The Culprit

It turns out what had happened was that she was outed for having a relationship with a guard which was forbidden. It was a death penalty, it was I had feared when I was pursued by his majesty since everyone here... Belonged to his majesty. So at midnight every night there was a secret knock pattern to know if the other was there and he would pass the medicine to her.

~That Night~

Di Lian awaited by the door and as predicted a knock in a strange pattern appeared and she did it in return. And we had some guards await in the back, I whistled as a sign for them to grab him. He looked in fear as he saw his Majesty by my side coldly glaring at him.

"You are sentenced to dea-" The man's eyes became hollow resigning to his fate, as Dai Ling looked with fear.

"Zhang Wei (张伟)ge..." She had whimpered and the man, Zhang Wei presumably give her a gentle smile and told her not to worry.

"Wait a minute." I said interrupting his majesty. "Please do not punish them."

"They threatened your safety!" He said coldly, thank goodness that was the reason.

"It wasn't their fault, the mastermind was concubine Zheng. They were in love...They remind me of us Hong ge...I would have done the same for you." His gaze softened at my words and the use of his old nickname.

"Yes, you explained that before when we were reunited by fate..." He said reminiscing by the distant look in his eyes.

"And their reunion, too was fate." I said tugging his sleeve and bringing him back to reality.

"You are sentenced to life in servitude together to Consort Ying." He said with a gentle glance at me.

"Yes, we shall be forever indebted to Consort Ying, we pledge our undying loyalty to her. For her, we will go through water and tread on fire for her (fu tang dao huo/赴湯蹈火 meaning not afraid of any difficulty)." The star crossed lovers vowed together.

"Consort Zheng is sentenced to Leng Gong (冷宫)." Leng gong was the furthest a consort or concubine could fall, if not death by abuse or neglect than insanity of awaiting his majesty everyday in false hope and eventually having to decieve oneself awaited the women abandoned by his majesty. I had often feared this, no one is safe whether it be the Empress, Concubine Li, those with childern... Or even me...

~A/N~

Casting Liu YiFei as Harmony

Casting Sun Li as the Empress

Casting Yang Mi as Di Lian

Casting Chen Xiaoxu as Dai Ling