Chapter 562: The Death of Yuanchao

Chapter 562: The Fall of Yuanchao

Upon hearing this, Empress Dowager Yuan felt her heart sink.

She had bitten her lower lip until it drew blood, her eyes filled with seething resentment.

She had never actually killed Jiang Yutong and Jiang Shixu—she had only said it in a fit of pique to test the Imperial Advisor.

Unexpectedly, at this most critical juncture, he would actually cast her and Yuanchao aside to go find those two little bastards.

Empress Dowager Yuan couldn't deny the sting of hurt.

She watched helplessly as the Imperial Advisor picked up a sword from the ground, hacked his way through the hall, and carved a bloody path for himself out of the palace.

But unexpectedly, before he had been gone even the blink of an eye, he came scrambling back in a panic.

Empress Dowager Yuan was dumbfounded. Only then did she notice that a contingent of troops was bearing down on them with unstoppable force, kicking up clouds of dust.

She recognized them in an instant—these were the reinforcements the Four Great Families had summoned!

Empress Dowager Yuan flew into a rage and hastily ordered Zhu Wei to lead his men to hold the line.

Fortunately, she had just that moment produced the military tally and sent for reinforcements. Both sides' forces converged on the palace at nearly the same moment, and fighting quickly erupted once more.

Swords clashed, screams rang out, and the entire palace was engulfed in a bloody storm of violence. Arrows poured down like a torrential downpour, and the stench of blood in the air grew even thicker.

The men of the Four Great Families fought with bloodlust in their eyes. Another family head took a blade to the neck, bright red blood gushing forth, staining the ground crimson.

Qi Huaichuan was scared out of his wits. He clearly realized that the conflict between the Four Great Families and Empress Dowager Yuan had reached a point of no return—a fight to the death.

It was kill or be killed. Unless Empress Dowager Yuan died, this battle would never truly end.

With that thought, he steeled himself and shouted to the Four Great Families' reinforcements: "Whoever kills Empress Dowager Yuan will be rewarded by this family head with ten thousand taels of gold, a thousand hectares of fertile land, and a promotion in rank!"

Heavy rewards always attract brave men. The moment Qi Huaichuan said this, plenty of reckless guards charged toward Empress Dowager Yuan.

The shadow guards protecting Empress Dowager Yuan materialized instantly and engaged them in combat.

But there were too many people who wanted Empress Dowager Yuan dead—how could a mere few dozen shadow guards possibly hold them back?

Empress Dowager Yuan's heart was now in her throat. She wanted to run, but realized there was no escape.

With every step forward, dozens of swords awaited her. In her panic, she stumbled back a few steps.

The soldiers pressed their relentless attack, launching fierce strikes against her.

Finally, after dozens of exchanges, they found an opening.

Several soldiers held back the nearby shadow guards. Meanwhile, another soldier raised his sword and thrust it viciously at Empress Dowager Yuan's chest.

Her face went pale, but there was no time to dodge—the blade was less than a foot from her chest.

"Die!" Just as the sword was about to pierce Empress Dowager Yuan's chest, a thin white figure appeared out of nowhere and threw himself in front of her without hesitation.

"Pfft!" The sickening sound of a blade sinking into flesh rang out. The young man let out a pained grunt, blood spraying from his mouth.

When Empress Dowager Yuan saw that the person shielding her was Yuanchao, her mind went completely blank.

His white crown prince's robes were soaked in blood. The young man's pallid face was flecked with blood. He looked at Empress Dowager Yuan one last time, then his body went limp and he crumpled to the ground.

Empress Dowager Yuan's eyes went wide with shock. She lunged forward like a madwoman and caught the young man in her trembling arms.

"Chao'er, Chao'er, wake up! Don't frighten Mother!"

"A physician! Someone call a physician!"

She screamed in despair, tears streaming down her face as she pressed her hand desperately against Yuanchao's chest.

But it was useless—blood still poured from the gaping wound.

They all knew that under these circumstances, no physician could possibly make it in time.

Even if one could, Yuanchao had been struck in the chest—there was no saving him in time.

Yuanchao's pale lips trembled, his eyelashes wet with tears. He looked weakly at Empress Dowager Yuan, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Mother, don't... don't waste your strength. I... I'm about to go."

"You... you brought me into this world, and I... I'm grateful for that, but the life you gave me... it wasn't... wasn't the life I wanted."

"This... this life, I'll give it back to you, as repayment for raising me..."

With those words, the young man's hollow eyes shut, and his hand fell limp.

"No, don't!" Empress Dowager Yuan's eyes nearly split with rage and grief. She could no longer hold back and broke down, sobbing and wailing.

She held the young man tightly in her arms, tears streaming down like a broken string of pearls as she called his name over and over.

"Chao'er, Chao'er, why are you so foolish?"

"Wake up, please. If you don't want to be crown prince, then you don't have to be. Mother won't force you anymore. Just open your eyes and look at Mother, and I'll agree to anything you want..."

Empress Dowager Yuan said many things while holding Yuanchao's body, but the young man in her arms remained utterly still.

The Imperial Advisor was utterly dumbfounded as well!

The image of Yuanchao being struck by the sword, and the look of disappointment in his eyes as he fell, both reminded him that his son was deeply disappointed in him.

The Imperial Advisor's heart lurched as he felt a suffocating, dull ache. He clutched his chest and, for the first time, began to question whether he had truly done something wrong.

Yuanchao didn't want to be emperor, yet they had forced him onto the throne for their own selfish desires.

They had never once considered whether he wanted it or was willing.

In the end, it was all for nothing—they gained nothing at all.

Yuanchao's death hit Empress Dowager Yuan harder than any previous upheaval.

She and the Imperial Advisor were nearly broken, a heavy sorrow weighing on their hearts and threatening to crush them.

Empress Dowager Yuan sat holding Yuanchao's body, her eyes vacant, for a long time—like a living corpse.

Until the sounds of battle outside gradually faded away. The rebel forces of the Five Great Families had all been cut down by Empress Dowager Yuan's men, leaving the entire palace strewn with corpses—a scene of utter devastation.

The two surviving family heads were captured alive by Zhu Wei and thrown into the imperial dungeon.

Empress Dowager Yuan hated them to the bone. She automatically blamed Yuanchao's death on the four family heads.

She felt that if they hadn't rebelled and tried to kill her, Yuanchao wouldn't have died taking that sword for her.

All of this tragedy was inextricably tied to the heads of the Four Great Families.

Empress Dowager Yuan picked up Yuanchao's body. The seventeen-year-old was still terrifyingly light.

She carefully laid the body on the dragon throne, then stood up, clenched her fists, her eyes burning with bone-deep hatred.

"Convey my imperial edict: the heads of the Four Great Families conspired to rebel, led troops to attack the palace, and sent assassins to kill me. I tried to reason with them many times to no avail, and my heart aches deeply."

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