“As for him—” Consort Yi pointed with contempt at A’Han, who stood nearby gazing at Nusù with mournful eyes, “after he was born from A’Hui’s belly, he was carried out of the manor by an apprentice under Eunuch Mi’s command. The original plan was to strangle him the moment he was born and be done with it all, but Eunuch Mi insisted that the spirit of a newborn would diminish Zheng’er’s fortune, so he could only die outside the manor. Thinking back on it now, I truly regret it — why did I hesitate so much back then, and leave behind such a disaster in good conscience!”
“Smack—” A crisp sound rang out as another palm print appeared on Consort Yi’s cheek. The Emperor hoisted her up like a rag and said through gritted teeth: “No wonder, one month before you both gave birth, Liu Nanny by A’Hui’s side fell suddenly ill for no reason. Afraid she might pass the illness to A’Hui, I had no choice but to move her to the estate and replace her with someone else to attend to A’Hui. Thinking back now, that newly replaced nanny — you had prepared her long in advance, hadn’t you? All for the purpose of planting your people beside A’Hui, so that when she went into labor it would be convenient to harm her — isn’t that right?”
Consort Yi looked at the Emperor and sneered mockingly: “Your Majesty still doesn’t understand, even now. Back then it wasn’t only Liu Nanny — before the Side Consort Hui gave birth, the imperial physician Wu, who had regularly taken her pulse at the palace, was also temporarily replaced by Imperial Physician Zhong. As for the midwives who came to the manor afterward to attend the Side Consort Hui’s delivery, not a single one of them was not appointed by the palace attendants at the Late Emperor’s side. Why doesn’t Your Majesty think carefully about the reason behind all this? Even if this concubine were extraordinarily capable, I could only secretly swap out the manor’s servants — there was no way I could reach into the Late Emperor’s inner circle—”
“Are you saying,” the Emperor startled violently, and after a long moment, said in disbelief: “Are you saying that Father Emperor actually deliberately allowed you to deal with A’Hui back then?”
Consort Yi let out a cold laugh. “The Late Emperor dispatched so many people to the manor at the time, watching over the Side Consort Hui day and night. Even if this concubine acted with the utmost secrecy, how could they not have noticed the irregularities? Yet after the Side Consort Hui’s death, when they returned to the palace, they did nothing and said nothing. Think carefully — if the Late Emperor had not already intended to remove the Side Consort Hui from the start, how could things have turned out this way? I’m afraid that even if this concubine had not moved against the Side Consort Hui, the Late Emperor would never have allowed her to live and give birth to an imperial prince.”
Lin Xiao, standing to one side listening to this, suddenly recalled that when he was young, he had heard his mother mention that before the Emperor’s grandfather passed away, he had once issued an imperial edict targeting the Emperor. That edict had always seemed strange and inexplicable — it was only a single brief sentence: He shall never appoint an Empress for as long as he lives, nor shall he posthumously bestow upon any consort the title of Empress after her death.
He had originally assumed his grandfather had issued it because of what the Daoist Li Tianshi once said about Consort Hui being a baleful star. But hearing Consort Yi speak of it now, could it be that his grandfather had known all along that the Side Consort Hui had been harmed by the Side Consort Yi? It seemed that although the Emperor’s grandfather had deliberately permitted Consort Yi to kill Consort Hui and her child, he had also become deeply wary of Consort Yi’s character because of the matter. Yet at the time the old man was already confined to his sickbed, and since he had played a part in the Side Consort Hui’s death himself, guilt had prevented him from explaining the reason to his son. Executing Consort Yi without cause would have been too conspicuous, so he had used this posthumous edict as the only means to suppress her.
