Chapter 2
Chapter 2
After that, Consort Chen monopolized Zhao Xun’s favor, and every woman in the harem had to yield before her.
There was nothing I could do.
I worried myself sick, remembering too many empresses who had lost the emperor’s favor and been deposed.
Zhao Xun was no puppet. As the sovereign of the realm, he held the power of life and death.
I had once made things difficult for Consort Chen, and he had warned me for it. If I ever stood in her way again, I dared not imagine what would become of me.
The fear took root in my heart, and I withered a little more each day.
When I was seven months pregnant, Consort Chen provoked me again.
Cradling her beloved dog, she said without preamble, “Your Majesty, the same trick only works once.”
I frowned and ordered my attendants to take her away, refusing to see her.
But it was already too late.
The dog suddenly went mad. Barking wildly, it lunged at me.
Someone threw themselves between us, but the shock still sent me crashing to the ground.
By the time Zhao Xun arrived, Noble Consort Li had already ordered Consort Chen restrained.
Consort Chen wept pitifully, her pale wrist bruised where the guards held her.
Between sobs, she said, “I do not know what happened. The moment the Empress saw me, she threw herself backward and ordered my dog beaten to death.”
Zhao Xun helped her to her feet. His face dark with anger, he came looking for me, convinced that I had once again used my child to frame her.
Instead, he arrived just as servants carried basin after basin of bloody water out of my chamber.
I had gone into premature labor.
My child lived for only half a day. She died before she could even be given a name.
I remained unconscious for three days.
Zhao Xun stayed beside me for two.
As I hovered near death, I heard him speaking into my ear.
“I was wrong. I misjudged her.”
“If only you wake, I will leave her to your disposal.”
In the end, I survived.
When I awoke, I dismissed my attendants, took up a blade, and went to find Consort Chen.
The April air was no longer cold.
Yet I trembled so violently that I could barely hold the hilt.
The guards did not dare stop me.
Consort Chen collapsed to the floor. Even her headdress had fallen away, and terror filled her face.
Just a few thrusts, I thought.
Then she could pay for my daughter’s life.
But the blade never fell.
An arrow whistled through the air from afar and pierced my hand.
The bow was in Zhao Xun’s grasp.
At the sight of him, Consort Chen scrambled up and kicked me behind the knee.
Then she flung herself into his arms, aggrieved tears streaming down her face at her narrow escape.
Zhao Xun pushed her aside and lifted me into his arms.
“Yinzhu, I know how deeply you are hurting, but her crime does not warrant death.”
All strength left me.
Like duckweed without roots, I drifted weightlessly into his embrace.
My tears broke their banks and poured down my cheeks.
Consort Chen was confined to her palace and forbidden to leave without an imperial summons.
Zhao Xun was protecting her.
Even the arsenic I prepared could not reach her.
I knew I did not have long to live, so I made arrangements for what would follow my death.
Everything that needed saying had already been said.
For Zhao Xun, I had only one instruction.
Make Noble Consort Li the next empress.
He agreed. With his fingertips, he gently brushed a damp lock of hair from my cheek. Confusion and pain flickered through his eyes.
He watched me in silence for a long time before he finally spoke.
“And what of me?”
“Have you not a single word to leave for me?”
His voice was strangely hoarse.
What could I possibly say to him?
He possessed all beneath heaven, and the woman he loved was at his side.
I wanted to tell him I hated him.
But I could not.
I was dying. Those who lived on would still have to serve him as their sovereign.
My face bloodless, I curved my lips in the faintest smile and whispered, “Then I wish Your Majesty a prosperous reign, a flourishing realm, and ten thousand years free of sorrow.”
His grip on my hand tightened abruptly.
Zhao Xun bowed his head until his forehead rested against mine, his movements trembling.
“If there is another life, I will make you my empress again.”
A scalding tear fell between my brows.
My thoughts were already dissolving into mist.
As darkness closed in, I thought drowsily that if another life truly existed, I did not want to be his empress again.
I died in his arms.
He clutched my icy hand, unable to warm it no matter how long he tried.
The rain that day was just like this rain now, drifting in the wind and dampening my cheeks.