After coughing up blood, the Emperor stopped trying to maintain appearances. Eunuchs and imperial physicians rushed forward to treat him.

Chu Zhao and the others stepped back.

Xiao Yu moved to Chu Zhao’s side again, holding her hand.

“Don’t be afraid,” Chu Zhao bent down to comfort him.

Xiao Yu nodded, but didn’t look particularly frightened—perhaps he was already numb from fear.

However, the eunuchs and imperial physicians were soon driven away. The Emperor was much more frail than before, but still managed to sit halfway up, looking at Chu Zhao and demanding: “You said I shouldn’t be angry! How can I not be angry?”

“Your Majesty,” Chu Zhao bowed to admit her fault, “this commoner is guilty. When I said Your Majesty shouldn’t be angry, I didn’t mean to tell Your Majesty not to be angry.”

The Emperor looked at her and asked with a cold smile: “Then what else could it mean?”

Chu Zhao said: “It meant that I feel concern for Your Majesty.”

Concern for His Majesty? The Emperor was taken aback. Beside him, Deng Yi glanced at Chu Zhao, pressed his lips together, and lowered his head.

“So many things have happened, and all involving Your Majesty’s closest relatives. How could Your Majesty not be angry? But anger doesn’t help, it only harms yourself,” Chu Zhao continued. “I, too, feel helpless and can only offer the futile words, ‘Your Majesty, don’t be angry,’ hoping Your Majesty will take better care of yourself.”

Feeling helpless, hoping His Majesty would take care of himself—was that the meaning? The Emperor looked at this girl, his expression shifting for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

“If you don’t know how to speak, then speak less,” he said, no longer having the desire to rebuke her. He glanced at Xiao Yu beside Chu Zhao, wanting to say something, but ultimately remained silent.

There was nothing more to say.

“Take A-Yu and leave.”

Chu Zhao was startled: “Leave? Go where?”

The Emperor looked at her: “To the border prefecture, to find your father. You know how capable your father is, so take the Little Prince and go.”

Surprisingly, Chu Zhao couldn’t help but look toward Deng Yi.

Deng Yi met her gaze: “Miss Chu, what I said at the gate tower wasn’t ill-intentioned toward the Little Prince. My suggestion that you take the Little Prince away is the best choice for him. The Little Prince staying here is not safe.”

Chu Zhao looked back at the Emperor: “Your Majesty, wouldn’t the Little Prince be safest with you?”

The Emperor made a sound of acknowledgment: “I’m about to die. Once I’m dead, would he still be safe by my side?”

Chu Zhao was stunned. About to die?

She did know the Emperor would die, but—

“I’m about to die,” the Emperor said, seeing the girl’s expression and pointing at the blood stains on the ground. “I’ve been poisoned. I’m about to die.”

So it was poison. Chu Zhao suddenly understood, her expression turning desolate as she stared blankly at the blood on the ground, listening to the Emperor’s voice.

“After I die, would A-Yu still be safe here?”

Chu Zhao raised her head: “Your Majesty, if you die, A-Yu would be even less safe outside the imperial city.”

She knew she wouldn’t give up, thought Deng Yi, who remained silent without further comment or rebuke.

The Emperor looked at Chu Zhao, his eyes clouded, with an ambiguous smile.

“He is the Crown Prince’s son, your eldest grandson. If he leaves the imperial city, he becomes nothing. In this world, there would be no place for him,” Chu Zhao said.

The Emperor looked at Xiao Yu, his expression indifferent: “He is the Crown Prince’s son, my eldest grandson. With the Crown Prince dead and me dead, indeed, he will be nothing.”

The small child probably couldn’t understand what it meant to be “nothing.” He just held Chu Zhao’s hand without moving, waiting for others to decide his future.

The once-doting gaze of his imperial grandfather was nowhere to be seen, and the Emperor had only glanced at him before looking away.

It was as if this child had no connection to him whatsoever.

The Emperor’s gaze returned to Chu Zhao.

“For someone who is nothing, it’s better to hide far away. Isn’t your father very capable? Go find him.”

Having said this, his strength seemed exhausted. He slowly lay down, not wanting to say another word.

