With the regent Xiao Yuan dealt with, the biggest cancer in the court was removed, but everyone knew that this purge still had one last and most difficult step to complete.
Cixi Palace.
This place, once the center of power in the imperial harem, where every word and action could attract the attention of the imperial court, is now as quiet as an ancient tomb forgotten by the world.
The palace gates were tightly shut, and the noblewomen and concubines who once flocked to pay their respects were nowhere to be seen. The eunuchs and maids inside trembled with fear, walking on tiptoe, even their breathing seemed wrong. They were all under house arrest, awaiting the new emperor's final judgment on their masters.
Inside the Buddhist hall, the air was filled with the fragrance of sandalwood, yet it could not dispel the bone-chilling coldness in the air.
The Empress Dowager, dressed in plain clothes, sat upright on a prayer mat, her hands holding a string of prayer beads, her eyes closed. She appeared to be devoutly worshipping Buddha, but her slightly trembling fingertips and taut jawline betrayed her inner turmoil.
She is waiting.
From the night of the palace coup, she had been waiting. Waiting for her son, the emperor she had never taken seriously, yet who had ultimately brought her and the regent to their knees, to give her a final end.
She imagined countless possibilities. Perhaps it would be a death by hanging, perhaps it would be poison, or perhaps he would depose her and imprison her in the cold palace to demonstrate his "benevolence and filial piety," leaving her to spend the rest of her life in humiliation and despair.
She was prepared for either outcome. After all, she was the Empress Dowager who had ruled the harem for decades. Even in death, she wanted to die with dignity, to use her final act to sting the victor.
However, what she received was neither the emperor nor the eunuch holding the imperial edict.
"Squeak—"
The door to the Buddhist hall was gently pushed open, and a slender yet upright figure walked slowly in against the light.
The Empress Dowager suddenly opened her eyes, a sharp, icy glint flashing within them.
It's Lin Wanwan.
She came alone. Without any guards, without any palace servants, not even the head maid who symbolized the empress's regalia. Dressed in a simple yet dignified empress's everyday robes, she walked alone into this palace that symbolized the last bastion of the old era.
"What are you doing here? To laugh at me?" the Empress Dowager said coldly, her voice hoarse but still carrying the arrogance etched into her bones. "Or is it that the Emperor is unwilling to even grant me this last bit of dignity, sending you, this vixen, to carry out his orders?"
In her view, this was the ultimate humiliation.
Lin Wanwan simply looked at her calmly, her eyes devoid of any victor's gloating or any trace of hatred, as calm as a bottomless ancient well.
"Your Majesty, I dare not." She slowly walked to the Empress Dowager, neither bowing nor sitting down, but simply standing there quietly. "Your Majesty, I have not come here today by imperial decree."
"Oh?" The Empress Dowager raised an eyebrow, a hint of mockery flashing in her eyes. "Then what are you here for? Are you here to plead for me?"
Lin Wanwan shook her head.
She took out a neatly folded document from her wide sleeve. It wasn't a bright yellow imperial edict, but just an ordinary sheet of Xuan paper.
She gently placed the document on the incense table in front of the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager glanced at it, and when she saw the two characters written in delicate small regular script on the Xuan paper cover, she was struck dumb, and her face instantly turned extremely ugly.
It read on it—a letter of divorce.
"You... what do you mean by this?!" The Empress Dowager stood up abruptly, her voice trembling with emotion. She thought Lin Wanwan was using this method to humiliate her, to humiliate the entire royal family!
"Your Majesty has misunderstood." Lin Wanwan's voice remained calm and composed. "This letter of divorce is not for me."
Was it not for her?
The Empress Dowager was stunned, a huge sense of absurdity welling up in her heart.
Lin Wanwan raised her eyes, her gaze clear and sharp, looking directly into the Empress Dowager's eyes, which were filled with surprise and anger, and said clearly, word by word:
"It's for you."
"Outrageous!" the Empress Dowager shouted angrily. "I am the Empress, personally appointed by the late Emperor, and the mother of the current Emperor. How dare you... how dare you..."
“I’m divorcing you,” Lin Wanwan interrupted her without backing down, “not because of your marriage to the late emperor, but because of your ‘relationship’ with this dynasty.”
