Chapter 21 — The Mother, the Daughter and the Betrayal
(Events take place just after the imperial audience — see Chapter 20)
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The hearing was over.
Xū Fang left without looking back, like a shadow detached from all destiny. The corridors of the palace seemed to close on him. The other figures of power resumed their daily ballet - a dance of masks, gestures and false silences.
The Emperor left the room, escorted by his wife, Xīyue.
Behind her, Jinlian walked at a distance, invisible and indispensable.
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As they slowly progressed through the golden corridors, Xīyue looked down.
Something was gnawing at her.
This look.
Ken's look.
He was no longer the one she had known in the twilight - the troubled young man, on the verge of desire, hesitant, alive.
His eyes had become empty.
No, worse than empty.
They had become bottomless wells, where even its reflection could no longer survive.
An abyss where love could no longer live.
The Emperor watched him out of the corner of his eye.
- "What's wrong, Xīyue? "
She jumped.
"Nothing... Your Majesty. I was just thinking..."
A lower tone, almost slipped:
- "I wonder why your brother made this sudden decision. "
Then she added, like a venom placed on the edge of the tongue:
- "I think it's this girl's fault... Yuèyao. "
Jinlian, in the back, smiles slightly without saying a word.
Some poisons are so subtle that they do not need to be injected.
It is enough that they are insinuated.
The Emperor laughs softly:
"Hah... You're really my wife. Always smelling the threats. "
But his eyes hardened.
- "Don't worry. I will take care of all this. "
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At that moment, a figure emerged at the end of the corridor.
A woman advanced, straight, dressed in a hanfu of ancient refinement, whose red embroidery recalled the former consorts of the inner palace. His bearing was hausier, his hair raised in an architecture of power. And his eyes - those sky blue eyes as cold as frost - left no room for sweetness.
Xīyue paled.
- "Mother?! When did you arrive? "
The woman bowed to the Emperor with perfect reverence.
— "There is little. "
The Emperor greeted her in a respectful tone.
— "Lady Liánhua. How are you? "
- "I'm doing very well... thanks to our Lord the Emperor. "
He seemed satisfied.
- "I'll leave you... between mother and daughter. "
And, unaware of the storm he had just unleashed, he walked away.
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As soon as his steps were lost in silence, the atmosphere changed.
Liánhua slowly raised his head.
Something in the air thickens.
At his side, Jinlian looked down and said in a honeyed voice:
- "It's an honour to see you again, mother-in-law. "
Liánhua answered in an equal tone:
— "Thank you... for letting me know. "
His words were sharp as crystal.
Xīyue turned around abruptly.
— "Informed of what? "
But deep down, she already knew.
Jinlian didn't need to smile.
She had never needed it to hurt.
- "I saw you. "
"At the window. In his arms. "
The silence broke like glass.
- "The day you prevented me from hitting him..." (Chapter 14)
- "That night he sneaked into your room..." (Chapter 16)
- "I thought he was aggressing you. So I wanted to enter..."
She stopped, then dropped:
"And I saw you. "
- "He was sheeing you. You squeezed it. Like two lovers. "
Xīyue stepped back, breathless.
All his body was shaking. No fear only.
With shame.
Of humiliation.
From memory.
Liánhua had not moved.
Her blue eyes seemed to be able to pierce her.
"You forgot why I raised you. "
His voice was harsh. Unbreakable.
"You were destined for the throne. I shaped you for power. "
A step towards his daughter.
- "And you want to ruin everything with a servant? "
Xīyue couldn't speak.
His heart was pounding.
She saw her burnt hands, her knees in the snow, her crying muffled under the brocade.
Childhood. Discipline. The education of evil.
Liánhua approached again.
- "Do you think he loves you? This nameless boy? "
- "Do you think it's your heart that he desires? "
An acid breath:
- "If you hadn't been beautiful... he would never have looked at you. "
She touched it gently, almost with tenderness.
But it was the kind of tenderness that precedes the slap.
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Jinlian, in an icy tone:
- "Fortunately... we won't have to get our hands dirty. "
A smile in the corner:
- "After what he dared to do before the Emperor..." (Chapter 20)
"He won't live long. "
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Xīyue remained frozen.
A cracked porcelain statue.
His heart was beating loudly. A sentence was looping in his mind, like a poison that cannot be spit:
Ken is going to be killed.
And she... won't be able to do anything.
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End of Chapter 21