In the empty great hall, only Concubine Qiu’s low sobbing could be heard. The Emperor looked at her watery eyes filled with concern, and ultimately couldn’t bear it. He raised his hand to gently pat her hand in comfort: “Alright, don’t cry anymore… I will protect you.”

Before long, Gao Demao, who had been ordered to deliver white silk to the Empress’s palace, entered the hall with small steps. After properly bowing to the Emperor, he rose and said carefully: “Your Majesty, this servant carried out your orders and brought the imperial physician and white silk to the Empress’s palace. Before the physician could even take her pulse, the Empress admitted to her false pregnancy. She sat upon the phoenix throne wearing full court dress and phoenix robes, requesting that Your Majesty, in consideration of years of marital affection, grant her poison so she could die with dignity. The Empress said that as one of imperial rank… she could not hang herself from the rafters with marks upon her neck, as that would ultimately be undignified.”

Upon hearing these words, the Emperor’s chest suddenly heaved violently, his chest cavity filled with wheezing phlegm.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please calm your anger!” Concubine Qiu hurriedly massaged the Emperor’s chest. “The dragon body is most important!”

“Dignity?! She still dares to ask me for dignity!” The Emperor flew into a rage and overturned the spittoon on the bedside table. “I’ve already shown her tremendous dignity by allowing her to keep her whole corpse! How dare she push her luck!”

The eunuchs and palace maids in the hall trembled as they knelt, and even Concubine Qiu hurriedly knelt and kowtowed.

The Emperor’s skeletal hands trembled as he propped up his body, gritting his teeth with a sinister expression: “Go tell that poisonous woman! If she’s unwilling to end her own life, I’ll have someone strangle her alive! Go!”

Gao Demao quickly acknowledged the order and hurried back to the Empress’s palace carrying the white silk.

The night was deep. The Empress sat calmly on the phoenix throne, gazing at the palace lanterns hanging before the main hall’s entrance, their light dim in the twilight.

Within the great hall… came the mournful weeping of the nannies and palace maids kneeling before her, and their pleading voices begging her to go apologize to the Emperor.

As the wind passed, the palace lanterns swayed, the firelight dimming then brightening again.

The Empress heard the approaching sounds of guards’ footsteps and the friction of armor and swords. She straightened herself and gripped the armrests of the phoenix chair.

She saw Gao Demao leading eunuch guards into the main hall once more. After respectfully bowing to the Empress, he said: “Your Majesty, the Empress, His Majesty has decreed… if Your Majesty does not end her own life, others will be forced to act! Please, Your Majesty, the Empress…”

The Empress gently placed one hand over her abdomen and smiled coldly: “I thought that at least the Emperor would remember years of marital affection and give me poison! Since he’s unwilling, so be it…”

The Empress raised her head proudly: “Gao Demao!”

Gao Demao stepped forward and bowed: “Your Majesty, the Empress commands!”

“My son Prince Xin’s remains… how does the Emperor plan to dispose of them?” When the Empress asked this, her voice carried an imperceptible tremor.

“In response to Your Majesty the Empress, His Majesty has not yet issued orders, but the Crown Prince, in his benevolence, has already had Prince Xin’s remains sent back to Prince Xin’s mansion,” Gao Demao said with lowered eyes.

Hearing the words “Crown Prince’s benevolence,” the Empress laughed coldly. She gently stroked her abdomen, her voice soft and tender: “Child, it is Mother who is useless. Now that things have come to this point, even if I left you alone in this world, you would only suffer cold looks. Better to follow Mother to find your elder brother. We three, mother and sons… will never be separated again!”

Hearing these words, Gao Demao, who had been bowing his head, suddenly looked up to see the Empress pull a hairpin from her head and stab it fiercely toward her neck…

Gao Demao’s mind went “boom.” The Empress’s lips curved as fresh blood spurted from her mouth, her white teeth stained with blood… her smile eerie enough to make Gao Demao’s scalp tingle.

