Upon seeing Cui Xu, Princess Rongyang didn’t rise. Her eyelids trembled as she said, “What, have you come to laugh at my misfortune?”
“No, I’ve come to ask you something.”
Princess Rongyang looked at Cui Xu.
Cui Xu’s face was calm, but a storm brewed in his eyes as he asked word by word: “Did you kill Akë?”
Princess Rongyang’s expression twisted as she laughed, “I knew you came for that cheap woman!”
“Did you kill Akë?” Cui Xu, unmoved by Princess Rongyang’s hysteria, asked again.
Faced with Cui Xu, Princess Rongyang felt a mix of love and hate, but psychologically, she had never been at a disadvantage over the years. However, now that she had become a commoner, that delicate balance was completely shattered.
She became somewhat crazed, her words growing increasingly unrestrained: “So what if I did?”
“You harmed Akë?” Cui Xu’s voice trembled, all light in his eyes completely extinguished, as if they had become a dead pond, never to ripple again.
Princess Rongyang stood up abruptly, approaching Cui Xu.
She was tall and had been pampered for years, her presence before Cui Xu was formidable: “Yes, I killed her. Who told her to still shamelessly seduce you after marrying and bearing three children? Cui Xu, I married you, and you left me alone for long periods, yet you maintained ties with a married woman, meeting her privately at Baiyun Temple. Shouldn’t I have killed that cheap woman?”
Cui Xu’s gaze towards Princess Rongyang became incredibly profound: “She didn’t, and neither did I. It was all your wild imagination!”
Princess Rongyang burst into laughter: “Cui Xu, who are you trying to fool? Do you dare say you and Su didn’t appear together at Baiyun Temple back then? That cheap woman dared to set her sights on my man, she should have been prepared to die by my hand.”
“How can there be a woman as vicious as you in this world?”
“Vicious? You drove me to this! When I married you back then if you had shown me even a bit of care, would I have become like this?”
Cui Xu shook his head: “This is what you forced. The imperial edict can control people, but it can’t control hearts. I told you this clearly from the beginning…”
Princess Rongyang was momentarily speechless.
Before their wedding, Cui Xu had indeed said this to her, but she didn’t believe it.
She was a noble princess, with status and beauty. Once married to Cui Xu, given time, how could she not win his heart?
But the man she encountered had a heart of stone. Even their consummation as husband and wife was only achieved through her use of drugs…
Recalling these things, humiliation and resentment surged like a tidal wave, making Princess Rongyang’s words increasingly bitter: “Why did you come? Now that you’ve confirmed I killed that cheap woman, are you planning to avenge her?”
“Is that not allowed?” Cui Xu asked calmly.
Princess Rongyang laughed out loud: “Cui Xu, don’t forget that Royal Brother only stripped me of my princess title, he didn’t sentence me to death. Even as a commoner, I’m still the Empress Dowager’s daughter. Try to touch me, and see if Royal Brother will spare you! If you want to avenge that cheap woman, wait for your next life—”
Her words were cut short as a sharp sword pierced her chest.
She lowered her head, looking at Cui Xu in disbelief.
Cui Xu’s face remained calm as he said softly: “This time, I don’t want to wait for the next life.”
He forcefully pulled out the sword and slashed it heavily across his neck.
Hot blood spurted out, blinding Princess Rongyang’s eyes.
She struggled to open her eyes wide but could see nothing but red before her.
The sound of a heavy object falling came, and she knew it was the man she had loved and hated for a lifetime.
Then, another sound of a heavy object falling came, this time it was her.
The cold ground brought her back to some clarity. The mist in her eyes cleared, and she saw the person lying beside her.
His eyes were closed, a faint smile on his lips, as if he was appreciating a beautiful scene in a dream.
Large teardrops rolled from the corners of Princess Rongyang’s eyes, the pain in her heart surpassing the pain in her body.
“Cui Xu, Cui Xu—” She called out with difficulty, again and again, but the man so close to her showed no response. Only the hot blood gushing frantically from his body engulfed her, mixing with her blood.
Those low calls gradually stopped, and countless panicked shouts arose as servants from the Princess’s mansion rushed in from all directions.
“Father, Mother—” Cui Yi pushed aside the servants blocking his way and stumbled to his parents’ side.
Before he was a terrible scene he had never witnessed: his father, stern and profound in his memories, lay on the ground with a horrific wound on his neck. His mother, noble and flamboyant, also lay on the ground, a large bloody hole in her chest frantically gushing blood.
They lay close together, one with a face of peaceful release, the other’s face frozen with a thousand unspoken words.
So close, yet so jarringly different…
Cui Yi knelt beside them, crying out in anguish.
He truly didn’t understand.
Just a year ago, he still had a sister, a mother, and a father. Despite whatever conflicts the family had, at least they were all alive and well. How could it be that in the blink of an eye, his sister had disappeared, and his father had killed his mother before taking his own life…
The servants of the Princess’s mansion knelt all around, crying: “Young Master, what should we do?”
With the Princess dead, naturally, those possessions couldn’t be touched. They could only wait in bewilderment for direction.
Cui Yi stood up, gritting his teeth: “I must go to the palace!”
“Young Master, Young Master—”
In the Imperial Study, Emperor Jingming threw aside the memorial, his eyelids twitching violently.
Emperor Jingming felt a surge of unease.
It couldn’t be possible. The events of the past two days had been troubling enough, surely there couldn’t be more complications?
“Pan Hai—”
“This servant is here.”
“Go and inquire about the progress with Nursemaid Duo. Has she died under torture?”
Pan Hai accepted the order and left, but before Emperor Jingming could even take a sip of tea, he returned.
Emperor Jingming sat up straight: “What is it?”
This was too quick; it must not be good news!
Pan Hai hardly knew how to break the news to Emperor Jingming.
His Majesty had suffered quite a few shocks these past two days…
“If you have something to say, say it!”
“Young Master Cui seeks an audience—”
Emperor Jingming pondered for a moment: “Cui Yi? He must be here to plead for his mother. Go out and tell Cui Yi that his mother committed a crime and deserves punishment. No one’s pleas will change that…”
Pan Hai steeled himself and said: “Young Master Cui is crying, saying that General Cui and Princess Rongyang are dead…”
The jade pixiu Emperor Jingming had been playing with in his hand fell directly to the ground, shattering pitifully.
“Bring Cui Yi in! This foolish boy, he can’t just spout nonsense to see me.”
Cui Yi entered with red eyes, immediately falling to his knees and crying out: “Uncle, my father and mother are both dead—”
“What do you mean both dead? Cui Yi, if you’re speaking nonsense, I won’t let you off lightly!”
“Uncle, how could I joke about my parents? My father and mother are dead—”
“What exactly happened?”
Cui Yi cried in anguish: “My father killed my mother, then took his own life…”