Past Life

What had marked the beginning of their story was also the end of their story. Empress Ziqiuju and Emperor Yuzhong's love story came to an end before it could even sprout to grow its leaves.

This tells the day that Empress Ziqiuju fell, died and her story with Emperor Yuzhong concluded before beginning.

This marks the start to the end of the story of Xing Lan and Yuan Xun.

In the future they would be meeting once more, who knows what would happen?

Would she be getting her revenge on him?

Would he be fighting back for her love?

We will never know.

—

Wei Xinglan.

A prestigious woman whose reputation was but it was all in the rumours that had been spread by her dearest husband.

The footsteps approaching her courtyard indicated someone of high importance was getting near. Who else could it be other than the Emperor himself?

As expected, her guess had been right on the dot. Bullseye. As what the future- her would call that.

With a false smile, she greeted the Emperor. Only for her to be glared at once she got the signal from his personal steward to dispense with the formalities.

"Tell me, where, had you hid it?" The gloomy voice belonging to Qin Yuanxun sounded out in her ears. He sounded very angry, gloomy, moody and pissed. Yeah, so negative, and all of those at once. Wei Xinglan tilted her head backwards and looked at him with a plastic smile still hanging by her lips.

"Replying to the Emperor, this concubine does not know what the respectful you might mention of."

"Leave." His words were not really directed to the Empress herself but more so to the servants. They immediately heard his orders and left to retreat the room at once.

"This Emperor has no time for your jokes. I'll ask again, where is it." He kept insisting on his previous question.

Her smile dropped and however fake it was, it was too tiring to keep up with the work.

"Don't tell me you're here for…"

"That's right." He paused for a slight second before asserting himself. "You had best handed it over."

She laughed out of scorn and said, "What makes you think I'd give it to you?"

"Don't test my patience. I'd like to see you hand it over by the end of today." With that, he left the courtyard with his entourage and she smiled.

She puked a mouthful of black blood and it had made the people that belonged to her side that would silently enter the main hall once again pale in fright.

"Empress!"

"Miss!"

"Young mistress!"

"Your Ladyship!"

Different ways of calling her was mentioned out loud in fear not only for their lives but hers, too.

She immediately placed a hand to her chest after patting it and waved her hand. "Go according to what we've planned. There must be no mistakes." She narrowed her eyes and evilly smiled.

"Yes!" They shouted loudly in unison with a salute before leaving the courtyard but not after casting her a look of concern.

She could not care to bother about them and immediately got to her business.

She immediately ordered for the remaining servants sparsely spread around in the front yard to leave at once, giving some lame excuse that she needed peace and wanted to rest without any bit of noise made.

Well, that was not entirely false as it was true partially to an extent.

She smiled lightly and looked around, breathing in the fresh air that she never would've thought she could take in after she had passed in that polluted world despite it trying its hardest to maintain the environment and such.

"Heavenly Flames! Thy calls upon thou for the hellfire and magma to burn this place!"

She whispered resolutely without any hesitation and immediately, the courtyard and palace she lived was set ablaze.

"Don't think that I had never known what you did." She immediately chanted an incarnation to separate a tiny bit of her soul to leave behind a message for her people and that hateful husband of hers.

"With pain, comes gain and with gain comes power."

"This message would be sent out by my messenger once I've passed on. For my people, I wish you the best and your happiness for your future endeavours. "

"For that man's surnamed Qin… I hate you to the point of zen. I've once loved and hated you to the point of losing my sanity. I just hope, in our next lives that we would never get to know, see or have anything to do with each other. That's my only wish."

With a wave of her hands, the message was passed onto the messenger which was part of her soul which would slowly pass it on personally to the people she had mentioned— one by one.

Standing with her servants, friends, subordinates and finally, that hateful man.

She closed her eyes, using her third eye to wake towards the main hall and then sat on the recliner with a relaxed pose.

Then, she closed her eyes and swallowed the poison which she had personally concocted with no antidote to it in one go after deciding that getting poisoned was a way better choice than to be burned to death.

With her vision blurring, she closed her eyes and puked an alarming amount of black and red blood out that came from her heart. Her consciousness faded in and out and so did her strength and own will to live did.

Soon enough, she fainted and died shortly after she lost consciousness.

Wei Xinglan, tilted Empress Ziqiuju of the Year 34 died without an intact body.

By the time the people discovered it, it was the next day and they screamed once they saw that the Palace belonging to the Empress had been razed to the ground.

With a sullen face, the Emperor dismissed the morning court and went to that woman's palace.

He summoned his trusted shadow and they reported the situation as similarly said by the servants, and once they got the sign to retreat, another person popped up out of thin air.

"The thing…" The cloaked person waited for all the people to retreat before walking up to Qin Yuanxun and said at his ear, "The Imperial Flames and Icicles Ring is with me. I don't know who or how it ended up at my door." They shook their head and then stuffed the ring they mentioned to Qin Yuanxun's hands while they were spaced out.

"I'll send over the reports to you regarding Her Ladyship's sudden passing and what I can find regarding…" that thing in your hands. They did not complete their words but the Emperor was smart enough to know of what they would say.

Closing his eyes, he thought. 'Was it worth it?' Everything that he had done in the end. She, too. Everything had been perfectly calculated in his head and hands. Only for her to pass and the thing he wanted to return to his hands.

Silently, the cloaked person disappeared the same way they had so silently appeared out of thin air while he was in a state of confusion.

Was exterminating her entire clan worth it? Was forcing her to death and a dead end worth it? Was killing her children personally worth it? Was cutting off all her routes worth it?

A tear slipped past his right eye and slid down his cheek. He quietly walked back as if he had never been there in the first place.

It was.. a simple misunderstanding.