"So she actually woke up yesterday afternoon, and the two of you shut yourselves in for a full day and night without thinking to inform us?"
Jiang Fang toyed with a teacup in her hand. Military Doctor Zhang stood behind her, holding a small knife used for preparing medicinal herbs, silently reinforcing her authority.
Old Jin and Zhu Ting stood like guardians on either side, looking down at Xie Yu and Shen Changyin, who sat at the table holding hands.
Fresh from a bath, her hair still damp, Xie Yu smiled at them.
She had slept for too long and grown thinner. Even her once healthy complexion had turned pale from lack of sunlight. She deliberately widened her amber-colored eyes.
Jiang Fang choked on her words.
She set down the teacup. "Since you've truly just recovered from a serious illness, I'll let it go this once."
She immediately abandoned her attempt to scold them. Zhu Ting and Old Jin widened their eyes.
"That's it? You're not going to reprimand them more?"
Jiang Fang waved a hand. "Forget it."
And just like that, the fierce delegation of condemnation dissolved.
"You're awake now. What will you do?" Jiang Fang asked. "The court and the capital are basically under our control."
Xie Yu paused. "Prepare a horse. I'll go to the palace this afternoon."
She looked at Shen Changyin.
Shen Changyin shook her head. "No need to bring me. I have nothing to say to her."
Over the long course of revenge, she had already learned not to question an enemy's motives.
Trying to understand an enemy was a form of excessive empathy. The most efficient revenge required only action.
So that afternoon, Xie Yu went alone to the palace.
The empress had been confined to her own bedchamber for a long time. When Xie Yu entered, she was practicing calligraphy.
She entered without a sound. No one dared announce her arrival.
She stood at the doorway to the study and watched for a long time. After the empress finished a sheet of writing and looked up, she finally noticed her.
The brush trembled in her hand. Ink splattered onto the paper, ruining the copied scripture.
"You're awake," the empress said, looking at her. "You've grown thinner."
"I was very worried. When a daughter is ill, the mother feels the pain…"
Xie Yu pulled out a chair, placed it in the center of the carpet, and sat down across the table from her.
"The maternal love explanation no longer works. You'll have to come up with a different story."
The empress paused. "I hate you. Your birth caused your mother a difficult labor and harmed her health. She was my beloved…"
"I hated you, so I…"
Xie Yu watched her calmly, her expression unchanged. When the empress sensed something was wrong and stopped, she spoke slowly:
"The tragic-love story about a farming mother and your miraculous romance has also collapsed. You can't build a narrative of love and hatred from that premise."
The empress fell silent, then stepped out from behind her desk, dragged another chair over, and sat facing Xie Yu.
"What if I say I was forced? That I gave birth to you unwillingly?"
Xie Yu shook her head.
The empress paused again. "I chose to give birth to you, but a priest said you were destined to be the true dragon empress, so I grew to hate you."
Xie Yu slowly shook her head once more.
The empress said nothing for a long while. Then she leaned back and laughed.
"I admit I can't fabricate another version of the story. But I carried you for ten months and endured the pain of childbirth. Will you forget the suffering of my flesh and blood?"
"Then I'll tell the story instead."
Xie Yu's tone was even.
"Three or four years after you ascended the throne, once your power was secure, you arranged a 'private tour' for yourself."
"You selected a young, healthy, physically strong guard and conceived a child with her. Afterward, you disposed of the guard and went south, where you carried the pregnancy to term and gave birth to a child who shared your bloodline most closely and possessed an excellent physique."
"You pursued immortality. You believed in dark arts. You thought that by repeatedly seizing the bodies of your own children, you could achieve eternal life."
"When that child grew up, and you grew old, you would transfer into her body."
"To cultivate that child's body—and to ensure a smoother life after taking it—you arranged, from birth, a fiancée whose birth chart was most compatible. That fiancée was Shen Liuzhen."
"You bore and raised the child in the south because the Shen family there was entirely under your control. When you previously lost the succession struggle, it was with the help of that southern Shen family that you reclaimed the throne."
"Later, when you brought the child back to the capital, court factions would not permit the empress to openly have a biological heir. So you killed everyone who had attended you in the south, leaving alive only the old priest who specialized in body-seizing rituals."
