperor. However, what do these matter… After all, you are my sister, my favorite sister since childhood. If I don’t hold you accountable, then you are innocent. Over these years, regardless of whether you sold out Yan Bingyun or wanted to assassinate Fan Xian, I didn’t blame you because I don’t think these are major things.”
He opened his eyes. His gaze was very calm. “But, you shouldn’t have stretched your hands into your nephews. The Second Prince has already been led by you onto a crooked path, although he is hiding it well on the surface.”
Li Yunrui laughed coldly and interjected, “Your sons were forced crazy by you.”
“What about Chengqian?” The Emperor stared viciously into Li Yunrui’s eyes. “Do you know, he’s the Crown Prince? He is the next Emperor, who I have carefully nurtured! I am going to conquer a huge kingdom and have this child guard it for me for 10,000 years. If you helped him, I would only be happy. Instead, you seduced him!”
There was another muffled clap of thunder. Although the sound was not very crisp, it set the Guangxin Palace buzzing. Even amidst such might from heaven and earth, the Emperor’s angry voice still stuck out and pierced the Eldest Princess’ ears.
The lightning flooded into the room through the window and brilliantly illuminated Guangxin Palace. In this instant, the Emperor stretched out his steady right hand and firmly placed it around the Eldest Princess’ throat. He pushed all the way forward, past the low couch, and past the wind screen, until he pinned the most beautiful woman in Qing Kingdom against the Palace wall. The tendons on his fingers stood out. He was really doing this!
The Eldest Princess’ breathing was somewhat difficult, but she didn’t call for help or beg for mercy. She only stared coldly and with pity at the angry middle-aged man in front of him. Her swan-white neck was being choked by his fingers. It made her face red, but it also gave her a magical and moving sense of beauty.
“I…have never thought to change the heir… Everything is for Chengqiang’s future because my kingdom needs a generous and powerful ruler to inherit. All of this has been destroyed by you!” the Emperor roared angrily. “Why!”
A glimmer of confusion flashed the eyes of the red-faced Eldest Princess, but it immediately cleared. She smiled slightly and wheezed, “So, all of this is just you putting on a show. Fan Xian is also being manipulated by you. Presumably, he will die even more wretchedly than me.”
Her body was pressed against the wall of the Palace, and the tips of her toes barely managed to touch the ground. She looked very miserable, but it was at this moment that she laughed with difficulty. “However, you definitely can’t let Chengqian take the throne now. Are you going to let Fan Xian be Emperor? No, brother Emperor, I know you. You would never let Fan Xian succeed like that.”
Hearing these words, the Emperor relaxed his grip slightly.
The Eldest Princess watched him with interest and ridicule. Wheezing, she said, “Brother Emperor, you are too suspicious, and you are too good at pretending. You wanted to the train the Crown Prince, but you scared him into a mouse. He thought he could be removed at any moment by you. How could he not be afraid? How could he not need a reliable embrace like mine?”
Embrace… The Eldest Princess Li Yunrui seemed completely unafraid of death as she continued to provoke the Emperor’s ears.
The Emperor stared at her and only asked, “Why?”
“Why?” Li Yunrui suddenly began to struggle beneath his hand, but it only increased her pain. In a sharp voice, she angrily said, “Why? There is no why! He likes me. That is the reason… I liked to play with him to the point it hurt you and made you hopeless…”
She laughed maniacally. “I only realized today that your hopelessness and pain is even more intense than I thought. I am very pleased.”
The Emperor looked at her woodenly and slowly asked, “He likes you?
“Can he not do so?” The Eldest Princess’ beautiful and red face was occasionally lit up by the flashes of lightning and appeared particularly alluring. She wheezed and proudly said, “Are there men in this world who don’t like me?”
She looked at the Emperor’s face that was very close to hers and suddenly froze. She raised her powerless right hand jerkily and laid it on the Emperor’s face. Using a tone that was filled with allure, she said, “Brother Emperor, you also like me.”
“Shameless!” The Emperor slapped her hand away with his own.
Li Yunrui was not angry. She just breathed heavily and firmly said, “You like me./ However, I am your younger sister… But, so what? Like is like. Even if you hide your feelings under the foot of a mountain or in the ocean, it will still be found by you. You cannot throw away your feelings.”
