"Even if he spares Prince Dai for my sake for now, he will surely exile him and keep him confined. And once either Prince Qi or Prince Shu ascends the throne, he will order his death. There is no hope of escaping that."
The hatred between the two princes and her grandson had already become a knot that could never be untied. One side had to die for the other to live. Besides, her grandson bore the title of the former crown prince's son. Whichever of the two ascended the throne, neither would allow Prince Dai to live.
No, knowing that old bastard, I fear he will not even wait until then. While he is still on the throne, he will eliminate this future threat...
At that thought, the empress turned deathly pale. She was about to issue an order, but the words circled on the tip of her tongue before she swallowed them back down.
Holding her tongue, the empress slowly came to a halt inside the hall.
"Fu'er..." Prince Dai's face appeared before her eyes. Strangely, another young man's face, etched even more deeply into her heart, overlapped with it.
The empress suddenly remembered hearing that the crown prince had taken his own life and his entire household had been put to the sword. Twenty years had passed. Even though they were mother and son, the crown prince seemed to have faded into a wisp of smoke.
Yet now, stirred by those words, the emotions she had never had time to unleash back then suddenly awakened. That, too, had been a bleak dusk veiled in fine rain. When she heard the news, the strings of the zither beneath her hands snapped, slicing her fingers until they ran with blood.
*Fu'er, is that you? Have you finally sent word