"After returning to the capital, you realized that in the Xie family, fighting for the throne had become a tradition passed down through generations. It's entirely possible that before this child even reached eighteen, she would be assassinated by other princesses who saw her as a threat."
"So you sent this child into the Cold Palace to keep her from drawing the attention of the various factions at court. Secretly, you assigned shadow guards to protect her."
"Later, when Shen Changyin launched her coup, on the night she forced her way into the palace, you were not flustered at all.
"You issued an imperial edict summoning the child named Xie Yu to see you. You planned to have the shadow guards send her to Jiangnan.
"That way, even if Shen Changyin stormed into the palace and killed you, you could seize the child's body, resurrect in Jiangnan—your stronghold—and make a comeback."
"But after your edict was delivered, the palace maids discovered that the child had disappeared. She had run away. So despite the military situation being extremely urgent, you still diverted a large number of people to search for her."
"What you didn't expect," Xie Yu looked at her quietly, "was that after escaping the palace, I would accidentally save Shen Changyin—and then be captured by her and taken to the Hall of Diligent Governance."
"You also didn't expect Shen Changyin to negotiate with you and demand a marriage alliance with me."
"You agreed very quickly, because a new plan formed in your mind."
"Once Shen Changyin and I were married, I would nominally have the right to inherit her power. That meant that when you seized my body, all of that power would become yours."
"So when Shen Changyin pushed me to become Crown Princess, you had no dissatisfaction. You didn't feel that your authority was being taken away, because in your heart, that power would eventually return to you."
"But Shen Liuzhen, whose birth chart was even more compatible with mine, was someone you could never forget.
"You believed that with such a wife, the body you would use in the future would be further nourished—that my fate would flourish."
"So after Shen Changyin and I were married and everything had settled, you summoned the Jiangnan navy and Shen Liuzhen to the capital."
"You didn't think there was anything wrong with that. You were the empress; you had three palaces and six courtyards. At that time I was already the Crown Princess, the future empress."
"You thought both Shen Changyin and I would calmly accept my marriage to Shen Liuzhen."
"But you didn't expect our resistance to be far more intense than you imagined. The two of us were capable of much more than you thought."
"You were placed under semi-house arrest in the palace for a time. That exceeded your expectations and made you feel things might spiral out of control. So you decided to seize my body as soon as possible."
"But the old Daoist priest who once helped you had already been killed by Shen Changyin in the Hall of Diligent Governance."
"The remaining Daoists weren't ones whose abilities you could trust one hundred percent, and you couldn't be sure whether they were being watched by Shen Changyin."
"So at that moment, you thought of the Second Princess, Xie Yi."
"From a young age, Xie Yi showed astonishing talent in Daoist arts. But you didn't like that—you felt she would threaten you. So when she was still very young, you flew into a rage over her studying Daoist techniques, to the point that after that, she never again showed in public that she believed in Daoism."
"But in secret, she continued refining pills and doing similar things."
"You remembered her and decided to strike a deal.
"At that time, we were already close to uncovering her. You helped her clean up the loose ends; she helped you redesign the entire body-seizing process."
"Compared to the old Daoist's plan—'capture me in the palace and bleed me inside a formation'—"
"The Second Princess's method was much simpler. You and I only needed to take a pill dissolved in wine at the same time and fall into a deep sleep."
"But the first attempt failed. It even enraged Shen Changyin, and she placed you and your daughters under control."
"With no other choice, you decided to try again. You activated a deeply buried pawn and forced the medicine down my throat once more."
"But you didn't expect that I would still wake up. That I would still be able to sit here and tell you that all your schemes have failed."
Xie Yu was unusually calm. "To tell you that your time of death is near."
The empress smiled faintly. "Won't you show me a little more mercy?"
Xie Yu replied, "Do you possess any mercy yourself?"
The empress, already nearly seventy, nodded—and unexpectedly showed a vivid expression. "You're right."
"Since we're discussing this, let's speak more openly. How did you come to know my entire plan?"
Xie Yu disliked playing word games with the dead, but she was too lazy to explain anything about past lives or dreams. "There's no need to inform you."
The empress answered for her. "You've experienced it once before, haven't you? While you were unconscious, where did your soul wander? In a dream? In that dream, did I seize your body again? Did I succeed?"
