Character Index
Zhou Yunqi: The Fifth Prince, now the Crown Prince.
Zhou Kuang: The Third Prince, deceased.
Zhou Xianchun: The Seventh Prince.
Archduke Qi: Half-brother of the Emperor, deceased.
Empress Gongsun: Former Empress, mother of the first and second princes, deceased.
Ashina: Personal name Ibilga, Kayla's wife and the princess of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate.
Sir Yang: An old eunuch who serves the Emperor.
Imperial Princess: The Emperor's sister by the same mother, Wenyuan's mother.
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“Mother,” the Emperor gave his greetings as he entered the Empress Dowager’s quarters.
She blinked in surprise, glancing around the empty chambers. She had dismissed her servants for the night, but now, she was almost certain that the entire vicinity had been emptied out.
“My son, what brings you here so late at night?”
The Emperor didn’t respond, and the Empress Dowager’s eyes fell to the nervous eunuch following him. The eunuch bore a tray with a drink on it.
She understood immediately, resignation falling over her like a heavy blanket.
The Empress Dowager observed the beautifully lacquered wine cup with a wry smile.
“So that’s what you’ve decided?” The Empress Dowager asked.
“Yes.”
“You do realize–”
“I’m sure you have your own thoughts on the matter, but my decision will not change,” the Emperor cut her off.
And I hope you’ll be proud enough to keep your dignity.
The Empress Dowager shook her head with a sigh. If the Emperor would not change his mind, he would not change his mind. There was no point in pleading the way she once had with her husband.
“Yunqi is a fine child,” the Empress Dowager said instead. “He will make a good Emperor. Not as good as his older brother, and certainly not as driven as his younger brother, but…”
She glanced up at the Emperor. He blinked in surprise, taken aback by the unexpected derision in her eyes.
“Certainly better than you,” the Empress Dowager said coldly.
At his look of disbelief, she gave a bitter laugh. “It’s the end already, what reason has this old woman for holding back? You know it as well as I do. You were never the best option for the throne. You were simply my son. With that temper of yours, and how easily you’re swayed by your emotions–even Archduke Qi would have done a better job than you.”
The Emperor shook his head at the audacity of her words, an age-old resentment surging up inside him.
“You were the one who placed me on the throne, mother. You have no one to blame but yourself. From the moment I was born, you’ve placed the pressure of the entire nation on my shoulders even while you constantly tried to bear another son in order to replace me. My whole life, I lived in the shadow of your sins, with the constant fear of being used and discarded like all the others who stood in your path–!”
He was cut off by an outburst from the Empress Dowager.
“Do you think I wanted to live like this?! I did what I had to! The world has always been a cruel place, what leniency has it for a discarded Empress? Your own wife is the prime example of that! And you dare to blame me for your own inability to bear the pressure?!”
The Emperor found himself smiling, and then laughing. The grating sound, tinged with mockery, was unfamiliar to either of them. It seemed to emanate from somewhere deep inside, somewhere usually hidden.
“You’ve always been talented. You’ve always been strong. More importantly, you’ve always craved power like an infant craves milk. Someone like you could never understand, mother.” He took a deep breath. “But no matter now. We’ve all become obstacles to this country's future. Surely you, of all people, would not object to making the reasonable choice.”
From the look on her face, the Empress Dowager indeed objected. She probably had her own plans in mind for what would happen after his death, but he had no intention of allowing her to see them through.
You know you’ve lost ground with me, so you’re just waiting for me to die now, aren’t you? As bitter as it was to admit it, the thought also gave him a sense of relief for what he was about to do. But even so.
“Mother, I’m glad I was your son, despite everything. I’m sorry you had to do so much for my sake,” the Emperor said as a final formality.
“My son…” the Emperor Dowager sighed despondently. “If only your sister had been born a boy…I would have been spared so much heartache and suffering.”
The Emperor was shocked for a moment, but slowly, a heavy weight lifted itself off his shoulders. Having carried it all his life, he almost couldn’t understand the new levity he felt.
“Goodbye, mother,” he said. He turned to leave, stopping at the sound of the Empress Dowager’s embittered voice but not facing her.
