Saving the Obsessive Villain Boss [Quick Transmigration] (GL) - Chapter 13
The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. The entire imperial palace was shrouded in a desolate moonlit glow.
Inside Yuming Hall, the Empress slightly closed her eyes, seemingly having fallen asleep.
A gentle breath gradually approached. The cool fragrance of plum blossoms carried a unique sense of solitude and aloofness. After a long while, warm breath drew near her lips and teeth.
Xu Zhaosu’s eyes were tightly shut, but her heart was pounding like a drum.
The warm breath pressed close to her lips and teeth, but at the last moment, it forcibly deviated from the intended place of the kiss, landing restrainedly and tentatively on the center of her forehead.
It was light, almost imperceptible, yet profoundly cherished.
After a long time, a wistful sigh was heard, carried away by the long wind: “I wanted to go with you, I wished for it, but I…”
The sentence broke off abruptly, with a sudden turn: “Your Majesty deserves a better person…”
Xu Zhaosu faintly sensed that something was wrong. She tried to open her eyes, but only felt a wave of drowsiness overcome her. The kiss was a fleeting touch, and the weariness surged. The Empress struggled to stretch out a hand, attempting to grasp someone in the wind.
Someone took her palm and gently squeezed it, but only to place it back under the silk quilt and tuck the corner in. That person whispered softly in her ear: “Your Majesty, sleep now. When you wake up, everything will be fine…”
Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Xu Zhaosu vaguely felt that something uncontrollable was happening, but she couldn’t even manage to open her eyes and tell her to stop.
No, no…
Shi Qingyi had absolutely no access to her food or drink. How could she have poisoned her? Everything that came near her had to pass through the medicine boy’s hands.
So, how could it be…
What startled her awake again from her deep sleep was a huge booming sound. She laboriously lifted her heavy eyelids. The surroundings were dim. She was in a cramped carriage. Outside, besides the sound of wheels rolling over bluestone, there was a series of loud roars, as if something was exploding in the sky.
“Your Majesty, you’re awake.” A hand reached out from the side to steadily support her.
“Where is this?”
The medicine boy quietly answered in a low voice: “We are on our way out of the palace. Today is the Guoshi’s birthday. Performers skilled in dance from outside the palace came to perform. The Eldest Princess arranged everything. We are now at the Western Six Palaces, and after exiting the Mingde Gate, we can—”
He didn’t finish his sentence when the Empress’s expression instantly changed: “Who told you to act on your own authority?!”
No, the timing is wrong—
The medicine boy instantly fell silent, bracing himself to look up at the Empress. Inside the narrow carriage, the Empress’s face was completely drained of color, leaving only an elusive sense of violence and hostility.
“Go back—”
The medicine boy suddenly looked up, horrified and incredulous: “Your Majesty, are you truly going to—”
Truly going back to take that person with you?
“Have you forgotten how she treated you?”
Usurping the throne, imprisoning her like an animal—was that not enough for the Empress to realize what kind of person she was? How could she be soft-hearted because of her temporary obedience?
Outside the window, fireworks were being set off; the booming sounds were because of this. The firelight cast a faint glow into the carriage, illuminating the Empress’s murky face. She spoke one word at a time, radiating an icy chill: “I said, go back.”
Xu Zhaosu ascended to the throne at a young age and held a high position for many years, accumulating profound authority. The only exception in this world was named Shi Qingyi. Other than her, she was by no means kind to others, let alone gentle. The oppressive aura made the medicine boy’s teeth clench, and his breathing momentarily stagnated.
He dared not disobey.
The carriage turned around, speeding frantically back the way it came.
The Empress rubbed her fingers against the spot where her thumb ring usually was, desperately suppressing a vague unease in her heart.
She promised herself that she would leave with her. How could she break her word!
The Empress tightly closed her eyes in the darkness. Before the loyalist army entered the city, if she took Shi Qingyi with her, there was still a sliver of hope. From then on, the Guoshi would cease to exist. The only one alive in the world would be A-yi, the maid by the Empress’s side.
She would keep her as a concubine/pet, allowing her to live well, but never permitting her to touch any power or freedom again, making her a bird in her hand, atoning for her sins for the rest of her life.
There is so much time later; she hasn’t had time to think through the details. The medicine boy had already lifted the curtain.
The moonlight was cool as water. With a whoosh, it pierced the carriage and fell into her eyes. Yuming Hall under the moonlight was terribly empty and desolate. Only the prolonged chirping of birds faintly sounded in the dark night.
The medicine boy dared not delay, quickly pushing open the doors of every side hall, one by one.
Empty, still empty, not there, still not there—
Door after door, the light in the Empress’s eyes finally extinguished inch by inch.
The medicine boy dropped to his knees with a thud, his eyes red: “Your Majesty, she’s not here, truly not here!”
“We really can’t delay any longer! The palace gates will be locked in another quarter of an hour! This is the only chance—Your Majesty!”
