Chapter 8

Chapter 8

In that moment, my heart ached.

So Empress Mother had already arranged my future for me.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t see what my relationship with my three imperial brothers had become. She saw it all too clearly. But she had chosen them. And so whether the life she arranged for me was the one I wanted no longer mattered.

She had given up on me.

I swallowed the bitterness filling my chest and said, “Who does Empress Mother wish this daughter to marry? Duke Yan’s Residence, or Duke Song’s Residence? Or perhaps my cousin from Uncle’s family?”

Empress Mother sighed softly. “You are clever.”

So it was Uncle’s family.

I could no longer suppress my anger. “My cousin was born of a second wife, and he is only twelve. Have you forgotten how his mother tried to humiliate you back when your status was low?”

“That is all in the past, Yunle. If you wish to live, you had best obey my arrangements.” Empress Mother’s voice was firm and final. “In this world, only your maternal uncle’s family can protect you. Besides, you are already blind. They will not make things difficult for you anymore.”

She did not understand at all. Between us and them, the hatred had long since become a matter of life and death.

The words burst from me. “Empress Mother, you care for my imperial brothers, but do they care for you? They refuse to marry Song Lianwei-is it truly because they disdain her, or because they disdain you? The path you have arranged for your daughter is a dead end. Not only will I die, your dozen or so male favorites will die as well.”

“Silence. Do you want to die?” Empress Mother flew into a rage.

Tears soaked through the gauze over my eyes. In a voice full of grief, I said,

“If I am destined to die, then I would rather die by your hand.”

“When Father Emperor passed away, though he left no crown prince, by convention a prince should have ascended the throne. Yet in the end, it was you who became emperor. Do my three imperial brothers truly bear no resentment?”

“After you ascended the throne, you kept more than a dozen male favorites. Are my three imperial brothers truly pleased by that? They cannot tolerate a defiled Song Lianwei, so why should they tolerate you?”

“My three imperial brothers know full well that you wish to support Uncle’s family. They know full well that whoever marries Song Lianwei is the most likely to become emperor. Yet none of them is willing to yield. They would rather let Song Lianwei be condemned by the world than fulfill your wishes. In the future, will they truly treat Uncle’s family well?”

“No matter which of the three ascends the throne, he will erase your achievements, erase the existence of your male favorites, and order the historians to embellish this part of history. All your efforts will come to nothing.”

“And because of your arrangements, I will die a desolate death as well. This daughter is not afraid to die. The only thing I hate is that there was clearly a third path I could have taken, yet Empress Mother never gave me that chance.”

When I finished, I knelt quietly on the ground and awaited Empress Mother’s judgment.

I had thought it through very clearly.

Whether I lived or died, it did not matter.

If I lived, I would live freely and without regrets. If I died, I would die cleanly.

Zhao Yunle would never drag out a miserable existence in this world.

The great hall was so silent one could hear a pin drop. Everyone held their breath, afraid of angering someone.

After a long while, Empress Mother said coldly, “But you are blind.”

I raised my head. “This daughter’s heart sees more clearly than ever before.”

Empress Mother said mildly, “Then prove it to me! Someone, Princess Yunle is willful and unruly, with no respect for her elders. She ought to receive twenty strokes of the rod, but in consideration of her blindness, her fief income shall be revoked instead, and her stipend withheld for half a year. Dismissed.”

I froze.

Empress Mother said, “A woman’s path has always been harder than a man’s. If you wish to walk this path, then walk to me by your own strength. If you cannot, then lower your head sooner rather than later, and you will still be my daughter.”

I bowed to her, then turned and left.

Outside the hall, Hongshuang was silently shedding tears.

She did not understand what Empress Mother and I had said.

But she knew that I no longer had my fief income, nor my stipend.

Crying, she said, “Princess, how are we supposed to live from now on?”

I looked at the Danmaku. The screen was filled with astonishment.

[That scared me to death. I thought the empress was going to kill the princess. She’s her only daughter.]

[The princess is so brave. That kneeling wasn’t for nothing. I could never have that kind of resolve or courage. As expected of a princess.]

[But it looks like the empress doesn’t think much of her at all. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have taken away her fief income and stipend. She’s starting out at a much bigger disadvantage than her three imperial brothers. How is she supposed to fight them?]

Yes.

How was I supposed to fight my three imperial brothers?

They had money, power, and followers.

But I had nothing.