“What’s this? You no longer wish to accompany me?”

The man’s handsome face was covered with the ashen shadow of impending death. His gaze was slightly cold as he looked at the beautiful woman kneeling before the dragon bed.

Among the three thousand beauties in the imperial harem, she was his only favored one.

“Your Majesty, I am willing,” the woman replied, touching her forehead to the ground, remaining in a deep kneeling position.

The man’s eyes revealed a look of gratification. Using his last strength, he embraced her and, filled with infinite regret and unwillingness, murmured to her, “A-Fu, don’t blame me. If there is a next life, I will certainly grant you the position of Empress.”

…

Xiao Yintang cried out loudly, suddenly opening his eyes and bolting upright in bed, his head drenched in cold sweat. Out of fear, even his hands trembled slightly.

“Your Highness, what’s wrong?” A concubine sleeping beside him was startled awake. She hurriedly got up and knelt at his side, looking at him with terrified, anxious eyes.

Since the previous incident with Lady Cao, the Crown Prince’s temperament had grown increasingly dark and unpredictable. The Crown Princess’s illness had not yet recovered, and she rarely showed her face these days. It was said that the Eastern Palace was haunted—the chamber where Lady Cao had lived sometimes emitted eerie crying sounds in the dead of night. No eunuch or palace maid dared approach it. Everyone already lived in fear, and then half a month ago, the Imperial Uncle was in trouble, implicating the Crown Prince and causing him to be reprimanded by the Emperor. In private, the Crown Prince became even more irritable and easily angered.

Xiao Yintang suddenly turned his head to look at the half-naked woman beside him. His eyes revealed disgust as he uttered a short “Get out.”

The concubine, as if granted a great amnesty, didn’t even have time to dress properly. She grabbed her clothes to hastily cover her chest and hurriedly got out of bed, quickly leaving the room.

It was just the fourth watch, the deepest moment of the night.

Xiao Yintang slowly lay back down and closed his eyes, but he no longer felt the slightest bit sleepy.

In his mind, he recalled a scene from yesterday.

Yesterday, the mother consort of Prince Heyang from the imperial clan, Lady Pan, had passed away. The court issued a funeral notice and suspended court for a day, granting funeral rites. Xiao Yintang went to pay his respects and from a distance, saw the women of Duke Wei’s household.

Among them was Lady Zhen, the woman from his dream.

Since returning from Quanzhou last year, Xiao Yintang had occasionally dreamed of the Zhen family’s daughter.

The dreams were quite strange. At first, they were just fragments, disconnected pieces. He often dreamed of being intimate with her. He craved her body and also adored her gentle and innocent nature.

This wasn’t particularly unusual, for when she had been forced to leave the city in the same carriage with him that day, he had already been attracted to this Zhen daughter. What one thinks about during the day, one dreams about at night.

But gradually, as the dreams recurred, he vaguely began to realize that in his dreams, he seemed to have experienced another life—one that paralleled the current world yet was also different.

In this current world, she had married Pei You’an, the only person he held in trepidation.

But in his dreams, she had first married Pei Xiuzhi and then was taken by himself, becoming his captive from then on. Until he ascended the throne, after just two years, he rashly led a personal expedition against the Hu people, was accidentally injured, and died from it. Before his death, he couldn’t bear to part with her and had her buried with him.

Everything ended abruptly there.

This dream, like experiencing another life’s path, had previously been hazy. He wanted to grasp it clearly, but a veil of mist always seemed to cover his vision.

But tonight, waking again from the dream, he finally clearly grasped everything.

Pei You’an—since he was a young man brought to Wuding by Xiao Lie—had planted the seed of discord in Xiao Yintang’s heart.

Even then, he knew that he could never stand side by side with this Pei man, who was not much older than himself, as his father king had hoped.

At that time, there had been no direct conflict between them. His hostility toward Pei You’an was entirely rooted in human nature.

Xiao Yintang had talent and, as the only son of the prince’s mansion, was the recipient of countless affections, which fostered his extremely arrogant personality.

He could not tolerate anyone overshadowing his excellence.

And Pei You’an’s arrival shattered all that.

He had the reputation of a young minister, a title bestowed by the people that wasn’t exaggerated in the slightest. After arriving in Wuding and recovering from his injuries, he quickly demonstrated his exceptional administrative talents. Later, his military abilities were unmistakably displayed during the Wuding uprising and the battles against the northern Hu tribes, shining brilliantly like stars in the sky.

Xiao Yintang was certainly also outstanding, but he could never surpass Pei You’an. Next to Pei You’an, he was destined to be overshadowed.

By the time he ascended the throne, Pei You’an had been dead for several years, but his reputation remained undiminished. In Suye City, the shrine built by the people for him was constantly filled with incense. On his birthday, people from all directions came to burn incense, bow reverently before his statue, and make wishes for blessings.

After death, Pei You’an had been virtually deified in the hearts of the people, transformed into an idol that could protect their safety.

After Xiao Yintang ascended the throne, his insistence on personally leading an expedition against the Hu people despite the ministers’ dissuasion was largely driven by the extreme psychological repression of having long been inferior to another.

He was eager to show the ministers and the world that he, Xiao Yintang, was not inferior to Pei You’an; he simply hadn’t had the opportunity before.

