Chapter 43 News of His Death
Yuwen Huang was urgently carried back to his sleeping palace.
Every on-duty imperial physician was summoned.
Palace servants hurried back and forth.
Their faces were filled with panic.
I was "invited" back to my own courtyard.
Triple the usual guards surrounded me with vigilant eyes.
Hei Yu and the others hid in the shadows anxiously awaiting my command.
Should I break out in the chaos or...
I sat by the window gazing at the gloomy sky outside.
My hand inside the sleeve clenched tight.
Nails dug deep into my palm yet I felt no pain.
His pounce replayed in my mind—the glaring red on his back and those words before he fainted "I am going to marry you."
This madman!
Time dragged in dead silence.
Every minute felt like a thousand cuts.
Finally.
Suppressed cries and chaotic footsteps sounded outside the courtyard.
The old eunuch stumbled in face white as paper.
He dropped to his knees with a thud and sobbed.
"Your Highness... Your Majesty... Your Majesty he... was gravely injured and could not be saved... he has passed away!"
My brain went blank.
All sound in the world seemed sucked away.
Passed away?
The man who had just held me spoken with such force and said such outrageous things... gone?
"Impossible..."
I heard my own voice turn dry and hoarse.
"Nonsense. What are you babbling?"
"This servant dares not lie!"
The old eunuch banged his head on the ground.
"The physicians tried their best... the sword was poisoned and struck the heart meridian... Your Majesty... Your Majesty held on with one last breath to return to the palace and then..."
"This servant saw how much Your Majesty liked you.
From childhood Your Majesty devoted himself to court affairs and never glanced at anyone else.
Even when countless people were pushed before him he paid no attention.
Since you appeared Your Majesty became obsessed.
This servant thought since Your Majesty has passed I should still inform Your Highness."
I could no longer hear the rest.
A huge icy panic and despair I had never known swallowed me like a towering wave.
My heart felt gripped by an invisible hand.
The pain nearly stopped my breath.
He was dead?
That Yuwen Huang who threatened me forced me shouted to kill me after losing his memory then inexplicably fell for me and finally blocked the sword for me... dead?