Chapter 15 Blood on Iron Armor
I sat in the courtyard for a very, very long time. So long that crabapple blossoms fell all over me.
So long that the imperial physician came out and told me Xu Liuyi's child was in great danger now, and might not live through the night.
Xu Liuyi was crying, cursing the imperial physician as useless.
Later the sounds of slaughter faded. The palace gate was pushed open.
Xu Liuyi heard the noise and ran out barefoot, clutching the child. "Your Highness, our child..."
But when she saw who it was, her eyes were full of fear.
The one who came was Li Yuankuo. His iron armor was covered in blood.
I was somewhat surprised. I had thought the one to come would be the Empress.
I asked him, "Where is Your Highness the Crown Prince?"
He looked at me. "In the imperial prison."
"Oh."
"You need not be afraid. I will plead for you before Imperial Father and Imperial Mother."
He seemed afraid I would be implicated. It seemed the Empress had not told him the truth.
I stood up, brushed the fallen blossoms off myself, and bowed to him. "Then I must trouble Your Highness Prince Huan."
Li Yuancheng had failed in his palace coup. The entire Crown Prince faction was implicated.
The Emperor was furious. Blood flowed like a river.
Xu Liuyi's child was gone that night as well. She went mad, raving. "Good that he died. If he dies, I don't have to die."
Not long after, Li Yuankuo was named Crown Prince for his merit in protecting the sovereign, and no longer had to go on the eastern campaign.
As for Li Yuancheng, the Emperor kept him locked in the imperial prison and did not kill him.
I knew this would be the result.
Li Yuancheng had also been raised by the Emperor himself.
As long as the Emperor still lived, Li Yuancheng could go on living.
Perhaps one day, when the Emperor's anger faded, Li Yuancheng would be let out again. They might even find an excuse that he had been deceived by close ministers, and restore his status as Crown Prince. It was not impossible.
But in autumn, the Emperor fell from his horse while hunting, and within two days he died.
In the last life he had not passed so early. I heard that on the day he fell, he had drunk wine, wine the Empress had personally handed him.
Before he died, the Empress called me and the other royal consorts to attend before him. I heard the unconscious Emperor keep calling a name. "Mu Yao..."
Someone asked me, "Who is Mu Yao?"
I told her, "The late Empress, buried deep in the underground palace."
"Oh, I remember now. She was the woman physician who pulled Your Majesty back from the gates of death.
"A pity she saved countless lives in her lifetime, yet died in childbirth.
"Your Majesty is truly devoted, still unable to forget the late Empress after so many years. If my prince could treat me like that, even death would be worth it."
I looked at her innocent eyes.
She was still too young.