Chapter 3

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

[Many years ago]

"Your highness, Grand general Zhao has arrived."

The head eunuch whispered to the emperor and replied that the grand general can enter.

Once the doors opened, it revealed a very muscular man with a very define face structure. Behind him followed two teens, one male and female.

They followed their father, the grand general, towards his highness' throne with caution not to disturb.

They bowed in front of the emperor and greeted at the same time, "Your Highness, the emperor, your subordinate greets you, and have come back alive from the frontline."

The emperor frowed, " Zhao LiWen, how many times did I told you that there's no need to be polite, we are disciples under the same teacher so we are basically brothers."

Zhao LiWen stood up and smiled towards the emperor, "Hahaha, you're still the same as ever~. By the way, I have bought my children today to ask your permission to marry them off. You see, they are already of age and I'm not getting younger as well."

The emperor eyed them and smiled towards Zhao LiWen, "Oh sure, let them come to me."

The two teens walked up to his highness and introduced theirselves.

"Greetings Your Highness, my name is Zhao FengSheng. I am the oldest son of the Zhao household."

"Greetings to you as well Your Highness, I am Zhao LuXuan."

"Hello to you Feng-er and Xuan-er. I am Wang HanYu. Just call me uncle yu.", the emperor introduced himself.

Wang HanYu, "so Feng-er, so do you have someone you fancy?"

Zhao FengSheng shrugged and said firmly, "sorry uncle Yu but I don't plan to marry someone. What I want is to accompany my father in the frontlines, I want to be a respected general just like him."

The emperor was surprised that the young man was very sensible and shot a glance towards his friend, LiWen, as if asking if he is allowing his child to be a soldier.

LiWen just helplessly smiled and nodded.

The emperor got his appoval and appointed Zhao FengSheng as a general and could train directly from the grand general himself. And as usual the eunuch would record his verdict as proof.

The emperor then put his attention to the young lady. Looking carefully, she was actually really pretty, a goddess in short.

Emperor, "how about this young lady, do you have someone that you fancy?"

Zhao LuXuan answered with her head down, "Unfurtunately uncle yu, but this lowly me doesn't have anyone in mind and wants the emperor to decide for me."

If someone else have said this, then it would sound that she has ulterior motives, knowing that the emperor would certainly pick a respectable and rich noble but when LuXuan said this it really sound like she is seeking for advice and giving full trust to the man.

The emperor stopped for a moment then said happily, "very well then, Zhao LuXuan in the day of the coronation if the crown prince, you shall bond with him as an empress."

The hall was quiet for a second then both the Zhao father and daughter knelt down and bowed.

LuXuan, "Uncle Yu, this lowly me doesn't deserve such kindness, please think carefully."

Zhao LiWen, "Yes HanYu, please think carefully. The empress position is not something that could be given casually."

The emperor was not angered by their action because he himself knew that it was ridiculous, " I know that Xuan-er is qualified enough to be an empress, she came from the house of the respected grand general who brought uncountable victories to our country, she also has a beauty that could overturn the kingdom, she is kind and humble, and I'm pretty sure smart like his father as well. Don't worry, his brother will be by her side when the time comes. Don't forget her brother is a future grand general."

••••••••

Everyday LuXuan would visit the crown prince, Wang Yujin, in order to build a harmonious relationship along the way until they get married.

The fated day of their marriage came and the whole kingdom rejoiced for having a fantastic empress and hailed the father emperor for his wise decision.

But as a custom that has been passed down since the older generations, the emperor shall marry many concubines in order to ensure his foothold in his country and gain amnesty towards the other kingdoms. Thus he married the 3rd princess from the neigboring kingdom of Li empire, Princess Li Shun.

Princess Li Shun visited the Wang Kingdom a few days later after they notified the emperor. She was infamous for her unmatching beauty and talent in playing instruments. So the Emperor, Wang YuJin, agreed to this and married her three days later.

However, Wang YuJin never came to consummate her that evening making her in rage.

She waited for Wang YuJin to at least come visit her but he never came. She asked some of her servants to know where Wang YuJin would spend his time, and yes indeed, the emperor would always visit his empress and pamper their first born child.

'Why! Am I not pretty? Why won't he even look at my way? Is it because of that LuXuan?! She's just a daughter of a general! I am a princess! A princess! How can she be more important than me?'

