Chapter 569: Out of Trumps

Chapter 569: No Cards Left

"Even at the moment of her death, she never forgave my father in her heart."

Every time he recalled that period of the past, Hua Feixue couldn't contain his hatred.

He had never understood before why his father and mother, who clearly loved each other deeply, his mother harbored such resentment toward his father at her deathbed.

Now he understood—it was all Empress Dowager Yuan's doing. In order to increase the number of heirs in the palace, she had stuffed many concubines at Emperor Chu's side.

Emperor Chu refused to touch them, so she used the Empress's life as a threat to force him to comply, ultimately driving his mother to death.

Until her final moments, the Empress never knew the truth of this matter.

And it was precisely because of this that Emperor Chu had been tormented for over a decade. Filled with regret, he copied Buddhist scriptures daily to apologize to the Empress, hoping to earn her forgiveness.

Hua Feixue saw all of this, and hatred festered inside him.

He dreamed of making Empress Dowager Yuan pay.

He'd thought that day would never come, but now he'd actually done it.

Empress Dowager Yuan's blood wouldn't stop flowing. She clutched her abdomen tightly with both hands and said in a trembling voice: "Who told your father and mother to disobey me and go against my wishes?"

"If anyone's to blame, it's your mother's excessive jealousy. Since ancient times, what emperor hasn't had three thousand beauties in his harem? Yet she insisted on your father's exclusive favor and refused to let him take concubines."

"As their mother, was I wrong to want your father to have more princes and expand the royal family?"

Hearing this, Hua Feixue was so enraged he stabbed her again.

"You're full of shit. Don't you know what you're really after? Expanding the royal family? Which prince or princess didn't die at your hands?"

"What you wanted was to use their pure yang blood to open the forbidden land's gate and find the so-called treasure map."

"Whether that treasure map is real or fake is still up in the air. For something so illusory, you killed countless of my blood relatives, murdered countless innocents, and even tried to control me and use me to obtain the treasure map for you."

"Yuan, everything you've done has been driven by greed and ambition. Even if you died ten thousand times, it still wouldn't be enough."

Empress Dowager Yuan's face twisted with fury. She glared viciously at Hua Feixue, her lips trembling slightly.

"I've done no wrong. I wanted the treasure map for the good of the royal family, for the good of the people of Western Shu. What crime have I committed?"

"Chu Yi, the blood of your Chu royal family can't open the forbidden land's gate. That only proves you're no longer fit to sit on the throne. You should hand this position to someone else."

Hua Feixue looked at her with cold eyes. He genuinely thought Empress Dowager Yuan was insane—and seriously so.

"Even at death's door, you're still stubbornly unrepentant."

"In that case, I don't mind sending you off."

"No!" Seeing him raise his sword toward her chest, Empress Dowager Yuan used all her remaining strength to dodge hastily.

Hua Feixue's sword struck the cabinet behind her, slicing off a corner.

Empress Dowager Yuan was shaken. She lay sprawled on the ground in disgrace, her body already soaked in blood.

Death was so close now. This time, she was genuinely scared.

She'd never imagined that even with Emperor Chu in her hands, Hua Feixue would actually go through with it.

He really wanted to kill her.

But Empress Dowager Yuan didn't want to die yet.

Yuan Zhao hadn't been buried yet, her great enterprise wasn't complete, and she still had many things left unfinished. She couldn't die now.

With that thought, Empress Dowager Yuan looked up at Hua Feixue in terror and stammered: "Chu Yi, don't kill me. I was wrong. I really know I was wrong."

"If you spare me, I'll let you see your father, alright?"

Her voice carried a plea. This was the first time Hua Feixue had ever seen the once lofty and arrogant Empress Dowager lower her head.

But his heart wasn't as pleased as he'd imagined.

His mother couldn't come back, his loved ones couldn't come back. Everything he'd lost couldn't be undone with a simple apology.

Hua Feixue pointed his sword at Empress Dowager Yuan, eyes bloodshot and gaze icy cold.

"When the late emperor died, did you spare him? When my mother died, did you spare her? When you killed my brothers and sisters, did you show them any mercy?"

"They were so young. Every one of them wanted to live. You stripped away their hope of survival and cut off their path to life."

"So today, you have to die."

Empress Dowager Yuan couldn't speak. When she'd done these things, she hadn't felt much—just another life, dead and gone. What did it matter?

People dying in the palace was the most normal thing in the world!

But at this moment, when she herself was trampled underfoot and a sword was pointed at her,

Empress Dowager Yuan finally understood how desperate and helpless a person felt before death.

She also finally realized that karma really did exist in this world.

Hua Feixue thrust his sword straight at her. Empress Dowager Yuan closed her eyes in fear. She'd lost too much blood, her strength was fading fast, and she no longer had the energy to move.

Just as she thought she was done for, Nurse An was dragged in by two guards and thrown to the ground.

"Your Highness, we found a suspicious servant outside. She says she's Empress Dowager Yuan's person."

Nurse An was thrown in, her face bruised and swollen, landing right at Hua Feixue's feet.

Hua Feixue recognized her. She was the old witch's personal attendant and one of her most trusted confidantes.

In the past, she'd often bullied him on Empress Dowager Yuan's orders. Hua Feixue had long wanted to get rid of her.

When Empress Dowager Yuan saw Nurse An, her expression immediately turned agitated. She quickly asked: "Nurse An, how is it? Did you bring him out?"

As long as she could get Emperor Chu out, she'd have the leverage to challenge Hua Feixue.

Nurse An swallowed hard and said in a panicked voice: "Your Majesty, Emperor Chu is not in the basement at all."

Empress Dowager Yuan was stunned. "What?! He's not in the basement? Then where else could he be?"

Nurse An recalled what she'd seen and said with a mournful face: "I don't know either. When I went there, no one was inside."

She paused, then suddenly remembered something else. "Oh, I also noticed that the four iron chains locking Emperor Chu had all been opened. I suspect someone stole Your Majesty's keys and got Emperor Chu out."

As her words fell, Empress Dowager Yuan seemed to have all her strength drained, collapsing limply to the ground.

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