Chapter 2

Chapter 2

After Empress Mother left, Imperial Father searched for her like a madman.

Strange as it was, he hadn’t stepped foot into Fengyi Palace for a very long time.

Yet on the day of Consort Wan’s investiture ceremony, he seemed to sense something. He abandoned Consort Wan and came sprinting here frantically, utterly devoid of imperial dignity.

He arrived with a menacing aura, demanding to know where Empress Mother was.

I told him calmly, “Empress Mother is gone. She is never coming back.”

“Nonsense! I don’t believe it!”

He ordered every servant to search every nook and cranny of the palace, even finding the escape tunnels left by the previous dynasty, but they found no trace of her.

He pressed a sword against my neck, his gaze sweeping across Empress Mother’s bedchamber.

“Ah Chao, come out! For your sake, I endured for seven years before making Consort Wan an Imperial Noble Consort. I have done everything I could for you. What on earth are you throwing a tantrum for?”

“I am the Emperor! I rule all under heaven. Can I not fulfill a single wish of my own? Why must you be so petty over a mere substitute?”

“It is because I have indulged you too much, making you lose your sense of propriety. You should reflect on whether you have become far too jealous!”

“Even if you don’t want me anymore, do you not even want your daughter? Ah Fu is the one you can’t bear to leave most. Are you really going to abandon Ah Fu and leave her to her fate?”

But the silent, empty hall offered no response.

The maids and eunuchs were so terrified they didn’t dare utter a sound, fearing that even the slightest noise would turn them into another soul lost to the ruthless Emperor’s blade.

In his fury, he applied a bit of pressure, and beads of blood immediately welled up on my neck.

“If you do not appear, I will kill Ah Fu and let you taste the bitterness of being separated by death!”

He was mad!

And he could become even madder!

I said softly, “Imperial Father, when Empress Mother is gone, she is gone. When she was here, you turned a blind eye to her. Now that she’s gone, who are you performing this deep affection for? Is your way of grieving to hurt her, and then hurt the daughter she loved most? Why are you unwilling to harm even a single strand of your own hair? If you threatened to kill yourself, perhaps Empress Mother would come out.”

“Shut up!” He swung his sword at a display cabinet, shattering porcelain all over the floor.

Visible heartache flickered in his eyes because there was now one less thing left behind by Empress Mother.

He pointed the sword at me, asking with stubborn persistence.

“Before she left, did she mention me?”

Actually, she hadn’t.

Empress Mother hadn’t left a single word regarding him.

But I didn’t want him to feel better. I looked up and said softly:

“Empress Mother did have one sentence for you. She said: Once unfaithful, never again used. The bond of husband and wife is severed; let each suffer the wrath of heaven.”

Imperial Father’s eyes widened in disbelief, and he promptly collapsed, his body stiff.

The crowd scrambled to carry him away for medical treatment.

Ignoring the wound on my neck, I picked up a sword and smashed every single item Empress Mother had left behind.

Porcelain and jade vases shattered across the floor with a series of crashes. I burned all the manuscripts and scrolls. Since it would be a waste to smash the gold and silver jewelry, I dismantled what could be dismantled and flattened what could be flattened until everything was unrecognizable.

By the time Imperial Father heard the news and rushed over, the vast palace was a complete wreck. I stood silently in the darkness, staring at him with a haunting gaze.

The veins on Imperial Father’s forehead pulsed wildly.

“You ungrateful wretch! Your Empress Mother has only just left, and you couldn’t wait to destroy all traces of her? How can there be someone as cold-blooded and heartless as you in this world?”

Fuming with rage, he raised his hand to strike, wanting to vent all his hatred.

I held the sword horizontally, meeting his hand, and pressed the hilt into his palm. I said coldly, “Why don’t you just use the sword to kill me? That way, everything Empress Mother left in this world will truly be gone.”

Imperial Father’s hand stopped.

He looked at me in disbelief, finally realizing the truth.

I was the only tie Empress Mother had left in this world.

If I died, he would truly have nothing left to remember her by.

In that instant, his eyes looked as if he had aged ten years.