"That year, at nine, I was ignorant."
Such a voice rang out within Precious Splendor Palace.
It descended from atop Danbi Terrace, carrying the air of one looking down upon all living things.
"This year, I am forty-two, and I am still ignorant."
Upon that solitary, exalted Dragon Throne sat the current Xia Emperor.
His voice sank, repressed yet commanding—
"My sons have all come of age!"
The magnificent and imposing Precious Splendor Palace stood empty today.
Not a single court official was present.
His voice grew ever lonelier, and the echo of its majesty ever stronger.
From Xia Emperor Si Cheng's perspective, looking straight ahead past Danbi Terrace, the jade pillars, and the corridor, beneath the towering palace gates at the far end of the hall stood a splendidly dressed figure in the light.
The light was too dazzling to make out the person's features clearly.
As though, through all these years, that person, that face, had become nothing more than a symbol.
He could no longer see it clearly, nor had he remembered it for a very long time.
The Xia Son of Heaven's voice echoed for a long while.
Only then did the person standing in the light speak. "The State Preceptor was loyal to the core, willing to cut out his liver for the state, and gave his whole life to affairs of state! If you had any sense, how could you treat him this way?"
She lifted her foot and walked into the hall.
Her footsteps struck against the palace's loneliness.
What a lonely imperial palace it truly was!
The Xia Emperor sat in his place, watching the Xia Empress Dowager approach in full regalia, watching his mother.
It seemed he had never before viewed, from this angle, the woman who had truly held power