King Yan’s face turned completely pale, as if someone had punched him hard, and he staggered back two steps.
The flower rack behind him was knocked over, and a pot of Molan fell to the ground, shattering with a sharp sound piercing the silent night.
He turned his head to glance at the ground, swallowed a few times, and then looked at the Empress.
But at this moment, his eyes were filled with fear, and his lips began to tremble.
Beneath the eaves of the hallway beyond the palace door, Fu Zhen hadn’t expected to hear such explosive news. She hastily looked around and saw that the courtyard had already been cleared of palace attendants, only the Empress’s eunuch who had been responsible for clearing the area was standing not far away.
He stood with his hands folded, eyes to the ground and mind focused inward, as if the conversation from inside the hall had never reached his ears.
Before this, Fu Zhen had merely felt a secret sympathy for the Empress’s unfortunate fate. The three Princes she had borne, one was early deemed a sacrifice and sent away far from home. Another fell into a quagmire of power and obsession, ending up being slain by his own father’s hands.
The last one, whom she thought was just physically weak, turned out to harbor selfish motives and was restless too.
Unexpectedly, it turns out the third one wasn’t even her biological son!
Fu Zhen swallowed a mouthful of saliva, steadied her emotions, and clasping her hands, listened again.
King Yan’s dry voice came out: "You, saw him? ... He told me he would never come to see you. How, how did he break his word? I thought, I thought he was a true man of integrity, one whose word could be relied upon..."
He spoke incoherently, not knowing which sentence was key.
The Empress no longer had her usual gentleness, not even the calm composure from before: "Although you are not my biological child, before the second committed his crime, I never intended for you to succeed the throne, but from the bottom of my heart I treated you as my own son. I wanted you to grow up healthy, wanted you to have a fulfilling life, never thought my careful protection only made you foolhardy!"
After saying these words sternly, she stood up; the light on the table cast her shadow several times larger, her thin frame grew imposing, filled with a sense of pressure.
"The first brother cared about Yi Yi’s existence because he already had the position of Crown Prince. True, if Yi Yi had returned to the palace early, returned to us, I would have done my best to cultivate him well. If the second couldn’t bear the burden of this country, I would surely let Yi Yi take the throne!
"So for the second brother to feel this crisis isn’t excessive, but you were never a candidate for the Crown Prince from the start, we never gave you any hope. Why did you do this, driving away my son, stabbing me in the heart?!"
With each question, the Empress strode in front of King Yan, her fierce voice and imposing air made King Yan involuntarily curl up.
He wrapped his arms around himself, then slowly crouched down, and a sobbing sound came out.
"I didn’t mean to do this, I just wanted to seek justice for my uncle... I really didn’t want to hurt you, I didn’t want to hurt my brother, I just wanted, wanted my uncle’s unclear death avenged by someone..."
"What did you say?" The Empress paused, looking down at his head: "Your uncle? Who is your uncle?"
"The Guan father and son who died in Baiyu Lane!"
King Yan opened his eyes wide and wiped his tears and snot with his hand, "They originally came from outside the pass to the capital to find my birth mother... Of course they didn’t know my mother had long been dead, but they knew me, knew I was their nephew! But then they were pushed out to take the blame by my brother, just dying unclearly in Baiyu Lane!"
The Empress was shocked: "How did you know?!"
Outside the hall, Fu Zhen was equally shocked, even her breathing stopped. Yang Yi, while telling this past to him, mentioned that the Guan father and son were people from Dayue he met on his way north. He indeed said they came to the capital to find someone, but didn’t know who they were looking for, turns out they were looking for King Yan!...
"I knew before the Baiyu Lake incident happened," King Yan got up from the ground, his throat like it had been scorched by fire, his voice hoarse and raw, "Do you remember that Qixi Festival?"
The Empress tried to steady her breath: "Are you talking about the one where you pestered me endlessly for three days in advance, insisting on visiting the flower street that Qixi?"