An Guo, the ninth year of Yuan Xing.
Lin Zhaoyue, the former Empress of An Guo, died a tragic death in the Cold Palace at the age of only twenty-six.
It was the first day after the New Year festival, the day of the grand and magnificent ceremony for the investiture of the Empress.
The thunderous sound of ceremonial music pierced the clouds, echoing from the Jin Luan Dian to the dilapidated Cold Palace.
A nauseating scent of decay wafted through the air. An emaciated woman sat upon a heap of straw, her eyes deeply sunken.
She wore a plain-colored robe that hung loosely over her frame, making her look like a mere skeleton. At her feet sat a broken bowl filled with swill.
the grand ceremonial music hammered against her eardrums, causing a buzzing pain.
“Cough, cough…”
The woman clutched her chest and covered her face as she coughed violently, as if she were about to cough up her very lungs.
The sound of her coughing echoed through the empty Cold Palace. Lin Zhaoyue heard the curses of the palace maids outside:
“Coughing, coughing, coughing. All she knows how to do is cough all day long. Why hasn’t she died sooner? She’s already been cast into the Cold Palace, yet she still thinks she’s the pearl in the palm of the Zhen Guo Gong!”
“Exactly. A hen that can’t lay eggs like her actually deluded herself into thinking she could be the Empress of a nation. It was sheer wishful thinking! I heard that today’s ceremony is even more grand and magnificent than that of Empress Wen Rou. It’s a pity we have to guard this wretched woman and can’t witness it with our own eyes…”
The coughing continued fitfully. A heavy, metallic taste of blood filled her throat. Her ears buzzed so loudly that she could no longer hear anything else.
When she looked up, her handkerchief was already stained red with foul blood, and her consciousness began to blur.
After a year in the Cold Palace, this consumption had long since drained her body dry.
Lin Zhaoyue had a feeling that she likely wouldn’t survive the night.
Wiping her mouth, she leaned against the wall, her breath coming in shallow, uneven gasps. Her hand instinctively moved toward her stomach.
In truth, she had been pregnant once, but an accident occurred when the child was eight months old, resulting in a stillbirth.
Years ago, when she was still the Crown Princess, she had blocked a fatal arrow for Xiao Yan during an assassination attempt. The injury had damaged her womb, making conception difficult. After that accident, she could never conceive again.
Although Lin Zhaoyue had no concrete evidence, she knew that Liu Yiyi was behind that accident. She had begged Xiao Yan to investigate the matter thoroughly, only for him to look at her with a distant, indifferent gaze and say coldly:
“I will compensate you well.”
It was only then she realized that after ten years of knowing each other and eight years of marriage, she had never been able to warm his heart.
In Xiao Yan’s heart, there had only ever been Liu Yiyi.
That was why when the Bei Jue invaded and her father and brother were left stranded and without reinforcements at Bei Yang Guan, he remained indifferent, even as she knelt before the Yang Xin Dian until her forehead was bloodied from kowtowing.
Her father and brother died in battle, Bei Men Guan was breached, and the Bei Jue subsequently conquered eleven cities, causing countless deaths and injuries.
After Marquis Xuan Ping led his troops to repel the Bei Jue, a letter slandering her father and brother for treason and colluding with the enemy was presented to the Emperor. The Lin family was sentenced to the execution of their entire clan.
A total of one hundred and ten members of the Lin family were beheaded in public at Wu Men!
On that day, blood flowed like a river on Wu Men Jie. The entire street was stained red…
Lin Zhaoyue could no longer remember clearly what happened that day. Whenever she thought back to it, she only remembered a suffocating expanse of red, and the memory of Xiao Yan gently coaxing Liu Yiyi at his side, telling her not to be afraid…
A single tear slid from Lin Zhaoyue’s sunken eyes. Her entire body began to tremble, her gaze filled with despair and emptiness.
Was she really going to die like this?
She was unwilling, so very unwilling!
She hadn’t cleared her father and brother’s names, nor had she restored the honor of the Lin family. She didn’t want to die…
“Cough, cough, cough…”
Her chest erupted in sharp pain. Before Lin Zhaoyue could cover her mouth with her handkerchief, she spat out a large mouthful of foul blood.
The blood splattered onto the ground and her robes, staining everything.
After coughing, her consciousness faded further.
Lin Zhaoyue struggled to raise her hand to wipe the tears from her face. As the tears dissolved on the back of her hand, she began to hazily recall Liu Yiyi walking toward her a few days ago, dressed in a phoenix robe and heavily pregnant. With a victor’s smile, Liu Yiyi had looked at her triumphantly:
“Does Sister know why the Lin family was executed? Because Brother Yan wanted to depose you and make me Empress. I told Brother Yan that I was afraid deposing you would provoke the dissatisfaction of the Guo Gong Fu. Furthermore, since your Lin family held heavy military power, everyone in the imperial court wanted to eliminate you all. Thus, Brother Yan found a pretext to execute the entire Lin family. That letter was something he had someone forge.”
