E - T - T

Chapter Seventy-Eight: The Empress Dowager's Thoughts

After the First Moon Festival, the people in Jing slowly came out of the shadow of Rui He Fuma's and the Crown Prince's death. For the common people, it was not important to them who lived or died, but if their peace would be disturbed.

The Emperor's decree of posthumously titling the Crown Prince was not announced in the end because the Crown Prince had been without virtue in life, and without talent. He could not be elevated beyond protocol by his father. Unless the unborn imperial grandson could win the argument against the officials in the future, this Crown Prince might never be titled an emperor.

The Crown Prince's body was left in Zhu Que Palace for a whole thirty days. The Taoists from all major monasteries came to perform ceremonies for the Crown Prince. In the end, the Crown Prince was buried with the title "Cheng."[i] Many people felt it was a waste to give this character to the Crown Prince. However, the person was dead, and the Emperor had taken a step back, so they did not fight with the Emperor about this title.

Not long after the Crown Prince was buried, the Emperor started to become interested in the inner palace again. He even had thoughts of expanding the inner palace, but after mentioning it, he ended the thought. The officials who had daughters sighed in relief.

Though some people were curious why the Emperor had changed ideas in the span of a night, no one would pick up the topic. Since the Emperor did not mention it again, they would pretend they hadn't heard anything at all.

The Crown Princess sat silently by the window. She looked with slight irritation at the servant women around her who had serious expressions, "You can all leave; I want to be alone."

"Please, Crown Princess, forgive us. This servant has been ordered to protect you—please understand." The leader among the servant women was careful in her attitude and respectful in her tone, but she did not move.

"The Emperor has assigned you to protect bengong, not to supervise bengong." The Crown Princess felt her anger rise and threw her bowl of nourishing soup to the ground. Watching as the fine white porcelain shattered, she felt pleasure. "Get out!"

The servant women all saw her emotions were unstable. They were afraid that her anger would harm the child inside her belly, so they hurriedly picked up the pieces of porcelain and then left.

After the room full of people left, the Crown Princess covered her face and started to cry. She thought of the time when she and the Crown Prince had just married, thought of how the Crown Prince had sunk into lust, thought of how joyful he had been when he had come out of the Heavenly Prison and learned that she was pregnant.

The Crown Prince knew that his body was slightly weak due to overexertion and it was difficult for him to make women pregnant. That was why he was so happy when he learned she was pregnant.

But only she knew that the child in her belly had nothing to do with the Crown Prince. She lightly caressed her slightly protruding belly. She could not forget how the Empress had looked at her when they had sent the Crown Prince off at his burial.

She understood that the Empress definitely knew that the child in her belly was not the Crown Prince's but she could do nothing now. No matter if it was the Crown Prince's or the Emperor's, what she could do was endure until the moment when her child would be born.

But how did she end up like this? If she had not married into the Imperial Family to start with, how could she have encountered such a terrible matter, or become widowed at such a young age?

She, more than almost everyone, hoped that her child was female. Only that would guarantee that this child could safely grow up when there were too many eyes on this child in her belly, so many that she was afraid.