“You’ve destroyed everything good in your life out of resentment or suspicion, and now, with this, you’ve turned even upon your own mother! What then? Will that wise heir of yours feel secure in his position with you alive? No, he will not. He will never! The child you’ve finally decided to treasure will never treasure you in turn. The same suspicion you once turned upon him will now haunt you for the rest of your life!”
The words rang true for both of them. She broke off, giving a sad smile that she knew he wouldn’t see.
“Congratulations, my son, on losing everything.”
The Emperor was still for a moment, back still turned towards her. Finally, he left with quick steps, almost as if he were afraid to look back at her.
The Empress Dowager stared wistfully into the distance after him. She glanced over at the eunuch in the corner bearing the tray of poison.
At least choose a deaf man, she thought drily as she took in his trembling arms. Now he’ll also have to die.
With a touch of exasperation, she beckoned the eunuch over. The Empress Dowager sipped the poison calmly, as if she were taking her nightly herbal concoctions.
“Go call my ladies-in-waiting and tell them to bring my ceremonial robes,” the Empress Dowager ordered. The trembling eunuch bowed and began to back away.
“Forget it,” the Empress Dowager said.
There was no point to it all. If she would die, she would die. Her son would cover up the murder as illness no matter the cost, even if he had to kill everyone who served the Empress Dowager to do so.
Might as well spare them. They’ve served me loyally, after all.
“Turn off the lights as you leave,” she said. “No one is to disturb my rest tonight.”
The eunuch bowed deeply and left.
She waited until the room was dark and empty, and lay down in her bed of many years. A strange heaviness slowly spread through her limbs, weighing down her eyelids. How long had it been since she slept without worry? Not since she became Empress Dowager, no, further back. Not since she became Empress. Not since she first became the Crown Prince’s consort. The last time must have been when she was still sixteen, when people still called her by her name, Ying Jihua.
She closed her eyes.
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Kayla jolted awake, hastily pulling her arm out from under Ashina’s head to grab at the ringing communication device.
“Sir Yang?” Kayla greeted him, angling the device so that her wife was out of sight. “Is something the matter?”
Obviously it was, or the old eunuch wouldn’t be calling before the sun was up.
“Apologies for disturbing your rest, Your Grace, but this is urgent. Her Majesty the Empress Dowager has passed away,” Sir Yang said.
Kayla stared at him in shock for a moment before finally reacting.
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“What? The Empress Dowager is dead?”
“Yes, there will be an official mourning period for one year for the nobles and the court, but the mourning period for the commoners will only be three weeks,” Sir Yang said quietly.
Kayla frowned as the information finally settled in, a strange nagging sense of suspicion at the back of her mind.
“I didn’t realize Grandmother was in such bad health,” Kayla said, allowing a hint of that suspicion to creep into her voice.
“The deaths of her grandsons was a great blow to her,” Sir Yang said. “That’s all.”
He spoke the final words firmly, and Kayla nodded.
The Emperor killed her.
Even without asking, she knew as much. A chill slowly spread through her veins.
He killed her for Yunqi.
This wasn’t over yet.
“Please make your way to the palace as soon as possible,” Sir Yang said. “Seeing as your wife is pregnant and in ill health, she will not be required to attend the funerary rites. But the Crown Prince could benefit from your assistance.”
“Of course,” Kayla said, glancing at Ashina as the princess stirred awake. “I’ll be there soon.”
She hung up, sighing.
It might be a good thing we told everyone that Ashina’s in ill health, Kayla thought uneasily. It had been an excuse to hide the fact that Ashina wasn’t pregnant, and also paving the path for a “miscarriage” in the near future. Now, it served the purpose of keeping the foreign princess out of the Emperor’s sight.
Kayla dressed in mourning clothes and headed to the palace, paying her condolences to the Emperor and the Crown Prince. Xianchun arrived shortly after, a newfound somberness in his gaze that she had never seen before.
As the Crown Prince, Yunqi was in charge of the funeral rites. The preparations were already well underway despite the early hour, and there was little for Kayla to do other than to arrange the security of the funeral. After all, there was no suspicion of foul play.
An eunuch had died of natural causes the same night as the Empress Dowager. That was nothing suspicious, given how many people worked inside the palace. It was just a coincidence.
