Chapter 8

Chapter 8

“What is going on with Huai’an and Changying?” Qi Zhaozhao sat on a soft daybed covered in fox fur, her expression troubled.

Qi Yu drained a cup of wine and tossed the empty vessel onto the table with indifference. The glass cup rolled a few times before coming to a stop in the center of the table, motionless.

“I bestowed the marriage.”

“Didn’t you see how He Huai’an looked just now? You’re here feeling sorry for her, but she’s perfectly happy! That He Huai’an… she has always been heartless.”

After a long silence, Qi Zhaozhao sighed softly.

“Ah Yu, what exactly is going on between you and Huai’an?”

“What do you mean, ‘what’s going on’?”

“I’m not blind!” Qi Zhaozhao’s voice carried a hint of anger.

“Huai’an’s clothes were so tattered they were barely recognizable. In this freezing weather, she’s still wearing thin early-autumn garments. And that Changying-his clothes were washed so thin they were turning white. What, is the palace’s stipend so meager that they can’t even afford a change of clothes? Why is it that when I look at your flashy concubines, every single one of them looks like they’re trying to wear the entire national treasury on their backs?

“And what kind of cold causes someone to stay unconscious for two whole days? What is really wrong with Huai’an’s health? Ah Yu, do you truly take your elder sister for a fool?”

Qi Yu did not respond. The room fell silent, and the glass cup that had settled began to roll across the table once more.

“You’re resentful of her, aren’t you? All these years, you’ve been treating her poorly, haven’t you?”

“That is what she owes.”

The glass cup shattered against the floor following Qi Yu’s roar.

“Sister, I thought you… You are my only relative. But He Huai’an-to save her own life, she watched as you were abducted! You clearly did it to save her, yet she never once spared a thought for your safety.

“If not for her, you wouldn’t have suffered so much all these years. You wouldn’t have been taken, you wouldn’t have been injured, you wouldn’t have forgotten me, and you certainly wouldn’t have married that pathetic scholar.

“I would have chosen the finest husband for you. You would have been married with more glory than any woman in this world, instead of suffering so much for nothing as you do now.

“…Sister, it is my incompetence. Why is it always you who suffers?”

Qi Yu seemed overcome by extreme grief. An emperor-an emperor who had stepped over countless corpses and blood to reach his current position-was now crying like a child before his closest kin, just as He Huai’an had seen him when he lay ill in bed all those years ago.

Only back then, the name Qi Yu cried out was “Mother,” whereas now, he merely asked powerlessly over and over: “Why is it always you who suffers?”

Qi Zhaozhao walked over slowly and took her brother, from whom she had been separated for many years, into her arms just as she had when they were children.

But in this world, who isn’t suffering?

Was Qi Yu not suffering, living every day amidst schemes and forced to be ruthless and cold-blooded against a crowd of petty, self-seeking people?

And He Huai’an… was she not suffering?

Qi Yu only thought that He Huai’an had harmed Zhaozhao, so she should live the life Qi Zhaozhao lived back then-in this enclosed deep palace, with no one to support her, left to be bullied by others as a way to pay for her sins with her life!

“But Ah Yu, you still have someone to hate. What about Huai’an? She can only hate herself. It is always easier to hate others than to hate oneself.

“She has always disliked being restrained; why do you think she was still willing to enter the palace with you back then? After enduring so many years of torment, she clearly could have ended it all. Why hasn’t she? If she truly sought death, do you really think you could stop her?”

Qi Zhaozhao paused and spoke softly:

“She is watching over you, Ah Yu!”

Was she watching over him? Qi Yu had never considered it. He couldn’t even clearly define what kind of emotion he felt toward He Huai’an.

He clearly hated her to the core, yet when a cup of poisoned wine was about to be consumed years ago, he had reached out and knocked it away. He clearly wanted to humiliate her, yet his eyes had reddened when she was married off in her wedding robes.

“Sister, I’m married!

“This is my husband. His name is Changying!”

…

“You will live in pain, just like me.”

“Fine!”

…

“Qi Yu, I wish I could kill you!”

She no longer wanted to live alongside him. She no longer wanted to watch over him. He Huai’an now wanted to kill him and go be an ordinary couple with that Changying.

…Qi Yu was not willing!

The candlelight in the room flickered, and the shadows cast on the wall trembled slightly. Qi Yu seemed to finally understand something.

Yes, he was unwilling. Unwilling to let He Huai’an marry someone else.

“Ah Yu, since things have already come to this, you should grant them a courtyard and some fertile land. Let the couple leave the palace.”

“No!”

“What?”

Qi Yu stood up. The tears on his face had dried at some point, replaced once again by the ruthless expression of an emperor.

“She is pregnant. It is my child!”