“Not all men have feelings like savage beasts.” The Emperor coldly watched his increasingly panting sister. “Not all would kneel at your skirt. Women should never think they can stand above a man.”
“You’re talking about Ye Qingmei, right?” Li Yunrui suddenly spat at him in annoyance. “I am not her!”
“You’ll never be as good as her,” the Emperor suddenly moved closer to her ear and said. “Even though you’ve worked hard all these years, you’ll never be like her. You’ll never reach her place in my heart. You know this.”
An ashen color suddenly flashed across her face, as if these words had hit on some weakness deep inside her.
A cruel light flashed through the Emperor’s eyes as he continued beside her ear, “You’ll forever follow in her footsteps, but you’ll never catch up. Now, my son with her is about to take everything from you. Are you pained?”
Li Yunrui struggled and stared at him with a vicious glare.
“You’re not even as good as my illegitimate child.” The thunder boomed outside the window. The Emperor spoke quietly next to the Eldest Princess’ ear. The words that fell into her ear was even more startling than the thunder outside. “Earlier, you said you could manipulate any man. Why did you manipulate him?”
Li Yunrui’s gaze gradually calmed. With great difficulty and calmness, she said, “He is Wan’er’s husband.”
The Emperor gazed at her with mocking malice. “You didn’t even spare your own nephew, yet you still have a sense of honor?”
The Eldest Princess gazed at him pitifully without any show of weakness. “Of us three siblings, there are two of us crazy ones. I don’t know. Do you know? If you really knew, you wouldn’t have stolen your subordinate’s love and forced her into the Palace to become a concubine!”
The wind and thunderstorm outside the Palace suddenly stopped. Inside and outside was a deathly silence.
The Emperor’s hand was firm and persistent as it pressed against the Eldest Princess’ throat. He didn’t say anything for a while.
“That year you went on the Northern expedition, you suffered heavy injuries. Your entire body was unable to move,” The Eldest Princess coughed sharply and said with venom and joy. “It was Chen Pingping who came over thousands of li and braved great danger to rescue you from the mountains in the North. It was the Dongyi slave girl Lady Ning who served you and a wooden man all along the way. It was such a difficult journey, Director Chen could only drink horse piss and eat horse meat… But, how did you treat your two saviors? You knew that Chen Pingping liked Lady Ning, and Lady Ning also admired Chen Pingping. However, as the master, you cut through like a knife and stole Lady Ning. Brother Emperor, don’t think that because I was young, I don’t know about this matter. Why was mother so angry? Was it just because of Lady Ning’s status? Why did she want to sentence her to death? If Ye Qingmei had not come forward to ask for mercy, Lady Ning and the Great Prince would long be gone. Are you sure you know about such a thing as honor?”
“Don’t say such nonsense like Chen Pingping is a eunuch,” the Eldest Princess venomously said. “Do you think you have cleaner hands than me?”
What made Li Yunrui disappointed was that the Emperor did not seem overly surprised or uneasy. He only stared coldly at her.
The Emperor slowly increased the strength in his hand and bit off each word, “Before you die, you still didn’t forget to provoke the relationship between myself and Director Chen. Yunrui, I really do appreciate you, which is why I cannot keep you.”
…
…
In the Eastern Palace, the pitiful mother and son duo were still fearful and uneasy. However, the pale-faced Crown Prince was faring much better than his mother. Although he knew that he was going to face a terrifying end, he was, after all, the son of the Qing Emperor and had always been raised as the next Emperor. The scary composure and calmness in his blood were put to use at this moment.
If he wanted to save himself, he had to first save the Eldest Princess. The Crown Prince knew there was only one person in the Royal Palace who could rescue someone from beneath his angry father’s knife.
Furthermore, the Emperor would definitely not tell that person the truth. The filial Emperor would not allow the ugly gossip of the royal family to damage her health.
That was why the Crown Prince knew he still had a chance.
However, the Eastern Palace had long been surrounded by the people Eunuch Yao had brought. It was impossible to make contact with people outside of the Palace. Even the trusted aides he empress and Crown Prince usually looked after in other Palaces could not come near in the thunderstorm.
“I’ll set fire to the Palace,” the Crown Prince viciously said as he turned and looked at his mother, who had long lost her senses. “Even if it’s raining, I have to burn down this Palace!”