Kayla wasn’t convinced.
Whoever that man was, he must have been involved somehow.
Unease crawled through her flesh, a sensation adjacent to pain.
I have a bad feeling about this.
She glanced at where the Emperor sat, dressed in mourning clothes. He caught her stare and she quickly lowered her eyes.
The Emperor’s behavior was normal enough, but there was something in his eyes that unsettled her.
He’s spiraling, and there’s no one who can restrain him right now.
Anyone who had any say in the Emperor’s behavior was far too much in his power to stop him. Kayla herself had been in that position once, and now it fell to Yunqi.
The new Crown Prince wore a suitable look of grief, but Kayla could sense the same unease within him.
The Emperor’s tumultuous emotions were turned inwards this time. Nothing good could come of that.
But what can we do?
No, more importantly, what would the Emperor do? The Empress Dowager was dead now. Would he stop with that? Or would he continue? That was the question on everyone’s minds, combined with the fear that maybe they would be next. It was why no one dared to ask him.
Kayla met Yunqi’s eyes from across the hall and the two shared a subtle nod, silently assuring the other that they would be protected.
With a heavy heart, Kayla left the funeral after a long day of rites.
The people who stood in my way are disappearing one by one, Kayla thought distantly. But I’m not happy about it at all.
Lingering unease crawling at the back of her neck, she glanced back towards the palace one more time before hurrying off.
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Three days later, the Wise Consort passed away.
She was found dead in the morning, after having gone to bed early the night before. She had only met her son a total of five times since he had been named Crown Prince, each time only briefly when he came to give his morning greetings.
In the preceding five years, since the death of Yunqi’s wife, the mother and son had only met during major holidays when the princes were formally permitted by rite to enter the Inner Palace.
In the preceding ten years, she had sought an audience with her husband over a thousand times total. Of those, she had been granted an audience less than fifty times.
She had married her husband at the age of seventeen, and spent over thirty years away from the family whose political position caused her to live as though sitting on a mat of needles. In all those years, her husband had only addressed her by her birth name of Shu Yunyao once, when she had first been made a consort.
Kayla was summoned at the break of dawn by a harried Sir Yang.
“What do you mean?! How the hell did this happen?!” Kayla demanded, hastily lowering her voice as Ashina stirred awake beside her. “Weren’t her chambers properly staffed and guarded?”
“You misunderstand, Duke Zhao. Her Highness passed away of natural causes,” Sir Yang said grimly. “She had been in ill health for a while now, as you must certainly be aware of.”
Kayla froze briefly.
“Ah, I see.”
“The Crown Prince is inconsolable right now, he hasn’t seen his father yet, but…” Sir Yang trailed off.
You need to slap him into shape before he does.
The unsaid words hung in the air, and Kayla let out a sigh, letting her head droop in defeat.
It was evident what had happened–the Emperor had decided to clean out the Inner Palace, leaving Yunqi a blank slate to reign over. But even though it was Yunqi’s own mother who had been removed from the board, the prince couldn’t be allowed to show any resentment, or even too much grief over what the Emperor surely saw as a favor to be grateful for.
“What’s the matter?” Ashina asked groggily.
“I need to go to the palace,” Kayla replied. She turned her attention back to Sir Yang. “I’ll be there right away.”
With a quick goodbye to Ashina, Kayla got dressed at lightning speed and rushed to the Imperial Palace.
An old eunuch whisked her over to the Eastern Palace, where several servants stood outside, eyes bleary and a little befuddled.
Yunqi must have sent everyone outside, Kayla noted. Good. At least he understands what’s at stake then.
“Send those servants to start preparing for the mourning rites, or to get some rest,” Kayla said. “Don’t just let them stand there in a gaggle–you’re practically begging for attention like this!”
“Understood,” the old eunuch said. He gave her a small bow before turning to herd the servants, allowing Kayla to enter alone.
The Eastern Palace was grand, not so much as the Emperor’s own quarters, but there was a stateliness to it that couldn’t be replicated in the residence of any mere prince. This was all the more reified by its current emptiness. As the morning sun shone in through a window, Kayla realized from the slow dance of the dust particles that, at this moment, the entire place only held herself and Yunqi.
