"Comatose? And it involves witchcraft?"
Helian Jue defeated the main force of the Turks, the royal court was directly destroyed, and the Khan was captured.
Upon returning to the northern city, before he could even write to Xie Yuan to share the good news, he received a report from the shadow guard.
His face immediately darkened.
Helian Jue never believed in witchcraft or anything like that.
But this is what the royal family fears most.
"Yes, I was worried that Dugu Zhi was lying, so I used severe torture on her—"
The shadow guard, codenamed "Ding," bowed and reported back.
The "severe punishment" he mentioned is the water-drop experiment that Xie Yuan once described as a psychological effect on physiology.
This involves blindfolding a person, making a cut on their wrist, and then making a dripping sound to mislead them into thinking that blood is flowing.
Even though there are no wounds, it can scare a healthy person to death.
When this person died, his body also showed symptoms of death due to excessive blood loss.
Xie Yuan treated it as a gossipy anecdote, but Helian Jue and some of his men used it as a tool for extracting confessions through torture.
For example, Hou Jingting, the tomb raider who is now an underground engineering expert, once "experienced" this torture, which directly destroyed his psychological defenses and made him completely submit.
Such immense psychological torment would be unbearable even for a seasoned tomb raider, let alone a pampered young lady from a wealthy family like Dugu Zhi.
Dugu Zhi was nearly scared to death, and she cried until she fainted.
Having witnessed her utter disarray and hysteria firsthand, Di Ding would swear on his life, "What she said must be true!"
"Moreover, she actually knew that Your Majesty had ordered the construction of a double coffin."
This matter is absolutely a closely guarded secret.
He Lianjue didn't even tell Xie Yuan, the Empress, the person he trusted most.
This was Helian Jue's deepest madness—he wanted to share a bed in life and a grave in death with Xie Yuan.
Helian Jue was the emperor, and therefore "honored".
Although Xie Yuan was the Empress, and husband and wife were one, she was still a subject, and thus "inferior".
The humble do not move the noble.
Unless Xie Yuan dies before Helian Jue, Xie Yuan must be buried alive with Helian Jue if Helian Jue dies before Xie Yuan.
After all, it was a double coffin, unlike a normal imperial mausoleum which has a main burial chamber and a side burial chamber.
Once the emperor dies first, his coffin must be sealed; it is impossible to repeatedly open the coffin just to wait for Xie Yuan, the mistress of the house.
This is a great disrespect to the monarch!
The fact that Helian Jue ordered his wife to "die with him" does not mean that he did not love her. On the contrary, Helian Jue loved her too much, to the point of madness.
They are alive, and they are husband and wife.
Even in death, we'll sleep in the same coffin!
Helian Jue knew that his idea was crazy and unfair to Xie Yuan.
He was older than Xie Yuannian, and almost none of the men in the Helian family lived long lives.
If he were to die young like the late emperor, Xie Yuan would have to be buried with him.
If it was Xie Yuan's own willingness, it was because they had a very deep affection for each other and were willing to die for each other.
Can--
Helian Jue admitted that he had a slight uncertainty in his heart: Did A Yuan love me so much that he was willing to die with me?
After all, Xie Yuan was no ordinary wife; she was also the Empress and the mother of four children.
Without her husband, she could become an even more esteemed empress dowager!
Helian Jue was never worried that Xie Yuan would betray him for power, and he dared not gamble that if he died, Xie Yuan would give up "dying for love" for the sake of power.
Despite Helian Jue's behavior as a wise ruler after ascending the throne, he did not change his ways.
But deep down, he was always that crazy, eccentric, and deposed crown prince.
His love for his wife was also terrifyingly obsessive.
He has been disguising himself so well these past two years that even Xie Yuan has not noticed.
Despite his madness, Helian Jue was not blinded by it.
He had kept the matter of the double coffin a secret, because he didn't want to "test human nature."
Whether Xie Yuan likes it or not, if that day ever comes, he will take A Yuan with him!
It's only because Xie Yuan didn't know that she would have sung a loud song to Helian Jue: "Listen to me, thank you, because of you, I was forced to commit suicide for love!"
However, the secret that Xie Yuan was unaware of was known to the daughter of a military general in the far northwest.
Aside from the miraculous experience of "dying and being reborn," there seems to be no other possibility.
After listening to the report from Shadow Guard Diding, Helian Jue fell into deep thought.
He clasped his hands together, two index fingers resting on his chin. "It seems it's true. I really could faint for no reason?"
Di Ding lowered his head, not daring to look directly at the emperor's face.
Moreover, he sensed a dangerous undertone in Helian Jue's calm words.
"How long? How long will I be unconscious?"
Helian Jue didn't want to believe the words of a fool like Dugu Zhi, but reality was right in front of him, leaving him no choice but to believe.
An earthquake did indeed occur in Liangzhou in the southwest, and the story of the double coffins also proved to be true.
Even the location of Helian Jue and Xie Yuan's imperial tombs, which was chosen in such a secretive way, was accurately described by Dugu Zhi.
This person could be considered a case of "a fool's luck."
"Seven days!"
Di Ding hurriedly reported, "Dugu Zhi said that you were unconscious for a total of seven days."
Helian Jue raised an eyebrow. Seven days is neither a long nor a short time.
For an emperor to fall into a coma for seven days without cause is enough to shake the court and stir up ambitions.
"The court officials, led by several ministers of the Council of State, did indeed 'advise' Her Majesty the Empress to appoint the Crown Prince as the Crown Prince, but Her Majesty the Empress refused."
“There are also court officials who, in the name of the Empress Dowager, say that ‘the emperor is young and the country is in doubt,’ and that the crown prince should not be established, but the younger brother of the emperor should be appointed instead.”
"The Sixth Prince was pushed forward. In the previous life, Dugu Zhi married the Sixth Prince, and the Dugu family sided with the Sixth Prince. Relying on their military power in the Northwest, they colluded with court officials and used force to force the Empress to abdicate!"
"Fortunately, Her Majesty the Empress had the Silver Armor Army and 20,000 naval troops along the southeast coast, so she was not coerced."
"During the seven days you were in a coma, Her Majesty the Empress firmly believed that you would wake up, and she kept a dagger coated with deadly poison in her sleeve."
"Dugu Zhi also said that during the most critical moment, Her Majesty the Empress had already put a knife to her own neck, wanting to live and die with you, but you finally woke up!"
"...Dugu Zhi didn't know much about what happened after that."
Because the emperor has awakened, the plans of the sixth prince and others have failed.
Given Helian Jue's vengeful nature, he would not easily let the Sixth Prince's faction, who had so persecuted and humiliated his wife and children, get away with it.
The sixth prince was ordered to commit suicide;
Dugu Xiong readily relinquished all military power, and in exchange for the prohibition of his descendants from holding official positions for three generations, he ensured the safety of his entire family.
Even Dugu Zhi, the sixth prince's wife, was spared the death penalty and sent to a nunnery to become a nun.
Therefore, although Dugu Zhi lived for a few more years, she was basically imprisoned and had no idea what was happening outside!
"Dugu Zhi said that A Yuan was willing to die with me?"
Helian Jue, who was crazy at heart, listened to a lot of things but only grasped this one key point!
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