The Empress Dowager had weathered countless trials in her lifetime. She had lived through the succession struggles of two reigns — the Late Emperor’s and the current Emperor’s. She had witnessed the most foul and contemptible depths of the human heart. She had faced every manner of ruthless, unscrupulous scheme, walking forward all these years with knives driven into her back. She had thought herself inured to it all by now, thought that even if some small turbulence arose, it would be nothing she could not handle. But this — this was nothing she had ever anticipated.

The walls of the room still bore traces of ornate carvings and fine stonework, but all the furniture that should have been there was gone. In its place, toward the far end of the room, bedding had been laid out — a long, unbroken spread with room enough for ten children to sleep and more to spare.

On that bedding sat eight small children, each wearing one of those white smocks. The painfully thin little girl stood at the front. Frail as she looked — as though a strong wind might knock her over — she still stood there, alert and vigilant, trying to shield the children behind her, all of whom were a full size larger than she was.

The Empress Dowager did not draw any closer. Looking at the room — swept clean to the point of strangeness — she smiled with an expression that held no warmth. “Aijia did not know the palace contained such a… modest little corner. Who would care to enlighten Aijia?”

Yuxiang stepped forward with a palace maid who was trembling from head to foot. It was clear that Yuxiang had already managed to pry open this maid’s mouth before — otherwise she would not have been so thoroughly shaken. “Your Highness, this is the person who was attending to them here.”

The palace maid fell frantically to her knees: “The E-Empress Dowager — ten thousand blessings.”

A chair had been brought in. The Empress Dowager sat down, and looking at the maid’s terrified expression, she felt her own heart sinking in steady waves. She had an instinctive reluctance to pursue this truth. She had no wish to know what had taken place in this room. There were already far too many things she knew that could never be spoken of — so many that the mere sound of it made her whole being recoil.

But she had no choice.

She drew a long, slow breath inward. The Empress Dowager straightened her back and steeled every part of herself: “Tell me everything, from beginning to end.”

The palace maid lay prostrate on the floor. Her body was trembling; her voice was trembling. “These… these children were sent in from outside the palace. They were… they were for the Emperor — Yuepin, Yuepin was using them to treat the Emperor.”

“How did she treat him.”

The palace maid’s body gave a visible shudder. “By taking… taking living blood from these children, and… paired with the flesh from their hearts…”

Crack! The Empress Dowager’s chest heaved sharply. She had struck the armrest with such force that her palm went numb — yet she seemed to feel nothing. She rose and pushed Yuxiang’s steadying hands aside, crouched down before the palace maid, and her voice, when she spoke, was soft and unhurried: “Say that again. How did Yuepin treat the Emperor?”

The palace maid shook and shivered, pressed down by that formidable presence until she could not produce a single syllable.

“Speak!”

“Yes yes yes — by taking living blood from these children and then pairing it with the flesh from their hearts…”

The Empress Dowager’s body swayed. She nearly lost her composure entirely and fell backward onto the floor. Yuxiang, quick-eyed and quick-handed, stepped forward and supported her, gently but firmly guiding her back into the seat. She turned and said in a measured, steady voice: “Continue.”

The palace maid gasped in short, urgent breaths. Not daring to delay, she went on: “Yuepin took the living blood from the children and paired it with flesh from their hearts, then combined it with other medicines to prepare a compound for the Emperor to take — three times a day. Each time the Emperor took it, his spirits would visibly improve.”

“For how long?”

“In reply to Your Highness — it began before the new year.”

For so long already. Any child from whom the flesh of the heart had been taken could have no chance of surviving. The Empress Dowager closed her eyes. She felt as though something enormous was pressing against her chest, making it unbearable. She could accept that her son was callous, dissolute, unfilial — these were human failings. But she could not accept that her son had become something that could no longer be counted as human.

The princes present were equally stunned, not one of them capable of forming a single word. This was something none of them had ever conceived of.

The Fourth Prince was no different — this was the first time he had come to know so clearly how Hao Yue had been treating the Emperor. Hao Yue had never told him.

And what frightened him even more was what came next.

“So many people — who brought them?”

“This servant… this servant does not know.”

The Empress Dowager gave a cold, mirthless laugh. “Aijia believes you truly do not know. But there will be someone who does. Go and find out.”

Yuxiang gave a bow and left quickly to give the order.

The Empress Dowager turned once more to look at those children, huddled together in a small, tight cluster. For the ruler of the Gu imperial line to treat the people he ought to protect in such a manner — she could not fathom how much harm this would do to the fortunes of Daqing!

Those things one could not see or touch — if you were kind, they might not reward you, for kindness is simply what a person ought to be. But if you did evil, they would remember. And one day, they would repay it — multiplied, tenfold, visited back upon you.

Her son — the reigning Emperor — had destroyed not only himself, but the very foundation of Daqing!

“Hua Zhi.”

Hua Zhi, standing at the back, stepped forward at her name.

“You have had much experience with children. Go and speak with them — or if not speak, then at least offer them some comfort. Let them know that… the hardship is over.”

“Yes.”

Hua Zhi did not approach immediately. She first steadied her own emotions, making sure she did not look too agitated. Then she walked slowly forward, without the faintest hesitation, toward the little girl. When the girl tensed and looked as though she might spring forward to fight, Hua Zhi stopped two steps away from her and crouched down.

She smiled gently: “Are you protecting them?”

The little girl stared at her and said nothing.

“Was there someone who once protected you in the same way?”

The little girl bit her lip. Her eyes went red almost in an instant.

Hua Zhi’s own heart shook. She softened her voice and continued: “They must have worked very hard to protect you, to let you survive — isn’t that so? So you want to try just as hard to protect the others. You want all of them to live, don’t you?”

Tears slid silently down the little girl’s face. Those invisible, sharp edges all over her seemed to soften and smooth.

Hua Zhi moved one small, imperceptible step closer and turned slightly to one side, gesturing toward the Empress Dowager with a gentle voice: “Do you know who this honored lady is? She is the Empress Dowager. Do you know what the Empress Dowager is? She is the Emperor’s own mother — the one even the Emperor must defer to. The Empress Dowager did not know you were being kept here, which is why she could not come to help you sooner. But now she knows, and she is standing right before you. You can tell her everything. The Empress Dowager will seek justice for you.”

The little girl looked at Hua Zhi, then looked at the Empress Dowager. Then she quietly edged behind Hua Zhi.

It was quite plain: having made her comparison, she felt the elder sister with the lovely smile was the safer choice.

The Empress Dowager smiled — but as she smiled, tears fell without warning. She had always believed her heart had long since turned to stone. Only now did she understand it was simply that she had never before encountered anything capable of moving it. Even something that appeared as ordinary as this.

Hua Zhi turned quite naturally to face the girl and stepped one pace closer. She brought out her handkerchief and gently wiped the girl’s face: “Will you answer elder sister’s question?”

The little girl pressed her lips together, glanced back at the others, then shifted slightly, and after a moment of hesitation, gave a small, careful nod.

“Elder sister wants to know — why are the rest of them all so… sturdy?”

The little girl said softly: “I used to be sturdy too.”

Hua Zhi understood at once: “Were all the others like this when they arrived?”

The little girl nodded. She looked down at her own hands, thin as a bird’s claws, then stole a glance at the hands of the fine young lady before her. She felt a pang of shyness and quickly hid her own hands behind her back.