“My prince,” Kayla called into the stillness. She had been inside the Eastern Palace several times already, but she had been too busy helping Yunqi settle his primary staff while coordinating the fusion of the Third Prince’s faction with the neutral faction at court to take any actual note of the place.
Still, she followed the familiar path to Yunqi’s bedchamber, bypassing the unguarded doorways as she went further and further inside.
“My prince,” Kayla called, stopping outside Yunqi’s doorway.
“Your Highness, it’s me, Zhao Wenyuan,” Kayla said. “Begging your permission to enter.”
“Come in,” Yunqi said hoarsely.
Hiding a wince at the ragged tone of his voice, Kayla entered the room and bowed.
“Zhao Wenyuan humbly greets His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Forget the formalities, Wenyuan,” Yunqi said. “My mother is dead.”
He was still in his nightclothes, huddled in a corner of the bed. Even as he spoke, tears continued to trickle down his face.
Kayla grabbed a robe off his dresser and carefully draped it over his shoulders.
“Please mind your health, Your Highness,” Kayla said quietly. She knelt down at his side, worriedly scanning him over.
“Why did Father do it?” Yunqi asked hollowly. “He was the one who pushed her to this point, and now he’s punishing her for it?”
He shook his head in despair. “With her health she wouldn’t have lived long anyway, couldn’t he at least let her enjoy this for a while after all the indignities she’s suffered?”
Yunqi dropped his head into his hands.
“This is my fault! I should’ve known when he killed Grandmother–”
“And even if you knew, how could you have stopped him?” Kayla cut Yunqi off sharply. “You couldn’t have. It was the Emperor’s will to clean out the Inner Palace, and his will would be carried out, whether or not it was justified. If you had tried to stand in his way, what would have happened then?”
At the prince’s look of disbelief, Kayla barged onward.
“I know how cruel this sounds, my prince, but there’s nothing you could’ve done other to damn both yourself and your mother. You can grieve all you want later, but right now, there’s nothing more important than holding on to this position,” Kayla said firmly. “I know you don’t want to. But your brother, everyone who has already died for you to become Crown Prince, can you push those things aside?”
Yunqi stared at her silently for a moment before lowering his eyes.
“No.”
“Then that’s all there is to it,” Kayla said. “You know what’s important, and you know what you have to do right now. The only question is if you're willing to do it.”
Despite his visible anguish, Yunqi drew a deep breath and tried to collect himself. His face crumpled again, and he pressed his palms to his eyes, shoulders shaking. After a moment, he tried again.
The heartbroken look on his face shifted into an appropriately moderate expression of sorrow. He took the offered handkerchief, wiping down his eyes and cheeks.
“Thank you, Wenyuan,” Yunqi said.
She handed him a cup of water, and he gratefully downed it in one go.
“Allow me to help you with your robes, Your Highness,” Kayla said.
Yunqi nodded, and let Kayla pull him to his feet.
As she turned to fetch his clothes, a sharp look passed over Yunqi’s face, contorting it into an unfamiliar mask. By the time Kayla turned back to him, it was gone.
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Cultural Notes
中药/Chinese [herbal] medicine: Often used as treatments, but also as supplements for those in ill health or the elderly. Generally tastes pretty bad (varying levels of bitterness) but tend to be effective to some degree if the doctor's worth anything.
礼装/Ceremonial clothing: There are varying levels of formality in ritual clothing used by the nobility and especially the Imperial Family. The Empress Dowager is referring to the set of formal robes specific to her position that would be used at the most formal of occasions.
如坐针毡/As if sitting on a mat of needles: An Ancient Chinese proverb meaning to be in a precarious position.
东宫/Eastern Palace: The wing of the Imperial Palace in which the Crown Prince resided. Most other princes were not permitted to reside within the Imperial Palace after reaching a certain age, save for certain exceptions such as for disability, etc. In many dynasties, princes would be sent to their fiefs (aka far from the capital) once they were of age, especially in a situation where a Crown Prince had been named. Their ability to visit their parents and siblings significantly varied by the time period, specific Emperor, and the favor that they personally received from the Emperor.