Hearing this, Chu Zhao fully understood. At this moment, not only had Deng Yi chosen Xiao Xun, but the Emperor had chosen him too.

Why?

In her previous life, that was understandable, but in this life, the Little Prince was still alive.

“Your Majesty,” she decided to ask directly, “the Little Prince is still alive. With the Crown Prince gone and you gone, he isn’t nothing—he is the master of the imperial city, the master of the realm.”

The Emperor looked at this girl and laughed loudly, pointing at Xiao Yu.

“Miss Chu, with the Crown Prince gone and me gone, can he be the master of this realm and imperial city? Miss Chu, if he became this master, that would truly be a road to death.”

Deng Yi looked at Chu Zhao: “Miss Chu, affairs of state cannot be decided by emotional considerations. His Majesty has his judgment. Take the Little Prince and go find your father. This is the best path for the Little Prince’s survival.”

Chu Zhao looked at them. She understood the Emperor and Deng Yi’s decision. In the current state of the realm, the Prince of Zhongshan’s heir was the most suitable successor, and indeed the only feasible choice. Xiao Yu, a six-year-old child, despite his direct bloodline, without the Crown Prince and the Emperor, could be swallowed in one bite by the Prince of Zhongshan and his son.

Rather than being eliminated for the throne, it was better to withdraw early and secure a path to survival.

Indeed, for Xiao Yu, this was the best path.

She would not marry Xiao Xun in this lifetime. She could take Xiao Yu, leave the capital, and retreat to the border prefecture, living freely thereafter.

Hadn’t she always wanted to return to see her father?

Thinking of her father, Chu Zhao felt both happy and sorrowful.

“Your Majesty,” she said, “my father is also dying.”

Silence fell over the hall.

The Emperor on the dragon bed looked at her, his eyes momentarily confused. Yes, he remembered now, it had been mentioned that Chu Wei was ill.

It seemed he had even written a letter saying he was dying, bidding farewell to His Majesty.

Where had that letter gone? Probably thrown into the incense burner and burned.

The Emperor lowered his gaze and said dispassionately: “Even if General Chu dies, he will arrange for you both properly.”

Her father would certainly do this. In that lifetime, she had lived so long because of her father. Even after his death, his arrangements had protected her life for many years.

No, that’s not right.

Chu Zhao raised her head. Her father was indeed capable, but precisely because her father was capable, how could Xiao Xun spare her?

With the Emperor dead, her father dead, and her taking Xiao Yu to the border prefecture with the Longwei Army—would Emperor Xiao Xun spare her? Not likely.

Not just Xiao Xun, but also the Xie family and Xie Yanfang.

With the Crown Prince dying violently and Xiao Xun ascending the throne, how could Xie Yanfang accept his fate? In that lifetime, without Xiao Yu alive, he had still rebelled.

In this lifetime, with Xiao Yu present, how could he rest?

In this world, she couldn’t escape.

“Your Majesty,” she raised her head to look at the Emperor, “if you believe my father could protect the Little Prince safely in the border prefecture, why can’t you believe he could help the Little Prince secure this realm?”

Deng Yi glanced over, though there was nothing strange about these words. Chu Zhao bringing Xiao Yu into the palace must have been to have the Chu family protect the realm. Such a great achievement, who would pass it up?

That was why he had opposed her entry earlier, because this goal was impossible.

The Emperor looked at the girl, amused by her words: “Didn’t you just say he’s dying? How can he protect the realm if he’s dying?”

“His person may die, but as long as the world sees his heart’s desire to protect the realm, it’s as if he were still alive,” Chu Zhao said.

The Emperor shook his head: “How would they see that?”

Even alive, no one had seen him. Dead, how could they see?

Chu Zhao looked down at Xiao Yu. The dazed child immediately sensed it and looked up at her. Without speaking or questioning, he simply gripped her hand tighter.

“Let me—” Chu Zhao raised her head and said, “become the Empress for the Little Prince.”

A lightning bolt seemed to flash through the hall.

Deng Yi looked at this girl, momentarily feeling numb.

So, it could be done this way.

…

(End of Volume)