Xie Yu said, "You seem very confident in your speculation. What makes you think I was simply unconscious?"
The empress laughed. "The moment you walked in and I saw your eyes, I knew you had experienced something."
"Death?" She stared into Xie Yu's eyes. "Otherwise, how could they hide such exhaustion? Did you die once in that dream? Did I succeed in taking your body there?"
Xie Yu showed no reaction, but the empress paused. "Then it seems I didn't succeed."
"But it must have brought you great torment."
"Have you looked in a mirror? Your eyes are like a shattered Western mirror. Do you really think you're hiding it well?"
"Does Shen Changyin know? Probably not. You wouldn't tell her."
"How exhausting."
"Truly exhausting, Third Daughter. You suffered in your dream." She sounded sincere.
Xie Yu said, "Has anyone ever told you that when you pretend to have emotions, you don't seem human?"
The empress shook her head. "How could I be pretending?"
"When you were only a few months old, one day I suddenly ordered the palace maids to separate you from me. Do you know why?"
"Because I realized I had begun to care about you uncontrollably. My mind seemed to hold only you. Every movement you made could wake me."
"As your birth mother, I couldn't help loving you. That's why I had to separate you from me—to control my feelings."
"Third Daughter, don't you think I've suffered?"
Xie Yu watched her affected display, her gaze roaming over her face, savoring every performed detail. Then she suddenly smiled.
"I don't."
"If you took up opera, you'd starve. Your acting is terrible."
She said it sincerely. "I've already lost all expectations for your performance of motherly love. But I have another question for you."
The empress asked, "What is it?"
Xie Yu looked around the study—this place where every generation of the Xie family had to slaughter one another to claim the throne—then back at the empress. "Why are you so certain that body-seizing would succeed?"
Even a theist shouldn't have such absolute confidence in something like that.
Yet the empress had been obsessively convinced it would succeed, investing vast resources without hesitation.
The empress paused. "Ah, you still don't know."
She stood up, then stopped in place. "Could you have those little friends of yours outside the window stop aiming their arrows at me? I'm only going to retrieve something."
"They won't shoot casually. Go get it yourself."
The empress had no choice but to retrieve a thick journal from a hidden compartment in a bookshelf. She flipped to a certain page and handed it to Xie Yu.
Before taking it, Xie Yu instinctively glanced at the empress—and saw that her expression had begun to change.
The empress, who had remained calm even in confrontation, now had eyes gradually filling with fervor, anticipation, and madness.
"Take a look. Once you've read it, you'll understand me. You'll understand."
She urged her.
Only then did Xie Yu accept the book.
As she read, the empress summarized beside her, "Only after becoming empress can one read this journal. It records the deeds of our Xie ancestors. I'm sure you've noticed.
"Five times. They succeeded in seizing bodies five times."
Her tone grew more impassioned. "Although I failed this time, it's only because the Second Daughter wasn't skilled enough. I shouldn't have forbidden her from practicing Daoist arts in the first place."
With near grotesque fervor, she said to Xie Yu, "Now you understand, don't you? Mother truly doesn't hate you. Mother simply needs to live. I gave you life. I let you live eighteen years. Can't you repay me even a little?"
Xie Yu ignored her completely, quietly reading the five recorded cases of body-seizing, focusing especially on the entries before and after the first one.
Then she lifted her head and looked at the empress.
This woman—her nominal mother—had eyes so bright they scarcely seemed to belong to someone nearly seventy, but rather to a young person brimming with fighting spirit.
"Third Daughter, you don't know how bitter it was back then. When I fought for the throne, my sisters were far more ruthless than yours. Do you know how many bones of mine were broken? I practically crawled my way to Jiangnan."
"I endured so much suffering. After finally reclaiming this throne, should I only enjoy it for a few decades? No. I must extend it. I must enjoy it for hundreds of years to be worthy of my suffering."
She muttered feverishly, constantly justifying her position, convincing herself she was right, that she was understandable.
Xie Yu looked at her and finally understood.
After reclaiming the throne, the empress was no longer living for herself.
In Western mythology, when a greedy dragon that hoards treasure is slain by a hero, the hero sees the dragon's mountains of gold and silver, climbs atop the treasure pile—and slowly becomes a dragon too, simply to possess it.
