Her Majesty Chose Violence, They Chose Her

Chapter 24: Chapter 24: She Has to Endure the Agony Wide Awake?

Xiao Yang was truly desperate. As long as the pain stopped, she didn’t care if she lived or died.

Rong Yin and Han Yang stood guard, terrified someone might make a move on the Emperor and actually kill her.

But somehow, the news reached the Empress Dowager, who rushed over with her entourage, ready to hold the Emperor to account.

When Prince Jing received the news, he thought the opportune moment the Emperor had arranged for him had arrived, so he immediately led his men into the palace.

Xiao Lv also rushed over in a hurry, and that’s how the situation devolved into this.

Every passing moment of agony made Xiao Yang wish for death. And just then, Doctor Han twisted the knife: "This humble official had no choice but to withdraw the acupuncture treatment. It cannot be administered again for a hundred days."

’So for the rest of the day, I have to just endure this agony raw?’

Xiao Yang suddenly burst into manic laughter. "Ha? Hahaha... So, I could have slept peacefully until tomorrow, but you all just had to wake me up, just had to force me to endure half a day of this agony..."

"You want to torture me to death while I’m wide awake..."

Everyone was speechless. ’...No, that wasn’t our intention. Who could have predicted such a colossal screw-up?’

"Hahaha..."

Xiao Yang roared with laughter, the shaking of her chest aggravating the pain, and her eyes slowly reddened with blood.

She tilted her head, her gaze falling on the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager knew Xiao Yang wasn’t dead, but the earlier scare had been genuine. Now, her face was ashen, her eyes vacant and numb.

A smirk played on Xiao Yang’s lips. "Empress Dowager, I’m not dead. Are you terribly disappointed? But don’t you worry. Soon you’ll get to watch me be tortured to death with your own eyes..."

Even then, Duke Rong didn’t forget to defend the Empress Dowager. "Xiao Jin, cease this baseless talk! The Empress Dowager is your birth mother."

Xiao Yang sneered. "She is my mother, yes. But first and foremost, she is a daughter of your Chen Family, and the incomparably noble Empress Dowager."

BANG!

The great doors were thrown open, and a tall, armored figure strode in, saber in hand.

He carried the ferocious, blood-soaked aura of a demon who had just strode through a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. An air of countless kills hung about him, and blood dripped steadily from his long saber.

A single glance was enough to strike terror into the hearts of all who saw him.

As he strode forward, the officials on either side automatically parted, clearing a wide path for him.

Finally, Li Wei reached the center of the room and knelt on one knee. "Reporting to Your Majesty, I have fulfilled my duty. All conspirators have been put to death."

Li Wei had led the men of the Military Department to kill all the Imperial Guards and members of the Imperial Guard loyal to the Empress Dowager.

Though Li Wei didn’t specify who he had killed, how could the Empress Dowager and Duke Rong not know?

The Empress Dowager, who had just been scared out of her wits, was now jolted back to her senses by pure rage.

She stared at the Little Emperor in disbelief, her fury uncontrollable. "This was all your plan? You deliberately led me into a trap?!"

This display of a thief crying foul made Xiao Yang too weary to waste any more words on her.

"The Empress Dowager is my birth mother, after all. Men, escort the Empress Dowager back to Cian Palace. See that she rests well."

"Duke Rong and Uncle Zhongxing, Liu Zhongwen, incited the Empress Dowager to plot my murder. Strip them of their titles, reduce them to commoners, and seize their assets!"

Duke Rong and Liu Zhongwen panicked. "Your Majesty, you cannot do this to us!" Duke Rong roared. "I am your own grandfather!"

"The title of Duke Rong was bestowed by Emperor Taizhong himself! How dare you revoke it on a whim?"

Seeing them posturing as if they were about to curse her to her face, Xiao Yang sneered. "Li Wei, kill them."

"Your Majesty, reconsider!"

Prince Jing and the others immediately dropped to their knees. The Little Emperor’s order to kill had been far too casual, and they reflexively tried to dissuade her.

Xiao Yang shot back, "What, am I not permitted to have them killed?"

She glared at the two furious men. "So what if your titles were granted by Emperor Taizhong? Even if they were granted by the Grand Ancestor Emperor himself, as long as I draw breath, I have the right to revoke them."

