Her Majesty Chose Violence, They Chose Her

Chapter 8: Chapter 8: If Only She Were Beaten to Death...

"Your Majesty, Grand Tutor Xu has arrived."

Xiao Yang emerged from her bath to find an unfamiliar face standing before her. He wore the uniform of an Imperial Eunuch, but was unexpectedly young and handsome, looking no older than thirty.

’Looks like a new eunuch sent by the Empress Dowager,’ she thought.

Seeing the Emperor’s scrutinizing gaze fall upon him, he dropped to his knees. "This servant, Bi Fang, greets Your Majesty. From this day forward, I will be attending to Your Majesty."

His voice wasn’t high-pitched and strange like a typical eunuch’s, but rather the low, deep tone of a normal man.

His bearing wasn’t effeminate either. The eunuch’s robes even seemed to look more formal and proper on him. He looked less like a eunuch and more like a respectable butler.

’Wasn’t a clean cut?’

’The Empress Dowager wouldn’t think one Liu Shixu wasn’t enough and decide to send another man over, would she?’

"Mm."

Xiao Yang raised a hand, indicating she understood.

She didn’t particularly care whose man he was, as long as he didn’t get in her way.

Grand Tutor Xu arrived with his textbooks and ruler, giving Xiao Yang an instant headache. ’Just as I thought,’ she mused, ’I really should have skipped class.’

Xiao Yang’s aversion and resistance were plain to see, but Grand Tutor Xu acted as if he hadn’t noticed. He took out the textbook and said, "Your Majesty, today we will continue where we left off."

Xiao Yang’s eyes were vacant, her clear gaze utterly untainted by the slightest bit of knowledge. ’Last time? What did we even learn last time?’

Liu Shixu came in, sat to the side with the same textbook, and in stark contrast to the listless Xiao Yang, he was the very picture of a teacher’s favorite student—obedient, brilliant, and academically gifted.

He listened attentively and raised questions from time to time, which Grand Tutor Xu answered one by one with a look of admiration. The teacher-student relationship was perfectly harmonious.

Xiao Yang, on the other hand, let everything go in one ear and out the other as she sipped tea, nibbled on snacks, and grew drowsy.

Just as she was about to drift off, a sharp pain suddenly pierced her chest, and a wave of nausea washed over her.

"PFFT!"

"Your Majesty!"

A mouthful of fresh blood gushed out, staining all the books in front of her crimson.

As she lost consciousness, she felt a strange sense of relief. ’Finally,’ she thought, ’I don’t have to read these damn books anymore.’

----

"CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!"

The whip struck her back again and again.

Xiao Yang looked at her now-tiny hands, then looked up to see a much younger, but just as cruel and terrifying, Empress Dowager.

She held a whip, lashing out at her mercilessly.

Xiao Yang wanted to dodge, but her body wouldn’t obey. She could only remain curled up, enduring the whipping.

The Empress Dowager’s expression was twisted, her eyes filled with hatred.

"I’ll teach you to go play! I’ll teach you to keep a cat! I’ll teach you to be disobedient!"

At that time, the body’s original owner was eleven years old. She had just ascended the throne a year prior and was forced to study various subjects and handle court memorials every day. Under the immense pressure, she had run off to the Imperial Garden to play, where she found a tiny tabby cat.

The little kitten took to her immediately. She tucked it into her robes, brought it back, and hid it behind her bedchambers, planning to raise it in secret.

Unexpectedly, the kitten ran around and was spotted by Liu Sheng.

The Little Emperor begged Liu Sheng not to tell the Empress Dowager. Liu Sheng readily agreed, but then immediately ran to report it.

As a result, the original owner received a horrific flogging that nearly killed her.

The Empress Dowager gritted her teeth, showing no mercy. She truly hated the original owner. "I have worried myself sick over you! I can’t eat, I can’t sleep at night! Why can’t you just live up to expectations?"

"If you were a Prince, would I have to be this terrified?"

"The Imperial Physician clearly said I was carrying a Prince! Why did I end up giving birth to a useless thing like you?"

