Bold Heart (Flesh of my Flesh... Blood of my Blood 1)

Chapter 6 - Mortal Trial Prt 2

Author's note: I found I had actually partially written this chapter when I checked the word doc a couple of days ago. One more chapter to go after this and this fanfic will link to the main piece. This chapter is a retelling of events in episode 43 of TMOPB. Some dialogue is taken from the episode, but I added scenes.

Donghua Dijun as Your Majesty /The Emperor

Bai Feng Jiu as Honored Lady Chen/ Pure Consort Chen/Jiu'er

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The Emperor knew he loved Jiu'er more than he had loved Noble Consort. Perhaps it was age and maturity that made him love her more. He had been clouded by his own emotions when it came to Noble Consort and had never understood that her patient smiles only meant she tolerate him.

With Jiu'er, he had found sincerity, she looked at him with adoration in her eyes, and all of her actions always showed him how much she loved him. It had not always been so. There had been times when she had been reticent. His Majesty had chalked it to his years of neglect that she would hold back her emotions.

The Emperor knew that he was not the only one in Jiu'er mind. She thought of someone else... a man named Dijun or some such. He had tried to find information on her life before the palace but had seen little. Her father was a military official and had sent her to the palace after being selected the Harem.

A concubine spent years in the Harem alone at times; few ever met him, and fewer still were ever call on upon more than once to his bed. Of course, Jiu'er would be reticent in her affections if she believed she would only be bestowed fleeting favour. He had persisted, promoting her rank and making her quarters his usual nightly visits.

But he still felt she was distant from him. There was a shadow in her eyes as she stared at him, a forlornness...

"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened." The Empress said as she burst inside his study unannounced.

"Do no barge in on my study without being announced." His Majesty reprimanded harshly. "What is it now?"

"Pure Consort was rolling in the ground with Crown Prince." The Empress said in a rush and looked into the disbelieving eyes of her husband.

"Y-you-" The Emperor stuttered, unable to process such vicious slander.

"I saw them with other concubines. Crown Prince was on top of her in the ground. It was obscene!"

"Be quiet!" The Emperor growled and banged the wooden table.

The Empress fell to her knees in apology. "Your Majesty, I know it is hard to believe, Pure Consort has always professed to love you, but I saw them with my own eyes. I found them hugging in the ground." "They even lied and said the fan she was holding was magical. That it flew in the air and tumbled them to ground."

"I have tolerated your lies and deceit for years on account of your father." The Emperor said, reminding his legal wife of how the arrangement of their marriage had been made.

"Your Majesty," The Empress said in a trembling voice.

"For years, you have conspired in the Harem and made life difficult for other concubines. But Pure Consort took an arrow for me. If she had not shielded me, I would be dead now. She would never betray me with my son." The Emperor said, rejecting his wife's word.

"Your Majes-"

"You are to hold your tongue. No one is ever to insinuate that Pure Consort is having an affair with Yuan Zhen again, or it will be the death penalty." The Emperor said and stood up slowly from his seat. "Even you will end up with your head severed from your shoulders. Do you understand?"