She shot a glance at Li Wei, then reached under her pillow and pulled out the Emperor’s Sword.

Li Wei might not dare to kill them, but she had no such hesitation.

Xiao Yang was in so much pain she could barely stand steady, but the killing intent radiating from her hadn’t diminished in the slightest.

Snapping back to reality, the Empress Dowager threw herself in front of the two men, her voice a furious shriek. "If you want to kill them, you’ll have to kill me first!"

Xiao Yang faltered, using the sword as a crutch to stay upright. A trace of desolate sorrow filled her eyes as she looked at the Empress Dowager.

"For the sake of power, you ruined Xiao Jin’s life. To keep your puppet obedient, you constantly flogged, tormented, and abused her, even going so far as to murder your own child."

"You never showed a shred of warmth to the child you carried for ten months. You couldn’t allow her to threaten your power as Empress Dowager, yet you’re willing to lay down your life for your maiden family."

"In the end, your name is Chen, and mine is Xiao. We were never family."

Seeing her like this, the Empress Dowager felt a sudden, inexplicable pang in her chest.

"No... I never wanted to kill you. That drug...it wouldn’t have been fatal..."

Xiao Yang closed her eyes. ’Even now, her explanation is just an attempt to excuse herself.’

"Li Wei, you will personally lead the raid on the Chen and Liu estates. Their ill-gotten wealth need not enter the National Treasury. Use it for military provisions, to be distributed at your discretion."

"Prince Jing will temporarily assume the post of Minister of Revenue."

"I... don’t know if I will live to see tomorrow. If I am to die, the throne shall pass to my cousin, Xiao Lv."

Xiao Yang forced out her last words. The Emperor’s Sword clattered to the floor, and she crumpled in agony.

Rong Yin’s eyes had never left her. He shot out an arm, catching her just before she hit the ground, and carried her back to the bed.

"All of you, out," Rong Yin said. "Do not linger here and vex Her Majesty."

Everyone filed out. Soldiers from the Military Department now stood guard in neat rows; the Imperial Guards were nowhere in sight.

There were no bodies inside, but the corpses littering the corridors and the rainwater-streaked blood proved a fierce battle had just occurred. The air was thick with the stench of blood.

"I never wanted to kill her..."

The Empress Dowager mumbled distractedly as she was helped out of the hall.

The faces of Duke Rong and Liu Zhongwen were ashen, and the other officials looked no better.

The Emperor wasn’t dead yet, but she still might be.

The only silver lining was that the Emperor had personally named her successor, leaving them nothing to fight over.

As for Prince Jing, he had been the one everyone originally supported. Now that the Little Emperor was passing the throne to his son, no one knew what he was thinking.

What could Prince Jing be thinking? His head was simply pounding. ’I really shouldn’t have gotten involved,’ he thought. ’The Little Emperor is pushing me into the abyss one step at a time.’

He didn’t know if the Little Emperor would survive the night, but now he feared that he and his son might not.

Without a word, Li Wei took his men to carry out the raids.

He recalled the day the Little Emperor had suddenly frowned and said, as if joking, "I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"

When they didn’t answer, she continued on her own.

"The bad news is, I think I’ve been poisoned."

Li Wei and Xiao Lv were shocked and moved to call for an Imperial Physician, but the Little Emperor stopped them. "You haven’t heard the good news yet."

"The good news is, I have a way to get military funding for the soldiers at the border."

The Little Emperor’s plan was to use the Chen and Liu families to fill that massive deficit. It didn’t take a genius to know the amount they had embezzled was astronomical.

The Little Emperor’s original plan hadn’t been for today. She had intended for them to use criminal evidence to nail the two families, while she would issue the decrees, suppress both houses, and confront the Empress Dowager directly.

But today, as the Little Emperor was having Han Yang administer the acupuncture, she had suddenly sent word to him: the plan had changed. He was to protect the sovereign.

Now, the Little Emperor had fulfilled her promise, giving him the chance to raid the two families. But he couldn’t forget the look she had given him just now.

’It was disappointment, wasn’t it?’

She had given the order, but he had hesitated.