The kitten had been slammed to death, its body lying just ahead. The Little Emperor was curled on the ground, silently enduring the beating. But no matter how much it hurt, she never closed her eyes, her gaze fixed on the dead kitten.

Pain, heartbreak, and even a sliver of inappropriate envy.

’If only she’d just beaten me to death...’

Xiao Yang was Xiao Yang, but in that moment, she felt as if she *was* the Little Emperor, keenly aware of all her thoughts and feeling all her pain.

She had tried every means to escape the Empress Dowager’s beatings, but in the end, she had failed.

The young body, the inability to struggle or escape, and the boundless, drowning despair—it was all more painful than being beaten herself.

When Xiao Yang woke again, she had no idea what day or time it was. But seeing the bright yellow canopy embroidered with coiling dragons, she only felt weary and hopeless.

’Who the hell did I piss off?’

If this was revenge, why not just get it over with in one clean strike? Why drag her soul out to torture it like this?

And now it wasn’t just her soul, but her body too. The feeling of being poisoned was agonizing. Her organs felt like they were being twisted together, and the path from her stomach to her throat felt like it was on fire.

She opened her mouth but couldn’t make a sound; her throat felt like it was being torn apart.

"Her Majesty is awake!"

The nanny waiting by the bed saw Xiao Yang’s eyes open and immediately went out to report. Soon, the Empress Dowager entered with an Imperial Physician.

"Jin’er."

The Empress Dowager’s face was pale; it seemed she had indeed been frightened.

Even so, her face showed little of a mother’s loving concern—only the relief of someone whose chess piece had been saved.

The Imperial Physician took her pulse and examined her, then reported to the Empress Dowager, "Your Majesty is out of immediate danger, but her body will be weak and uncomfortable for some time. She will require a good deal of rest. I will prescribe some restorative medicines."

The Empress Dowager let out a heavy sigh of relief. "Good."

After the Imperial Physician left, the Empress Dowager walked to the bedside. Her eyes held a superficial look of heartache, but beneath it lay calculation and ruthlessness. "You have suffered, Jin’er. Rest assured, I will not let that treacherous villain, Rong Yin, get away with this!"

’Poisoned by Rong Yin?’

Xiao Yang’s throat hurt whenever she opened her mouth, so she didn’t want to speak. Not that the Empress Dowager cared. Having finished playing her part, she told Xiao Yang to rest well, ordered a group of attendants to watch over her, and left.

Bi Fang was nowhere to be seen. Watching her instead were two nannies. One was named Fang Ping. She had been the Emperor’s wet nurse, caring for her since childhood and always staying by her side. She had recently gone home to visit family and had just returned.

This wet nurse was even colder and stricter than the Empress Dowager. Normally silent and taciturn, the way she looked at her was so gloomy it made one’s skin crawl.

The Empress Dowager would whip the Little Emperor occasionally, but when the Empress Dowager wasn’t looking, this Nanny Fang would find other ways to torture her, like pinching her, pulling her hair, and withholding her food.

Liu Sheng was completely loyal to the Empress Dowager and would deliver the Little Emperor to her for torment. Nanny Fang, however, would torment her directly.

The other was named Yang Xiu, a die-hard confidante who had always served the Empress Dowager.

Yang Xiu focused on management, organizing the duties of the palace staff without giving Xiao Yang a second glance.

Fang Ping, meanwhile, dutifully stood by Xiao Yang’s side, watching her drink her medicine.

There were candied fruits next to the medicine bowl, but not only did she not offer them to Xiao Yang, she took them away, along with the water.

She turned back and looked sternly at Xiao Yang. "I look away for one moment, and Your Majesty dares to defy the Empress Dowager. From this day forward, Your Majesty will rest and recover, and I will take this opportunity to re-teach you the meaning of filial piety."

Xiao Yang remained silent, not wanting to speak because of her sore throat. ’But damn, this is infuriating!’

’A tiger on open plains, bullied by dogs... This is so damn humiliating!’