The night was black as ink. Palace lanterns swayed beneath the eaves, their dim yellow halos trembling faintly in the night breeze like guttering candles that might go out at any moment.
Lin Wan'er stood before the palace gates and raised her head to glance at the familiar plaque, its gold lettering gleaming coldly in the lamplight.
She wore plain white palace robes. Her hair was dry and yellowed, her face thinner and more haggard than ever, as though a gust of wind could knock her over.
The lamplight shone in her eyes, yet could not illuminate their deathly gray darkness.
This was her first time seeing Guangxin Palace after nightfall.
For more than a dozen years, she had never set foot here at night, never once stayed overnight at Guangxin Palace and shared a bed with her own mother.
Lin Wan'er took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold.
A maid led her into the Bedchamber, then quietly withdrew and closed the door.
Candlelight flickered inside. Through layer upon layer of curtains, she immediately spotted the figure reclining on a cushioned couch.
Li Yunrui.
She leaned languidly against a soft pillow, her belly bulging so prominently that even her loose palace robes could not conceal it.
Two palace maids knelt beside her, one massaging her legs to stimulate circulation, the other waiting in attendance.
Ever since Emperor Qing had discovered her pregnancy and declared that he would kill every palace servant in Guangxin Palace, Li Yunrui had felt that, since these attendants were all going to die anyway, there was no need to keep making herself suffer as she had before.
So she summoned them to attend her, doing everything as she always had, without hiding anything anymore.
When the urgent news of Emperor Qing's death arrived that