Dressed as the last nine-tailed fox

Chapter 369 Imprisoning the Empress
The Empress finally turned her gaze to the Crown Prince, a faint smile playing at the corners of her eyes. "We rekindled our old flame, and soon after, I became pregnant and gave birth to you."

"So... Father Emperor's lack of offspring, with only me as his child, is also your doing." The Crown Prince quickly understood everything. He clenched his fists, questioning with disappointment and anger, "Just for the throne, you harmed so many innocent people?"

"Just for the throne? Just? You speak of the throne so lightly?" The Empress frowned in displeasure. "It seems that all these years, you have been protected too well by me and your father, to the point that even the throne is beneath your notice! Since ancient times, who hasn't wanted to sit on the throne! Who hasn't fought their way to the throne! To sit at the pinnacle of power, there must be sacrifices!"

The Empress paused, then continued, "It is your good fortune that you were born into my womb, born into nobility! Everything you have obtained effortlessly is something others could never achieve even in their entire lives." At this point, the Empress suddenly sighed, and when she spoke again, her tone held a hint of pleading, "My son, do you know that everyone in the world envies you? We have gone to great lengths to plan for you, and you should be more sensible. If not for yourself, you should think of your mother and your maternal grandfather."

"But I... never wanted to be emperor." The crown prince lowered his eyes, revealing his true feelings. "Everyone says that besides me, there is no one to inherit the throne. So for the sake of the people, to prevent chaos in the world, and to avoid disappointing my mother and father, even though I don't want to, I force myself to be a qualified crown prince. Because I have no choice, I have to shoulder everything. But if I had a choice..." The crown prince slowly raised his eyes, gazing in the direction of the empress, "I don't want to be born into your womb, I don't want to have any further connection with you or the royal family. I just want to be an ordinary person and live a simple life."

"To be an ordinary person? You...you..." The Empress couldn't believe what she was hearing. She felt as if all her strength had been drained away in an instant. "Since you came into my life, I have painstakingly planned everything for you, bringing you the best of everything in the world, making you the most honored person in the world, but you...you actually said such hurtful words to me!"

“No.” The Crown Prince shook his head and denied it, “Everything you’ve done has never been for me. Everything you’ve done has been to satisfy your own ambition! If you really loved me, you wouldn’t force me to do things I don’t like, making me live in pain every day!”

"In pain? Do you even know what pain is? You've always lived under your mother's protection, never experienced setbacks, that's why you say such things." The Empress comforted herself, "When you experience the taste of power in the future, when you can cover up the sky with a wave of your hand, you will understand your mother's good intentions."

"Painstaking efforts?" The Crown Prince sneered. "You've harmed so many innocent people, your hands are stained with blood. Mother, when you wake up in the middle of the night, aren't you afraid that vengeful spirits will come after you?"

"I'm not afraid! The victor is king, the loser is villain! The most taboo thing in the royal family is useless sympathy. Do you know that if I hadn't acted quickly, you and I, mother and son, would be two skeletons buried in the ground now!" The Empress stopped herself in time, ultimately unable to bring herself to say anything too harsh to the Crown Prince. She gently advised, "My son, when you entered the royal family, your mother had no choice. You were born to me, so you should stand on my side."

“Mother, it’s not too late if you can turn back.” The Crown Prince turned his face away, avoiding the Empress’s hopeful gaze. “Besides, not everyone wants to be associated with the royal family.”

"Who in this world doesn't want to be born into the royal family!" The Empress's anger reached the third person present. "Gao Weiche, tell him, if you could, wouldn't you like to be born into the royal family and enjoy wealth and honor!"

"I..." He pointed to his hand, which was stained with nail polish and covered with protective nails. Without any movement, it was easy to tell that the owner of this hand lived a life of luxury.

Gao Weiche's hesitant appearance was seen as an embarrassed awkwardness by the Empress, who waved her hand and said, "Just tell the truth, no one will laugh at you."

"I don't want to be royalty or live a life of intrigue and backstabbing," Gao Weiche said truthfully. "I'm fine the way I am now."

Gao Weiche's words made the Crown Prince's eyes light up: "You see, Mother, not everyone is as power-hungry as you think."

"You two are outcasts!" The Queen closed her eyes, took a deep breath to suppress her emotions, and denied, "That doesn't count!"

