Empress and Feng Lan, glaring at each other, yet refusing to perform the customary bow.
How is this the behavior expected of newlyweds?
The entire court couldn’t help but murmur among themselves, recalling the rumors that Prince Feng had been forced into this marriage, which now seed evidently true.
"Your Majesty, it’s ti to perform the bow to heaven and earth," the Ritual Officer reminded cautiously as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Feng Lan, what’s done is done, you must perform the bow to heaven and earth today," the Empress urgently grabbed the robe of Feng Lan.
Feng Lan slled the strong fragrance of costics on her, his gaze sharpened as he demanded,
"Was it really you that night?"
These past few days, he had been living in a drunken stupor, but today, he was more lucid than ever.
Within the Heming Palace, the officials started whispering softly.
A hint of panic flickered across the heavily made-up face of the Empress.
"Feng Lan, have you lost your mind? It was I who was with you that night."
"She’s lying, that night, you never touched her!"
The crowd suddenly fell silent. When the Empress heard that voice, she trembled, her eyes widening as she turned to look...
The crowd parted to reveal a woman walking forward, her face covered with a wedding veil.
Her bridal attire was no less magnificent than that of the Empress.
Though her face was obscured, none dared ignore her beauty, exuding a noble charm from within.
At a wedding, yet there appeared two brides.
And the other bride turned out to be the Earth Venerate of Tongtian Pavilion.
It was like a drop of water falling into a pan of hot oil.
As the identity of the newcor was discerned, the entire court was shocked.
Feng Lan gazed at the woman within the crowd.
He felt his breathing turn erratic.
His heart tightened under her gaze,
Like a fish thirsty for years, suddenly finding water, the woman before him was so unfamiliar, yet so familiar.
The faint scent on her, which lingered around him during countless wakeful nights, enveloped him.
"Earth Venerate, it’s you." Feng Lan, unable to restrain himself, stepped forward.
"Empress Qing Shuang, how could you not see the intimacy bubbling between them?"
Losing his composure made Empress Qing Shuang furious.
She grabbed Feng Lan’s hand, warning him,
"Feng Lan, don’t forget, today is your wedding with ."
"Wedding? What right do you have to hold this wedding?" the woman smirked.
"Simply because I have declared to the world that Feng Lan is my Imperial Consort. And you, what are you but soone coveting soone else’s husband?" Empress Qing Shuang rembered that when Earth Venerate and Feng Lan first t that night, there was indeed sothing off about Earth Venerate.
The Empress’s accusation didn’t make the woman back down, instead, she suddenly laughed.
"Married? You’re right, under the laws of Beiqing, a man can take concubines, but he must have his wife’s consent before doing so, otherwise, it’s considered illicit and she will never be accepted into the household. Sister dear, let ask you, when Feng Lan was married, did you ever ask for my opinion?"
Saying this, the woman violently yanked off the wedding veil covering her face.
So swiftly and decisively.
The mont the veil fell, Princess Qingfeng’s face was exposed to countless eyes.
Hearing those words, ’sister dear’, Empress Qing Shuang felt her mind go blank.
Seeing the face beneath the veil clearly, Empress Qing Shuang seed to hear again the Emperor’s comnts about them when they were younger.
"Qing Shuang, you are proud and radiant, like the peony among flowers, suited for life cloistered deep within the palace, outshining all others. Your younger sister Qing Feng, however, is different. She is like a wild rose, unrestrained, the finest among beauties, ant to thrive among the common folk."
Back then, Qing Shuang hadn’t understood the hidden aning in the Emperor’s words, but at this mont, seeing her own flesh and blood sister who she hadn’t seen for over a decade appear alive right before her, Empress Qing Shuang suddenly understood everything.
"It’s the Princess, the Second Princess."
"It’s Princess Consort Feng, wasn’t she supposed to have died over a decade ago?"
Feng Lan, looking at Qing Feng before him, was as if enchanted, his mind overwheld by countless fragnted mories.
Those mories that he had forgotten for over a decade suddenly burst forth anew.
"Feng Lan, Feng Lan, don’t go," the Empress uttered as she watched Feng Lan move step by step towards Qing Feng, his previously lifeless eyes suddenly lighting up at the sight of her.
She felt as if her world was crumbling down, she wanted to stop Feng Lan, but she had only taken one step.
But at that mont, the surroundings abruptly changed.
The Imperial Palace vanished, and a dense forest from over a decade ago appeared before everyone’s eyes.
Covered in blood, with multiple wounds and his armor shattered, Feng Lan still stood.
Before him stood nearly a thousand masked assassins, and behind him, countless fallen warriors.
A male and a female assassin leader stepped forward.
Removing their masks, it turned out to be none other than Empress Qing Shuang and King Kaijiang Chen Tuo.
"Feng Lan, surrender," the Empress said looking at Feng Lan with profound grief.
"Qing Shuang, is it really you... These ambushes, these assassins, were they all because of you? Why? These are the warriors who have followed through life and death on the battlefield for years. What have I, Feng Lan, done wrong that you would ruthlessly decide to kill?" Blood dripped from Feng Lan’s wounds.
But he felt no pain, nothing compared to the agony of betrayal by a lifelong friend and comrade-in-arms.
"Why? You still ask why? Do you really think I don’t know that you once told Chen Tuo that after returning to the capital this ti, you were going to take Qing Feng and your son and resign from your position, leave the Imperial City? You said you’ve not spent enough ti with them, you ntioned Qing Feng is overworked, you said it’s ti for you to retire. I can bear you taking Qing Feng as your wife, I can even bear you having children with her. But I cannot bear you leaving my sight," Empress shrieked like a trapped animal.
She had endured for years, watching her sister thrive under Feng Lan’s care, becoming increasingly charming.
Yet she, in the cold solitude of the deep palace, amidst countless n, lost herself.
When Chen Tuo revealed all this to her, she felt the blood in her veins freeze.
The happiness she could not have, no one else should dream of either.
"Qing Shuang, why can’t you see the truth even today? My love is only for Qing Feng," Feng Lan’s expression softened when he ntioned Qing Feng.
Qing Feng and Xinxin were the last shreds of strength he held onto until now.
"Even if she beca a dead person? Even if she was violated by countless n, would you still love her? Feng Lan, if you refuse to be mine, then today, neither you nor Qing Feng will live!" Empress laughed loudly, heart stung by the sight of Feng Lan’s apparent happiness.
Behind her, the assassins charged like locusts, surrounding Feng Lan.
Engulfed in a flurry of blades, the mont Chen Tuo struck Feng Lan on the head, severely wounding him into unconsciousness, the vision from over a decade ago suddenly vanished.
User Comments
0 comments from readers