EMPRESS LIU

~ONE~

A man is standing on the edge of the cliff. He has nowhere else to go. Either get caught by the emperor's people or jump into the North sea. Either way death was the only option. He was injured, fatigued. It was hard for him to cover himself with the torn clothes he's been wearing for two years in prison. The same cloth his father brought him the last time he saw him. A month before his father was assassinated. By no one else, but his own husband's people. He's the former xiang wangfei. A dethroned wangfei, sent to prison for charges he never committed.

The blue fabric that once was gentle and vibrant like the ocean was now dull dirty and rough because of uncaring treatment. Patches of blood was seen on the cloth here and there. The side of his stomach was the most pathetic for being slashed by the sword of the guard. But despite all of this the beautiful face that was hidden behind the thin silk piece of cloth didn't falter a bit. The beautiful face of Liu Changsheng glowed for the last time in his entire twenty five years of life.

He looks back at the emperor's army approaching at a rapid pace, losing distance fast. A whisper left his lips.

"If death is the only option, I choose to keep my last bit of dignity."

He closes his eyes and faces opposite of the neverending abyss that is the Xuanhua cliff. And then he lets his body fall backwards.

The bottomless abyss will definitely give him the dignified death he desires. A proud death. Not an execution. Not even a body to be found.

The last thought running on his mind was, "My prince, be happy. But from this moment onwards to my thousands of lifetimes I'll only hate you. If my love is true I curse you, you'll never be tamed by true love. Goodbye, my Prince."

How pathetic!

Even on the threshold of death he thought of his prince. The same prince that never treated him good. The same prince that threw him away for a mere concubine. But he always trusted him. And look where that got him.

When the emperor's army reached the edge of the cliff they found nothing but a dead black horse and a torn piece of cloth. Faded and rough, covered in dirt, that once probably was gentle and vibrant like the ocean.

The emperor's army returned empty handed with the torn piece of cloth as a proof of death of the assassin. They produced the piece of cloth to the emperor.

"Highness. The assassin is dead. He jumped from the Xuanhua cliff to his death. We only found Xiao Su dead and this piece of cloth."

The emperor just looks at the starless night that indicates thunderstorm. Suddenly something came to his mind so he looks at his commander general.

"What about Xuehui?"

"Nowhere to be found your majesty! Please forgive this servant." The commander general Ma Ding bows.

On the flick of a wrist he was dismissed by the emperor. General Ma Ding left the emperor alone in his study after keeping the cloth on the reading table in front of the window.

After everyone was gone emperor Shenlongjun Hong Feihua finally looked at the battered piece of cloth on his study table.

"Shengsheng! In the end, you never bowed down."

And right then the thunderstorm started.

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When Liu Changsheng opened his eyes again he found himself in a very familiar place. The green and blue bed curtains were gracefully down with only one side partially open. From where he can see his older brother talking to the physician. His personal guard and servant Mu Ling was worriedly looking down putting an ointment on his right hand wrist.

"What happened? How am I here?"

Liu Changsheng himself was surprised with his own voice. His voice sounded hoarse. But in no way it can be the voice of a twenty five years old man. He didn't know what was happening. He was very sure he jumped from the edge of Xuanhua cliff. Then how is he here? In his own room in the port capital, in his maternal house.

He looked around the room. It was exactly the same as it was when he left. Did his brother somehow found him and brought him back here?

But how is that possible. He was still in the prison. His brother was the one who helped him flee the prison and sacrificed himself. Then how?

And what about Mu Ling? He was banished from the country. He didn't know if Mu Ling was still alive or dead. Then how is even Mu Ling here?

But when he looked at his oldest brother's appearance a very unlikely possibility showed it's face in his head. Was he sent back in time? His gege looks so young! And he has the scar on his throat bandaged.

Wait! He started to panic. He's sent back ten years? That's when his family was attacked by bandits and his oldest brother got that scar, that will stay forever on the side of his throat.

On the other hand Liu Huanglang the oldest son of the Liu family was confused to see the emotions on his youngest brother's face. He thought that his little Shengsheng was scared. After all he was just fifteen. And being taken by the bandits will definitely be hard for him.

"Little brother. Don't be afraid. Gege saved Shengsheng and got him back home."

Liu Changsheng thought he's definitely sent back in time. Ten years back, to when he just met his prince and fell in love. He just wasn't sure about the exact timeframe.

Being the fifth son of the wealthy merchant Liu Huahua and being the youngest little brother of two brothers and two sisters he was always pampered and protected. He learnt martial art but only to protect himself when there was nobody to do that for him.

His eyes filled up with tears seeing his brother there safe and sound. He also held Mu Ling's free hand that wasn't putting ointment on him and let his tears flow. In his mind only one thing was there.

"I'm given another chance. And this time I won't let any one of you die!"

The siblings reunion had to end because Liu Huanglang had to go help his father with the losses they faced from this bandit attack. Even though the hardest blow was taking Liu Changsheng and harming him.

Liu Changsheng sat down with the help of Mu Ling and realized he was very badly injured. He smiled internally thinking, "Even I died in my last life I'm bearing wounds in this life!"

He took a medication with the help of Mu Ling because he couldn't lift his right hand at all.

After having the medicine he asked Mu Ling about what exactly happened while the bandits attacked. Because as long as he remembers in his last life nothing like this happened. He wasn't heavily injured. Only his eldest brother got injured while trying to save his sister-in-law.

Then what happened this time?

I'll keep the A/N short here!
This is an original story so please stay tuned to know what happens next!

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