The Empress gritted her teeth tightly and forcefully pulled out the hairpin that had pierced through her neck. Blood sprayed as she collapsed limply to the ground, her hand… desperately clutching her abdomen.

Could it be that the Empress’s false pregnancy was a lie, and she did this… so that the Emperor would only learn of her pregnancy after her death, causing him pain?!

Gao Demao’s throat rolled. Looking at the Empress with a smile at the corners of her lips… her eyes surging with the pleasure of revenge, he didn’t have the heart to tell her that he had served by the Emperor’s side since childhood. From his understanding of the Emperor, even if the Emperor learned that the Empress had truly been pregnant yet chose to kill herself, he wouldn’t grieve for long, at most just one night…

Watching the Empress finally breathe her last, weeping filled the great hall. An elderly nanny close to the Empress held her tightly, whispering for the Empress to wait… she would arrange the Empress’s remains and then follow her.

Gao Demao stepped out of the palace and made a gesture. Guards immediately sealed the hall doors.

The Emperor decreed that tonight the Empress’s palace would catch fire, with no survivors…

On the fifteenth day of the tenth month in the fifteenth year of Xuanjia, the deposed Prince Xin led Imperial Guards in rebellion, breaking through Wude Gate and pressing toward the Emperor’s bedchamber. The Crown Prince led the Patrol Battalion into the palace to rescue the Emperor. Subsequently, Prince Xian entered the palace with southern capital troops under the pretext of rescue, killed Prince Xin, and led his forces toward the Emperor’s bedchamber, attempting regicide and rebellion. Princess Zhenguo and Fu Ruoxi led twenty thousand Anping troops to annihilate the rebel forces. The rebellion of the two princes ended in crushing defeat. This was known in history as the Rebellion of Wude Gate.

Five days had passed since the Rebellion of Wude Gate, and the capital had already restored its former prosperity and bustle.

Empress Zhong perished in the great fire, her maternal clan was imprisoned, and they met the fate of complete family extermination.

As for Prince Liang, he remained imprisoned to this day. It was said that Prince Liang wept daily in prison, pleading to see the Emperor and Crown Prince, but both the Emperor and Crown Prince seemed to have forgotten Prince Liang’s existence entirely – neither releasing him nor issuing orders for his disposal, apparently intending to keep him imprisoned until death.

The rear palace was now managed by the Crown Prince’s birth mother, Consort Yu. Just when everyone expected to see Concubine Qiu, who came from Prince Liang’s mansion, become a laughingstock, she was instead promoted in rank to become Noble Consort, serving daily at the Emperor’s side.

Those who had merit in quelling the Rebellion of Wude Gate all received rewards. Since Bai Qingyan already held the rank of Princess Zhenguo, the Emperor bestowed numerous rare treasures and elixirs…

Bai Qingyan’s old injuries had not healed, and new injuries were added. There were rumors she wouldn’t live past three years.

The Crown Prince and Crown Princess personally visited to offer condolences, bringing the Emperor’s rewards and various precious medicines. Subsequently, noble families also came bearing heavy gifts to pay their respects. Second Madam Liu blocked them all, claiming that Bai Qingyan was unfit to receive guests, personally entertaining them with fine tea and food before sending them away.

Although Princess Zhenguo’s mansion had intentionally concealed it, news of Bai Qingyan’s serious injuries during the capital’s chaos still reached Shuoyang.

Upon receiving the news, Bai Jinzhi was so shocked she abandoned all else, riding hard day and night without rest, neither eating nor drinking, racing straight toward the capital.

When Bai Jinzhi burst into the main room of Qinghui Courtyard and saw her eldest sister with raven-black hair flowing over her shoulders, wearing pure white undergarments with a brocade quilt patterned with western lotus flowers draped over her legs, leaning against cushions reading ancient texts and bamboo scrolls…

Morning light streamed through the carved window lattices, the warm colors illuminating her eldest sister’s pale, delicate features, serene and leisurely like a painting.