Night of Strangers

A hysterical, guttural roar tore through the bleak, frigid snowy night, followed by a suffocating silence so profound it made one's skin crawl.

At this moment, no words were needed, nor the chilling glint of blades. The blood-robed young man needed only to stand there to tell the whole tale.

Xu Yuan walked down the imperial steps, his blood-red robes billowing amid the heavy snow. Reaching the palace courtyard, he met the gaze of the young man in python robes, whose eyes were black and still.

"Looks like you never expected to see me here."

Li Zhaoyuan lost his composure, though only for an instant. He swiftly suppressed the surging emotions within his chest. Looking at the man who had taken the initiative to descend the imperial steps and meet his eyes, he wanted to follow those words and ask a few questions.

All his fury stemmed from incomprehension.

He could not understand why the other man had rebelled.

He could not understand which of his actions had crossed the other man's bottom line.

He could not understand what could make the emperor and prime minister unable to negotiate, forcing them to resort directly to arms.

Clearly, everything he had done had followed the last emperor's and prime minister's dying wishes.

But—

Li Zhaoyuan ultimately did not ask those questions.

In that brief gap of time, he understood many things.

After a sigh, Li Zhaoyuan's expression suddenly relaxed. It was the ease of having the shackles the late emperor had placed upon him shattered, as well as the helplessness of knowing that what he had spent his entire life trying to prove could never be realized.

He looked at him and murmured softly, "It doesn't matter anymore. Since you are already standing here, nothing else matters.

"Compared to Prime Minister