Besides jealousy and a sense of frustrated talent, the extraordinary attention and protection that Xiao Lie invested in this outsider also greatly displeased Xiao Yintang.

He even had a feeling that if Pei You’an had been another son of his father, his father would have unhesitatingly abandoned him in favor of making Pei You’an the heir apparent.

The seed of jealousy and hatred took root and sprouted day by day in his heart.

Xiao Yintang endured it.

Later, an unexpected event occurred.

It was the second year after Xiao Lie ascended the throne. Pei You’an at that time, due to his merits, held the highest position among officials. Just as his power and influence reached their magnificent peak, the Hu people happened to raid the border. For some unknown reason, he requested to leave the capital, taking the position of military governor to guard the area beyond the frontier. Years passed, and he never returned to the capital.

His action shocked all the civil and military officials at the time, including Xiao Yintang. Later, although news of his awe-inspiring presence in the north, securing the borders and pacifying the people, continued to reach the capital, occasionally making Xiao Yintang feel as if needles were pricking his heart, at that time, he was still able to suppress his emotions. Until one day, he suddenly learned an earth-shattering secret from his mother, Lady Zhou.

Lady Zhou told him that perhaps it was because of this secret that Pei You’an had chosen to leave the capital at that time, and the Emperor had no choice but to let him go.

She warned Xiao Yintang not to think that with Pei You’an’s departure, he could rest easy. This was a very dangerous hidden threat. If one day the Emperor changed his mind, his position as Crown Prince would be in serious jeopardy.

Only then did Xiao Yintang awaken as if from a dream.

Years of doubt and hatred completely engulfed his heart at that moment.

He made a decision.

He knew that after Pei You’an went beyond the frontier, his health had been somewhat poor in the following years, and he often took medicine.

Xiao Yintang secretly plotted, using all his wits. Half a year later, he finally bribed a servant who had access to the kitchen in the military governor’s mansion to secretly add a colorless, odorless poison to Pei You’an’s medicine.

On that winter night beyond the frontier, amid the white grass and yellow sand, snow fell at Jimen. After the medicine was delivered to Pei You’an’s study, instead of taking it immediately as usual and then immersing himself in official documents, he put down his writing brush and sat quietly for a moment, gazing at the candlelight.

The charcoal in the stove died out, and the cold gradually crept into the room.

That servant was spying from outside. According to his later description, Pei You’an’s expression was calm, as if he was lost in thought about something.

Years of labor over documents, or perhaps the exhaustion of his spirit, had made him somewhat thin, his complexion pale, like the white inner robe he wore that night, as desolate as snow.

He sat still for a long time, until the bowl of medicine became ice-cold, without a trace of warmth.

Finally, he cast his gaze upon the medicine and looked at it for a long time. Just as the servant was becoming alarmed, thinking he had been discovered, Pei You’an picked up the bowl of medicine and drank it all in one gulp.

That midnight, Pei You’an’s old illness recurred, and he coughed up large amounts of blood. His subordinates rushed to his side upon hearing the news, weeping profusely. He remained composed, still talking and laughing as usual, until he passed away at dawn.

Xiao Yintang wasn’t clear whether Pei You’an had glimpsed something at that time and decided to end his life due to disillusionment, or if he had truly consumed the poisoned medicine by mistake and died from hemorrhaging.

This wasn’t important. What was important was that in the world he experienced in his dreams, he had become the ultimate victor as he wished.

The year after Pei You’an’s death, Xiao Yintang sensed the Emperor’s suspicion of him. To avoid complications, he planned a meticulous palace coup, successfully took the throne as desired, and became the new Emperor of Great Wei.

The only miscalculation of his dream self was his expedition after ascending the throne. That incorrect decision led to his premature death, leaving him with infinite regret!

Xiao Yintang opened his eyes again, leaped out of bed, strode to the window, and with a sweep of his arm, forcefully pushed open the two heavy windows of the sleeping chamber. Facing the boundless blackness of the night sky, he tilted his head back and exhaled a long breath of turbid air from his chest, feeling that all his previous depression had vanished.

During the day, his father-in-law had privately told him that the only thing he needed to do now was to endure and remain unchanged in the face of changing circumstances.

As long as the Emperor had no other sons, and he knew how to keep a low profile, the position of Crown Prince would never fall into the hands of others.

He was right, and Xiao Yintang also knew that now was not the best time to act rashly.

But this dream experience, which felt so real yet unreal, not only greatly invigorated his spirits but also served as fertile soil nourishing his ambition, spontaneously giving him a sense of having wisdom in his grasp and holding the advantage, feeling utterly unrestrained.

Compared to being a Crown Prince subject to others’ control, he more eagerly desired the exclusive pleasure of looking down upon the world from the pinnacle of power that had come early in his dream.

He would indeed continue to endure, until a suitable opportunity arose, when he would seize the chance, and not miss it.

When he ascended to the imperial throne as desired, he would not repeat the same mistakes.

Lady Zhen was within his reach in his dream. When he lived, she was his person. When he died, she was also his ghost.

But in this current world, he was so distant from her, just like their chance encounter today—he could see but not reach her.

Yet he knew that sooner or later she would be his; it was destined.

Just like in his dream life, he was the true dragon son of heaven predetermined by fate, and in the end, he obtained everything.

In this lifetime, it would still be so.

Of this, he was firmly convinced.