Snow fell in thick flurries, seeping into households across the world.
Some were gathered in warm reunion, while others were steeped in desolate, chilling slaughter.
Astride the peak of Mount Jiulong, Kunning Palace ought to have stood solemn and profound, yet amidst the whirling blizzard, this palace representing the mother of the realm wore an air of pale decay.
The collapse of power could be like water wearing away stone—an ant-hole breaking an embankment of a thousand li—or it could be the crushing ruin of a sudden collapse overnight beneath the immense might of heaven.
Standing before the imposing hall, Li Zhaoyuan gazed at the carved beams, painted rafters, and vermilion jade tiles above, and at the cavernous palace gates below that he had once viewed as man-eating monstrosities, lost in a momentary daze.
The dark-red water stains left by melting snow on the vermilion railings brought to Li Zhaoyuan's mind a rainy night from long, long ago, when his mother had held him curled up, kneeling before the mourning hall of the Cold Palace, while the Empress's phoenix carriage rolled right past, splashing through the puddles on the bluestone path.
Back then, the Empress had been so lofty and untouchable, capable of deciding his and his imperial mother's life and death with a single word. Yet today, she could only huddle inside her palace like a sick beast, breathing her last, wagging her tail in search of pity.
Li Zhaoyuan felt an urge to laugh, yet he could not.
To reach this place, he had spent the entire first half of his life, treading upon the dried bones of countless souls. He had thought he was mentally prepared for everything, yet when it all became reality, an abrupt sensation washed over him—as though it were all a dream, an illusion.
The rustle of falling snow turned every sound ethereal in Li Zhaoyuan's ears. He felt himself in a terrible state, yet at the same time, relieved and gratified as never before.
"Your Highness, the hour has arrived."
An airy, effeminate voice came from beside his ear. The respectful reminder from the Emperor's senior attendant bowed at his side roused Li Zhaoyuan from his "dream."
Snow lay three feet deep before Kunning Palace. The entire entourage entering the palace stepped across the snow without leaving a trace. When Li Zhaoyuan arrived beneath the palace gates and raised his eyes once more to gaze upon this majestic edifice that had once been unattainable, only calm remained in the depths of his eyes.
Yet just as the procession was about to push open the doors and enter, Eunuch Nie and the cadre of decree-bearing eunuchs behind him abruptly halted in their tracks before the palace doors.
Li Zhaoyuan calmly looked back toward them.
Deep within Eunuch Nie's eyes glinted a cold, faint blue light.
"Your Highness, His Majesty has an oral decree. Please receive it."
*Thump.*
As his black cloak swept across the jade steps, scattering fine grains of snow, Li Zhaoyuan turned, bowed his head, and knelt. His voice was soft, slow, and composed:
"This son and subject receives the imperial decree."
To hear an oral decree directly conveyed was as though standing in the presence of the Emperor himself.
Before the tightly closed doors, the palace courtyard lay somber and grim.
Dusting the white snow from his python robe, Eunuch Nie composed his features, cleared his throat, and adopted the tone of that supreme ruler within the inner palace, speaking in a measured voice:
"Zhaoyuan, the enmity between you and the Empress, and the enmity between Consort Qin and the Empress—We know of it. You claim that reaching where you are today is to prove to the realm that the capable must rise; We believe that. But We believe even more that the Empress also deserves credit for it. Therefore, regarding the grievances between you and the Empress, We shall not intervene. All the rights and wrongs, all the settlements of hatred, are left entirely to your own judgment."
Within the deep courtyard of the palace, a hush fell.
Eunuch Nie gave a light cough, signaling that the oral decree had ended. Then, as Li Zhaoyuan rose to his feet, he and the decree-bearing eunuchs dropped to their knees together.
Court etiquette was always intricate, but those dwelling within the palace had long grown accustomed to it.
Kneeling on the ground with his forehead pressed to the paving stones, Eunuch Nie spoke in an effeminate tone:
"Your Highness, in accordance with His Majesty's oral decree, this poisoned wine and imperial decree are hereby entrusted to you. We servants shall wait outside."
With that, two young eunuchs beside Eunuch Nie crawled forward on their knees with bowed heads, presenting the jade box containing the imperial decree and the food box meant for the Empress.
Beyond the upturned eaves of Kunning Palace, snow fell ceaselessly in a vast blur, the bleak winter chill surging in from all directions.
Li Zhaoyuan gazed at the gilded food box before him. Inside, a celadon wine cup clinked softly, like a sparrow trapped in a cage.
Having grasped the intentions of his imperial father, Li Zhaoyuan took a deep breath. Though no formal decree instructed him to do so, he bowed in homage toward the direction of Weiyang Palace.
"This son... accepts the decree."
