Eternal Night - Chapter 105
"Your Highness, be on guard!"
Li Tianrui stood up, glancing around with a gloomy expression. Was a subject obligated to die simply because the emperor commanded it? "Instruct the guards to prepare. When the imperial decree is announced, we'll break out!" As he finished speaking, a sharp pain, tinged with resentment, pierced him deeply, like rough wooden splinters digging into his flesh. He felt nothing until he touched them, and the pain was excruciating. He was the legitimate son of the empress; was he really so inferior to the son of that lowly Consort Li?
For the palace maids, the Crown Prince was known for his frequent and brutal beatings of palace servants to death, so they feared him more than they respected him. However, he was still the Crown Prince, and at this moment, he was clearly a Crown Prince who had been manipulated. Even with his usual cruelty, their eyes now revealed a deep sense of sympathy.
Perhaps if the Crown Prince is deposed, everyone in the Eastern Palace will perish with him. Perhaps, the Crown Prince will fight his way out, meet the Emperor, and punish the treacherous Prince Duan; he will still be the master of the Forbidden City. The Left and Right Guards of the Eastern Palace harbored a variety of complex thoughts. In this life-or-death situation, no one wanted to die. Many more thought that if they fought to the death, they might gain the opportunity to share the Emperor's glory and disgrace in the future, and enjoy a lifetime of wealth and honor. At that moment, they all answered in unison: "We are willing to live and die with Your Highness!"
Prince Duan stood under the umbrella, wearing an oiled robe. There is no true fairness in this world. You are not of imperial blood; you can only die. If you don't die, are you going to stage another coup d'état twenty-two years later?
He would always remember the look on Emperor Yujia's face when he heard the Empress was pregnant—his face was deathly pale, his eyes bloodshot as if he wanted to kill. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell Tianrui any of this. His elder brother was gone; the past would remain buried deep within him alone.
Li Tianrui's figure gradually appeared before him, so similar to that person. His face bore a striking resemblance to the Empress, yet he carried the same expression. That person was also his half-brother, whom he often encountered in the mansion, his face impassive, but his heart filled with sighs. That person was merely an accident during the Emperor's visit outside the palace. Could he not have a royal title, could not enter the ancestral temple, so he chose this method to contend for the throne?
Once, after drinking, Emperor Yujia held his hand and said, "Never marry another woman."
He agreed.
Emperor Yujia wept: "I could have let him be a wealthy and noble prince!"
He was speechless.
After that man was thrown into the Valley of Wandering and had an affair with the Empress, he became a traitor to the Kingdom of An.
"Royal Uncle! I have been waiting for you for a long time."
Tianrui's words made Prince Duan re-evaluate him. All three princes were outstanding. Tianrui was a bit cunning, but Tianyou was no pushover either. He thought of Yongye, the daughter of the Li family, who was also a deeply calculating person. Tianrui wasn't much worse than Tianyou; he was even more suitable to be an emperor than the straightforward Tianxiang.
Prince Duan smiled gently. Unfortunately, he was not the bloodline of his elder brother, but the son of a traitor who was always thinking about seizing the throne and was willing to collude with foreign rebels.
"Receive the decree!" Prince Duan slowly unfolded the imperial edict.
The instant the Imperial Guards knelt, the left and right guards atop the Eastern Palace wall unleashed a volley of arrows, felling the Imperial Guards in front of them to the ground. Amid shouts, Eastern Palace soldiers charged out, swords drawn.
Chaos erupted at the palace gates, with shouts of battle filling the air.
Prince Duan simply smiled, stepped back slightly, and waved his hand.
The shields formed an impenetrable wall, blocking the attack. The siege crossbows fired incredibly sharp arrows with tremendous force. Those at the front seemed not to be hit by arrows, but rather struck by boulders, bouncing against the tall palace gates with a thud.
Li Tianrui deflected two crossbow bolts nearly a meter long, his arm trembling from the impact, his sword almost slipping from his grasp, before being escorted back by soldiers. In his final glance back at Prince Duan, his expression was one of boundless sorrow.
Prince Duan shook his head, looking at the Crown Prince with pity. How could he compare to him? Years of military service had allowed him to lay a trap, waiting only for the people of Youli Valley to storm the palace so he could eliminate them all.
