Shangguan Yao’s face darkened further, his cold, luminous eyes turning a shade of green like a wolf's, radiating a bloodthirsty aura. He calmly waved a hand. "Everyone, withdraw."
"Yes."
Song Yuan and the guards retreated from the grand hall. Even the palace maids and eunuchs standing in the distance dispersed. Only the mother and son remained. Shangguan Yao stared fiercely at his Empress Mother, his gaze softening after a long moment. His voice lowered.
"Empress Mother, what are you doing? I said I wouldn't kill him. As long as I obtain the Jade Dragon Talisman, I will release him."
"Would you? You are my son; do you think I don't understand your nature?"
The Empress Dowager chuckled, her expression slowly becoming solemn. She spoke softly, "I will not let you kill him again. I will make him hand over the Jade Dragon Talisman, but I will not let you kill him."
"Empress Mother?"
Shangguan Yao cried out, but the Empress Dowager had already closed her eyes, waving him away wearily. "Your Majesty, you should return. This Empress Dowager is tired."
With that, she truly closed her eyes and leaned back on the couch, ignoring Shangguan Yao, who stood below, radiating a chilling aura.
In the grand hall, Shangguan Yao's face was cold as ice, his dark eyes like a deep pool. He remained silent, turned, and scanned the hall.
Within the confines of Changxin Palace, the Empress Dowager's trusted confidantes were the Ye and Ye families.
Now that the Ye family had fallen, she wouldn't hide someone with them. Could it be the Ye family?
This was possible. Because Ye Qingtian held deep affection for her, he might be willing to hide someone if asked.
However, she mustn't forget that he was still his father. As long as the person was in his hands, he wouldn't have to worry about getting him to hand it over.
Shangguan Yao flicked his sleeve and left the hall. Outside the palace doors, the voices of eunuchs and palace maids sounded, "Your Majesty, may you live forever."
The people in the grand hall abruptly opened their eyes, their gaze hiding profound sorrow.
How could she face Yao’er again? She was a murderer, but what could she do now?
If she let Yao’er go, then Jing Yi would die, as would the Ye family and the Ye family. She deserved to die, but others were being dragged down with her.
The Empress Dowager wept silently. Her personal attendant, Ping An, entered, her voice full of concern. "Your Highness, why are you sad again?"
As the Empress Dowager's personal maid, Ping An knew many things.
She had tried to stop the Empress Dowager from carrying out this deception back then. It was truly preposterous, but the Empress Dowager insisted, and now she was finally paying the price for the bitter fruit she had sown.
Ping An couldn't understand why the Empress Dowager disliked the true Crown Prince. In her eyes, the Crown Prince was much more well-behaved than Jing Yi, and he was also handsome and intelligent.
Alas, it was the sin of the adults. Because the Empress Dowager loved Ye Qingtian, she had implicated the young Crown Prince. How innocent he was.
"Ping An, I know I was wrong, but there's no turning back now, do you understand? If Yao’er regains the throne, he will kill the people of the Ye family, and the Ye family. Even Jing Yi won't be spared. My death is deserved, but they are suffering because of me, so I cannot let him regain the throne."
The Empress Dowager looked at Ping An through her tears. Now, she could only speak her heart to Ping An, as there was no one else.
She dared not even speak to Ye Qingtian, because what Ye Qingtian thought was not the same as what she thought.
Jing Yi was her child, and Yao’er was also her child. But Ye Qingtian had only one son, and that was Jing Yi.
If he knew about this matter, he would definitely force her to hand over Yao’er. Therefore, no matter what, she would not let anyone find Yao’er.
"Ping An, please, you must not let them find Yao’er. I don't want him to die again."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Ping An accompanied the Empress Dowager as she wept, reaching out to comfort her. "Your Highness, please go and rest."
"Mmm." The two walked towards the sleeping quarters.
In the vast imperial palace, no one knew that within the sleeping quarters of Changxin Palace, there was a secret underground chamber.
When the Empress Dowager first discovered it, she was startled. Later, she grew accustomed to it, pretending ignorance. She never imagined that one day she would use this secret chamber to hide her son.
In the not-so-spacious chamber, with a faint, soft light, a person lay sleeping peacefully on a couch.
As he slept, he was as refined and elegant as an immortal, his eyebrows like paintings, his lashes long and thick.
His smooth, flawless skin was perfect in every way, as if meticulously sculpted, neither a stroke too many nor too few.
His ink-black hair cascaded naturally onto his chest. Clad in snow-white robes that enveloped his majestic frame, he lay there quietly.
The Empress Dowager couldn't help but reach out to touch his face, her heart aching with a pain that made it difficult to breathe.
She hadn't expected Yao’er, now grown, to resemble her so much. He had shown a few hints of it as a child, but as an adult, he looked even more like her.
"Your Highness, the Crown Prince looks exactly like Your Highness."
Ping An's words stirred the Empress Dowager's pain. She wept silently again, her hands tightly grasping the large hand of the person on the couch.
"Yao’er, it is my fault. I hope you can forgive me."
She spoke softly. The person on the couch stirred, his eyelashes fluttering slightly. The Empress Dowager jumped, quickly rising. She didn't know what kind of hateful gaze Yao’er would cast at her, staring blankly and fixedly at the person on the couch.
The one lying on the couch was Murong Chong. He slowly opened his eyes.
He hadn't moved for a long time, recalling the scene at the Western Hills Imperial Mausoleum and Mo Ruyan's death.
She had said in the end that it was all because of what she had done. It turned out that Mo Ruyan had harmed her. Murong Chong gave a bitter smile. Everything was due to the affliction of love.
Just like his Empress Mother back then, wasn't it also because she loved another man that she wouldn't let her own son go?
Murong Chong moved slightly, turning his head to survey his surroundings. Hadn't he been captured by that dog emperor? Where was he now?
Slowly, he saw an aged woman, her cloudy eyes brimming with tears, watching him silently. Murong Chong frowned. Who was this woman?
So aged and sorrowful, truly pitiful. As his gaze shifted to Ping An beside her, his mouth parted slightly. His eyes moved, his gaze sharpening like a keen blade, as if wanting to pierce this woman with countless cuts.
Was this his Empress Mother? What retribution! The person who had harmed her son was also living a difficult life.
In his memory, his Empress Mother was a woman as beautiful as a celestial being. How could she have such a terrifying countenance? It seemed her conscience was troubled. Murong Chong couldn't help but laugh, his laughter sharp and arrogant.
"How ironic. So, it is you again who has harmed me."
He hadn't expected his good Empress Mother to harm him again. If it weren't for her, who would have devised this entire scheme of destroying the imperial mausoleum? She truly didn't value the Emperor.
To actually allow the Skull Blood Thieves to raid the Shangguan family's imperial mausoleum and dig up ancestral graves, she was capable of such deeds.
"Yao’er, it is my fault."
The Empress Dowager could no longer bear Murong Chong's gaze. Seeing the child with the same face as her, the child who flowed with her blood, looking at her with such contempt, she felt her heart shatter.