Chapter 45: Emperor Jai

“I know what they have planned and I cannot stop it.” I looked at my brother who I’d called to the palace to vent my spleen.

“I must take a wife, the people demand it. The ministers kneel outside the royal court day in and day out pleading.”

I pounded my fist on my thigh. The thought repulsed me more than I thought possible. The Empress dowager had finally found a way to back me into a corner.

The kingdom was in an uproar. My people were wary of all the deaths befalling the royal family. I’d thought to use the death of my father to put them off, but alas time had ran out. Now it looked like I had no choice.

“Brother, don’t you think that all these deaths happened in a rather suspicious manner?” His implication had bile rising in my throat.

“I once thought of that, but there’s no proof.”

It was something I didn’t want to revisit. The thought that my loved ones were murdered left me with a cold dark feeling in my gut and turned my heart to a block of ice in my chest.