"The Crown Prince conspired with Youligu to commit treason. He is hereby deposed and sentenced to death! This imperial edict is so!" The edict was brief and to the point, without even listing the Crown Prince's crimes.
Commander Zhang stood beside Prince Duan and shouted, "Left and Right Guards of the Eastern Palace, lay down your weapons! We will spare you for your ignorance. If you resist again, you will be implicated along with the Crown Prince!"
Treason is almost one of the most serious crimes, enough to punish even dwarves.
Many of the Crown Prince's guards hesitated for a moment and then dropped their weapons. Only a few loyal bodyguards escorted the Crown Prince back into the palace.
"Your Highness, change into my servant's clothes and run away!"
Li Tianrui looked at his personal eunuch, a pang of sorrow gripping his heart. Just one sentence, and the bond between father and son was gone, the position of Crown Prince was gone, and he had plummeted from heaven to hell. Treason—the most heinous crime—had been imposed upon him by his father, the Emperor. He could even imagine the fate of his beautiful mother. According to the laws of Anguo, those who plotted treason were to be executed by dismemberment and the extermination of their nine generations of relatives. Such a crime, yet it only resulted in his death. Should he thank the Emperor for his mercy? Had he been given a quick death?
A deep sorrow etched itself on his handsome face. His mother had colluded with Youli Valley, but he was the Crown Prince. What wrong had he done to be wary of his elder brother? He had never intended to murder his father and seize the throne! Yet this was the outcome. How utterly unjust!
"We can't hold them off any longer. Your Highness, as long as we're alive, we'll have nothing to fear..."
"Shut up! I am the Crown Prince of Anguo! I want to see how history will record Li Tianyou's collusion with Li Gu to kill my father and mother, and his brother to seize the throne! I'm not leaving!" Li Tianrui roared.
"You must leave." A strange voice rang out in the hall.
Everyone turned around, and a tall, slender figure appeared at the entrance to the rear hall. He walked step by step towards the Crown Prince; the figure was both somewhat unfamiliar and somewhat familiar.
Who are you?
"If you don't want to die an unexplained death, you must come with me. I'm from Youli Valley, here to rescue you." The newcomer's words carried a hint of malice.
As the words were spoken, the sounds of fighting ahead grew closer.
"Listen up, you inside! You are surrounded! Lay down your weapons and surrender!"
The newcomer took a breath and shouted, "Li Gu, don't you want your daughter anymore?"
Prince Duan was stunned. He had always felt a pang of guilt as a father towards Yongye; she had finally fallen into his hands. In an instant, Yongye's beautiful face and clever expression seemed to appear before him. He had known this day would come, and he had made his decision long ago.
Yet, the words were so hard to say. He was in the same predicament. He wanted his son dead, and he wouldn't let his daughter live either.
Prince Duan's face twitched, appearing ferocious in the firelight. He recalled his words to Yongye: "Nothing in this world is absolutely in one's own hands." Now, he couldn't even control his own heart.
"Your Highness—" Commander Zhang called out to him softly. Yongye was Prime Minister Zhang's only grandson and Prince Duan's only son; how could he possibly be lost?
Prince Duan suddenly burst into laughter: "Li Yannian, you've finally come to the palace! Kill Yongye! Just pretend I've never found her all these years!" Without giving any chance, he decisively ordered an arrow and fire attack.
Li Yannian listened with admiration, then turned to look at Li Tianrui and said coldly, "Come with me and charge out!"
"I will not leave!"
"Slap!" A slap landed on his face. Li Yannian said hatefully, "If you want to avenge your mother, if you want to reclaim the throne that belongs to you, you must leave!"
Li Tianrui was stunned by the slap. In all these years, no matter how much Emperor Yujia disliked him, he had never slapped him. He gasped, "You dare hit me?!"
"In this world, there's nothing a father wouldn't dare to do when beating his son!" After saying that, Li Yannian grabbed Li Tianrui, who was stunned by his words, and rushed towards the back hall.
As soon as they stepped out of the palace gate, they were met with another hail of arrows and a group of Imperial Guards.
Suddenly, three men in black appeared on the palace wall and, together with Li Yannian, protected Li Tianrui as they charged out.