Burning Heart Incense - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I began having those strange, kaleidoscopic dreams again.

One moment, I was back in my youth, newly married to Xiao Xuan.

He lifted my bridal veil and drank the nuptial wine with me.

He said that for all our lives, it would be only the two of us.

“Chuchu, I will treat you well.”

The next moment, Xiao Xuan had proclaimed himself emperor.

Shen Yuyao was made Empress, and the daughters of many military generals were taken into the harem.

I watched as he filled his inner palace with consorts and concubines.

Xiao Xuan had utterly forgotten the promise he once made.

I no longer wanted to stay in the palace.

I was a merchant’s daughter. I had traveled north and south with my elder brother for trade, and my body was like a bird in flight.

To live out my life in freedom would have been enough.

So I went to bid Xiao Xuan farewell.

He froze when he heard me, sorrow surfacing on his face.

“To stand above all men is too lonely.”

“Though I have an entire harem, Chuchu is the only one who truly understands me.”

Xiao Xuan studied my expression, then carefully took my hand in his.

“Stay here with me, all right?”

“Chuchu, I will treat you well.”

In the end, my heart softened.

Thinking back on it now, with three thousand beauties in his harem, what loneliness could he possibly have known?

But back then, I always believed I was different to him.

I was laughably foolish.

Chapter 6

From that day on, Xiao Xuan never came to Jingyang Palace again.

I heard that lately, he had been showering the Empress with boundless favor, spending every night in her palace.

Everyone in the palace was speculating that the Empress would likely have joyful news soon.

Chunya came from somewhere with a piece of news.

“The Empress is indeed pregnant, and it has caused quite a stir.”

“Everyone in Kunning Palace is revolving around the Empress now. Hardly anyone is paying any mind to the Second Prince.”

“I heard the Second Prince had a high fever last night. He burned for a long time before his wet nurse discovered it.”

Chunya paused, then lowered her voice.

“But there is another rumor in the palace.”

“The people from the Imperial Observatory observed the heavens at night and said the Second Prince clashes with the fate of the child in the Empress’s womb.”

“After the Empress heard it, she withdrew the people attending to the Second Prince…”

My heart sank to the very bottom. I sat frozen for a long while.

With that thought in mind, I forced myself to summon what little strength I had and wash and dress.

The woman in the bronze mirror had hollow cheeks and a deathly pale face.

I lowered my eyes and looked away.

Calling Chunya with me, I hurried straight to Kunning Palace.

I had to see with my own eyes how the child was doing.

But when I had just arrived at Kunning Palace, I found the place in complete chaos.

A young eunuch said the Empress was not there. She had gone to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

The ominous feeling in my heart grew stronger and stronger.

I seized a palace maid. “Where is the Second Prince?”

“What happened?!”

When the palace maid saw it was me, she was so frightened that she collapsed to the ground.

Her lips trembled, and for a long time, she could not get a single word out.

“Your… Your Highness!”

My long nails dug into my flesh. I gritted my teeth. “Speak!”

“The Second Prince… the Second Prince…”

“Has died young.”

There was a thunderous roar in my head.

My entire body turned ice-cold.

“Your Highness!”

Chunya’s shrill cry rang beside my ear.

I lowered my head, following her gaze.

The front of my robe was covered in blood that had flowed from my mouth.

Great patches of vivid red shifted before my eyes.

Some dark, some light, mottled into one blurred stain.

All at once, I thought of the little tiger-head cap by the couch, the one I had only half embroidered.

How could this be?

My child was so good, such a small, soft little bundle.

The last time I secretly went to see him, he had been babbling, clinging to my finger and refusing to let go.

How could he have died so young?

I staggered free of Chunya and burst into the hall.

The child lay quietly in his cradle, as if asleep.

I picked him up, my movements gentle and clumsy, and rocked him.

He did not cry.

He did not fuss.