As these words fell, not only An Sheng, but everyone present was stunned.
What did this mean? Could it be that the Grand General had some past with this madwoman?
An Sheng's hand paused, a mocking smile tugging at her lips. "Does Mother Empress mean to say he had his reasons?"
Even if he did, it was still his fault for failing her!
And don’t even think she would change her mind!
Yet Empress Dowager Su shook her head and, supported by her maids, stepped forward.
"Mother Empress! It's dangerous!" The Emperor urged her to step back.
But Empress Dowager Su gave him a reassuring glance before turning to her daughter. "Qin'er, the moment you laid eyes on Yan Xu in the imperial garden, I knew you fancied him. Later, when he led troops into battle, you spent two years making countless excuses to reject the marriage proposals your father arranged for you. That was when I realized—your feelings for him were genuine."
"So, on the eve of his return to the capital after those two years, I left the palace in disguise and went to the General's residence to meet him."
An Sheng's lips had been curled in a cold sneer, but now her expression darkened abruptly. "You went to see him?"
After Yan Xu left the capital, the two had occasionally exchanged letters.
Though that reserved man always adhered to propriety, his words strictly maintaining decorum, there were still the occasional lines like "The weather is cold, please dress warmly" or "Take care of your noble health."
But upon his return, not only did he bring Xie Yuan with him, he also drew a clear line between himself and An Sheng. And everything seemed to have started from that moment...
Empress Dowager Su closed her eyes in sorrow. "Yes, I went to see him and told him that there was no possibility between the two of you!"
In an instant, murderous intent surged. An Sheng's eyes turned bloodshot as she glared at her. "Why?!"
"Because you are a princess. If he were to marry you, he would inevitably have to relinquish his military power and withdraw from politics!"
"But I could stop being a princess! I wouldn’t stand in the way of his ambitions!" An Sheng blurted out without hesitation, revealing that these words had been rehearsed countless times in her heart.
Yet Empress Dowager Su's gaze grew even more sorrowful. "Stop being a princess? Qin'er, you were the Late Emperor’s most beloved daughter. Do you think you can simply renounce your title? Have you ever considered how precarious your Elder Brother Emperor’s position as Crown Prince truly is? To outsiders, he holds the authority of regent and has the support of the civil officials. But have you ever thought—if his own sister were to marry a military general with real power, would the Emperor still tolerate such a Crown Prince?"
Having long been immersed in court politics, An Sheng understood the principle of "merit overshadowing the sovereign" all too well.
Even between father and son, the relationship was first that of ruler and subject.
The sovereign came before the father, the subject before the son.
So from the very beginning, this privileged princess and the young, heroic general had never stood a chance.
An Sheng's gaze grew colder by the second, her lips curling in derision. "So, for the sake of his duty to the nation, he abandoned me?"
Men always had so many reasons.
For the country, for loyalty, for righteousness—they could always abandon a woman without hesitation.
But Empress Dowager Su's expression turned solemn. "No, he didn’t. He said, 'I dare not delay Her Highness any longer. I am willing to entrust my military authority to someone reliable.'"
A glimmer of light flickered in An Sheng's eyes—until the Empress Dowager continued, "But how could I agree? Your father had just seized the throne from the Yun family and was paranoid. Even if Yan Xu resigned to become your consort, who could guarantee your father wouldn’t grow suspicious? Moreover, remnants of the previous dynasty were stirring unrest constantly. Without military power, even if your Elder Brother Emperor ascended the throne, what difference would it make from a plucked phoenix? Yan Xu had to remain the Grand General—there was no other choice!"
"When he refused, I knelt and begged him. Qin'er, do you know he stood outside your Princess's Mansion all night? Only at dawn the next day did he finally relent and agree to bring Xie Yuan back to the capital!"
Empress Dowager Su looked at her with profound grief. "It was I who tore you apart. If you must hate someone, hate me. But don’t harm your Elder Brother Emperor—he truly knew nothing of this!"
With a clang, the knife slipped from An Sheng's hand.
She staggered back half a step, her face caught between laughter and tears.
A lifetime of hatred, a lifetime of strife.
Even her own child had been sacrificed...
Only now, at the very end, did she realize—that man had never betrayed her.
No wonder, on that night when poison forced them together, he had looked at her with such eyes...
No wonder, in every encounter afterward, he had always lowered his gaze in silence...
He had carried guilt!
He had been guilty all along!
"But why didn’t he say anything?!" An Sheng's eyes brimmed with bloody tears as she screamed hoarsely. "Why didn’t he speak? Why not a single word? Why did he refuse to say anything even in death?!"
The hall was deathly silent.
A cold night wind swept through the palace gates. Chu Ruoyan lifted her eyes, her voice icy. "Because the Grand General would rather you hate him than see you live with regret."
Like thunder from a clear sky, the words struck.
Tears of blood streamed from An Sheng's eyes as she gasped for breath, as though suffocating.
Yet the woman’s voice continued mercilessly. "Only, he never imagined your obsession would turn to madness—that you would become so deranged as to take the lives of his entire family..."
"Stop! Stop it!!" An Sheng clutched her head, shrieking in terror. The ever-graceful princess now resembled a madwoman, her eyes darting suspiciously at everyone around her. "Are you Yan Xu? Or are you Yan Xu?"
"No... no, none of you are. None of you are my Grand General..."
"My General said, 'Until the war is over, I dare not delay Her Highness.' That meant he would marry me when he returned!"
"Right? Tell me, am I right?!"
She rushed toward the crowd, laughing deliriously.
"Your Highness!!" Sun Caiyu and others cried out in anguish.
But An Sheng seemed not to hear. Like a young maiden, she twirled her silk shawl as she dashed about the hall. "Have any of you seen my General? Has anyone seen my General?"
The crowd recoiled. Chu Ruoyan closed her eyes.
An Sheng had lost her mind.
The Emperor’s heart was a turmoil of emotions. Who could have guessed that today’s calamity had all stemmed from him?
If his mother hadn’t torn them apart for his sake, would An Sheng have spiraled from love into hatred, ending up like this?
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, grief-stricken, he saw the deranged An Sheng rush toward Yan Zheng, her voice childlike. "You... are you my General?"
Yan Zheng remained unmoved, his voice cool. "No."
An Sheng froze. "You’re lying! You are my General..." But then she shook her head. "No... no, you resemble him, but you’re not him... Then where is he? Where has he gone?"
Yan Zheng met her gaze calmly. "He has gone to the Yellow Springs—sent there by your own hand."
Her infatuated gaze twisted into fury. An Sheng’s brows knitted together before she suddenly erupted. "No! He is forbidden from going there! He belongs to me! In heaven or hell, across life and death—he will not escape me without my permission!"
With that, she snatched the short sword from Yan Zheng’s hand—the one gifted to him by Yan Xun.
And in one swift motion, drew it across her throat.
"Mother!!"
"Qin'er!!"
"Your Highness!!"
"Princess!!"
