Chapter 487 The Truth Behind Consort Yue's Death!
"Moon, we should never have been separated in the first place."
"You are mine."
No one in this world can take you away from me.
"This is our home—"
Zongzheng Qingyue was so frightened that she broke out in a cold sweat.
Although she had a slight suspicion, she still couldn't believe that her dearest brother would actually have such a contrary-to-moral thought about her!
She knelt on the ground and repeatedly called out, "Brother!"
"The spirit of the Empress Dowager still resides here."
"I beg you to swear on the spirit of my deceased mother that Yue'er may be married off to Daliang as a political marriage!"
"Yue'er is willing to share her brother's burdens! She is willing to fulfill her responsibilities as a princess for the Great Chu."
"I am willing to become a princess for a political marriage between the Great Liang and the Great Chu!"
Zongzheng Langri was startled and stood there stiffly and numbly.
He wanted to say: Don't even think about it.
He wanted to say: Moon, are you leaving your brother too?
However, he also knew that there was no better option than sending his most beloved younger sister to Daliang for a marriage alliance, which would allow Daliang to put an end to the border war.
His eyes were bloodshot as he stared blankly at his sister, lost in thought, without reacting for a full half-day.
In the end, Zongzheng Qingyue resolutely left Da Chu.
She knew that Xie Huaiyuan had betrayed her, and that he was the one who had personally sent her to that bed in the cold palace.
She also knew that perhaps he had been forced to do all of this by Zongzheng Langri.
Zongzheng Langri wanted to make Zongzheng Qingyue utterly disappointed in Xie Huaiyuan, and also wanted her to see clearly what kind of worthless man he was that was worthy of entrusting her life to.
She saw it clearly.
However, what saddened Zongzheng Qingyue even more was that she had never experienced a true and sincere relationship.
Even Zongzheng Langri was nothing more than someone who developed a perverse possessive desire for her over the long years.
His brother may have died along with their mother long ago.
Zongzheng Langri, who later emerged from the cold palace, never truly understood his own heart.
He locked himself away forever in the cold palace where his mother had died.
However, Munemasa Kiyotsuki remained remarkably clear-headed.
So before she left, she asked the emperor for an imperial edict.
She wanted to imprison Xie Huaiyuan in Ningyuan Temple for all eternity, never to step out of the temple again.
This is the result Xie Huaiyuan deserves.
After Zongzheng Qingyue married into the Liang Dynasty, her stunning beauty and gentle yet clear-headed nature quickly won the favor and affection of Emperor Yan.
Emperor Yan favored her above all others in the harem, and for several years he never set foot in the palace of any other concubine.
Even the Empress, when she went to her morning duties on the first and fifteenth of the month, would only eat a quick meal before resolutely and ruthlessly leaving.
It is no exaggeration to say that among the three thousand beauties in the imperial harem, she was the only one favored.
Even when Zongzheng Qingyue sincerely asked Emperor Yan to visit the other concubines in the harem, it aroused Emperor Yan's jealousy, who thought that she did not love her husband enough.
Zongzheng Qingyue soon gave birth to a son under the extreme favor and protection of Emperor Yan.
This son was the fifth prince of the Great Liang Dynasty, named Duan Rongshi.
In the years that followed, no other princes or princesses were born in the palace.
Emperor Yan once said that all his children after the fifth year of his reign would be born from the womb of Consort Yue.
His favoritism and affection led Consort Yue to believe, on several occasions, that she might have truly found a sincere relationship.
Even though everyone in the palace hated her as a thorn in their side.
She also lived a life of constant anxiety, but she finally came to understand what happiness truly meant.
However, she soon witnessed once again what the ruthlessness of a monarch truly meant.
Li Qingluo looked at Duan Rongshi and said, "You should know most of what happened after that."
"Back then, the Empress secretly arranged for someone to collude with Zongzheng Zhiyuan to obtain Zongzheng Langri's handwriting."
"The expert by her side imitated Zongzheng Langri's handwriting and wrote several unforgettable and heartbreaking letters to her mother."
"Later, all this dirty water was poured on my mother."
Duan Rongshi's face was shrouded in shadow.
He was trying his best to control the intense emotions surging within him.
Li Qingluo could only hold his hand tightly, gently but firmly comforting him.
After a long pause, Duan Rongshi continued speaking, picking up where Li Qingluo left off.
He was telling the truth about his mother's death that he had investigated over the years in Daliang.
"Duan Changyan sent people to Da Chu back then."
"The results of the undercover investigation among the people all revealed the story of how the Chu Emperor was crazy and doted on his mother."
"The truth of this matter was unclear. In the end, when the report came from Daliang, it was confirmed that the brother and sister had a long-standing illicit affair."
"Duan Changyan felt humiliated in his extreme anger and also hated his mother, whom he considered to be impure."
"Therefore, he began to indulge and even tacitly allow the concubines in the palace who had long hated the mother concubine for monopolizing the emperor's favor, and even the empress, to use their tricks against the mother concubine."
“During that period, my mother was unjustly forced to kneel or stand in the rain all night, copied 42 scriptures, stayed up all night sewing robes, and personally retrieved the pearls that the Empress had dropped from the lake in the dead of winter.”
"These despicable and underhanded methods are countless."
"Even, everyone could curse Mother Consort with those increasingly false rumors: shameless and disgusting slut."
"My mother realized that the Emperor's favor had come to an end, so she secretly arranged for the loyal servants who had accompanied her to Daliang to fake their deaths and leave the palace one by one."
"In order to keep the secret that they were all still alive, she had no choice but to cruelly have their tongues cut out."
"He used all his remaining strength to protect this pure land of Guiyuan, wanting to leave me with something to remember him by."
"The mother could only let the entire harem keep stuffing people into her Guifu Palace."
"But her methods and abilities were really limited. In the end, she exhausted all her efforts and, in order to protect my innocence, she did not fake her death to escape from the palace."
"That Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon was full, and all the concubines seemed to have agreed to go to my mother's Guifu Palace with gifts."
"I was deliberately kept in the school by Grand Tutor Su."
"When Guifu Palace was engulfed in flames, my mother had already been murdered by them using all sorts of poisons, sharp blades, venomous snakes... several steel nails, and even other despicable and insidious methods."
Duan Rongshi closed his eyes heavily.
His voice trembled slightly.
He had never been so vulnerable.
It was only because he thought of his mother, the concubine who gave birth to him, a gentle, kind, and resolute woman who suffered countless heart-wrenching pains during her lifetime.
Betrayed by those close to you, abandoned by those you love.
Those who loved her eventually hated her to the core.
He even personally took a knife and subjected her to slow slicing.
What crime did he commit to deserve such a fate?
After a long while, he slowly opened his misty eyes and looked at Li Qingluo.
"Luo'er, is this the truth?"
"The entire harem of Daliang, including Duan Changyan, the cold and indifferent Empress Dowager who refused to take action, the Empress who fueled the fire and even framed my mother, Consort De, Consort Li, Consort Qi... they were all the real culprits who killed my mother back then."
Am I right or wrong?
Li Qingluo: "Yes."
"Since you already know the answer, why ask me again?"
Duan Rongshi stared down the cliff with a chilling aura emanating from him: "In that case, when I return to Daliang one day, it will be the day when these people and their families are completely uprooted and destroyed."
However, right now, in this Great Chu, there is one more person who should die.
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