My Sin

Lost Cause

On the other side of the palace, the temperature seemed to be freezing cold even if it was late summer, with many trembling servants kneeling along with a delicate female, while the emperor sat on the higher chair with a dark face.

"Are you not ashamed of yourself as a mother?" The emperor asked with a cold voice. He could not believe that Noble Lady Shu would really go this far in spoiling their son. He was not the best father to the empress's kids before, but he was always there for his second son. And even after fixing his relationship with the empress and starting to get along with their kids he still tried his best with his second son as well.

So after visiting the newborns this morning, he went to meet the second prince at Taoran Pavillion without announcing it, but when got there he noticed that many servants were both scared and shocked, and both the mother and son who would normally be eating breakfast at this times was not a the table, and the table had plates of food on it, untouched.

He was immediately alert when he notices that the food was untouched since his second son was a huge glutton, and if he did skip a meal, or decided to be late to one it would never be breakfast. He immediately started waking in the inner chamber, and he heard low panicked voices.

"What are you guys still doing!? Hurry up and wipe him clean-" The voice stopped speaking the moment they saw him, and froze with a pale face. The emperor already had a bad premonition in his heart, but when he looked down and saw his second son, covered in blood his heart dropped.

"What happened to him?! Why is he covered in blood?! Let's go see the imperial physician now!" He said as he hurriedly grabbed his son, but when he was about to walk out from the back dorm he tripped on something, and when looked down, it was the bloody corpse, of a young girl of twelve or thirteen, covered in what seemed to be like whip marks.

His blood chilled and looked like his blood-covered son and the corpse. It didn't take a genius to know what happened, knowing the temper of his son. His gaze cooled as he put his son down and looked at the now pale Noble Lady Shu.

"Everybody in the greeting hall, now!" The emperor ordered as he went ahead. So now he was in the hall with the people but none of them wanted to speak.

"None of you want to speak? Do I take that as your agreement to die?" The emperor questioned coldly.

"No! your-" Noble Lady Shu tried to cry out.

"You shut up! Everybody can speak except for you! And no matter the outcome, I will make sure you are severely punished!" The emperor interrupted ruthlessly, scaring the maids further. A few moments of silence went by before a maid decided to speak. 

The maid who decided to speak was wearing a different color uniform from all the other maids. While the other maid wore a white and yellow uniform, she wore dark gray coarse clothes. Normally when a concubine is promoted to Noble Lady they are allowed to choose the color their maid will wear and they can change it every five years. This system was created so everything would be in order so it was surprising to see this maid wearing a very different color from the other maids.

"Your majesty, this lowly slave's name is Lanhua, and this lowly servant can tell his majesty what happened," Lanhua said before bowing deeply.

"Speak," The emperor answered.

"Normally when we wake up Second Prince, we use warm water to wipe him down no matter if it's summer or winter because he hates cold water on his skin. Today Mei was in charge of wiping the prince down, but she did not know of this and used cool water since she was new here. The prince flew into a rage and ordered someone to get a whip and whipped Mei mercilessly. Halfway through the beating, the mistress walked in and completely ignored the half-dead mei, and did not even try to stop the prince. It wasn't until Mei was dead did the prince stopped beating her, and it was only then did Noble Lady Shu got anxious and ordered the maids to get rid of the corpse and clean the prince." Lanhua reported, with a clear voice.

When Lanhua finished reporting what happened the room again became a few degrees colder, and Noble Lady Shu became paler. Not only was what the second prince did a crime, but the fact that he was only six made it even worse. The emperor looked at Noble Lady Shu coldly wanting to just strangle her on the spot. How could she turn a child into a murderer? And instead of making him realize his mistake she decided to condone it and even try to hide it. Was she trying to turn his son into a cold-blooded murderer? He was shocked when he walked in and saw his second son covered in blood, and after knowing that it was the blood of the girl he murdered, he observed his second son and saw that there was no regret or surprise in his eyes. It was as if this was done before.

"Lanhua, has this happened before?" The emperor questioned.

"Yes, your majesty. The Second Prince has violent tendencies and would take his anger out on maids if something went wrong in the slightest way, or he would blame his faults on servants. This was in total the fifth maid beaten to death by the second prince, and they were all similar in age to Mei." Lanhua responded, angering the emperor further.

"Is this what you've been teaching my son?" The emperor questioned Noble Lady Shu with a ruthless look in his eyes, and instantly Noble Lady Shu felt like cold water was poured on her. For the emperor to look at her with such a look meant that there were no leftover feelings. The realization that dawned upon her, made fear crawl into her heart.

"N-no your majesty, it's just that An'er has a hard time controlling his anger," Noble Lady Shu responded nervously, her voice trembling.

"And that gives him the right to kill?" The emperor asked in a mocking manner.

"Father, why are you being mean to Mother? It was a servant that died! How do those lowly animals compare to my mother and me?!" The second prince questioned angrily, his face showing no remorse when talking about the maids he killed. Noble Lady Shu hurriedly grabbed her son to shut him up seeing that the emperor's face became darker.

"Hear my decree! Noble Lady Shu is guilty of corrupting the second prince's mind and had also turned a blind eye to the abuse and murder of five maids. For that, Noble Lady Shu will be demoted from Noble Lady to Cairen of the first rank with the title Shi. Cairen Shi will be sent to Guo Temple and will stay there for two years to reflect on her doings." The emperor decreed coldly.

"Your majesty-" Before Cairen Shi could even plead two eunuchs moved forward and gagged her.

"Father!" It was only now that the second prince felt a sense of panic. 

"As for the second prince, you will go to the graves of the murdered and will kneel to them and as for forgiveness for an hour every single day until you finally know just how much pain you caused to them and their family. You will also be removed from the custody of your mother and will be living with Grand Princess Chyou Ai. It seems that life has been too good to you, so now you need some hardships." The emperor said before getting up and leaving the palace ignoring the pleading behind him. 

He trusted that his sister would be able to straighten up the boy. His sister had always been nagging about the second prince and was itching to correct him, and now he would not resist and would let her correct him because from what he saw today, his son was very close to being a lost cause.