These words were like an invisible thunderclap, exploding in the Empress Dowager's mind! She was completely stunned, the anger on her face instantly freezing, replaced by an unprecedented shock and bewilderment.
Severing her ties with this dynasty? What does that mean?
Lin Wanwan didn't give her much time to think. Her words were like the sharpest scalpel, peeling away layer by layer the Empress Dowager's identity and glory.
"His Majesty, mindful of the bond between mother and son, will not pursue any past crimes against you. The Regent's treason is unrelated to you; the poisoning of the Empress is no longer mentioned. You need not drink the poisoned wine, nor do you need to see the white silk."
These words, if spoken a day ago, might have given the Empress Dowager a sliver of hope. But now, hearing them sent a chill down her spine. Because she knew that Lin Wanwan's true message was yet to come.
As expected, Lin Wanwan changed the subject, her voice becoming calm and resolute:
"However, from this day forward, you will no longer be the Empress Dowager of the Great Liang."
"You are merely the widow of the late emperor, who can enjoy her twilight years in this deep palace."
The late emperor's widow!
These four words, like four red-hot iron nails, were driven deep into the Empress Dowager's heart!
She went from being an empress dowager, a figure of unparalleled virtue, to a mere historical figure, a "widow"! This is not death, but something far more terrifying—the complete erasure of her political identity! She was brutally removed from the power structure of this dynasty, from the course of history!
"No...impossible!" The Empress Dowager staggered back a step, her face ashen. She pointed at Lin Wanwan, her voice trembling, "I am the Empress Dowager! I am His Majesty's mother! Who dares..."
"This is His Majesty's final act of mercy towards you," Lin Wanwan said calmly. She slowly stepped forward and took out the Empress Dowager's seal, which once symbolized the highest power in the harem, along with all the related insignia and documents, from a brocade box beside the incense table.
She held these heavy objects, symbols of power, in her hands and gave the distraught Empress Dowager her final, farewell bow.
"From now on, you no longer need to worry about national affairs. You can just stay here and worship Buddha in peace."
Her voice was soft, yet it carried an undeniable sense of finality.
"Your Majesty, I take my leave."
After saying that, she didn't look at the Empress Dowager again and turned to walk out.
As the Empress Dowager watched her departing figure carrying the seal of office, and saw her so easily take away all her power, glory, and reliance, she felt as if all her strength had been drained away.
She envisioned a life-or-death confrontation, and anticipated her final curses and struggles.
She never imagined that her ending would be so...peaceful.
It was as calm as a silent, slow torture, eliminating her completely without bloodshed.
"Lin Wanwan!" she suddenly cried out in a shrill voice.
Lin Wanwan stopped walking, but did not turn around.
"Why..." The Empress Dowager's voice was filled with despair and resentment, "Why you... How could I... How could I lose to a woman like you..."
Lin Wanwan remained silent for a moment before slowly speaking, her voice clearly echoing back into the Buddhist hall:
“Because from the beginning, you were thinking about how to hold onto your power, while I was thinking about how to make this country a better place.”
After saying that, she didn't linger and walked out of the Buddhist hall.
Outside, the sun was shining brightly.
After she left, the door to the Buddhist hall was slowly closed from the outside by palace servants, and the heavy bolt was lowered.
"Clang—"
A muffled thud separated the two worlds.
From this day forward, the gates of Cixi Palace will be closed to her forever.
Inside the Buddhist hall, the last glimmer of light disappeared, plunging the space back into darkness.
Hearing the sound of the lock clicking shut, the Empress Dowager trembled and finally collapsed onto the cold ground.
She looked at the magnificent cage that imprisoned her forever, at the compassionate Buddha statue, and then at the woman who had calmly taken everything from her, that eternally serene face, those eyes that seemed to see through everything…
Regret, like a tidal wave, finally overwhelmed her last bit of pride.
She knew that she had not only lost to the emperor she had never taken seriously, but also to her daughter-in-law whom she had looked down upon from the beginning and thought she could manipulate at will.
An era that belonged to her was brought to an end in the most humiliating and thorough way at this moment.
Two lines of regretful tears finally slid slowly down her once majestic eyes.
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