The two maids at Gao Zhao Yue's side were unfazed. They quietly retreated beyond the gauze curtain to wait.
She patted his head. "Have you come to Mother for comfort?"
Yu Wen Tiancheng closed his weary eyes and nodded.
Gao Zhao Yue sensed that his mood was off. "The man who died was your father, after all," she said. "No matter how cruel and depraved he was, he still held some affection for you and the late Empress."
She asked softly, "What is it? Do you regret it?"
Yu Wen Tiancheng opened his eyes, and ripples of emotion disturbed their once placid, numb depths.
"I do have regrets."
Gao Zhao Yue's expression immediately turned stern. She frowned and said, "Tiancheng, you promised me—"
Their relationship was more than a mere transaction, entangled with other, more complicated feelings. But having killed Yu Wen Shuo and seized power in Xijin, their next step was still to seek vengeance against Emperor Beili for Yu Wen Tianqing's death.