“But Mother Empress…” Gao Weiche tugged at the Crown Prince’s sleeve, “Your Highness, it’s pointless for you and the Empress to dwell on these things now. The world is about to be destroyed, and no one will be able to ascend the throne, not even you.”

"Heh." The Empress sneered, disdainfully saying, "A mere black umbrella, and you're this afraid? As long as I'm here, nothing and no one can stop him from ascending the throne, let alone a black umbrella of unknown origin!"

"Your Majesty the Empress!" Gao Weiche was extremely impatient with the Empress's attitude. "Do you know that the black umbrella you speak of is capable of destroying the heavens and the earth? If you can't even save your own life, then the throne is nothing but a joke."

"You don't need to scare me." The Empress said confidently, "Before your master passed away, he had already arranged everything. The hope of humanity is my son. As long as he can successfully ascend the throne, the Black Umbrella crisis will definitely be resolved."

Gao Weiche's expression gradually stiffened. His lips twitched helplessly, and he said incredulously, "You think the Black Umbrella was the work of the Supervisor? Are you crazy? The Supervisor lost his life because of the Black Umbrella!"

Seeing that the Empress remained unmoved, Gao Weiche shouted angrily, "If you don't believe me, go to the Star Gazing Tower and see for yourself! A divine skill like the Black Umbrella is not something the Supervisor can control!"

“I’ll go with you,” the Crown Prince said. “Whether I am of the Emperor’s blood or not, I am still the Crown Prince of the mortal realm. Since I am in this position, I must shoulder the responsibilities!”

"You are not allowed to go!" the Empress said, "As the Crown Prince, how can you go to such a dangerous place?"

"Huh?" The Crown Prince looked puzzled and asked deliberately, "Didn't Mother just say 'just a black umbrella'? Why does she now think the black umbrella is dangerous? That's too fast."

"I say no, and that's final!"

"Mother, you can't stop me."

Just as the mother and son were about to draw their swords, a cry of alarm came from outside the palace: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty the Empress! Something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened!"

Before the Empress could give any orders, the lady-in-waiting rushed into the hall. Upon seeing this, the Empress's face darkened, and she said unhappily, "What kind of behavior is this, all flustered and in such a hurry?"

The Crown Prince's expression was grave. He was familiar with this female official who served the Empress. She assisted the Empress in managing the six palaces and was always composed. Her panicked state meant that something serious must have happened. "Aunt, what has made you so flustered?"

“It’s the secret guards…” The female official knelt upright, the light coming in from outside the hall only falling on her, while the other three were hidden in the darkness.

Large beads of sweat rolled down the female official's cheeks, and her right hand trembled uncontrollably. "The secret guards sent to the Star Gazing Tower are all dead. It happened in the blink of an eye. They didn't even have time to fight back. No, that's not right. They were completely powerless to fight back."

"What? They're all dead?" A crisp sound came from above. This situation was completely unexpected for the Empress. Even though she had knocked over her favorite white porcelain ornament, she didn't have time to grieve. "After the black umbrella killed all the guards, it actually grew larger and larger, completely enveloping the Observatory." The female official swallowed hard. "The Observatory is located in a bustling area and is the tallest building in the capital. With the black umbrella growing so large, it was impossible to hide it. The sudden appearance of the large umbrella attracted the attention of the people. No matter how much we tried to dissuade them, some nosy people kept crowding towards the black umbrella. Without the guards, the eunuchs couldn't stop them at all..."

The female official kept glancing around out of the corner of her eye, but due to the dim light, she couldn't see the Empress's expression clearly. Trying to read the Empress's mind, she could only grit her teeth and say, "The people who came into contact with the black umbrella were instantly swallowed up. After swallowing the people, the black umbrella grew even faster, also affecting many palace officials. The people behind saw all of this clearly, and they're saying... saying all sorts of things. I'm afraid it's already spread throughout the entire capital, and perhaps even outside the capital..."

"What is the situation regarding civilian casualties?"

"A bunch of good-for-nothings! How are they even doing their jobs? And what's the talk of it among the people?"

The Crown Prince and the Empress spoke at the same time, but the questions they asked were two extremes.

"Mother!" the Crown Prince complained, "Now that things have come to this, are you going to make the same mistake again? If you hadn't been so stubborn, the secret guards wouldn't have died in vain, and the Black Umbrella wouldn't have grown up so quickly, implicating innocent people!"

"I..." The Empress seemed to have her throat blocked, unable to utter a single word.

