The day she died, a heavy snowfall blanketed the capital, sealing the city gates.
When the eunuch came to report the news, I was drinking in Noble Consort Liu’s palace.
I simply said, “Understood.”
It wasn’t until that cup of plum blossom wine-the one meant for our reconciliation-seared through my chest that I finally understood.
She had waited ten years, but she was never waiting for me to have a change of heart. She was waiting for me to die with her.