Chapter 16

Chapter 16

With a single imperial decree, Imperial Father demoted me to a commoner. I could no longer live in the Princess Manor, so I used my own money to buy a small house to reside in.

Meanwhile, the Wei Family was being dismantled by Imperial Father with sweeping, drastic measures.

Before the raid, Chancellor Wei fled, and the main forces of the Wei Family vanished, leaving only the elderly, the weak, the women, and the children to be thrown into the dungeons.

It was at this time that Wei Zhao was sent back to me.

He looked at me, the hatred in his eyes intense to the extreme.

“Zhao Ziyu, you are heartless!”

He thought I was the one who went to the palace to file a secret report, using my status as a princess to force the raid on the Wei Family.

I didn’t bother to explain. Why waste words on a fool?

Educating him was his father’s job; I was only responsible for teaching him a lesson.

In truth, he hated himself even more.

“It’s all my fault. If only I had controlled myself back then…”

“I want to see Imperial Father. He can kill me or do as he wishes, as long as he spares the Wei Family. They are innocent.”

Now that things had come to this, he finally showed a modicum of responsibility.

However, I still found it laughable.

Does anyone truly believe they are so important that they can sway the great events of history?

I have read the history books extensively, and I have discovered only one truth.

We are all but grains of sand in the great torrent of history, swept along by fate. We might flash brilliantly for a moment, but in the end, we are submerged by the flood.

Imperial Father had long intended to dismantle the Wei Family, and the Wei Family had long been prepared for it.

I, Kangle, and Wei Zhao were merely bobbing in the currents. We might have changed the direction slightly, slowed the pace, or even accelerated it, but ultimately, we could not stop what was meant to happen.

I understood this, Ning Ze understood this, and Chancellor Wei understood this as well.

Only Wei Zhao and Kangle did not.

They always thought the world revolved around them, and that their every move could move mountains and part seas.

Give me a break-this isn’t some cultivation novel!

Wei Zhao clamored to go see Kangle. I didn’t stop him; I opened the door wide and let him go.

When he reached the doorway, he looked at me with disbelief, his lips trembling.

“You…”

I looked at him with a faint, mocking smile. “What of it?”

He probably thought I loved him to the bone and couldn’t bear to let him go to his death. But the matter of the Wei Family was settled; Wei Zhao was now completely useless.

He was now a true discarded pawn, a worthless thing.

I took him in only for the sake of that face of his.

What else did he expect?

His status as the son of a criminal official would be branded onto him for the rest of his life. Huajing’s Top Noble Son had fallen from his pedestal. For the rest of his days, he had no choice but to live with his tail between his legs.

Wei Zhao’s face turned pale. He bit his lip hard, turned around, and strode away.

He had a fine bone structure and excellent posture; the way he walked had the tragic, heroic air of a warrior crossing the Yi River, never to return.

But that was all. He was empty inside.

A hollow shell with no substance, no matter how beautiful, cannot stir the soul.

Wei Zhao was gone for three days.

Three days later, there was a knock on the door of my small courtyard.

Kangle stood at the entrance. Behind her was a blood-drenched Wei Zhao, on the verge of death.

Kangle’s beautiful face was pale, her eyes filled with resentment.

The nanny beside her barked, “A mere commoner-why do you not kneel upon seeing the Princess? Kneel now!”

I looked at Kangle, and she looked back at me. Triumph, resentment, and fear flickered through her eyes.

I gave a light chuckle and began to bow to perform the greeting.

Kangle said coldly, “Enough! There is no need for greetings. All of you, leave us.”

“Princess?”

“Leave!”

At this moment, Kangle finally looked somewhat like a princess, carrying a hint of decisive authority.

“I want to talk to you.”

She closed the courtyard door and looked at me with complex emotions in her bright eyes. She didn’t want to speak, yet she felt she had to.

“I don’t understand. Why?”

“Empress Mother clearly doted on me so much. Why did things not go as I wished?”

“Imperial Father favored the Wei Family so much. Why did he dismantle them? Was it because Wei Zhao and I overstepped our bounds?”

Kangle’s clear eyes were filled with deep confusion.

I suddenly realized that the palace was so vast and full of shrewd people, yet no one had dared to answer her questions or clear her doubts.

A beautiful canary, living her whole life in a web woven by others.

How pitiful!

I didn’t answer her question directly. Instead, I asked, “Do you hate Imperial Father and Empress Mother?”

Kangle’s body shook. Her eyes erupted with deep resentment and anger, but notably, there was no hatred.

Of course.

She was still a child; how could she hate her own parents?

I continued, “Guess this: when Imperial Father killed the Late Emperor back then, was it for power, or was it for Empress Mother? Empress Mother already held supreme power in the inner palace, so why did she try every means possible to stuff you into the Wuling Prince’s Mansion? Is the daughter of an Emperor less secure than the daughter-in-law of the Wuling Prince’s Mansion?”

I paused, letting her think it over.

When a look of shock appeared in her eyes, showing she had clearly realized something, I continued unhurriedly.

“I think you already have the answer. You might despise Imperial Father and Empress Mother, and you might even think you are different from them. So, Kangle, if I were to risk my life right now to arrange for you and Wei Zhao to elope-to let you flee to the ends of the earth and live the happy life you want-would you dare go with him?”

I stared at her intently, allowing her no room for pretense.

Kangle’s lips moved, and she instinctively took a few steps back.

Her wide, startled eyes quickly filled with tears, and soon, they were streaming down her face.

“Zhao Ziyu, you are a demon!”

She suddenly rushed to the door, threw it open, and ignored the stunned onlookers as she ran out.

I watched her retreating figure with indifferent eyes.

To kill the heart is the ultimate blow.

Why was she so foolish as to come and ask me?

After all, it’s not like I’m a good person.