That is the power of treasure. Sometimes you think you are wielding wealth and power, but in truth, you are merely the parasite chosen by them, their executor.
The imperial throne also possesses this kind of power.
Some empresses are tyrants; they use the throne to indulge in the measurable pleasures it brings—beauty, splendid garments, the adoration of the masses.
But some empresses desire only the throne itself. They want nothing more than to sit in that position for as long as possible—not to use it, but simply to possess it.
Her so-called mother had already become a dragon controlled by the throne, a beast that had lost her own thoughts.
In order to possess that throne for longer, she chose to pursue immortality.
From the moment she ascended it, her life had been reduced to a single pillar—how to remain an empress for as long as possible.
Xie Yu suddenly smiled at her—sincere, understanding, even forgiving.
She had grown thinner from her long unconsciousness and no longer looked as healthy as before. She was not as sharp-edged as she once had been. When she smiled now, she even resembled a goddess who saves all living beings, almost compassionate.
Even the fanatical empress froze for a moment. She did not understand why the protagonist was smiling.
The next second, she heard Xie Yu say gently:
"You've misunderstood all along. Body-seizing has never worked."
Pointing at the account written before and after the first supposed body-seizing, Xie Yu smiled. "This cannot have been written by the same person. There are two different ways of thinking here."
"Impossible! The body-seizing succeeded! Her soul transferred into her daughter's body!" The empress snatched up the book in agitation, denying it resolutely.
Xie Yu shook her head. "Handwriting can be imitated. But the empress after the body-seizing—her wording, her sentence structure, her habits of expression—are different from the previous one. Or rather, different from her mother."
The empress silently compared the entries, as if she had suddenly noticed the elephant long ignored in the room. Her face grew redder and redder, sweat beading on her forehead. Yet she still muttered, "Impossible… impossible…"
Her entire reign had revolved around planning this. She could not possibly have staked over twenty years of preparation on a mistake. This was her spiritual pillar.
Xie Yu dismantled that pillar with ease.
"Do you know what the truth is?"
"During the first body-seizing, the daughter woke up to find herself surrounded by her mother's subordinates, while her mother was still unconscious."
"So she immediately decided to pretend. She impersonated her mother in front of her mother's subordinates—pretended the body-seizing had succeeded, pretended her soul was now her mother's soul."
"Then before her mother woke up, she killed her mother's physical body."
"She too was a princess raised by her mother, with no independent power. So she had to pretend to be her mother in order to gain her mother's subordinates' support and truly become empress."
"She even continued pretending to be her mother in this journal."
"And so this story of body-seizing was passed down.
"Every subsequent empress who sought immortality reenacted this story with her daughters—and each daughter tacitly chose to pretend to be her mother."
Xie Yu smiled. "Do you know what's most amusing? An empress can have many daughters. Even if a daughter isn't born directly from her womb, she still carries her bloodline and can be used. So she can attempt body-seizing many times."
"If the first attempt fails and the daughter wakes up still herself, still in her own body, she can attempt a second time—or choose another daughter and try again."
"Until the daughter finally understands what she is supposed to do—"
The empress's spirit seemed completely drained. With each word Xie Yu spoke, her body slumped further, her face paled more. Now she sat collapsed in her chair.
Murmuring, she finished the sentence herself:
"Until the daughter learns to pretend to be the mother…"
Xie Yu smiled. "Very clever."
"Until the daughter learns to pretend to be the mother—and kills the mother."
When she finished speaking, the empress's mind shattered completely. She lowered her head, her body trembling, silent for a long time—then suddenly burst into manic laughter.
"Hahahahahahaha—!"
"Ahahahahaha—!"
She laughed so violently it tore at her chest, tears spilling from the corners of her eyes. "It was all fake! All fake!"
The schemes she had maintained for more than twenty years were nothing but a farce. All her cruelty, her poison, her meticulousness—built upon a fragile bubble, a ridiculous lie.
Xie Yu watched her cry and laugh as if possessed, trembling intermittently.
She sat calmly in her chair and remarked, "Tsk. You still have to believe in science."
She had prepared quite a few things for the empress, but she wasn't in a hurry to use them all today.
She rose and instructed the guards to keep watch over the empress.
Then she went to see the Second Princess.
The Second Princess was also confined in a solitary room.
