maidservant

Chapter 32 The Emperor's sudden death and the palace coup revealed the truth

Yunshan moved cautiously between the stalls. First, she carefully selected three sets of casual clothes commonly worn by farmers at an inconspicuous cloth shop. The clothes were rough in texture and ordinary in style, full of the rustic atmosphere of farmers.
He went to the pharmacy again and asked the shopkeeper in a low voice for a packet of Arisaema. This medicine is particularly toxic. If used improperly, it can cause a person's face to swell up to the point of being unrecognizable for a few days.

After all these things were prepared, Yunshan hurried back to Shaokun Palace.

She felt as if she had really fallen seriously ill. She lay exhausted on the bed, thinking back on what had happened today, and the heavy stone in her heart finally fell to the ground.

That night, she was finally able to sleep peacefully. The tension and fatigue of the past few days seemed to gradually dissipate in the quiet night.

The emperor finally issued the imperial edict aimed at weakening the power of his foreign relatives.

However, this imperial edict never left the palace.

The prince had already arranged a group of assassins to set up ambushes at key locations and forcibly seized the imperial edict and the emperor's attendants.

The prince walked quickly to the dragon bed. The emperor was already terminally ill and could not even drink the medicine. He was gasping for breath.

When he saw the prince coming, he just glanced at him coldly without saying a word.

The prince signaled the surrounding maids and eunuchs to withdraw, then slowly took out the imperial edict in his hand. The emperor's face changed drastically when he saw this, and he struggled to get up.

The prince looked at the emperor, a barely perceptible sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth, and then he said: "Father, you should take a rest."

The emperor was completely enraged. He tried to stand up with his eyes wide open, but it was in vain. He could only shout in a weak voice: "You, what do you want to do?"

The emperor tried hard to sit up. He stretched out his trembling hand and tightly grasped the yellow belt beside the bed. He tried his best to lean upwards, as if this would allow him to gather some strength to speak.

The emperor was breathing heavily, his chest heaving violently, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses.

His eyes widened as he stared at the Crown Prince, his voice filled with despair and anger as he demanded, "You, what do you want to do? Are you trying to kill your father and the king?"

The prince looked calm, and he gently adjusted his clothes. Then, slowly but solemnly, he saluted the emperor.

He raised his head, looked at the emperor with a firm gaze, and said, "I dare not. But there are some things I think it would be best to make clear before my father passes away."

The emperor stared at the prince intently, his eyes filled with resentment and hatred, without any trace of father-son affection.

The crown prince had a faint smile on his face as he slowly placed the imperial edict in his hand on the fire. Watching the bright yellow paper being consumed bit by bit by the flames, he spoke slowly:
"It is a good thing for our dynasty that your son is gradually taking control of the government. Could it be that besides your son, your father wants to support other princes?"

The emperor finally managed to utter two words: "Someone come!"

"Someone's coming? Haha, who's coming?" The prince sat down beside the emperor's bed and tucked his father's hand under the quilt, then slowly spoke:

"Those attendants of yours who were spreading false imperial edicts to suppress the imperial relatives have already been dealt with. Oh—by the way, Father, your beloved youngest son is currently drinking in Mother's palace. He's probably drunk from drinking too much and can't come." Then, the emperor's eyes widened, almost spitting fire, and he roared hoarsely, "You rebellious son! Do you still want to force the emperor to abdicate?"

"Force the abdication? I was just about to tell you about this. Father, do you remember when the deposed Crown Prince was accused of forcing the abdication and attempting to usurp the throne?"

The emperor was slightly startled, and a hint of vigilance and doubt flashed in his eyes.

The prince took a deep breath and continued:

"Back then, you distrusted my eldest brother and repeatedly broke his wings. Although my eldest brother was filled with resentment, he remembered the bond between father and son and the loyalty between ruler and subject, and never had the thought of killing his father or his ruler. He simply blamed the cause on me, your son, and attempted to assassinate me many times."

"However, I, your son, have fueled this conflict, causing your mutual suspicion to grow. Finally, suppose you were told that your life was in imminent danger and that he urgently needed troops to rescue you. Concerned for your safety, my eldest brother, without a single doubt, would have rushed to the palace with the Crown Prince's personal guards."

The Crown Prince's eyes now showed a hint of impunity as he continued, "But you, from the beginning, never trusted my elder brother. When you saw him leading his troops, you arrested him without explanation and imprisoned him in the Eastern Palace. Weren't you the one who instigated all of this?"

Upon hearing this, the emperor's face turned pale and his body trembled slightly. The son who once seemed so well-behaved now looked so strange to him.

"Father, I never considered killing my eldest brother. Even then, I thought letting him live out his remaining years in peace would be a good outcome."

The prince sighed softly, as if lamenting the fickleness of fate, and then continued:

"You are always wary of your eldest brother's former power, worried that one day he would resurge and threaten your throne. In your eyes, the stability of power is above all else. Even your own son seems so insignificant on the scale of power."

He took a step forward and spoke in a deep and powerful voice:
"You ended my eldest brother's life with a cup of poisoned wine. Did you ever feel any attachment to the father-son bond at the moment you gave him that cup of poisoned wine?"

The air in the palace seemed to freeze. The prince's words struck the emperor's heart like a hammer. The emperor's face turned ashen.

The prince raised his head and looked straight at the emperor. His eyes no longer had the respect they used to have. Instead, they were filled with a complex emotion of unwillingness, resentment, and a hint of sarcasm.

"Father, I have been diligent and hardworking since childhood, studying swordsmanship, civil and military strategy, and statecraft, never slacking off. But in your eyes, I am just a grinding stone, deliberately placed in opposition to my elder brother. You deliberately praise me in front of the court officials and suppress my elder brother, forcing him to regard me as a thorn in his side."

The prince suddenly turned around, his eyes reddened as he looked at the emperor, his every word filled with grief and indignation:
"I have silently endured all this suspicion and rejection! But now you have pointed that cold, sharp blade at my mother! For the past twenty years, my mother has lived cautiously, treading on thin ice. Why do you still refuse to trust her?"

The prince's accusations and words were like sharp blades, stabbing directly at the emperor.

Under these continuous attacks, the emperor felt a tightness in his chest and could not breathe for a long time, and he died suddenly.

The hall was completely silent, with only the prince's angry and sad sobs echoing in the air. "You can't just leave like this, son. I have something to say."

The prince's voice echoed in the empty palace, telling the sadness and absurdity behind this royal tragedy.

　Everyone~ From February 2th to February 18nd, this novel will be participating in the ranking. Please read the two newly updated chapters every day. This "reading rate" is very important to me! Thank you! ~~~
　　(End of this chapter)