On New Year's Day in Shangjing City, a layer of white frost had settled overnight on the bluestone slabs. With every breath, those walking the streets could see a clear puff of white vapor. But even the biting winter chill couldn't suppress the festive cheer of the Spring Festival.
The underfloor heating in Kunning Palace should have made it as warm as spring, but the atmosphere inside was so tense that the eunuchs and palace maids were as silent as cicadas in winter, treading as if on thin ice.
Kneeling before the phoenix bed to take the Empress's pulse, Sui Ziran, the Director of the Imperial Hospital, was dripping with cold sweat. His inner shirt was already nearly soaked through.
Even through the layers of bed curtains, Sui Ziran could smell the heavy stench of blood.
Two days ago, the Empress had given birth to the first legitimate prince, but she had been unconscious ever since. He had tried various methods, yet she showed no signs of waking.
"Go and bring the Phoenix Blood Ganoderma," Sui Ziran said, his voice trembling uncontrollably.
The Phoenix Blood Ganoderma was a last resort—a potent and most precious medicinal herb. He wouldn't have called for it if acupuncture and every other method hadn't failed to rouse the Empress...
Sui Ziran didn't dare to dwell on the thought.
Yanxia, the Empress's Chief Palace Maid, went to fetch the Blood Ganoderma herself.
An incense stick later, Yanxia returned empty-handed.
"Where is it?" asked Yu Yi, who was keeping watch by the Empress's side, seeing Yanxia return empty-handed.
Yanxia's eyes were red, and she looked as though she had been in a fight. "The Blood Ganoderma... it was taken by people from Penglai Palace. They said Chen Fei had a scare..."
She had been no match for several of Penglai Palace's attendants and had failed to get it back.
"Then what about Her Majesty?" Yu Yi demanded before Yanxia could even finish. "This won't do." Yu Yi stood up from the bedside. "I'm going to find them and demand an explanation! No matter how favored Chen Fei is, our Empress is the one who rules this Imperial Palace! How dare she steal Her Majesty's life-saving medicine!"
Just then, a slender, pale hand resting on the bedding twitched, as if trying to reach out and touch Yu Yi's sleeve.
But the movement was too faint, her fingers lifting from the covers for only a fleeting instant, and no one noticed.
In truth, Ming Lingyi could hear every word being said around her, but her eyelids felt as if they were made of lead, refusing to open even a sliver.
'Go to Penglai Palace now? What for?' she thought. 'Isn't that just sending herself to her death?'
'The Imperial Hospital dared to bypass me, the mistress of Kunning Palace, and hand the Blood Ganoderma over to someone from Penglai Palace. Isn't that proof enough of that woman's status in the palace?'
Chen Fei of Penglai Palace was doted on by the Emperor. Ever since entering the palace, her star had risen so high that it had completely overshadowed the Empress herself.
'Too bad Yu Yi still didn't understand. The justice and respect for hierarchy she sought were fragile as glass in the face of the Emperor's favor.'
As the argument continued by her ear, Ming Lingyi's mind drifted back to her encounter with Chen Fei in the Imperial Garden a few days prior.
"Your Majesty must have waited a long time in Kunning Palace on the fifteenth. I was feeling unwell that night, so the Emperor had no choice but to stay with me all night. You don't blame me, do you, Your Majesty?"
The Emperor was supposed to stay the night at Kunning Palace on the fifteenth of every month.
But this month, Li Yun had failed to appear.
'Then again, when it came to broken promises, this was hardly the first.'
Though Chen Fei spoke words of apology, her eyes were filled with unconcealed glee.
Ming Lingyi, seven or eight months pregnant at the time, had felt a bitter taste fill her mouth.
It was almost New Year's Eve, but she couldn't feel a shred of happiness.
She had suffered an attack of her breathing ailment, barely surviving the birth of her son. She had stared at the doorway for what felt like an eternity, but the one person she longed to see never appeared.
Tears soaked her pillow.
The moment her eyes had closed, Ming Lingyi felt a long-awaited sense of release.
'Hadn't she known all along? The Little General who once promised her at the border that they would be together until their hair turned white was long gone. All that remained now was a cold, ruthless, and decisive Emperor.'
The past was gone, yet memories remained, endlessly captivating.
When Ming Lingyi was first betrothed, Li Yun was not yet a Prince but was stationed at the border with his father.
