Chapter 71: The Old Prince Next Door 24

Prince Chen was well aware of the Empress’s actions. In fact, he was not the only one; the Emperor and the Empress Dowager knew as well.

In Fengqi Palace, the Empress Dowager and her son, the Emperor, were currently discussing this very matter.

“The Empress is far too selfish. Teaching the child this way will ruin him. Prince Chen and his wife harbor no ill will toward the First Prince; they raised him as a junior, hoping only to restore his health. Yet, the Empress shows no gratitude. Instead, she has developed a grudge against them. If I were to pass away one day, would she even dare to raise a hand against Prince Chen and his wife?” The Empress Dowager truly disliked the Empress.

She was too obsessed with power.

As the Empress, one was not expected to be perfectly poised and grave at all times, but at the very least, one should know right from wrong.

They had saved her son’s life, yet she turned her back on them without a hint of feeling, even plotting against them. What kind of mindset was that? What kind of behavior? What logic was she following?

What was the Empress Dowager implying?

She was telling the Emperor that he needed to have a serious talk with his Empress. She was the Empress, the Mother of the Nation¹; even if she had to fake it, she needed to appear magnanimous. She could not wear all her schemes on her face. It was too foolish. Did she really think everyone else was an idiot and she was the only clever one?

The Emperor nodded to show he understood, and that very night, he went to see the Empress.

“Do you think you are the only clever person in the world? By now, who doesn’t know you are an ungrateful ingrate? You are the Mother of the Nation, the Empress of a country. Even a woman from an ordinary commoner’s family knows to repay kindness. And you? Uncle Prince Chen saved the First Prince’s life, yet instead of being grateful, you hate him? When did you become like this? Or has this always been your true nature?” The Emperor went straight for the throat, completely trampling over the Empress’s dignity.

No one likes having their flaws exposed, let alone the Empress, who already had issues.

She reacted like a wild cat that had its tail stepped on, baring her teeth.

“He saved the First Prince? Who said that? What miraculous elixir did he give the First Prince? Who saw it? Bring them forward so I can see. The First Prince clearly recovered on his own. What does it have to do with Prince Chen? Don’t attribute everything to good fortune. Prince Chen just happened to be there when the boy got better on his own. I do not accept the claim that the First Prince recovered because of Prince Chen’s blessing. But what has Prince Chen done? He is driving a wedge between me and my son. Should I not hate him? It wouldn’t be too much even if I killed him.” The Empress had wanted to say these words for a long time. She had been under immense pressure since marrying into the palace, living every day in fear for twenty years.

Ever since the First Prince fell ill, the Empress’s mental state had actually become unstable.

She spent her days in constant fear, terrified that if her son died, she would have nothing to look forward to. She feared that if her son died, the power over the inner palace would fall to someone else. She feared that if her son died, she would be reduced to a puppet Empress, a mere decoration. She was so terrified of these things that she had become neurotic; in truth, she had long since ceased to be normal.

Now that her son had recovered, the Empress’s entire body relaxed, only for her to realize that her state of mind had become warped. It was like the hysteria² recorded in medical books. The Empress was terrified of having hysteria, and she was equally terrified of others knowing she was unstable.

She had been constantly afraid that some provocation would cause her to lose her mask, so she had been avoiding the Empress Dowager and the Emperor lately.

Having been married into the royal family for so many years, the Empress knew better than anyone that when members of the royal family spoke, they might show some restraint before court officials, but when facing a woman of the inner palace like her, they always spoke their minds without filter.

Yes, it sounded nice in theory, as if they weren’t putting on an act in front of her and were showing their true selves. But as a daughter-in-law and a wife, who would want to see the “true selves” of these two people?

The Empress would have preferred the Emperor and the Empress Dowager to treat her like the other concubines, keeping a distance and thinking thrice before speaking. That way, she wouldn’t have to be constantly angry, suppressing her grievances until she became the mess she was today.

Today, everything had gone to ruin. she hadn’t managed to hide, and the Emperor had come to warn her again. In a burst of emotion, she had blurted out everything in her heart.

After speaking, the Empress felt her heart clear and her body light, but in return, she received the Emperor’s dark, somber face.

The Emperor’s expression was more than just dark; at that moment, the eyes he turned on the Empress were as calm and cold as if he were looking at a dead person.

With a thud, the Empress fell to her knees, prostrating herself on the ground. “Your Majesty, I was having a fit of hysteria. Ever since the First Prince fell ill, my mind has not been working properly. Your Majesty, I was afraid the First Prince…”

“Silence! Do not mention the First Prince to me, and stop using him as an excuse. You truly are hysterical and muddled. You actually want to kill someone of royal blood? Li, tell me, what exactly are you trying to do? First you kill Prince Chen, then who is next? Is it me? And then, after all my sons are dead and gone, will your father be able to ascend the throne?” The Emperor’s first reaction to the Empress’s honest words was that her family wanted to rebel.

Otherwise, why would she think of killing members of the royal family?

The couple parted on bad terms, and immediately following this, news that the Empress was ill spread throughout the inner palace and the court.

Upon hearing the news, the First Prince hurried back to the palace.

As soon as he arrived, his mother grabbed his arm and said, “Your father wants to kill me. My son, you must save your mother.”

The Empress’s words terrified the First Prince, though he did not turn and run. Instead, he looked at his mother’s trusted head maid.

The maid looked at his mother with eyes full of heartache, but she did not confirm his mother’s words. Did that mean his mother had truly gone mad?

The First Prince wept. His mother had been fine; how could she have gone mad?

After the trusted maid fed the Empress a calming decoction and saw her to sleep, she spoke to the First Prince. “Since Your Highness was bedridden at the end of last year, the Empress has been suffering from hysteria. Your Highness, Her Majesty is truly ill; no one has framed her. In truth, since the day she married into the palace, Her Majesty has never had a single night of peaceful sleep. She has lived every day in terror. By day, Her Majesty is poised and capable, the most efficient Empress. By night, she is but a young girl who loves to cry. For twenty years, it has been like this every single day.”

The maid was not lying. She was the maid who had accompanied the Empress from her home; she had stayed by her side all this time and knew best that the Empress had been ill for a long while.

The First Prince was heartbroken. He went to the Imperial Study to see his father and cried once more.

The Emperor only felt that his son was pitiable. First, he had nearly lost his life, and now that he had survived, his mother had turned out like this.

“Do not worry too much about your mother. The imperial physicians will care for her diligently. Go back to the Prince Chen Estate and focus on recovering your health before worrying about anything else. You are an imperial prince; you should know what your most important priority is right now.” The Emperor sent the eldest prince out of the palace that very day.

The eldest prince ended up living at the Prince Chen Estate for ten years.

When the eldest prince reached the age of twenty and held his capping ceremony³, he was also formally invested as the Crown Prince.

Once he was the Crown Prince, it was only natural for him to move back to the Eastern Palace⁴ to live. From that point on, he would participate in court affairs and learn how to handle government business.

Prince Chen and Su Huandan’s son was now ten years old. His greatest passion was martial arts and weaponry. Despite his young age, his martial skills were already quite impressive.

Upon hearing that the Crown Prince was moving back to the Eastern Palace, the boy was unhappy and insisted on following him there to live.

This turn of events made the old Empress Dowager incredibly happy.

Translator’s Notes