The empress was already over sixty—undeniably elderly in ancient times. Shen Changyin feared she might die after a single severe punishment, so she had not tortured her.
But she had far fewer reservations about the Second Princess, who was in her prime.
When Xie Yu entered that room, she smelled a heavy scent of blood mixed with medicine—Shen Changyin had naturally ordered treatment, to prevent her from dying before saying anything.
The Second Princess sat on a cold wooden plank bed, hair disheveled, head lowered.
Xie Yu's arrival brought a little sunlight into the small cell. The princess lifted her head, saw it was Xie Yu, and smiled. "You're awake."
Strictly speaking, Xie Yu did not have deep personal grievances with the Second Princess. The Second Princess had harmed Shen Changyin more.
And Shen Changyin had her own complete plan for revenge. Xie Yu had no intention of overstepping—she knew her wife needed revenge, needed to complete it before she could truly move forward.
So she merely sat down gently in front of the Second Princess, intending to talk.
The other princesses were already dead. The empress had been driven half-mad by her, and she was an expert liar.
Aside from the Second Princess, there seemed to be no one left with whom she could speak about this mad Xie family.
"Did you go see Mother empress?" the Second Princess, Xie Yi, asked.
Xie Yu nodded and briefly recounted what had just happened.
The Second Princess also found it absurd and couldn't help covering her face, laughing and crying at once.
"My mother—the mother I admired my whole life—was just a joke."
Her blow was far lighter than the empress's, so she calmed quickly.
Then she asked Xie Yu, "That dream you had—what exactly was it?"
Xie Yu answered honestly, "A previous life. Not reincarnation—but…"
Before she could finish, the Second Princess nodded. She understood.
She had always loved wearing red; her beauty once sharp and striking. Now her face was haggard, yet she still retained a strong spirit. Tilting her head, she looked at Xie Yu.
"Are you truly my Third Sister?"
Xie Yu paused, then admitted plainly, "You can understand it as a soul from a thousand years later occupying your sister's body."
But the Second Princess shook her head. "No. You are my Third Sister."
She smiled. "You think body-seizing has no effect. You think there is no such thing as manipulating souls. I don't think so."
This gifted Daoist had long studied everything the empress had done to Xie Yu's body.
She had formed her own theory.
"Did you know? Before the age of ten, my Third Sister was very clever. Though Mother Empress raised her in the Cold Palace, she was clever—always sneaking out to play with me."
"But at ten, she suddenly fell gravely ill. After she woke up, she was no longer that clever, lively Third Sister. It was as if she had lost her soul—slow to react, unable to do anything, without emotion."
"So I began to dislike her as a playmate. Until Shen Changyin launched her coup—that was when I suddenly realized the clever Third Sister had returned."
"Only a few days ago did I learn that the old Daoist Mother empress kept performing a ritual on her when she was ten, loosening the connection between her soul and her body, to facilitate future body-seizing."
The Second Princess had already constructed her theory. "That ritual was effective."
"My Third Sister's soul loosened. A thousand years later, it attached to a child—but lost its memories, believing itself to be someone from that era."
"But her soul was always meant to drift. One day, it drifted back. She can even move between past and present."
Xie Yi stared at Xie Yu intensely. "You are my Third Sister."
"There aren't that many coincidences in this world. You are not someone from a thousand years later. You are my sister."
Xie Yu was silent for a moment, then stood and shook her head.
"I don't believe this theory."
She turned to leave, but Xie Yi's voice came from behind. "Aren't you going to torture me? You don't come often."
Xie Yu turned back. "You're being kept for Shen Changyin."
Xie Yi gave a mocking smile. "Your relationship is quite good."
Still unwilling, she pressed, "Why not say you've gone soft on me?"
Xie Yu looked at her. "I don't consider you my sister."
She left, ignoring the hoarse shout behind her—"You are my Third Sister!"
—
The next day, the empress's emotions had stabilized somewhat.
Xie Yu went to see her again.
"Have you accepted reality? Then we can move to the next step."
Xie Yu smiled and opened her palm. Inside were two dice.
"You've been an empress for so long. You've controlled others for so long. Let's play a reverse game."