The sands of the Great Desert were like snow, the moon over Yan Mountain like a hook.
When Ming Lingyi learned she had such a fiancé, she was, in truth, quite frightened.
Although Li Yun was her father's student, he spent his years in military camps while she lived in the city. And even though the foolish emperor of the previous dynasty had exiled her entire family to the bitter cold of the Northwest, she was still a sheltered, pampered young lady.
Before, she had only ever met elegant scholars and poets, men of refined speech and flowing sleeves. A military general clad in cold, hard armor seemed like a sharpened sword—forged in blood and iron, and just as ruthless.
But then she remembered the first time she saw Li Yun. He had been holding a small, blue-eyed cat.
As if he knew she was afraid of him, he was always gentle and courteous in her presence, no different from the young gentlemen she had known back in Shangjing City. If there was one difference, it was that Li Yun was exceptionally handsome.
Later, once she was no longer so afraid of him, he took her out of the city. He taught her to ride a horse and play the flute, showed her the vast desert sands swept by the westerly wind, and together they watched the round sun set over the long river.
For the first time, the sheltered young lady from a family of upright officials was captivated by the vast, magnificent expanse of the Great Desert. And for the first time, she understood what it felt like to love someone.
After the foolish emperor of the old dynasty brought about his own ruin and the Li family took control of the Imperial City, she was finally able to return from the remote lands of the Northwest to the bustling metropolis of Shangjing City.
The founding emperor of the Dayan Dynasty was her father-in-law. He had spent his entire life in the military, guarding the borders for decades. Less than a year after ascending the throne, he died when his old wounds flared up. The new Emperor then took the throne and changed the reign title to Jing'an.
She became the most honored woman in the Dayan Dynasty.
When she discovered she was with child, the court officials began submitting memorials, urging the new Emperor to expand his harem to produce more heirs and ensure the continuation of the imperial family line.
Soon after, Chen Fei entered the palace.
The first time her breathing ailment flared up and Li Yun didn't appear at Kunning Palace; the first time she waited all night for his familiar silhouette, only for it never to arrive; the first time she was no longer the only one by his side at a palace banquet—that was when Ming Lingyi knew. The young general who had promised to spend a lifetime watching the bright moon with her and her alone upon the sand dunes was gone.
The Imperial Palace was vast, perhaps even more so than the Great Desert. She could go for weeks at a time without a single glimpse of the man she longed to see.
She tried to hold on to Li Yun's promise, but failed. She tried to protect the little blue-eyed cat, but one morning, she found its stiff body lying among the flowers.
Everything she had tried to protect had ultimately slipped through her fingers.
She was so tired.
Her life had been such a failure.
Though it was daytime, the sky outside had, at some point, become blanketed in dark clouds.
Fat snowflakes began to fall, blotting out the daylight.
"To be bound as husband and wife, our love never doubting..." The vows from their wedding night still echoed in her ears.
And now...
"But I hear your heart has turned to another, so I must tear our bond apart and burn it to ash."
A sigh, so faint it was barely there, escaped Ming Lingyi's lips, as if she had just exhaled her very last breath.
'If there is a next life,' she thought, 'I will never again enter this suffocating palace. And I will never again marry that handsome Little General of my youth.'
Turbulent clouds hung low at dusk, as flurries of snow danced in the swirling wind.
On the first day of the first lunar month in the Second Year of Jing'an, Empress Hui Ming passed away.
"HYA—"
Outside Shangjing City, a contingent of Black Armor Guards came galloping at full speed. The thunder of their hooves startled the City Defense Army on the gate tower.
"Who goes there—"
Before he could finish his question, the sharp whistle of an arrow cut through the air. It slammed into the tower wall just behind him, its feathered tail still quivering. Hanging from the shaft was a bright yellow token that made his pupils shrink in shock.
"Open the gates!" came the deep voice of the man in black armor leading the charge. He showed no intention of pulling on his reins to slow his mount.
The moment they saw the token on the wall, the soldiers of the City Defense Army had already dropped to their knees. Down below, their comrades scrambled to open the gate.
The gate had barely opened enough for a single rider to pass when the black-clad figure shot through like a bolt of lightning. He vanished in an instant down the empty expanse of Vermilion Bird Street, swallowed by the night.
The first month of the Second Year of Jing'an was destined to be anything but peaceful.