On the Day He Ascended the Throne, He Kneeled and Called Me Mother Empress - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After I married Wutulie, the Royal Court was first shocked, then defiant, and finally, they were all living in a state of constant anxiety.

They soon discovered that I, this “mixed-blood Queen,” was no mere decorative vase for the inner palace.

My first royal decree was to abolish the branding of the ‘lowly’ in the Exile Grounds.

My second was to reopen the Border Market, allowing mixed-blood merchant caravans to enter the Royal City to pay taxes and trade.

My third was to completely strike those absurd ceremonies, such as the Blood Purification Ritual, from the records of the Temple of Priests.

The resistance, of course, was immense.

Every morning at court, the memorials impeaching me would pile up across half the desk.

Some said I was disrupting ancestral traditions.

Some said the King was old and muddled, blinded by beauty.

Others spoke with biting sarcasm, saying that a woman discarded by the Crown Prince had now climbed over his head and would sooner or later bring ruin to the nation.

Before I could even speak, Wutulie slammed a memorial down.

“Whoever thinks the nation is being ruined can go to the border and guard the city themselves.”

“If the city gates are lost, then come back and talk to this King about ancestral traditions.”

The room fell silent instantly.

He never beat around the bush.

And he never let me stand in the line of fire alone.

I only learned later that he would pre-sort the lists of those opposing me for my review. Before I presided over my first council meeting alone, he personally broke down the intricate ledgers of each department for me. Even at night, when he was coughing so hard he could barely stand, he would still stay up to listen to my new proposals for the Border Market.

He said, “Haya, you aren’t qualified to sit here just because you married me.”

“You were always meant to sit here.”

Those words carried more weight than any gold or silver.

Ah Qin, meanwhile, was becoming increasingly erratic.

He likely couldn’t accept that in just one month, I had gone from someone he could sacrifice to his titular Mother Empress.

He intercepted me every few days.

Sometimes in the garden.

Sometimes in the long corridor outside the Hall of Governance.

Sometimes he would even wait on the path back to my bedchamber, clutching my wrist like a man driven to desperation.

“Haya, if I hadn’t gone along with them back then, you would have died.”

“I could only send you away first.”

“Once I have secured my position, I will bring you back.”

I felt like laughing, and I actually did.

“Bring me back?”

“Ah Qin, you threw me into the snow and then called it protection. You can’t even fool yourself with that.”

“If you really wanted to protect me, you should have spoken up at the altar.”

“Even if you had lost, at least you would have reached out your hand.”

“But you didn’t.”

His face paled inch by inch, his Adam’s apple bobbing violently.

“I only had that one choice at the time.”

“Wrong.”

I pulled my hand back, my tone cold to the point of cruelty.

“You simply chose the throne.”

“Whereas your father chose to bring me back to the Royal City.”

“Ah Qin, you always say you had no choice.”

“But your dad is a better man than you.”

Those words eventually spread through half the Royal City.

Ah Qin was so enraged he smashed three sets of tea services in a row.

When Wutulie heard about it, he leaned back on his daybed and laughed for the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea. Finally, suppressing his amusement, he told me, “Well said.”

The next day, he dispatched Ah Qin to the Northwest Military Camp.

Ostensibly, it was for training.

In reality, it was to make him get the hell away.

Ah Qin came to see me one last time before leaving, his eyes bloodshot.

“You will regret this.”

“One day, I will take you back.”

I stood under the veranda, watching him mount his horse. Suddenly, I felt that the youth who used to climb over walls to bring me sweets had long since died on the day of the Blood Purification Ritual.

The person remaining was merely someone who couldn’t stand to lose.

He never loved me.

He loved the Haya who treated him like a lifeline, the one who would always stay in the same place waiting for him.

Unfortunately.

That Haya is dead, too.