~ 𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑺𝑶𝑶𝑵 - In the heart of an ancient Chinese dynasty, a young emperor reigns with wisdom beyond his years but carries a heart heavy with unresolved grief. Years ago, he lost his beloved under mysterious circumstances, a loss that has...
Two days had passed since the shocking events in the council chamber, and the initial shock of Mei's revelations through Lian had given way to a deeper, more suffocating despair. The truth about my mother's actions, her intent to murder my father, and the heartbreaking revelation that Mei had been pregnant with my child weighed heavily on my soul. For the first time in a long while, I felt completely overwhelmed, as if the walls of the palace itself were closing in on me. The dark corridors of my mind were haunted by images of what might have been—of a life with Mei and a child who would never be.
In my anguish, I found myself retreating from everyone, even Lian, who had become not just a confidant but a pillar of support in recent times. He, ever patient and understanding, tried to reach out. He brought food to my door, knocked softly, calling my name with a concern that was both genuine and persistent. But I couldn't bear to face him or anyone else. My grief was a private torment, a chasm that seemed to widen with every attempt from Lian to bridge it.
Locked away in my chambers, I spent hours staring blankly at the walls, lost in a tumult of emotions. The weight of my responsibilities as Emperor clashed brutally with my personal grief. How was I to lead a kingdom when the foundations of my own life had crumbled so spectacularly? The betrayal of my mother, once a figure of regal strength and guidance, now tainted every memory of my childhood and every principle I had learned at her knee.
As day bled into night, and then back into day, the silence of my self-imposed solitude was punctuated only by Lian's quiet attempts to connect. His voice through the door was a lifeline I wasn't yet ready to grasp, a reminder of the world waiting outside my grief.
"Xianzong, please, let's talk when you're ready. You're not alone in this," Lian would say, his voice a soft echo in the cold, marbled expanses of my quarters.
Hearing Lian's voice outside my door, a quiet yet persistent reminder that I was not alone in this dark time, unexpectedly brought tears to my eyes. My gaze drifted across the room to a painting that Lian mother had once done of me and her, a vibrant depiction of happier times that now seemed like a cruel mockery of the present. The pain of betrayal and loss hit me harder than ever, each memory tainted by the recent revelations.
