Chapter 215: The next fullmoon

The imperial palace had fallen into the kind of silence that made every sound feel suspicious.

It was well past midnight when a lone figure slipped through the servants’ corridor leading toward the Empress’s private study, dressed in the plain dark robes of an elderly palace scholar.

His face was hidden beneath a low hood, and his posture had been deliberately altered so that the guards who glanced at him would see nothing more than another aging official summoned to attend the Empress.

No one stopped him— no one dared to.

By the time the disguised man entered the study, Empress Lihua was already waiting.

She stood beside the tall windows with her hands folded inside her sleeves, watching the moonlight spill across the courtyard below. The moment the door closed behind him, she turned.

"General Han."

Han Zheng lowered his hood. "You should not have sent for me this late."

Empress Lihua rolled her eyes. "You came anyway."

"I always come when the matter concerns the throne."

Empress Lihua gave him a cold look. "Well...that’s not my concern tonight."

Han Zheng walked toward the table, eyes running through the space. "Then perhaps you should tell me what the problem is."

"It’s almost time."

The room seemed to grow colder.

Han Zheng’s gaze moved toward the inner chambers beyond the study, where the Emperor lay confined to his bed. He was barely conscious.

"How long?"

Lihua’s expression hardened.

"How long before the Emperor finally dies?" Han Zheng repeated quietly, already making the calculation in his head.

The Empress immediately looked toward the door. "Keep your voice down." She crossed the room and stopped in front of him. "If anyone passes outside this study and hears us discussing the Emperor’s death, do you understand what they will think?"

Han Zheng’s mouth curved slightly. "That we are plotting treason." It was the same old story they’d orchestrated many times in the past.

"They would not be entirely wrong."

His smile disappeared.

Lihua returned to the table and poured herself a cup of tea. "We have to be careful now. The Emperor may be dying, but there are still people in this palace who remain loyal to him."

"Loyalty disappears quickly when the man being served can no longer reward it."

Empress Lihua flashed him a smile. "Not always." She looked at him over the rim of her cup. "And that is why you must stop behaving as though the throne already belongs to you."

Han Zheng’s eyes narrowed. "I never said it did. Besides, we’ve waited for a long time."

"And we will wait a little longer."

"How long?"

The Empress placed her cup down. "Until the next full moon. The physicians have already told me that the Emperor will not survive much beyond it."

"Do you trust them?"

"I paid them enough gold coins for them to keep their mouths shut."

A faint smile appeared on Han Zheng’s face.

"You should also understand what happens afterward." She walked toward the map spread across the table. "The coronation cannot proceed immediately."

Han Zheng studied her carefully. "What do you intend to do?"

The Empress’s fingers rested on the scroll placed carefully on her table. "Once the Emperor dies, the court will expect Crown Prince Zhao Chen to ascend immediately. We cannot allow that."

"We will have to declare him incapable as planned. Looks like that maid helped us without even realizing it."

Empress Lihua clicked her tongue. "He has always been unstable from birth. Sometimes I wonder if I really birthed him."

Han Zheng lowered his voice. "We will present evidence that he is mentally unfit to rule. The physicians will testify that his illness has progressed beyond recovery, and the ministers will be told that allowing him to inherit the throne would endanger the empire."

Empress Lihua agreed. "Which is why we will need someone capable of governing in the Emperor’s absence."

"Someone like you?"

"Perhaps." She gave him a warning glance. "But we must not be careless, General."

Han Zheng’s jaw flexed. "I am not careless."

She lowered her gaze on him. "You are ambitious. It’s almost the same thing to me."

Han Zheng leaned against the table. "When the Emperor dies, you will control the inner court. I will control the military. Zhao Chen will be declared incapable of ruling. The ministers will have no choice but to support whoever can maintain order."

Empress Lihua said nothing.

"And that person," Han Zheng continued, "will be whoever we decide."

The Empress’s expression remained unreadable. "Exactly."

For several moments, they stood in silence, each understanding what the other refused to say aloud. Then Han Zheng asked, "What about the princesses?"

Empress Lihua’s gaze shifted. "The three?"

"Yes."

"They are far from the capital." She tapped her fingers on the table. "They returned to Ashen Fortress. No doubt with the help of General Sheng. The old man never knows when to quit."

Han Zheng was already aware but he said nothing. "I’ll have my men keep an eye on the roads."

