Chapter 13 + Afterword: Consort Lin

I casually glossed over my concubine mother's and baby brother's deaths, then threw me—the one who knew the truth—into a deserted courtyard and left me to fend for myself.

The Bùi family had fallen.

So I spared no effort in manufacturing a few pieces of evidence to drag Father down with them.

I had him thrown into the Dali Temple prison for a while.

Xiao Ce quietly gave instructions behind the scenes: his father-in-law, Lord Shen, was to be given especially “thorough” care.

As a result, all ten of Father's fingers were crushed, one leg was broken, and he was carried back to the Shen residence covered in wounds.

I went to visit him.

My legal mother could no longer withstand one blow after another. She lay in bed, gravely ill and barely breathing.

I couldn't bear to watch her suffer, so right in front of Father, I ordered someone to pour a bowl of slow-acting poison down her throat. It would make her heart and lungs ache as though they were being carved apart.

I wanted her to die slowly and go below to answer for what she had done to my mother.

Father's old eyes brimmed with tears.

“You are truly cruel and vicious. My only regret is that I didn't kill you back then.”

I stuffed the smallpox-infected handkerchief into his arms.

“Back then, because this handkerchief had been brought by Bùi Vân Châu herself, you heartlessly buried the injustice done to my little brother.”

“Now this handkerchief implicates the lives of the entire Shen clan.”

“I want to see whether you will choose to die with your name cleared—or fight the Prince of Ning's residence to the bitter end, even if it means mutual destruction.”

Father was horrified.

I laughed loudly and turned away.

“I have always liked competing and taking what I want. I don't just want to seize your lives from you—I want to take your lives, too.

“I killed you once in my previous life, and that wasn't enough. So I'll do it again in this one.”

Only after the words left my mouth did I notice someone standing outside the door.

Xiao Ce and I met each other's eyes.

Light and shadow divided us.

He stood in the light, his whole figure gilded in gold.

I stood in darkness, my expression gloomy.

The wind swept through the corridor.

I stroked my jade thumb ring, my gaze turning cold.

Did he want to become another Xie Jing'an?

Fortunately, I already carried a small hope within me.

Boy or girl, the throne and this empire could belong to that child alone.

But in the very next moment, I saw Xiao Ce lift his long eyes and walk against the light toward me, reaching out a hand.

“What a coincidence. I happen to be someone who likes to conquer, too.”

“Princess Consort, do whatever you wish. I will don golden armor and march north and south on your behalf.”

My hand paused over my lower abdomen.

At last, this life really was different.

AFTERWORD: CONSORT LIN

1

At eighty-eight, my mind began to grow hazy.

I never expected to dream of my previous life.

In that dream, I lost to Consort Shu and her son once more, and painfully lost my only son.

With the slow-acting poison Little Li Zi had given me inside my body, I thought of revenge day and night.

That continued until I forced Consort Shu into the Temple of State Protection.

She had the Fifth Prince as her support, and the Li family's reputation behind her.

I couldn't kill her, so I chased her to the temple. When she met with misfortune, I seized the chance to kick her while she was down, intending to teach her a lesson through a little physical pain.

That was when I met Shen Yuemian.

Everyone said I was vicious and loved to fight for what I wanted.

That was only because they had never met Shen Yuemian.

Consort Shu's maid had merely turned away for a moment.

Without the slightest hesitation, Yuemian shoved Consort Shu straight over the edge of the deep ravine.

At that instant,

I was so shocked I forgot to breathe.

How could she be so bold?

The thought that had circled my mind countless times—she had made it real with one seemingly effortless push.

Half admiring and half terrified, I asked, “You… you just killed her in front of everyone?”

She gave a slight shake of her head.

She smiled, but beneath it her eyes were as cold as a mountain of ice.

“Your Highness is mistaken. You saw with your own eyes that Consort Shu lost her footing and fell.”

“Otherwise, it would mean that Your Highness and I conspired to kill her together.”

She had even calculated how to implicate me.

She was truly capable.

2

More impressive still, not long after Consort Shu fell to her death,

Shen Yuemian laid every piece of incriminating evidence against the Li family before me, leaving nothing out.

Her expression was calm.

“They wanted to kill my child. I could only strike first and seize the advantage, then make sure every one of them died.”

So it turned out

a person could live like that.

I went mad alongside her for once.

We brought down the Li family and killed the Fifth Prince, Xiao Yin.

In the course of working together, we became confidantes.

She handed me the blade and helped me sweep away my enemies one by one.

I became her shield, protecting her prosperity and peace.

Still, I had one regret. If only I had dared, earlier, to go mad and risk everything as she did,

then my Xiao Ce would not have died tragically in his fief, leaving us separated by life and death.

Later, my health grew weaker and weaker.

She was always by my side.

My hair became dry and brittle, falling out in handfuls.

She cut her own black hair and made a wig for me.

My eyesight dimmed until I could no longer see clearly.

She became my eyes, staying by me day and night to care for me.

But she was so tired.

All her life, she had to brace herself and fight for everything alone.

Fight for a way to live,

fight for a chance,

fight for a future,

fight for every day she had left.

My heart ached for her. Suppressing the cramping pain in my innards, I teased her,

“Whomever you marry, it will all be the same.”

“In your next life, marry my son. Whether he loves you or not won't change the fact that I love you.

“A mother-in-law is a mother, too. Miemian, let me be your mother in your next life.”

I thought,

In my next life, I would become a mother with the strength to protect her.

I would save my Xiao Ce and shelter my Miemian, too.

Who could have imagined there really would be another life?

3

I had forgotten her.

She came to find me bearing the debt of having saved Xiao Ce's life.

The moment she entered the Guan Shu Palace, she killed Little Li Zi right in front of me, just as decisively as she had in our previous life.

There was no fear in her eyes—only the relief of finally setting down a burden.

In the end, she kept her promise and married my Xiao Ce.

She thought she was only seeking power and protection.

But when Xiao Ce held the records of her life in his hands, anguish and fury reddened his eyes.

“She suffered so much. Why should the people who hurt her get to live happily ever after?”

“She had to fight even for the chance to survive. What else does she have?”

Pity was the beginning of love.

Xiao Ce loved her.

He cherished her.

He protected her.

She said Xiao Ce admired the strong, and that was why he respected her schemes and methods.

She was wrong.

What Xiao Ce had fallen in love with was her vulnerability.

He said,

“There are many people in this world who admire the strong. As long as you stand atop a high mountain, someone is bound to see you.”

“But your weakness, your hardships, and your pain—only you yourself understand them.”

“Many people love your strength and your schemes. I do, too. But what I cherish even more is the vulnerable part of you that no one else has loved.”

Xiao Ce loved her for his entire life.

She wanted to fight for what she wanted.

So he fought alongside her.

She wanted to kill someone.

So he handed her the blade.

From a seventeen-year-old Third Prince to a sixty-seven-year-old ruler,

he saw his descendants flourish and the four seas united.

Yet by his side and in his heart, there was always only her.

In this life, Consort Shu never had the chance to poison me.

I, too, lived to be eighty-eight.

The spring sunlight was dazzling.

Shen Yuemian stood beside my bed.

With the last of my strength, I took her hand.

“In your next life, come find us. Let us keep fighting for everything we want.”

The lamplight flickered.

I sank into darkness.

Time seemed to fall silent, too.

But in the endless dark, I still heard her voice.

She said, “All right.”

—THE END—

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