So, that letter had actually been forged by him!
A surge of intense hatred erupted in Lin Zhaoyue’s despairing eyes. She bit her lip so hard she nearly drew blood, wishing she could tear him to shreds.
Xiao Yan, how truly heartless!
In this world, there was no one more cold-blooded than him.
Setting aside the fact that her father had followed the late Emperor to conquer the world, back then, when Xiao Yan was demoted to a commoner, it was the Lin family who supported him without hesitation, helping him return to the Eastern Palace and ascend to the throne.
Yet the Lin family was eventually exterminated by his hand!
Liu Yiyi had also said:
“Do you know why Brother Yan married you in the first place? Because at that time, my maternal family was insignificant, and he feared he couldn’t protect me. He needed someone to block all the harm for me, and you, the pearl in the palm of the Zhen Guo Gong, were perfect for the role.
If I had known earlier that I was the long-lost daughter of Marquis Xuan Ping, you wouldn’t even have had the chance to be my stepping stone…”
So, she was merely a stepping stone for his beloved!
In truth, Lin Zhaoyue should have realized this long ago!
She should have realized it the moment Xiao Yan brought Liu Yiyi into the Eastern Palace and indulged her in every possible way!
Liu Yiyi was someone Xiao Yan’s master had picked up; they were childhood sweethearts.
It was her appearance that had ruined their union, because she was the one who had pleaded for the marriage between herself and Xiao Yan.
But if, back when she was constantly by Xiao Yan’s side, he had said even once that he had someone in his heart, she would never have rushed to marry him, no matter how much she adored him.
Her father, Lin Chengen, had been a close friend of the late Emperor in his youth and had fought alongside him across the lands, earning the merit of aiding the Emperor’s ascension.
The Emperor had no more rewards left to bestow upon the Lin family, so he promised that Lin Chengen’s children could marry into the imperial family as a sign of imperial favor.
Before asking the Emperor to decree the marriage, she had asked Xiao Yan if he was willing to marry her. At that time, Xiao Yan hadn’t said he was willing, but he hadn’t said he wasn’t either. She took his silence as a sign of his reserved nature and assumed he had consented.
Yet, on their wedding night, he left her to occupy the bridal chamber alone. The very next day, he brought Liu Yiyi directly into the Eastern Palace.
Her personal maid, Qingzhu, couldn’t bear it. Seeing that Liu Yiyi did not bow to Lin Zhaoyue, Qingzhu spoke up, only for Xiao Yan to order her to be slapped to the ground. He had Qingzhu struck twenty times across the face for “disregarding status,” instantly making Lin Zhaoyue the laughingstock of the entire capital.
Thinking back now, Xiao Yan wasn’t punishing Qingzhu—he was clearly slapping Lin Zhaoyue in the face.
Lin Zhaoyue regretted it!
She shouldn’t have fallen in love with Xiao Yan.
If she hadn’t fallen in love with him, her father and brother wouldn’t have died, and the Lin family wouldn’t have been exterminated.
It was her fault!
If she hadn’t fallen in love with Xiao Yan, the Guo Gong Fu would still be thriving today. Her father, brother, mother, elder sister, and Qingzhu would still be by her side.
Her father and brother would have found her a good husband. They would have lived in harmony, having lovely children and living until their hair turned white, surrounded by grandchildren.
She was the pearl in the palm of the Lin family. She should have been happy; she could have been happy!
But after marrying Xiao Yan, her Qingzhu was beaten to death, her child was stillborn, and the Lin family was executed to the last soul…
Her heavy eyelids slowly closed. The last shred of strength could no longer support her frail body, and Lin Zhaoyue slumped onto the heap of straw.
The thunderous ceremonial music continued, and outside, a fine snow began to fall at some unknown moment.
Lin Zhaoyue only felt that it was noisy and cold…
Before the Jin Luan Dian.
Thousands of soldiers and civil and military officials were lined up on both sides of the palace path. As the magnificent bells tolled, Liu Yiyi, dressed in a black phoenix robe with gold embroidery and visibly pregnant, walked slowly toward the main hall, supported by a ceremonial official.
On the dragon throne, Emperor Xiao Yan sat upright in his deep black and reddish-gold dragon robe. His exquisite and handsome face bore no expression, and his pale pink lips were slightly pursed. He was breathtakingly beautiful.
A cold flake of snow landed on the man’s stern brow. He looked up, instinctively gazing at the vast, white sky.
He vaguely remembered that a certain person who feared the cold hated snowy days the most.
“Zhaozhao…”
Before her consciousness faded completely, Lin Zhaoyue seemed to hear someone calling her name.
Who was it?
Why did that voice sound so familiar?
Lin Zhaoyue wanted to open her eyes to take a look, but no matter how hard she tried, her heavy eyelids would not budge.
As the last bit of warmth left her body, Lin Zhaoyue thought:
If I could do it all over again, I would never fall in love with Xiao Yan…
…
Lin Zhaoyue was dead. She died on the day Xiao Yan crowned Liu Yiyi as Empress…