Make sure you have read chapter 64, wattpad is glitching.

That is the music I played as I wrote this so that I would feel emotional. 👆👆👆 It is from my first favourite historical by the way, which taught me half the palace rules in this book. It had a sad ending and I cried for two weeks. Argh.

Chapter 65

Bai Shen Hong
Emperor Huizhong

"Your Majesty, carry me!" Li Lian jumped up and down childishly, pouting and making dewy eyes.

"Your Majesty," Court Lady Nam objected. "It is a shame for the emperor to carry anyone on his back."

"But what shall we do, I'm tired to walk back," Li Lian whined.

"Hougong is a few steps away." Yuwen Hong said, walking on from the riverside where Li Lian was dying her materials. Her palace maid, Ai, followed behind with a dish of them.

"But I want to be carried." She clutched his arm and snuggled, sighing as she walked with her head resting on it.

"Look." She pointed at the shadow that had both of them in it. Li Lian sometimes acted as if she was a person with a short attention span. "Don't we look marvellous together?"

"Like we are meant to be?" He tried his luck.

"Definitely, like we are meant to be" she giggled. "We are making beautiful silhouettes."

"And in the future, we shall make beautiful babies?"

"Hmm..." She bit her lip in contemplation. "Maybe?"

He grinned, quite thrilled. She was starting to accept him and taking him into his heart. Their love was beginning to bloom and the tiny leaves of life were just sprouting out of the ground, the evidence of the strong tree they would become as two in love.

If only he knew that was the last day they would be together; the last day they would walk under the sun. Maybe he would have carried her like she wanted, taken her everywhere with him, told her he loved her.

Then he wouldn't feel as shattered right now, in disparity, and so distraught.

He wanted his love back. It didn't matter what shape or form she would be in, Li Lian just had to come back.

Yuwen Hong saw the messenger circle him as he rode for Oren's cave. He stopped his horse and waited for the bird to land on his shoulders, before pulling out the note from its legs.

'Li Lian found dead at the bottom of the cliff. Grand Dowager asks His Majesty to return to the palace.'

Dead? Not his Li Lian. She was strong.

Yuwen Hong tore the note apart and ushered commands to his horse, changing direction and riding to the palace.

When he arrived, everyone was already in white. They would start mourning for the unborn in the next hour, he presumed. Concubines were not wailed for because they were not considered part of the family.

Yuwen Hong saw the servicemen entering the palace gates in multitudes, returning from the search. They were reporting where they had been to and what they did according to the order they had been given at the registration station.

"Why are you all returning?" Yuwen Hong shouted to them.

They did not answer as expected, too nervous to do so. The general escorting him from the cliff had to repeat his question for them to answer.

To this, one of them replied. "Grand Dowager Empress Wu summoned us back!"

Yuwen Hong pulled the reins of his horse to go to the Rose Flower palace. How dare she defy him again? He was the emperor.

He found his grandmother already in white, preparing to go to the temple with everyone else.

"Did you ask them to come back?" he lashed as he jumped off his horse.

"Ask who?" She slowly went down the stairs, supported by her court lady, and approached him on the pavement.

"The servicemen! I ordered that they must look for Li Lian till I tell them to stop!"

"I think they should stop today and begin preparing to guard the palace. Days ago we were attacked and this palace is vulnerable, needing much protection."

"Li Lian is out there. They shall search until they find her."

"Li Lian has been found by General Feng. Her corpse is also in preparation for the burial, you can go confirm it if you do not believe, Your Majesty."

He swallowed a lump, looking at the general that had been tailing him.

"Tell them to keep searching!" he commanded.

Grand Dowager Empress pulled Yuwen Hong and took his face in both of her hands.

"Look at me," she demanded.

His distanced eyes reluctantly captured hers from his superior height, looking down at her.

"She is gone," she softly muttered.

He frowned.

"She is dead, Bai Shen Hong. Li Lian is dead."

Tense air crackled between them.

"She is not... dead," he protested.

"She is. You can be in denial, but for how long? Face the truth, please. Your people need you to be diligent and sagacious in this time."

Thoughts accelerated inside his mind, his being trying to take in the news, but it couldn't be accepted. It had to be a lie.

Not his Li Lian.

"Li Lian was thrown off the cliff, and her body was left at the disposal of wild animals, thus pieces and bits of her are left now, but you can still recognize her in her nightwear dress. She is really dead."

"She is not dead," he refused.

"Will you stop being in denial?" It was her turn to shout in agitation.

"I am not!" He screamed back. "Tell them to go and search for her! Anyone there? I command you to go now!"

"Yu'er!" Grand Consort Shu wailed as she entered the Rose Flower palace gate. "Yu'er, they killed my Li Lian!"

"Be quiet!"

Grand Consort Shu held her mouth shut and went on her knees, crying. She was at her lowest as if she had hit rock bottom, her sobs bouncing off her chest.

And that is when it finally hit him. Seeing his mother like that.

"No..." He shook his head. "No!"

His head pounded and it was as if the ground was swallowing him, his knees weakening.

"It can't be."

His body froze under the non-existent cold winter air. He couldn't breathe. Everything spun, the ground melting under his feet that he collapsed onto his hands and knees, his breathing shallow and quick.

"No!"

"Everyone leave!" Grand Dowager excused the servants in the background to protect his dignity.

"Bù kěnéng..." He muttered that it was impossible. It couldn't be. The world was playing a joke on him.

His head was a carousel of fear spinning out of control, devastation pushing his mind into blackness.

He could still see her clearly. Li Lian smiling. Li Lian pouting. Li Lian grinning.

He could still hear her. Li Lian laughing. Li Lian giggling. Li Lian squealing.

He could still smell her. Lavender. Fresh. Fragrant.

He also could still taste her. Her kisses...

Then she was running away from him, death taking her away in her departure.

He wanted his thoughts to slow down so he could breathe, but they wouldn't. His breaths came in gasps and his mind made wild prenominitions. His heart hammered like it belonged to a prey running for its skin from a predator.

The walls of the Rose Flower palace began spinning and twisting haphazardly, his body clamouring with sweat. He needed to run after her, ask her not to leave, but she was already gone. Sounds near him felt far away, giving the impression that he was no longer in the body that lay paralyzed on the ground... and for the second time, because of the same person, he cried.

S.V