Chapter 10 — Old Dreams on the Dragon Bed

Cruel to the point of pausing right at that moment, I could no longer distinguish whether the terror gripping my heart was a mere illusion or if the searing pain slicing through my flesh was terrifyingly real. Heavy footsteps came to a halt directly before me. After what felt like an eternity, a steady hand reached out into my field of vision.

Are you utterly terrified?

I raised my head, my gaze dazed and blank. Lang Zhao looked down at me, the dark depths of his eyes still swirling with lingering shadows, yet the murderous intent that had saturated the air moments ago was completely gone. Only then did I muster the courage to extend my trembling hand. He caught me by the wrist, and upon catching sight of the bright red blood staining my palm, his brows immediately knitted together in a tight frown.

Does it hurt?

I shook my head silently, clutching tightly to the lapels of his robe as fresh tears streamed down my cheeks with renewed violence.

Your concubine is not in pain, Your Majesty. Your concubine is merely terrified.

He let out a low, soft chuckle, resting a warm hand gently against my back.

I possess a grand and resilient destiny; I shall come to no harm.

I buried my face deep into his chest, my voice still choked with heavy sobs. But my destiny is not so grand. If Your Majesty were to truly suffer any fatal misfortune, neither this humble concubine nor the innocent child stirring within my womb would survive to see another dawn.

He lowered his gaze to look at me, and the lingering frost frozen within his eyes finally melted away by a fraction.

A child within your womb?

My complexion turned deathly pale as I suddenly acted as though I had spoken out of turn, only just realizing my careless slip of the tongue. Yet, the words had already crossed my lips, irreversible and floating in the heavy air.

This concubine dares not speak with absolute certainty. During the days I was confined within the Tranquil Chamber, I sensed peculiar alterations within my body, and my monthly courses have been delayed by several days. Until these past few days, merely catching the scent of food would instantly churn my stomach with nausea. I originally intended to wait until Your Majesty regained consciousness to personally impart this joyous news to you. But as you lay unmoving upon the dragon bed for so long, this concubine foolishly feared that truly, Your Majesty...

By the time I reached the final syllables, my voice broke completely, choked with unshed tears and unable to form another coherent word. Lang Zhao stared down at me for a long, unhurried moment, and the heavy suspicion clouding his gaze finally dissipated into nothingness.

You foolish little girl. Since I dared to cast this elaborate snare, I would naturally never allow either you or our child to come to any harm. Tonight, the palace guards were rotated, and the people loyal to the Lan clan ensured not a single oversight occurred. With your father standing firm here, the minions from the Phoenix Pavilion could never truly lay a finger upon you.

I obediently nodded, burying my face back into the solid warmth of his embrace. My tears thoroughly soaked the fabric of his outer garment, yet within the hidden recesses of my heart, warmth was slowly turning to ice. My father had performed his duty impeccably, which was precisely why the emperor could rest at ease. But what of me? He had wanted to witness with his own eyes as I was driven to the absolute precipice by my own aunt, pushed until I had no path left for retreat, before he would finally deign to believe that I had not chosen the wrong side in this deadly game. If I had truly taken one more step toward the imperial bedchamber tonight, among the wretched souls dragged out into the courtyard in disgrace, my name would surely have been inscribed.

The illness afflicting Lang Zhao vanished with astonishing speed. The very officials who had only the previous evening been drinking celebratory wine within the Eastern Palace found themselves rudely intercepted at dawn by the imperial guards right outside their mansion gates. The festive red silks draped across the palace halls had not yet been taken down when crowds of kneeling petitioners already jammed the approaches of the Wenxiang Gate. Menglan had not even had time to strip away her ceremonial wedding robes embroidered with vibrant golden peacocks before the heavy wooden plaques bearing the insignia of the noble household were violently torn from the estate walls. Lang Zhao offered them no opportunity for hollow explanations or desperate pleas. Those destined for imprisonment were unceremoniously cast into the deepest dungeons, while the rest were promptly dispatched into distant exile. A handful of stubborn senior ministers, relying on their advanced age and venerable status, knelt outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony and wailed loudly that His Majesty had been grievously blinded by treacherous and deceitful subordinates. Lang Zhao merely instructed Chief Eunuch Liang to retrieve the imperial edicts stamped with the golden seal of the Phoenix Pavilion that these very men had eagerly accepted in the past, and ordered them read aloud one by one. With each edict read, a detailed ledger of the filthy, treasonous deeds they had committed in the shadows was appended to it. By the time the chilling catalog finally reached its end, these haughty officials could no longer even maintain their kneeling posture, collapsing entirely onto the cold stone ground. They finally understood, with agonizing clarity, that this entire affair had been an imperial scheme orchestrated from the very beginning to ruthlessly purge the court. It was merely their misfortune that they had wagered on the losing side. The Eastern Palace was sealed off tightly by three inner and three outer rings of heavily armed guards. As the first rays of morning light pierced the horizon, the imperial decree officially deposing the Crown Prince was solemnly promulgated. Ziyucheng knelt before the palace steps, weeping bitterly of his innocence, hastily shoving his own mother to the forefront as he proclaimed his absolute ignorance of the rebellion hatched within the Phoenix Pavilion. Yet the Third Prince presented the intercepted maps detailing the clandestine rearrangement of the imperial palace guards, alongside the handwritten military mobilization orders bearing the Eastern Palace seal. Written upon those damning pages in black and white was the explicit command: upon the emperor's expected demise from illness, and prior to the break of day, the crime of treason must be firmly pinned upon the Third Prince. For twenty years he had sat as the heir apparent, basking in boundless glory and prestige. Yet within a single fleeting night, it all dissolved into smoke and mist, leaving him nothing more than a discarded wretch placed under house arrest at the desolate imperial tombs. Meanwhile, the Third Prince reaped the monumental glory of saving the realm. The various factions deployed by the Phoenix Pavilion were personally intercepted by him right outside the Western Flowery Gate. Even the forged imperial edicts that the clan attempted to smuggle into the Grand Secretariat were blocked by his own hands. Lang Zhao ascended the throne in full court assembly, conferring upon him the title of Prince of Su. Every single official throughout the court saw the reality with piercing clarity. The Eastern Palace was utterly destroyed, and the Empress had conveniently fallen severely ill. The Empress's seal was forcibly confiscated, and the Phoenix Pavilion was placed under strict military lockdown. The sudden dethronement of the Crown Prince sent violent tremors reverberating through the entire imperial administration. To pacify the turbulent court, the official explanation circulated to the outside world was simply that the Empress, upon hearing of the Crown Prince's treasonous plot, had suffered a devastating collapse of her physical constitution and now languished in a critical illness, completely barred from seeing visitors. Imperial physicians arrived at the Fragrant Cold Palace every single day to feel her pulse, and no matter how rare or precious the medicinal ingredients were, they were generously dispensed, with the sole objective being to ensure she was kept alive. The inner court underwent a complete transformation, with Noble Consort Shen temporarily assuming administrative authority over the six palaces. I was likewise officially diagnosed with the early stages of pregnancy. The newly appointed senior palace maid respectfully stepped forward, bearing a steaming bowl of bird's nest soup as an offering.