"And Ru Yi?" Empress Lihua asked, mind briefly going to Han Shuying. "Do they know what she is capable of yet?"

Han Zheng’s eyes darkened. "It doesn’t matter. It will only be a matter of time before they find out how powerful she is."

Empress Lihua closed her eyes briefly, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I can believe she’s really the shadow cultivator we’ve been looking for all these while. To think she’d been right under our nose."

"I wouldn’t have believed it if my men had reported seeing it with their own eyes at Tiancheng." General Han Zheng sighed, "something must’ve activated it then."

Empress Lihua’s fingers tightened around the edge of the table. "We’ll need to find a way to deal with her later. For now getting on that throne matters more than anything else."

Han Zheng frowned. "We don’t have the luxury of doing nothing right now. The girl is more dangerous than we anticipated. She has already survived the Eclipse Relic’s influence."

He continued with an even more serious expression. "She is not merely valuable," he whispered. "If her shadow truly connects with the relic, she could become uncontrollable."

Empress Lihua lifted her gaze briefly. "Then we control her before that happens."

General Han Zheng studied her. "You sound very confident."

His tone was a bit condescending, but that wasn’t Empress Lihua’s biggest problem at the moment. Not when she intended to get rid of him as soon as she could.

"I have never failed to obtain what I wanted," she replied calmly and picked up her tea. "Stick to the task I gave you and everything will run smoothly."

Before Han Zheng could answer, the study doors opened.

A young maid hurried inside and immediately bowed. "Your Majesty."

Empress Lihua’s expression turned stern. "I told you that no one was to disturb me."

"I apologize, Your Majesty," the maid whispered. "But I was instructed to tell you immediately." The maid hurried forward and bent close to the Empress’s ear.

Whatever she whispered made Empress Lihua’s expression change. It was subtle, but Han Zheng noticed.

The Empress’s fingers tightened around her sleeve. "Leave us."

The maid stepped back and bowed again. "Yes, Your Majesty." The door closed again after she left.

Han Zheng watched Empress Lihua carefully. "Is everything all right?"

The Empress remained silent for several seconds. Then she slowly looked at him. "Han Shuying was seen entering Crown Prince Zhao Chen’s chamber."

Han Zheng froze, then his expression morphed into anger.

"She was seen there less than an hour ago."

Han Zheng’s jaw hardened. "Why?"

"That is what I intend to find out." Empress Lihua sighed again. "She had no reason to visit the Crown Prince."

"Apparently, she believed otherwise."

Han Zheng’s eyes narrowed. "Who saw her?"

"One of the Crown Prince’s attendants."

"Did the attendant hear anything?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Then why report it?"

"Because Shuying remained inside for nearly half an hour." Her face became unreadable. Half an hour was long enough for a proper conversation, or a warning. What could her little petal be up to?

"Maybe she was simply curious," he said.

Empress Lihua laughed quietly. "Your daughter is many things, General. Curious is not one of them."

Han Zheng stared at the closed door. He suddenly remembered Han Shuying’s expression when she had walked out of his study...The accusation in her eyes...The disgust.

His hands slowly curled into fists. "She knows something," he said.

Empress Lihua watched him carefully. "That is what I fear. We need to find out what is going on between the two of them."

Han Zheng lowered his hood again. "I need to leave."

Empress Lihua’s eyes followed him. "Where?"

"I need to speak with her before she does something to ruin our plans," he replied with an edge in his voice.

"Be careful."

He stopped. "Why?"

"Because if Han Shuying has chosen the Crown Prince’s side, confronting her tonight may push her into making a decision she cannot take back."

Han Zheng remained silent. Then he looked toward the moonlit window. The full moon was still several nights away. But suddenly, the time they had believed they possessed felt dangerously short. He pulled the hood over his face.

"If she has betrayed me," he said quietly, "I will need to know before the next full moon."

Empress Lihua’s gaze hardened. "And if she has?"

Han Zheng opened the door. "Then she will learn that being my daughter does not place her beyond my reach."

The words chilled Empress Lihua to the bone, but it didn’t matter because she had enough power to protect Han Shuying.

Wasn’t it the reason she was fighting this hard? To never lose herself or the people she loved ever again.

Although deep down she knew whatever Han Shuying had said to Zhao Chen could determine whether their carefully constructed plan survived the next full moon.