Thoughts like this always appear in Li Shun's head and the more she thought about it the more she was enraged.

Then 5 years had past. And in this years Li Shun has been secretly adding a weak poison in Wang YuJin's food. The poison affects the health of the person from inside out then the person will worsen if he is having stress or any emotional and mental disturbances.

So why did she even bother giving a weak poison rather than a strong one? That's because she's waiting for her own child to grow up then kill the whole royal family and finally push her own son in the throne, such a cunning being.

By now, LuXuan's son should be 5 years old and Li Shun's son should be 4 years old. The emperor is also starting to weaken day by day, making the ministers panic.

Li Shun was now peacefully sitting at the pavilion standing in her courtyard and leisurely sipping in her tea, "Is the preparations done?"

"Yes. All we need now is to wait for the right time.", answered by Li Shun's personal servant.

'Tonight. I'll get everything from you. I'll rule this coutry. I'll let you know that I'm not someone who should be just cast aside.'

•••••••••••

The night came and darkness engulfed the kingdom. The emperor was cuddling his son and wife inside his chambers. Giggles and laughters echoed throughout the place. For Wang YiJun his family is making him strong.

A while later, a knock disturbed the joyful scene, " Your Highness. The court needs your presence, there is an emergency that needs you."

LuXuan, after hearing this words looked at her husband with a worried expression. Wang YiJun just cupped her face and comforted her, telling that whatever this is will be alright.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"The Emperor has arrived!" The head eunuch announced his arrival and the minister's voices immediately died down.

Wang YiJun walked to his sit and looked down at his subordinates before talking, "What ruckus is happening that all of you are restless?"

The General Zhao FengSheng saluted before saying, "There was an unknown group of people who are attacking the palace. They seem to be a force that was planted in the capital. At first, we thought that they are just civilians who are rebelling but it seems that they really intend to bring this palace down."

All of this is making Wang YiJun's head hurt.

'Who would plan to take me down? Is it one of my ministers? A noble? Or perhaps-!'

Before finishing his train of thoughts, his line of sight blacked out. The poison has reacted and made him faint.

The people inside the court panicked. They brought the emperor back to his room and let the royal physician to tend to him.

After they ensured Wang YiJun's safety, th ministers decided to temporarily put Zhao FengSheng incharge.

Zhao FengSheng instructed the soldiers to triple the defence inside while he resist the enemy outside.

Everyone was cautious and was preparing theirselves if ever the enemies arrive but Li Shun was calmly reading a poem inside her chamber.

••••••••••••

"My Lady, His highness is in his chamber and it seems that he is accompanied by Her majesty inside." The servant reported while bowing her head respectfully.

Li shun said with a grin plastered on her face, "Perfect. Now it's time for the real drama."

Li shun trotted outside with her gorgeous robe swaying as she moves then headed to the chamber.

Without further a do, she entered the royal chamber without permission and gave LuXuan a mischivious gaze that also disappeared in a second.

LuXuan felt that something was odd but kept her calm and asked, "what brings the emperial concubine to His Highness' chamber?", emphasizing the word 'concubine' as if saying that Li Shun don't have any right barge inside as she please.

Li Shun stared at LuXuan with disdain and then look at the lying YuJin and smiled then looked back at LuXuan again.

"Do you know why YiJun suddenly became weak?", Li Shun asked, dropping all the manners.

LuXuan was speechless and didn't what she meant by her words before she could ask Li Shun already continued.

" It's because in the past 5 years I've been secretly poisoning him. A slow acting poison that would slowly bring him to his death."

LuXuan was shock then confuse, "W-why would you do such thing?!"

Li Shun laughed hysterically, " Simply because my ego and pride said so. I am a princess, and yet, you people dared to treat me like an invisible creature."

She then pointed at YiJun, "This person didn't even glance at me for the last 5 years! Now is his time to rest...Eternally."

Li Shun gave a signal to someone outside and immediately two bulky man came and reprimanded LuXuan, she struggled for a long time but in vain.

While on the other side, the princess walked slowly towards YiJun, she stared at the man for a second and fetched a vial inside her robe then poured the liquid in YiJun's mouth. LuXuan was screaming on the side to stop.