Besides today, there was no other opportunity to escape.
All the hall doors were wide open in the vast night, seemingly mocking her self-deception.
The Empress leaned against the carriage window. Her neatly trimmed, rounded fingertips dug inch by inch into her pale palm. Her knuckles were strained and white. The Empress slowly closed her eyelids. Her lips parted and closed, finally uttering one word: “Go…”
Shi Qingyi, she had deceived her again. She never wanted to leave with her, never wanted to from the start…
It was like a basin of cold water poured over her head. The Empress’s hand trembled without reason under her sleeve. A wave of frantic hostility almost burst through her chest.
She was still deceiving herself.
The carriage shook. The medicine boy’s whip cracked ceaselessly in the desolate palace alley. The chestnut horse, having been whipped, reared and galloped wildly, finally rushing out of the cage at the last moment before the palace gate dropped shut.
Escaped…
It felt as though something was slowly peeling away from her life. Xu Zhaosu instinctively reached out and lifted the carriage curtain.
Outside, the bright moon spanned a thousand miles. Countless magnificent fireworks exploded in mid-air, only to perish in the darkness in an instant. On the ten thousand-foot palace walls, tens of thousands of arrows were drawn taut, greeting the cold moonlight.
The battle was imminent.
The hand Xu Zhaosu rested on the carriage frame instantly tightened. Her heart contracted in that instant, as if a hand had fiercely gripped her neck, making her breathing a suffocating agony.
In the midst of the chaos, she still managed to accurately spot that person on the palace wall with a single glance.
A white dress flapped fiercely in the cold wind. Her dark hair was draped over her shoulders. Even without makeup, she was a peerless beauty. Her features were cold and aloof, as if the worldly desires and rivers and mountains of the world could hardly make her smile.
One glance ruins a city, a second glance ruins a state; that was likely what was spoken of.
Beside her was Jing’e, dressed in simple cloth robes. Her features, marked by the passage of time, were sharp and striking, like a sword unsheathed. In her hand was a long bow made of refined iron, casting a chilling glint under the moonlight.
“Fire—”
With that word, ten thousand arrows fell.
“Your Majesty, be careful—” The medicine boy rushed forward, swinging his blade to cut off an incoming stray arrow, pushing aside the Empress, who seemed rooted to the spot.
Two fists are no match for four hands after all. The medicine boy could sever the first few arrows, but the remaining stray arrows seemed endless. A long arrow with an eye-catching fiery feather cut through the night sky, suddenly lodging itself in the Empress’s heart.
With ten thousand arrows firing simultaneously, how could she have been spared?
Xu Zhaosu was almost knocked off the carriage by the immense impact. The medicine boy held her. The dark guards who came to meet them guarded the side of the carriage. The pain in her heart was almost numb, sinking inch by inch into her muscle and bone. Deep red bl00d instantly bloomed on her skirt.
Xu Zhaosu slowly raised her head. The woman in white on the palace wall leaned against the battlements. Amidst the beacon smoke and fire, her expression was unclear.
Only the long wind was vast, and the murderous intent was sharp.
Under the shocked gazes of everyone, the Empress suddenly reached out and snatched a long blade from a dark guard beside her. Enduring the intense pain, she severed the long arrow lodged in her heart at the shaft. Then, she cut the rope binding the carriage, freeing the carriage from the drag. The chestnut horse neighed and galloped madly.
She pressed her hand to her chest, taking one last look back. The person on the palace wall was still in white. Bl00d and love seemed never to have stained the hem of her skirt from beginning to end, merely the insignificant mud beneath her feet.
Everything that had happened these last few days felt like a dream. Now that she was awake, it was merely a joke.
The moment she first saw Shi Qingyi in her youth, she should have known what a cold and heartless person she was.
“Go—” This time, there was no longer any hesitation.
Warm bl00d seeped from between her fingers. A fishy sweetness constantly welled up in her throat. This time, she never looked back. Only the madness in her eyes was tinged with bl00d, like the blazing flames behind her.
Shi Qingyi—
She ground this name, one syllable at a time, in her heart. Every syllable carried a bloodthirsty hatred.
——
On the palace wall, the long wind howled. Jing’e dropped her long bow and said chillingly: “A year has passed. You refused to kill her then, saying you wanted her to die only after enduring torment. Now it seems you simply couldn’t bear it. Are you going to stop me again this time? The decision you cannot make, your Master will make for you!”
As her voice fell, she turned and quickly walked down the wall. Beyond the palace was the Imperial City. The city gates were closed. Xu Zhaosu was heavily wounded. There was still a chance—
Behind her, the Guoshi merely gazed in the direction the Empress had left, covering her chest. After a long while, she closed her eyes and whispered to herself, as if lost in thought: “She’s gone…”
The System was cold and emotionless: “And you are about to perish.”
The next time she returns, it will be a life-and-death situation.