"Each day we roll the dice three times. If the total is three to seven, we play something that draws blood—needle punishments, whipping, things like that. Shen Changyin is good at those. If it's eight to twelve, we play something that doesn't draw blood. That's more my specialty."
She smiled. "This can also be called enhanced interrogation. The core principle is that you will experience extreme pain during the punishment, but the aftereffects are relatively minor."
"For example, water torture. You're familiar with that—constantly forcing someone to feel the agony of drowning."
"But I also have some newer ideas, like simulated burial. Don't think I'm cruel, all right? Compared to actual death, this is already far more humane."
"However, I'm a kind person. I'll give you an exit—if we roll a two, I'll exempt you from one punishment."
"So, are you ready for the first throw?"
She shook the two dice in her hand.
For the first time ever, true terror appeared on the empress' face.
She stared at the dice in despair, finally realizing that her words could no longer help her delay or escape punishment.
For someone who had manipulated others' fates her entire life, what was more painful than any specific torture was having her own fate controlled by two tiny dice.
More devastating than inescapable pain was the hope—if it lands on two, you're spared. That fragile hope would be the thing that truly destroyed her mind.
Xie Yu had once read the testimony of a prisoner-of-war camp survivor. She had been the only soldier to survive the entire camp.
When people asked her what allowed her to survive, she said:
"Because I never hoped. The other soldiers hoped every day that someone would come rescue them, so every day they experienced the crushing of that hope."
"They didn't die from torture or illness. They died from heartbreak."
Smiling, Xie Yu made a show of throwing the dice. "I'll try my best to roll a two for you."
Under the empress gaze—mixed with fear and desperate anticipation—she tossed them lightly.
The dice landed in her palm.
Five.
The empress face went deathly pale, large beads of sweat rolling down her forehead.
"Ah, it's five." Xie Yu shook her head regretfully. "Then we'll have to invite Shen Changyin."
She told the empress, "See you in four hours. I'll remember to bring the dice."
She walked out. As she opened the door, Shen Changyin was standing outside.
They brushed past one another. Shen Changyin carried a heavy little box into the study.
The door closed.
Xie Yu walked to the sunniest spot in the courtyard and lay down on the grass.
She let the sunlight cover her entire body.
She waited for the warmth to slowly seep into her bones.
The wailing, the pain, the begging.
Half an hour later, Shen Changyin emerged from the study, impeccably dressed, and stood beside her.
Xie Yu looked up at her. "Effective, wasn't it?"
"See? I can be cruel."
Justice, kindness—those had simply been choices she once made.
Now she realized that the reckless version of herself who clung to justice and kindness no longer existed.
Shen Changyin forcibly pulled her up from the ground.
"Don't overthink."
She told Xie Yu, "I learned revenge earlier than you did. What I want to tell you is—don't overthink it. Don't question your own justice."
"Empathizing with your enemy is a crime against yourself."
She hugged Xie Yu, pressing her head against her shoulder, and whispered:
"Even if it truly is cruel, it doesn't matter. I'm your accomplice. I'll always stay with you."
—
Half a month later.
The Second Princess died under torture.
The empress died from torture and heartbreak. After each punishment she received the highest level of medical care—her body could still endure—but she often woke screaming from nightmares at night.
On the fifteenth night, after touching a pair of dice Xie Yu had deliberately left in her study, she died of terror.
Old Jin heard about it and was still indignant, muttering that fifteen days of suffering was too light a punishment for them.
Several of them sat in the courtyard of Xie Yu's manor. Old Jin ate milk curd pastries while grumbling curses.
Xie Yu and Shen Changyin, however, were calm.
They exchanged a glance. Both knew fifteen days were enough. If it continued any longer, they themselves would suffer mentally.
Reliving hatred again and again was not a pleasant experience.
Now that all hatred had passed, they should look forward. What lay ahead was a new beginning.
And yet—
Xie Yu watched Shen Changyin grow thinner by the day, watched the nearly untouched bowl of milk curd in front of her, and felt increasingly anxious.
She realized that Shen Changyin had begun to stop eating.
—
T/N: Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you all know—I'm not sure if any of you have noticed—but lately I've been updating later than usual. I've been focusing on my studies since I have a ton of exams this coming week. I have tests every day except Tuesday, so I wanted to warn you guys that updates might be irregular. I wanted to apologize in advance for that!
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