Yu Wenrui sprang from his seat as he saw Gu Shengyin block that blow.
He ran to the Emperor’s side with all his might.
But by the time he reached her, she had already stopped breathing.
Yu Wenrui’s hands couldn’t stop trembling.
The Emperor, seeing his expression, thought he was overly grieving the death of his junior sister.
The spring hunt was certainly halted, and Consort Li’s body was carried back to the palace, where the Emperor ordered a grand funeral.
However, that night, a fire broke out in the palace where Consort Li resided. Everything was reduced to ashes, and not even her intact body remained.
The Emperor could only sigh.
Yu Wenrui personally held You Lan’s body and placed it in his own room.
The servants in his room were all deaf-mutes, so he wasn’t afraid they would spill any secrets.
"You Lan... you must hate me, right?"
"You should hate me, but if you do hate me, you should’ve fiercely taken your revenge. Why, why would you still say such things?" he lamented, referring to how she spoke of them as siblings even in her dying moments, still considering his well-being.
As Yu Wenrui spoke, he began coughing violently, fresh red blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, which he refused to wipe away.
He tremblingly touched her face, still so utterly beautiful, yet cold and rigid to the touch—the chill of death.
"I’m a bastard... I deserve a terrible death... It was me, I led you to this end..."
His Highness the Prince Xian grew thinner by the day, his demeanor becoming more somber. Even when the Emperor decreed him as the Crown Prince at the court session, no smile was seen on his face.
This indeed earned many court officials’ silent praise for the Prince, no, the Crown Prince, for his extraordinary demeanor.
Yu Wenrui was utterly lost.
To become the Crown Prince, to eventually ascend to that supreme throne and trample everyone underfoot had been his greatest goal in life.
But now, having nearly achieved it all, why couldn’t he feel any happiness?
Probably, it was because his heart had grown cold following her departure.
Walking into the Prince’s Mansion in a daze, Yu Wenrui ignored all the congratulatory greetings and shut himself in his room.
However, the figure that was supposed to be lying on the bed was gone.
A flicker of panic crossed his heart. How could she be gone?
He scrutinized closely and finally, on the bed, he saw a withered camellia.
A sudden flash of realization crossed his mind.
Indeed, she was not human, how could he judge her by human standards?
Yu Wenrui chuckled softly. Eventually, that chuckle turned into a loud laugh, and he coughed continuously.
Even so, he didn’t stop laughing.
His eyes brightened, and amidst the dead silence, a sliver of hope for life spread.
"You deceived me, deceived everyone... but thank you, this time, for deceiving me."
She wasn’t dead, she was still alive.
There was no happier truth than this.
Even if she hated him and didn’t want to see him again, it didn’t matter.
The people in the Prince’s Mansion noticed that their master’s mood had inexplicably improved.
The Emperor’s health was failing; his body had been weakened by indulgence in wine and women over the years, and a severe illness had completely broken him down.
It wasn’t long before Crown Prince Yu Wenrui took control of the political situation.