Chapter 415

Chapter 415 The little palace maid guarding the door said joyfully, "Your Highness, it's good news, wonderful news!" "His Majesty has enfeoffed your father as Marquis of Wenchang, and your mother as a Second-Rank Lady!" Xie Run glanced up at Xie Jiang. Xie Jiang's reaction was noticeably slower by half a beat, as she was wholly absorbed in fiddling with something in her hands. Sensing someone looking at her, she cast a glance toward Xie Run. Xie Run curved her lips into a smile. "I imagine Father and Mother will soon be coming to the capital. When they do, they'll be able to live together and care for Sister and the two children." Xie Jiang: "..." Only then did Xie Jiang realize that the titles the Emperor had bestowed were also upon her own parents. But when she heard Xie Run say they would be coming to the capital and would all live together, Xie Jiang couldn't help but furrow her brows. Xie Run simply pretended not to see Xie Jiang's worry. The labor had come on suddenly this time, but the delivery had gone fairly smoothly—the child was born within two hours. She heard the people around her cry out happily, "It's a prince!" "We congratulate Your Highness on giving birth to a prince!" Xie Run propped herself up to look at the child, vaguely noting its features, then entrusted everything to Xie Jiang and fell into a deep sleep. By the time she woke, the sky was already half dark. After some fussing, she looked at the child beside her and smiled weakly. "It really is a prince." Could the Emperor have received word in advance? She had heard that highly experienced imperial physicians could determine the child's sex from the pulse. When other palace consorts were pregnant, they loved to slip silver to ask. But Xie Run had heard that during the Retired Emperor's era, quite a few physicians had gotten the sex wrong, causing no small number of jokes, so she didn't put much stock in it and had never entertained the notion. But that didn't mean the Emperor might not believe it. After looking at her young son for a while, Xie Run asked where Taotao was. Dantao: "Xiaoshu and Nanny Xu are watching over her, and Concubine Shen is also playing alongside her." Xie Run nodded, then asked, "About Zhaorong Huizhao's matter... is there any new news?" Dantao gently shook her head. "This is the first time something like this has happened in the palace. After His Majesty sealed off the Cold Palace, no news has come out." "With a death involved, no one dares to go prying." Xie Run sighed, the shock in her heart still difficult to settle. In this perfectly proper imperial palace, a high-ranking consort had actually died a violent death in the Cold Palace. If this news were to spread, it would surely stir heated debate throughout the court and the realm. Dantao said with concern, "Physician Xie said that childbirth takes a toll on the body, and Your Highness should rest more after giving birth, and not think too much or worry too much. As for Zhaorong Huizhao's matter, His Majesty will naturally investigate it. Your Highness only needs to wait to hear the news." Xie Run smiled weakly. "Alright, Ben Gong won't think about it anymore. I'll listen to all of you." Fearing Xie Run might dwell on things, Dantao added, "His Majesty came to see you, Master, but the Retired Emperor had just passed, and there's still a host of matters in the palace to manage." "I heard that Prince Wei has already been bound and delivered to the Hall of Peace, awaiting His Majesty's interrogation." Xie Run: "The sins committed in youth become the retribution reaped in old age." Now that the Zhaohua Palace was entirely staffed with her own people, Xie Run no longer spoke with as many reservations as before. Dantao sighed along with her. "Fortunately, Your Highness gave birth at this time, so you don't have to observe mourning for the Retired Emperor. Otherwise, there would be real hardship to endure." She murmured softly, "Though these words from this servant's mouth are treasonous, this servant still wishes to say them." "Granted, the Empress and the Retired Emperor are of noble status, but to observe two consecutive periods of heavy mourning—never mind Your Highness's condition, even a normal person couldn't endure it." Xie Run leaned back against the headboard, but her mind was on something else entirely. The Emperor's birth father had died—would he have to observe three years of mourning? Even if it were only one year, it would be nothing but benefit to her. With that thought, Xie Run slowly closed her eyes. After all, she had just given birth, and nothing required her personal worry. This pregnancy had saved her from who knows how many troubles. When the great doors of the Hall of Peace opened, light streamed in, revealing Prince Wei bound hand and foot. He sat slumped on the ground, his face cold and desolate, his eyes seemingly devoid of any will to live. The Emperor raised a hand, signaling Eunuch Shian and the others to remain outside, and entered the great hall alone. The doors closed behind him, leaving only the Emperor, Jing Wu, and Prince Wei within the Hall of Peace. The Emperor stood with his hands clasped behind his back, letting out what seemed like a light sigh. "Brother, you've endured for so long. Why is it that you could endure no longer, of all times?" Prince Wei suddenly raised his head, his gaze fierce as he fixed it upon the Emperor. "I endured all this time precisely to wait for this day!" His eyes were a tangle of hatred as he ground his teeth and said, "You have no idea how happy I was today, watching that old beast bleed from all seven orifices, collapsing to the ground, trembling and begging for help!" "That old beast! He is unworthy to be a ruler of men, unworthy to be a husband, and even more unworthy to be a father!" "To be born into this imperial house was my misfortune. But for him to have sired me—that was his misfortune!" "Now this is merely the cycle of cause and effect, reaping what he has sown!" Having said this, Prince Wei threw his head back and laughed, but as he laughed, tears unknowingly streamed down his face. The Emperor only listened in silence. "The crime of patricide is an abomination to all. I cannot spare your life." "Naturally." Prince Wei was a refined gentleman who always spoke in gentle, measured tones, but today his words carried unusual force, every syllable laced with ease and lightness: "Your Majesty is renowned throughout the realm for filial piety. For the sake of that reputation, you must of course kill me as a warning to others." "I should have died eight years ago! Your Majesty, just issue the decree!" Jing Wu frowned and said, "Your Majesty, Prince Wei has gone mad. Today he speaks nothing but nonsense. Shall I gag his mouth?" The Emperor shook his head, his gaze dark and profound. The Emperor of today bore the majesty of a sovereign, yet also carried a hint of compassion for the mortal world. "Brother has been holding it in for far too long. Now that he has spoken his heart, he will not leave regrets behind on the Yellow Spring Road." Prince Wei twitched the corner of his mouth. His lips were smiling, but tears still streamed from the corners of his eyes. "You know—or rather, all of you know—you've simply been pretending not to..." "They say the world is foolish, but who knows how many are wolves in sheep's clothing, and how many are scheming villains!" "Why did that old beast humiliate me so?! Simply because he was lecherous and devoid of virtue, disregarding human decency—he had set his sights on his own daughter-in-law." "When I refused, he humiliated me in every way, wanting me to emulate that useless Prince Shou of the Tang Dynasty—offering up my wife to curry favor!" "He thought himself the lord of all under heaven, that whatever he desired, he must obtain. Little did he expect that Mingyi was of resolute and unyielding character, preferring death to submission." Chen Mingyi was the name of the former Princess Consort of Prince Wei. "Mingyi used her own death to preserve my life... but I regret it! I hate it!" "I should have stabbed him to death right then, and myself as well, following Mingyi to the grave." "For these eight years, I have harbored resentment and regret every single day. My dreams are filled with the day Mingyi died..." Prince Wei stared wide-eyed at the Emperor. "You probably don't know this. Mingyi didn't die from hanging—she was rescued in time. But fearing she wouldn't die, she had swallowed gold before hanging herself, and it was the pain that killed her." The Emperor furrowed his brow, his breathing growing heavier. "This... I truly did not know."