The Emperor naturally also understood all the twists and turns in an instant. He stood stunned for a long while, then suddenly let out a bleak and hollow laugh. Defeated, he released Consort Yi, rose to his feet, and staggered to stand before Nusù. He knelt down, eyes reddened, and looked at her, saying: “A’Hui, back in those days, the Fifth Prince accompanied me to the academy. Seeing that I admired you, he had a mind to tease me — he had no interest in you at all, yet he insisted on saying he had also taken a liking to you, deliberately vexing me. When word of this reached Father Emperor’s ears, he took you for the kind of woman who was fickle and flirtatious, and felt displeased. He went personally to inspect the academy, but by chance, that Daoist Li Tianshi discovered something amiss about the academy, and further said that you were in all likelihood fated with a star of calamity, and posed a risk of bringing disaster upon the nation. Father Emperor thus mistakenly took you for the likes of Daji and Baosi, and not only refused to permit me to take you as my primary consort, but also wanted to drive you out of Chang’an—”
Qin Yao was taken aback. Wasn’t the Fifth Prince the older brother of Princess Derong? It was said that after the Emperor ascended the throne, the first person he purged was the Fifth Prince, who later died suddenly while in exile. Even Princess Derong’s entire household had been implicated, banished to Shu for more than ten years.
So it turned out that when the Duchess of Luo had said two imperial princes had taken a liking to the Side Consort Hui back then, it had been nothing more than a jest from the Fifth Prince. And yet because of that single jest, a chain of events had unfolded — who could say this was not fated by the heavens?
“I knelt in the Hanyuan Hall pleading with Father Emperor for three days and three nights. For some unknown reason, I moved the Daoist Li Tianshi to pity, and he reversed his words, saying that as long as you were never appointed primary consort in the future, and any children you bore could never be legitimate heirs, there would be no calamity. Only then did Father Emperor relent and agree to take you into the manor as a secondary consort.”
As the Emperor spoke, his gaze drifted involuntarily to A’Han’s face not far away, and he dimly recognized A’Hui’s features in his facial contours. His heart ached fiercely; his voice had already grown terribly hoarse, so choked with grief he could barely speak. He panted through tears for a moment before continuing: “Because of the Fifth Prince’s casual jest, people in the palace mistakenly took you for a faithless woman who played one against another. Father Emperor even came to view you as an aberration from that day forward, causing me to be unable to keep my promise of marrying you as a wife, and compelling you to suffer the humiliation of being a side consort. Your nature was proud and unyielding — you would not share a husband with others. You had already been cold toward me to begin with, and because of this matter, you grew even more reluctant to be near me. I knew you were unhappy in your heart, yet I couldn’t bring myself to let go. I hated the Fifth Prince for his unbridled tongue, caring only for his own amusement, and dragging you without cause into bearing all that notoriety you should never have had to carry. Yet before I could ascend the throne and settle accounts with the Fifth Prince, to clear your name of those baseless accusations, you had already been harmed by that vile woman. And for the twenty years since, you were further tormented by that vile woman until you became an evil demon.”
He smiled with utter self-mockery. “And it is only today that I have learned — Father Emperor never intended to let you remain in this world for long. Now that things have reached this point, I truly regret it. Perhaps I should never have forced you to marry me. Had I been willing to let go back then, you might never have had to endure any of this. I willfully dragged you into these struggles and yet failed to protect you — when all is said and done, it was I who brought ruin upon you!”
As he spoke, the spine that had always stood upright finally sagged completely.
Qing Xuzi and Yuan Jue had never imagined there had been such a tangle of events in the past, and both stood there in a daze.
Nusù stood quietly in place. The murderous energy on her body had already been neutralized to near-nothingness by the blood from A’Han’s fingertip. The claws that had been curled open unfurled, and her pupils gradually shifted from white back to black, visibly growing clearer with each passing moment.
Qin Yao, watching from the side, quietly tightened her grip on Lin Xiao’s hand. Not knowing what Nusù would do next, she was so tense she didn’t dare breathe.
Lin Xiao felt Qin Yao’s motion and followed her gaze toward Nusù — and saw that Nusù remained unmoved by the Emperor’s words. She only turned her head stiffly and looked toward A’Han, who stood closest to her.