chapter 15
Xiao Zhe had gone mad.
He had lost the support of the Grand Tutor.
The Emperor despised him, and Xiao Qi feigned illness to avoid seeing him.
In a single night, he lost everything he once possessed.
There would be no day for him to rise again.
When I stepped over the threshold of the Cold Palace,
Xiao Zhe was kneeling by the wall, stuffing wild grass into his mouth to stave off hunger.
In just a few days, he seemed to have become a completely different person.
Sullen, withered, shrunken.
His eyes moved mechanically.
When he saw me, he only giggled foolishly.
“I have no grudge against you. Why are you doing this to me?”
The question was almost laughable.
He was so young, yet his mind was so venomous.
To have fallen to this state-he had only himself to blame.
I looked at him, my tone full of mockery as I retorted,
“Did the Crown Prince ever have a grudge against you?”
Xiao Zhe was stunned.
After a long pause, a hoarse sound escaped his throat.
Like a madman, he lunged at me, but I sidestepped easily.
He struck his head against the ground, blood streaming down from his brow, his expression caught between laughter and tears.
“Why? Even you want to help him?”
“He was born of the Central Palace, destined to be the exalted Crown Prince. Does he need your help?”
“And me? The bastard child of a foreign beauty! I have nothing!”
“Goddess, aren’t you the Goddess?”
“Aren’t you supposed to save all beings?”
“Save me! Save me!”
I denied him flatly.
“I’m not.”
“The only one who could save you is the one you yourself rejected.”
What kind of Goddess was I?
From beginning to end, the only one willing to save all beings was the Crown Prince.
“From today on, this Cold Palace will be your tomb.”
“You will be trapped here for the rest of your life.”
“-Until death.”
I wanted him to watch himself waste away, eyes wide open.
The Moon hung high above the clouds, forever out of reach.
And he was fit only to wallow in the mire with maggots, spending his life looking up.
The palace doors slammed shut with finality.
As the doors closed for good, Xiao Zhe suddenly grew clear-eyed.
From between his lips and teeth, a faint vow floated out.
“You killed my Adoptive Father.”
“The days ahead are long-I will make you pay in blood!”
I did not look back.
“If you do not wish to live, killing you would be no trouble.”