The Emperor’s Last Lesson

“Your mother taught you well,” the emperor said.

“Mother only taught me how to train hawks.”

“So the whole empire, including me and my palace, was prey in your hands.”

“Daughters of the steppe are never trapped by romance.”

I looked down at him.

“Mother once gave you warmth when you were young. You abandoned her for power.”

“Father saved her. Without him, she might have been sold into a brothel or given as a concubine to a low family.”

“But you ordered the death of the man she loved.”

“You destroyed her hope.”

“You locked me behind these walls and let people spit on me.”

“Tell me, was this your compensation?”

“I gave you mother and daughter wealth found nowhere else in the world!”

“Even knowing you were not mine, I acknowledged you!”

“You acknowledged me only to satisfy your guilt.”

“To complete your identity as an emperor.”

“Your hands are covered in blood. Mother and I were only tools for your repentance.”

The emperor laughed.

Then looked at the sleeping fifth prince.

“My other sons are gone too, aren’t they?”

“Of course. When cutting weeds, roots must be removed.”

“If you had been a man, perhaps I would have given you the throne.”

“What is good about being emperor?”

“My desire was never here.”

“I only want to fly beyond these walls and bring Mother back to the steppe, where cattle and sheep live under open sky.”

“There are people who do not want power?”

“There are people who throw away power delivered to their hands?”

I handed him the abdication edict.

“Please name the fifth prince heir to secure the state.”

“If I refuse, you will kill me.”

I said nothing.

He read the edict.

Then stamped it with the imperial jade seal.

“Go announce it.”

“This empire is yours now.”

I glanced at the seal mark.

“I said I have no use for this empire.”

The eunuch waiting outside took the edict to announce it.

In one night, the palace changed.

I removed my armor and sat on the steps while servants cleaned the blood.

The emperor sat beside me.

“I have abdicated. You can control the world.”

“Your strategy is no less than a man’s.”

I smiled lightly.

“The physicians said the fifth prince was born prematurely from shock.”

“But tell me, why did he come out so healthy?”

The emperor froze.

I leaned near his ear.

“The consort is mine.”

“She was already married before entering the palace.”

“I killed a selected girl and let her enter under that name.”

“The eunuchs who examined her and the physicians who delivered the child were all bought.”

“With the gold and silver you gave me.”

“You!”

His fingers trembled.

“You!”

He tried to stand and kill me.

But years of indulgence and medicines had hollowed his body.

He was only an empty shell.

“I’ll kill you!”

I looked at him staggering like a dying old man.

No imperial dignity remained.

Only rage at being played.

At being cuckolded.

At seeing his bloodline erased.

I gave the final blow.

“Your sons and grandsons are all dead.”

“From now on, this world belongs to the fifth prince.”

The emperor spat blood.

He struggled to crawl toward me.

“Your mother…”

He could not finish.

I watched him die.

Eyes open.

Hand still reaching for my robe.

“The emperor has died!”

Everyone knelt.

Only I stood.

The former emperor died.

The fifth prince was named heir.

His mother would rule in his name.

Four great ministers would assist.

In the records, Prince Ling rebelled.

Princess Jiao killed her husband out of righteousness and saved the emperor.

The emperor died from wounds inflicted by Prince Ling.

The consort protected the fifth prince with her life.

That would be the truth.

Because I allowed it to be.