After Rebirth, My Wife Turned Out to Be Myself - Extra 3

The ‘Empress’ did not stay by Xie Wan’s side for long, but it was enough to become a very vivid memory in her mind.

That was a period she felt was very dark for a long time after entering the palace. Suddenly, a ray of light shone down, like sending charcoal in the snow. No matter how much time passed, remembering it would still feel fresh.

She would even regret saying, “Don’t you want to see what Your Majesty used to look like?”

If she hadn’t said it, perhaps her ‘Empress’ wouldn’t have left when Emperor Ruiming fell seriously ill and passed away.

But this emotion only surfaced in the dead of night.

Because Emperor Ruiming was dead, Da Yue Empire began to descend into chaos.

Xie Wan needed to throw herself into more important matters, without even the leisure to think about why she missed Xie Anyu so much, when that was clearly herself.

Just when she finally managed to quell the internal strife of the Xu family, news arrived of a bandit uprising in Lingbei.

One wave had not settled, when another rose.

After the uprising was suppressed, Da Yue Empire didn’t even have time to catch its breath before neighboring countries invaded.

Relatives died one by one, and bad news kept pouring in.

Xie Wan could no longer recall the peace and beauty of her time in the palace.

As soon as she closed her eyes, all she saw was the overwhelming bl00d of the Xie family members and the people of Da Yue Empire, severed limbs piled high on the battlefield, and screams that echoed endlessly.

Perhaps the only comfort was the sentence ‘Xie Anyu’ had once said—

In my time, everyone in the Xie family is doing very well, and later… the world is also at peace.

Xie Wan thought, what she mentioned casually turned out to be the wish she most wanted to realize now.

When everything finally settled, she sat in the Regent King’s chair, watching the new Emperor ascend the throne.

The new Emperor was most grateful to her, the older sister who had saved him, taught him, and quelled the wars for him. The officials also followed suit with flattery.

Only Xie Wan smiled, but there was little warmth in her eyes.

She could smile now, but there was no one left to see it.

Xie Wan closed her eyes, suddenly feeling that this world was dull.

When the officials discussed the matter of establishing an Empress, the new Emperor’s gaze fell upon her.

She did not express her stance. After the court session, Chu Tang couldn’t help but seek her out.

She was sitting in the courtyard, still playing chess against herself.

Chu Tang watched from the side for a long while before coming to sit at the opposite side of the board, saying softly, “Sister Wan, I want to make you Empress.”

Xie Wan’s hand, moving a chess piece, paused.

She suddenly thought of a certain Empress.

So she shook her head and refused, “I don’t want to.”

Chu Tang’s lips were tightly pressed. As Emperor, he should no longer hear anyone refuse him, but he couldn’t force the person before him.

“I… I like Sister Wan. It’s not because Sister Wan is suitable to be the mother of Da Yue Empire, it’s just that I, I like Sister Wan.”

“Chu Tang, liking someone is better when it’s mutual.”

Chu Tang’s hand trembled slightly, “Sister Wan, now the world is at peace, and there’s still a long future ahead… I can wait.”

Xie Wan continued playing chess, saying calmly, “Your Majesty, as for me, if I like someone, I will always like them. If I don’t like someone, I will never be able to like them.”

Xie Anyu would become someone’s Empress because Her Majesty treated her well, and she was also fond of Her Majesty.

But she and Chu Tang were different.

She didn’t like Chu Tang, and hadn’t for a long time. It had been that way since he was just a scheming prince.

Moreover, the words ‘like’ held significant weight for the current Xie Wan.

Only her family, and Xie Anyu who had appeared by her side like a fleeting dream, were worthy of it.

Sometimes Xie Wan felt that perhaps Xie Anyu never existed.

Perhaps that wisp of a soul was just an illusion she conjured due to her extreme loneliness in the palace.

Whenever this happened, she would take out the brocade pouches from her box and look at them.

In truth, many of those strategies didn’t offer much help for the situation; Xie Anyu seemed to have only a partial understanding of the future on her side.

But Xie Wan still preserved those brocade pouches meticulously.

They were proof that Xie Anyu had been here.

Perhaps her expression was too nostalgic, causing the Chu Tang before her to sense a hint of something amiss.

After a long silence, Chu Tang finally couldn’t help but ask, “Sister Wan, do you have someone you like?”

Xie Wan narrowed her eyes slightly and smiled, “Yes.”

