My Sin

Curse?

Guys this is fantasy and had nothing to do with Chinese history. Please bear that in mind as you read.

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For the next few days, a layer of gloom covered the entire palace. The empress hadn't woken up and it's been three days. The emperor had been looking more haggard each day. He refused to leave the empress's side and only got about two hours of sleep a day. When the emperor walked or talked he now looked lifeless. His tone was monotonous and his eyes lost their initial shine. Nobody expected the emperor who neglected the empress for years to be so devastated by the potential loss of the empress.

The royal family except for the concubines all rushed back to the palace, leaving Hereditary Consort Xuilan in charge. Hereditary Consort Xuilan was, of course, ecstatic to have this chance and made it clear that she was not going to waste it, so during this time, she started sighting the people's opinion of her.

The empress didn't know what was going on outside as he was currently trapped in a dream. In this dream, he had a smile that was so wide that you could barely see his eyes. He laughed gently along with the man in his dreams.

".....en what do you think we should name him?" He saw himself holding a chubby baby boy as he face the man with a gentle smile.

"Hu Feng, Kai Hu Feng," The man responded with a gentle smile. The scene then moved on to him holding a baby girl.

"I think we should name her Ruan, honey," He saw himself saying as he gave the baby girl to the man.

"Look how pretty she is, we should add Li to her name. Right, pretty Ruan?" The man said in a doting tone as the baby in his hands laughed in agreement. The scene then again change and he was holding a baby ger.

"Honey I don't want to give birth after Tao'er," He saw himself saying as he pouted.

"You already chose his name? I wanted to call him Bingwen," The man also responded with a pout.

"Then Tao Bingwen it is!" He saw himself say before he pecked the man's lips. The scene then moved to him looking at four babies.

"I told you I didn't want any more kids and you gave me four?" He saw himself say to the man with gritted teeth.

"Well since you're so tired I'll do the naming for you," The man said shamelessly as he kissed his lips.

"You!" He saw himself being speechless.

"My daughter will be named Zhenzhen, my ger son Xiaohui, and the two sons will be named Weizhe and Yusheng," The man said with a gentle tone as he kissed each one of the babies in the cribs. 

The scenes kept on changing but in each one, he only got happier. His family was harmonious, there were no concubines, and his husband was devoted to him and only him. Almost all of his kids except for his Hu'er and Zheng were attached to their dads. He like spoiling them and did anything they asked for. His life was perfect until Noble Lady Shu forced her way into the harem.

She was introduced at a banquet as a minister's daughter and showed interest in the emperor. The emperor coldly refused but the Imperial Preceptor claimed that if they did not accept her as a concubine they would incur the ire of Goddess Xingjuan, the goddess of luck. But the man next to him only sneered and refused to take the concubine.

He saw himself persuading the emperor and the emperor reluctantly accepted the concubine. Though he accepted her the emperor only stayed in the emperor's chambers and never went to see his newly married concubine. And as fate would have it that same year, a war broke out in the empire and the emperor had left to go fight in the war.

Since the concubine was considered a special case, no one dared to take her lightly. They treated her with respect and no one dared to go against her. The empress started getting neglected after news that his father and mother died on the battlefield came. Slowly the empress's health started deteriorating and as he could barely get up anymore, his children became victims.

When the emperor came back he found the empress bedridden and neglected while two of his kids passed away. The emperor saw red when he came back only to see that his family had fallen apart. He took a sword and marched to Noble Lady Shu's chamber. No matter how much she warned him that if he were to harm her that he would pay the price he ruthlessly cut off her head and paraded it in the streets of the capital.

The day the sky turned red and the rain poured heavily. One of the female officials there seemed to have been posses and grabbed the emperor by his throat and threw him across the room.

"Chain him," The female official spat out hatefully. Despite this treatment, the emperor never complained and his eyes remained cold.

The scene then changed, and he saw a bloody emperor kneeling, whip and knife marks all over his body, but his eyes remained cold as if he felt no pain. No matter how much he was whipped there was no fluctuation on his face. The female official seemed to sense that he felt nothing and finally stopped torturing him.

"I, Xingjuan, curse Kai Yichen and Liu Quiaqio to a thousand lives of misery! You shall be reborn for hundred lives as strangers but Kai Yichen will never be able to love Liu Quiaqio again! In your 999th life if you do not love each other then your souls will cease to exist! That is the price to pay for killing my daughter!" The female official roared.

Suddenly thunder erupted as if summoned and the man's face finally became clear. Kai Yichen looked mortified after the words came out of the female official's mouth, and his face twisted as if in great pain. He showed no emotion when he was tortured but the words of the female official alone were able to make him show such a scared expression. He looked as if he's lost everything.

Tears ran down his face as he lunged at the female officer. "You can't do this! I'll take any punishment but please!" He sobbed at the feet of the female official.

"That's how I felt when you killed my daughter," The female official responded apathetically.

"You can kill me! Please! But take back your curse!" Kai Yinchen begged as his forehead bled from the kowtowing. His voice almost hoarse from all the screaming.

"This is my curse, and you will live with it," The female officer said coldly before her body disappeared.

As soon as the female official disappeared the emperor let out a painful scream that resonated in every corner of the palace. The scream was the kind that speaks directly to the heart without going through the ears. The scream was the scream of someone who lost everything.