As the residence of the mother of Great Yan, the grandeur of Kunning Palace made it practically a sovereign palace complex unto itself, its covered corridors, pavilions, waterside terraces, flowing streams, artificial hills, and cascading waterfalls the pinnacle of earthly luxury.
Walking alone down the corridor leading to the Empress's chambers, the hem of Li Zhaoyuan's black python robe brushed across the stone steps, stirring the fine snow and kicking up a cold mist in the morning light.
Along this path, Li Zhaoyuan walked very slowly. For the first time, hesitation appeared in his steps, as though he needed a lifetime to decide on the choice ahead. Yet in the end, he arrived before the jade-phoenix doors of the Empress's chambers.
Then, he pushed open the door and stepped inside.
With the awe-inspiring authority he had brought upon his return to the capital, Kunning Palace had long since shed its former splendor. When Li Zhaoyuan pushed open the gilded jade door, the Empress of Great Yan was seated before a mirror dressing her hair. The motion of her gold-clad fingernails stroking through her cloud-like coiffure remained graceful, and beneath her phoenix robes, her poised, noble silhouette was as voluptuous and captivating as ever. The bronze mirror before her reflected her blood-red lips; this Empress of Great Yan seemed ready to meet death in full regalia.
Hearing the sound behind her, Empress Mu did not turn around. She continued to comb her hair before the bronze mirror, her voice echoing through the cavernous hall tinged with mockery:
"You should be rejoicing. Rejoicing that a bastard not even fit to wear the dragon crest could make it this far."
Li Zhaoyuan paid no heed to Empress Mu's mockery.
The imperial nobles of Great Yan always built their residences on an imposing, majestic scale, such that walking inside them, one could even hear the echo of boots striking the floor.
Amidst the soft echoes of his footsteps, Li Zhaoyuan walked to Empress Mu's side and gently placed the food box onto the red sandalwood table before her, speaking neither hurried nor slow:
"Empress Mother, it was Imperial Father and Consort Mother together who gave birth to me. The claim that I am unworthy of the dragon crest is overstepping boundaries. I hope Empress Mother will watch her words."
Empress Mu glanced at the gilded food box. Her body quivered faintly, but she immediately sneered:
"What? Are you here to collect debts on behalf of that lowly mother of yours?"
Li Zhaoyuan calmly opened the food box. Inside lay only a tray of golden-thread nanmu wood and a jade wine cup atop it. The amber liquid had already formed delicate ice crystals in the cold wind.
"If this son were to say that Consort Mother never actually cared about the harshness and humiliation you inflicted upon her back then, would you believe it?"
Hearing this, Empress Mu gave a soft laugh. Her alluring, stunning face shook with trembling mirth:
"Do you think this palace could believe that? Ha... hahahahaha."
Laughter echoed through the palace hall, yet Li Zhaoyuan merely glanced sideways at the profile of this woman who had once been unrivaled in beauty across the realm before withdrawing his gaze, remarking blandly:
"It seems you do not."
At his words, a chilling glint that inspired dread flickered in her phoenix eyes.
"Li Zhaoyuan, do you not think this Kunning Palace of mine is a bit too quiet? Ever since you returned to the capital, that wench has slaughtered almost everyone close to me. And now you tell me she doesn't care?"
Li Zhaoyuan stared into the eyes that had terrified his childhood self to the point of sleeplessness, and suddenly smiled with gratification:
"It seems you truly do not understand."
"..."
After a moment of silence, Empress Mu's fingernails dug into her palms as she barked sharply:
"Impudent! So long as I have not drawn my last breath, I remain the inviolable Empress of Great Yan!"
Li Zhaoyuan paid no mind to the clamor of a loser. Gazing at the woman who remained beautiful even in her loss of composure, his star-bright eyes held an indescribably complex emotion:
"It seems you do understand after all, Empress Mother. If you didn't, you would not lose your composure like this. The root of Consort Mother's actions is family affection—to avoid dirtying my hands."
Empress Mu remained silent.
A gentle look surfaced in Li Zhaoyuan's serene eyes:
"...Yet why bother? Having made it this far, the blood on this prince's hands is already far beyond what little would come from your side."
Empress Mu fell quiet for a moment, then sneered:
"A superfluous gesture."
Li Zhaoyuan looked upon the Empress who was supposed to be a model of motherhood for the world:
"In a sense, you and Imperial Father truly were a match made in heaven."
Empress Mu inhaled deeply, finally regaining her composure:
"How I am, or how His Majesty is, is not for a bastard like you to judge."
With that, Empress Mu's delicate, noble phoenix eyes tilted slightly upward with a trace of disdain:
"And Li Zhaoyuan, do not mistake luck for capability. Your position today is merely the result of my disappointing whelps failing to live up to expectations. I had clearly paved the road for them, yet none listened. One fled, one defied his mother's orders, and the only obedient one was ultimately framed."