Chu Tang prided himself on understanding Xie Wan. If she said yes, then there must be. The Regent King wouldn’t lie just to avoid becoming Empress; if she didn’t want to, no one could force her.

“Now that the world is at peace, if Sister Wan has someone you want… just tell me, and I will issue an imperial decree… to bestow a marriage upon you,” Chu Tang said in a hoarse voice.

Xie Wan let out a laugh.

Chu Tang was merely trying to trick her into revealing something.

He was probably curious who that person was.

However…

“No need to trouble Your Majesty. I’m a bit tired, I won’t see Your Majesty back to the palace,” Xie Wan said with a smile, issuing a polite dismissal.

Chu Tang clenched his fists, then flicked his sleeves and left.

A servant carefully brought the brewed medicine, asking softly, “Master, the medicine is ready.”

Xie Wan picked up the bowl and took a shallow sip. Her manner was not like drinking bitter medicinal soup, but like savoring rich hot soup.

“Added a few more herbs?”

The servant trembled almost imperceptibly and whispered, “Master, it’s the prescription from the Imperial Academy of Medicine, they added a few calming herbs.”

Xie Wan’s eyelids fluttered slightly, but she finished the medicine after all.

Before her death, Xie Wan visited the National Temple of Da Yue Empire and talked with the abbot all night.

Xie Wan told him about Xie Anyu’s visit. She wasn’t afraid the abbot would reveal anything; he wouldn’t dare.

She said she wanted to see Anyu again.

Not her past self, but that somewhat adorable Little General Xie wearing Empress robes.

The abbot said, “The person you wish to see, Master, appeared here surely due to her own obsession. She saw the person she wanted to see, resolved the karmic ties of her obsession, and naturally returned to her homeland. Master, this is not something that can be forced.”

“Wanting to see her is also my obsession. If she cannot come, then I… can go.”

Hearing this, the abbot smiled bitterly, “This is not… well, it’s not without a solution. Legend has it there was once a forbidden evil technique that could draw in a person’s soul and confine it within a body.”

“No need to confine her soul. I… just want to see her once.”

“Master, please listen to this humble monk finish. A demonic figure in the martial world once used this evil technique to resurrect his deceased lover, but… the soul that was drawn back remembered nothing of the past. This is karma. Regardless of your purpose, drawing in a soul and confining it within a body requires paying a corresponding price.”

Xie Wan scoffed. Remembering nothing of the past… perhaps forgetting would be better.

That way, the Empress wouldn’t be someone’s Empress, would she?

But this thought only flashed through her mind for a moment.

Xie Wan knew what the abbot meant.

The so-called karma wouldn’t befall Xie Anyu, whose soul she drew in, but only herself, who used the evil technique.

But karma… Xie Wan thought, seeing her once was enough. Now that she had no will to live, what karma would she fear?

But if Xie Anyu, whom she confined, forgot Her Majesty…

The Empress probably wouldn’t want that.

Not only would she not want it, she would probably cry.

In an instant, Xie Wan laughed again.

“Forget it, pretend I was never here,” Xie Wan waved her hand and turned to walk out.

She merely wanted to see Xie Anyu once.

It wasn’t worth making her leave her peaceful homeland, nor making her leave her Xie family relatives, and she certainly didn’t want her to forget Her Majesty, with whom she was mutually in love.

The abbot watched her retreating figure, merely shaking his head with a sigh.

Ten days later, the funeral bell tolled at the Regent King’s Manor.

At the same time, in the ‘past’, Emperor Ruiming, who had just woken up from a long dream, rushed to the Da Yue National Temple.

Under the abbot’s astonished gaze, Emperor Ruiming wrote down that person’s birth date and time, and life experiences, everything.

“Abbot, I will use my destiny to confine this person’s soul.”

The abbot picked up the paper and looked.

‘Xie Wan, courtesy name Anyu. Born in the 40th year of Hefeng in Da Yue Empire, died in the 1st year of Ruixin in Da Yue Empire. Born on the 16th day of the 9th month at Chen hour and one quarter in the General’s Manor in the capital…’

The abbot didn’t react for a moment. Was the person on this paper the daughter of General Xie?

Emperor Ruiming immediately handed over another piece of paper, “This is my birth date and time.”

The abbot’s hands trembled incessantly, “Your Majesty, you are…”

A trace of determination finally appeared on Emperor Ruiming’s weak face, “Just do what I ask. Also, memories… you must find a way to make her remember. The past events must not be forgotten, absolutely not forgotten.”

“I, I will exchange my destiny for it.”