However, because of all the commotion and noice, the sleeping child on the side cried for his mother. Li Shun looked at the owner of the cry and sneered at it, "someone silent that vermin down!"

LuXuan immediately knelt down and begged desperately, "please don't hurt my son."

Li Shun looked down on her and felt pleasure surge into her body, "and because you knelt down respectfully, I'll let your child live for a little longer but make sure to quite him down."

She then ordered her soldiers to lock the mother and son pair in the underground dungeon.

In the cold dungeon, the two persons were sitting in the most corner, LuXuan, removed her outer robe and wrapped the little bundle up after making sure that he was asleep.

LuXuan was in a daze for a while, everything happened in a fast pace and she just couldn't keep up. Finally, YuJin's face surfaced in her thoughts.

A tear came falling down after another until she was a mess, weeping quietly, "My dear husband, please rest in peace."

Going back to Li Shun's side.

She was currently at the emperial court, crying pitifully, gaining the sympathy of the ministers and other on-lookers.

A few minutes ago, she broke into the court with a messy make-up on her pretty face, well it's not that messy but one could easily think that she maybe cried with deep sorrows.

She first heave a deep breathe, as if trying to calm herself, but then immediately broke oncr again making her more pitiful to watch.

"The-the emperor! H-he's gone!" She said in between her sobs. The ministers immediately inquired her about what happened.

A eunuch brought her a cup of water to appease her sobs, and she calmed down,

" the inside of the palace didn't know what was happening yet, that is why I was still enjoying at my pavilion, when-when I saw that the royal physician came out from the royal chamber.

I got alarmed snd quickly asked him what happened. He told me about the attack outside and what happened to my dear husband. I was so worried so I came to his room.

There I saw His Highness, lying weakly in his bed. Then he whispered his last words to me, catching his last breaths. He said "Please make sure that this kingdom's people is safe", then he passed away."

There was silence afterwards, then one of the ministers stepped out and asked, "what about the empress?"

Li shun clenched her fists, the anger in her eyes was visible.

"The Empress? She is nowhere to be found....How could she disappear just like that? Even abandoning her husband in the middle of the situation."

After she finished a man with black clothing opened the doors and hastily made his way towards Li Shun, "My lady, I have an important news."

"He is my trusted subordinate whom I personally put incharge to investigate Her Highness." Li Shun announced.

The man slightly bowed to the ministers to show courtesy and spilled the tea he was holding.

"According to the intel that I have collected a while ago. Her Majesty is the one behind this attack. She wants the Emperor to die, in order for her son to succeed the throne as soon as possible, she was afraid that His Highness might favor Princess Li Shun's son thus she wants to firmly grasp the power early on."

One of ministers asked, " How can that be. Her Majesty's brother is currently fighting and you're saying that he is fighting his sister's people?.

"That was because they wanted to show the people that they are actually protecting the palace in order to gain the people's support and to seize the throne smoothly."

Immediately the ministers went into heated discussion.

After a while, another minister asked, " Emperial Concubine Li, your subordinate mentioned earlier that you have a son. But we have never heard this news before."

Li Shun wiped her stained cheeks and asnwered, "Yes. It was because I birthed my child in secrecy. Everyone of you must know that the Harem is a dangerous place where scheme is everywhere, this, I know very well because I was also a royalty that lived inside the harem and all I wanted was my child to live well. Who would have expected that Her Majesty have known my secret and planned this."

Even without further explanation, the ministers are all scholars with high IQ and thus understood the situation.

One by one they discriminated the Empress as a wolf dressed as a sheep or a two-faced white lotus.

Li shun who was watching in the sidelines was rejoicing that her scheme was quite working perfectly. Now it's time to manipulate everything from behind.

One of Li Shun's man who was hiding in the corner, seeing that their plan worked, went to the battlefield and told them to retreat.

..................

One more flashback chapter and we'll be back to our main characters😘

Author has something to say:
All I wanna say is #Writersblock😂. I'm very ashamed rn, sorry guys.

ML: Hmp. Just say that you're lazy, Baka!

MC: Just let her be..

Author: Xiao Bai, I love you. You really care for me🤧

MC: Not really, I just don't want to meet you're stupid ML.

Author and ML:...QAQ!!! So mean~


You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net