"Aunt, what is the situation regarding the casualties among the common people?" the Crown Prince asked anxiously.

"Your Highness, don't worry, the casualties among the civilians are not too serious." The female official explained, "They were quite clever. After seeing the people in front of them being swallowed by the black umbrella, they desperately retreated. If you count carefully, the number of dead eunuchs and guards is far greater than that of the civilians."

“However…” the female official glanced cautiously at the Crown Prince, “the Black Umbrella’s devouring of living people had such a huge impact on the people present that it caused some of them to riot. They said… said… said…” The female official hesitated again and again, but in the end, she dared not utter those treasonous words.

"What exactly did they say? Speak freely, and I will forgive you for your innocence."

“They say it’s because His Majesty has lost his virtue and offended Heaven with his actions that this calamity has befallen us. They are implicated by His Majesty.” The female official trembled, her head almost touching the ground. “There’s another matter. According to the returning eunuch, after the black umbrella swallowed up the people, a golden character ‘North’ slowly appeared on the surface of the umbrella.”

"North?" The Crown Prince asked Gao Weiche, "Does Lord Gao know the meaning of the word 'North'?"

“North usually refers to a direction. But the black umbrella represents destruction…” Gao Weiche’s expression turned extremely grim halfway through his sentence, “Oh no, disaster will befall the north.”

"What! Could the adults possibly have foreseen what kind of calamity it will be? How can we stop it?"

“We can’t stop it.” Gao Weiche’s tone was bitter, and despair was almost written on his face. “And this… is just the beginning. There are four directions in total, and only ‘north’ has appeared so far. If I’m not mistaken, as the black umbrella grows, the southwest and east will also appear on the black umbrella one by one in order. Most importantly, the degree of their disasters will be more and more serious than the last.”

“But aren’t the four cardinal directions the whole world?” The Crown Prince tried to find a sliver of solace on Gao Weiche’s face, but all he found was despair.

Gao Weiche nodded with difficulty, "That's right, it's the entire human world. I originally thought that only the black umbrella would slowly devour the human world, but I didn't expect that natural disasters would come along with the black umbrella. Our situation seems to be even more difficult."

"Your Highness, something terrible has happened!" The eunuch who had been following the Crown Prince rushed into Kunning Palace. Lights were lit on both sides of the palace, and Kunning Palace was finally illuminated.

The eunuch seemed oblivious to the strange atmosphere in the hall. After bowing, he went straight to the Crown Prince's side and whispered, "Your Highness, an urgent report has arrived from the north. A severe drought has struck. The crops in the fields have withered overnight, the rushing rivers have all dried up, and the land is barren for miles around, with the soil cracked like a tortoise shell."

Although the eunuch spoke softly, everyone present heard him clearly because the hall was so quiet.

"You're talking nonsense!" The Empress stood up agitatedly, pointing at the eunuch and shouting, "How could a flowing river stop flowing overnight!" Although the Empress tried her best to appear imposing, her ashen face betrayed her forced composure.

The eunuch was startled and immediately knelt down to beg for forgiveness. "Please forgive me, Your Majesty. I dare not make things up. These words were told to me by that official who rushed from the north. He is currently waiting outside the Imperial Study for Your Highness to summon him."

"It really is divine retribution." Having reached this point, the Queen finally realized that everything was beyond her control. She collapsed into a slumped seat in despair. "It's over, everything is over."

Seeing the Empress's appearance, the Crown Prince felt a pang of sadness. He sighed, "Mother, now that things have come to this, do you regret it?"

The Empress did not answer, but looked at the Crown Prince with a complicated expression.

"So be it. Since I was born of you and am the beneficiary, this is all I have to bear." The Crown Prince turned and walked out of the palace, not even glancing at the Empress again.

"Close the gates of Kunning Palace. No one is allowed to enter or leave without my order," the Crown Prince commanded his guards. "Anyone who disobeys will be executed without mercy."

"Are you going to imprison me?" the Empress shouted hoarsely at the Crown Prince's retreating figure. "I am your own mother! I raised you to adulthood! I was always by your side when you were sick. Do you really have to be so disloyal and unfilial?"

Upon hearing this, the crown prince paused for a moment, but only for a second. He strode forward and did not turn back until his figure disappeared.

At that moment, the Empress did not realize that this would be the last time she would see the Crown Prince. Until her death, the Crown Prince's face had become blurred in her memory, but his resolute back remained crystal clear.