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Published at 17th of August 2019 10:05:13 AM


Chapter 147

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Now that one of her duties were done with, Shen Tianyu bid goodbye to Ke Qingyan before the sun was to set and returned to her quarters in Lavender Palace.

'Next, I need to contact that Junzhu. But, I reckon the Imperial Palace is on lock down right now and the residences of the relatives probably wouldn't want to accept guests.' She sighed to herself. 'Do I have to wait until the funeral is over? But that's such a waste of time...' She then brightened up as she thought of an idea and spoke to herself out loud. "I could but, it might be trouble if I was caught. Oh well, I'm in a hurry to leave so who cares. But maybe tomorrow, I need to rest today." She decided on her course of action for tomorrow and then turned in for sleep.

The next day, she woke up and lazed around as usual. Rong Jian didn't ask where she went yesterday nor showed any intention of wanting to know. The day went by as usual for them. Outside Lavender Palace though, everyone was tense and upset. The Emperor hadn't called for a mourning period yet but there wasn't any time in history an Imperial family member wasn't mourned for their death unless they were banished. Everyone was just waiting for the order.

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At the Imperial Palace, Emperor's Personal Chamber

The Emperor of Jing Qie, Jing Lan was holding a large something. No one else was in the large room, which was about the size of a modern apartment house. Only two guards stood at the entrance to the courtyard, which was a mid-sized stroll from the bedroom. Jing Lan was crying, burying his head into what he was holding, trying not to make that much sound.

"Why... why did things end up like this, Wan'er?" He asked the quiet room , his grip tightening on the something, or someone, in his arms. It was the body of the recently deceased Empress, all dressed up for a funeral procession in extravagant layers of white robes. The Imperial couple from Xi Qi were staying in their own rooms at the inn arranged for the contestants of Xi Qi. It wasn't as lavish as a bedroom in any Imperial Palace but it was better than a tent in a camp. They also didn't show any signs of rejection. In fact, they were the ones to bring up the subject, hence the security there was so tight. This allowed Jing Lan to arrange things for the mourning of the Empress. But upon seeing his rightful wife for so many years all made up and looking so much like she was merely slumbering, something in him had snapped. He had ordered a stop to the preparations and taken the body back with him and shut himself in his chambers. He's been crying and hugging the cold, slumbering corpse for a whole day already.


He remembered when he was younger, how hard he had chased this woman in his arms right now. He had been his father's only son but he had not grown up spoiled nor arrogant, becoming a good example of a prince. He had no need to fight for the throne but he was taught to care for the people. He grew up as tensions between Jing Qie and Xi Qi heightened. And right after he was officially named as the Crown Prince in his Coming of Age ceremony, the war reached it's highest point. Though he was the Crown Prince then, he was still deemed too young to have much say in politics. He saw the very teachings his father taught him, that he believed in with all his heart, fall apart right in front of his eyes. The officials that always declared to care for the people were fighting one another to stay in power, scheming against each other in the middle of a war, when tens and hundreds of their citizens were dying on the battlefield. No one was willing to send out their martial experts first and kept pointing fingers. In order to escape from all this, he volunteered to go to the battlefield to fight. It was during this time that he had met another boy in one of his inconspicuous visits into town, the boy who would become the Emperor of Xi Qi. Though the boy was the same age, he had a clear purpose and determination in his eyes that rivaled the mad court officials in the Imperial Palace. He spent days hanging out with this boy, who never seemed to go home. The boy told him of another boy he knew, him talking about himself in a roundabout way.

At the time, the Emperor of Xi Qi was not an only child and was actually the son of the Noble Consort of his father. However, the Empress was not able to have a son and tensions had long been stretched taunt at court, with officials petitioning to replace the Empress with the Noble Consort and other officials who defended the Empress's seat. He was in a precarious situation since he was young and had always acted cautiously even when attempts were made at his life. But he always had a dream. He longed to be the Emperor. But it wasn't just for himself, he wanted to make a precedent for future Emperors, make it law if he had to, to only marry one wife, or as few wives as possible, so that others may not go through what he did. Because even in the noble families he interacted with, there were children like him, not just royalty. In addition, he had already met the Empress by this time and had a crush on her. He never wanted to make her suffer like his mother did.

Jing Lan was moved by the boy's charisma and, despite not knowing his true origins, spilled his grievances to him. About how the world that he had believed in since he was little had fallen apart all at once when the war started. He admitted how lost he was and how he was looking for another purpose. His love for his people was embedded into his being so even if the corrupt officials had ripped apart his world, he still wanted to do something for the people, the people dying in the hundreds in this war.




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