"Empress Mother, this mindset of yours is the very root of your downfall."
The bronze crane candlestick suddenly snapped with an ember. Li Zhaoyuan gently picked up the jade flagon containing the poisoned wine, poured out a cup, brought it to his nose, and took a faint whiff. He said serenely, "Yet this prince does not actually blame you. Ruthlessness in the imperial clan is the norm. You and Father were right; you suppressing me in my childhood to solidify your own offspring's power was right. But correspondingly, the victor becomes king while the loser is branded a rebel—that, too, is right."
Having said this, Li Zhaoyuan slowly presented the jade cup in his hand before Empress Mu:
"Empress Mother, please."
"..."
Staring at this cup of poisoned wine that spelled death, Empress Mu unconsciously pressed her full red lips together. Her hands resting before her abdomen trembled slightly, but after taking a deep breath, she nonetheless raised her hands to accept it.
*Rustle—*
With his python robe sweeping the floor, Li Zhaoyuan dropped his head and sank to one knee.
By Great Yan etiquette, he could not watch the unsightly death throes of an Empress.
Her full bosom heaved incessantly, the trembling of her fingertips sending ripples across the surface of the wine. "I hear from His Majesty that you wish to prove that the capable will inevitably rise to the top?"
Keeping his head lowered, Li Zhaoyuan nodded in assent:
"In response to Empress Mother: yes."
"I wished to prove it as well..."
"Prove that a woman, too, could ascend the imperial throne?"
"..." Empress Mu's expression turned ugly.
Li Zhaoyuan kept his head down, his voice stating a fact as though having anticipated this all along:
"This son has also heard of your past deeds, but you are not worthy."
On the verge of death, what she had pursued all her life was denied.
Humiliation, resentment, and bitterness flashed in the Empress's pitch-black eyes, yet Li Zhaoyuan's knife-like voice did not cease:
"Empress Mother, you have indeed surpassed most men in this world, but you are far from worthy of the imperial throne of Great Yan. Even if you had taken that seat by luck, 'virtue failing the station' would still become your posthumous title."
Time ticked by.
The sound of flying snow striking the glazed tiles was like scattered bits of shattered jade.
Empress Mu took a deep breath, spitting out five words through gritted teeth:
"...You vile, lowly, baseborn bastard."
With those words, she raised the cup with trembling hands and drained the poisoned wine in a single gulp.
Yet right at that moment, she suddenly saw the python-robed youth kneeling before her slowly rise from the ground. Her expression instantly shifted from astonishment to indignation:
"Presumptuous! You unfilial cur, do you dare stare at the dying state of the Empress—"
"That was not poisoned wine."
"..." Empress Mu froze.
Li Zhaoyuan's expression was colder than ice. With indifferent, merciless eyes, he picked up the jade flagon and spoke softly:
"This son changed his mind. Suddenly, I do not want you to drink this poisoned wine. Instead, I want you to look upon it day by day, dwell on it night after night, until..."
Saying this, Li Zhaoyuan tipped the flagon, pouring the amber liquid onto the bluestone floor, and then curved his lips into a faint smile:
"Until you count every hour waiting for death. How does that sound?"
"..."
From outside the hall came the crisp snap of a withered branch breaking under the weight of snow. The Empress's delicately painted distant-mountain brows twitched violently. Her slender hand, fingernails adorned with eastern pearls, swept fiercely toward the bronze mirror on the table.
*Crash—*
Li Zhaoyuan stepped back half a pace, watching the floor full of shards reflect the towering hall ceiling and countless twisted faces.
Empress Mu shook from head to foot, her lovely eyes laced with madness. Her shrill screeches echoed through the hall alongside the scent of sandalwood:
"You wretched bastard! A lowly bastard like you dares humiliate me! To humiliate me over matters of life and death!"
Yet halfway through, this hysteria came to an abrupt halt.
Empress Mu stared at the shattered shards of mirror on the floor. Her slender hand gently caressed her jade-white face, and then she began to chuckle in a low voice, appearing utterly deranged:
"No... No, Li Zhaoyuan! You cannot kill me! The Crown Prince has overseen the state for decades, while you have no foundation in the court! If you kill me, those ministers of the imperial faction will all fear for their lives! That is why you cannot kill me..."
"Yet that day will come."
"..." Empress Mu stopped.
"Consort Mother is still waiting for this son."
As Li Zhaoyuan turned, his cloak whipped up a biting, cold wind. Looking back over his shoulder, he said, "If you have the courage, Empress Mother, then try taking your own life. Only by doing so might you cause some trouble for this son. But from the looks of it, you do not seem to have the guts.
"So, live in fear, Empress Mu."
Chapter 761