Chapter 4 — Rebirth in the Cold Palace

At first, she only laughed softly. Then the laughter grew louder, wilder, and more unrestrained. She laughed until her back bent and tears ran from the corners of her eyes.

“Psychology... They actually know about psychology...”

She wiped away her tears, straightened, and looked at me. There was a reckless madness in her eyes, the madness of someone who had decided to destroy everything rather than lose.

“That’s right. I came from the future. What do you think? Are you surprised? Someone from more than a thousand years in the future is standing right in front of you.”

The Emperor shot to his feet.

“What did you say?”

“I said—” The Noble Consort drew a deep breath. Her voice suddenly rose.

“I am a psychology PhD from the year 2023 AD! I was conducting a time-space induction experiment in a laboratory. When I woke up, I had become Khuong Yue Li! Are you satisfied with that answer?”

The entire hall fell silent. Even the sound of breathing seemed to stop.

I looked at the woman who had killed me twice. Pride, madness, and despair were mixed together in her eyes. A sorrow I could not explain rose in my chest.

“So you used your knowledge...” I asked quietly. “Only to hurt me?”

“If not, then what else was I supposed to do?” the Noble Consort screamed.

“I made cement, developed gunpowder, and proposed new reforms. Which of those things was not for this country? But what about him?”

She pointed straight at the Emperor.

“He admired my talent and used my suggestions, but he never loved me! His eyes held only you—a woman from the ancient world who understands nothing!”

The Emperor’s face turned livid.

“So you decided to harm her?”

“I was jealous!” Tears finally spilled from the Noble Consort’s eyes.

“I was jealous because she could obtain so easily what I could not win even after risking everything! So I set this whole game in motion. I used hallucinogens to make her believe she was pregnant. I used light and sound to suggest a voice inside her head, guiding her step by step toward death.”

“I planned to let her ‘die in childbirth.’ Then Your Majesty would remember forever that she had carried your child, and that the child had been killed by her own hallucinations...”

As she spoke, she began to laugh again. The sound was so mournful that it sent a chill through the hall.

“What a perfect plan it was... If only you had not suddenly ‘woken up’...”

I looked at her and asked,

“Those formulas for cement and gunpowder—did you really invent them?”

The Noble Consort froze for a moment, then gave a cold laugh.

“Of course. They are things I brought from the future. Even five hundred years from now, this era would not be able to produce them at such a level of purity.”

The Emperor’s hand tightened around the armrest of his throne. He stared at the Noble Consort with an expression I had never seen before: cold, searching, and touched by a trace of murderous intent.

“So,” he said slowly, “you did all of this for me, and the extraordinary techniques you offered... were nothing more than knowledge stolen from the future?”

The Noble Consort went still. It seemed that only now did she realize that her greatest advantage had become the strongest evidence against her.

“I do not need it,” the Emperor said. His voice was not loud, but its weight seemed to make the entire hall tremble. “I do not need an evil consort who uses sorcery to harm people. And I certainly do not need a thief who steals the knowledge of later generations.”

The blood drained from the Noble Consort’s face. She parted her lips as if to speak, but not a single word came out. She only stared at me, her eyes empty, like a body whose soul had been pulled away.

“Take her away.” The Emperor waved a hand, exhaustion weighing on his voice. “Strip her rank, reduce her to a commoner, and send her to the Cold Palace.”

6

The guards seized the Noble Consort’s arms. She did not resist. But as she passed me, she suddenly turned her head and lowered her voice so that only the two of us could hear.

“How did you... get out?”

I stopped and looked at her.

“Pain.”

She stared at me.

“When the white silk tightens around your neck, when the instruments in the punishment chamber come down...” I said softly, “the deepest pain can make a person wake up.”

The Noble Consort’s pupils contracted. She stared at me, her lips trembling as though she wanted to say something. In the end, she only managed a crooked smile.

“So...” she whispered. “I lost because you had already died.”

The guards dragged her away. Her dark red robes disappeared beyond the doors like a stain being wiped clean.

The hall fell quiet again.

The Emperor sat on his throne, pressing his fingers between his brows. Candlelight danced across his face and made him look even more troubled.

“Chief Physician Wang,” he said. “Can the medicine in Consort Tong’s body be removed?”

Chief Physician Wang bowed.

“It must be done gradually. The hallucinogen has seeped into her flesh. Removing it by force could damage her constitution. I intend to use a mild prescription together with acupuncture. It should take about a month to clear completely.”

“Approved.” The Emperor turned toward me. “For this month, move to Yonghe Palace and rest. I will assign imperial physicians to watch over you day and night.”

I knelt.

“Your servant thanks Your Majesty.”

He stood and walked toward me, but did not immediately tell me to rise. He only looked at me for a long time—so long that even Eunuch Li quietly took half a step backward.

“Tong Nhu Van.” He called me by my full name.

“Just now, you said... you had died?”

I raised my head and met his gaze. His eyes were deep as a cold pool, reflecting the flickering candlelight and my pale face.

“Yes,” I answered calmly.

“I know Your Majesty pretended to be cold toward me to protect me. You had already realized that something was wrong with the Noble Consort and feared that she would harm me. That is why you deliberately kept your distance and sent me to the Cold Palace.”

The Emperor’s lashes trembled.

“But Your Majesty should know...” I continued. My voice was quiet, but every word was clear. “In the previous two lifetimes, I truly died.”

His breath caught.

“In the first life, I listened to the voice in my head, knocked over the medicine, and accused the Empress. I was sentenced to death by white silk.”

“In the second, I believed that the incense burner was poisoned. I refused Your Majesty’s favor at the risk of my life and was thrown into the punishment chamber, where I was tortured to death.”

I watched the emotions surge through his eyes and suddenly felt tired.

“But it no longer matters.” I lowered my gaze. “In this life, we are both still alive.”

A hand reached toward me. Long fingers, sharply defined joints, and a thin callus in the palm from years of holding a brush.

I froze for a moment before looking up. The Emperor remained silent. His hand hung in the air, stubbornly waiting.

I placed my hand in his.

His palm was warm—so warm that the cold tips of my fingers trembled. He closed his hand around mine and pulled me to my feet.

When I stood, my legs weakened and I nearly fell, but he caught me securely.