The Empress Has No Will to Live - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I had transmigrated.

Coordinates: ancient times. No memories, no system-just palace maids and eunuchs kneeling all over the floor.

The antique redwood canopy above the bed, the sandalwood fragrance filling my nose, and the cries of joyous surprise beside my ear helped me understand my situation very quickly.

I turned my neck slightly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw palace maids and eunuchs kneeling everywhere. Judging by the distance, that ear-splitting shout of “Her Highness is awake! Thank heavens!” had probably come from the maid kneeling at the very front. From this angle, all I could see was her thick, glossy black hair and a center part so sharp it looked like a border drawn on a map.

I had transmigrated, but I was not the least bit happy about it. In my previous life, I had died in a car accident while saving some brat who ran a red light, but honestly, I almost wanted to thank him for giving my life the perfect curtain call.

The scene of being hit by the car and sent spinning through the air was still vivid in my mind. Massive internal bleeding, limbs convulsing, cardiac arrest… The joy of finally approaching release had even surpassed the suffocating pain.

Ever since I could remember, I had never opened my heart to anyone. After I outlived the entirety of my world-my mother-I finally stepped out of the house and embraced death to my heart’s content. Heaven only knew how long I had waited for that day!

Actually, Heaven probably didn’t know. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have picked, out of all the people in the world, a death-seeking piece of trash like me and gone to such trouble to resurrect me in ancient times.

Perhaps because I had not moved, the palace maid gathered her courage and came closer. She looked at me with an expression I knew all too well: worried, panicked, at a loss, and painfully cautious…

I tried to move, wanting to sit up, but a burst of agony tore through my abdomen. I sucked in a breath, which only made my stomach hurt even more.

The palace maid hurried forward and gently supported me. Tears welled in her eyes as she wailed at the top of her lungs, “Her Highness, please stop fighting with His Majesty. The imperial heir is gone, but there can still be another… Recovering your health is what matters most…”

Her screaming made my ears ring. This little center-parted palace maid was young, but she had guts. Maybe she had been the original owner’s confidante; otherwise, how could she dare say anything and everything? With just one sentence, she had provided more than enough information to paint an entire portrait of palace intrigue and tragic romance.

The original owner had been called “Her Highness,” yet she still hadn’t survived. That was how a ghost like me had managed to take over her body. Unfortunately, I was not a qualified transmigrator.

“Tell someone to prepare three feet of white silk and present it at once.”

The hoarse voice that came from my dry throat sounded far too unfamiliar.

The palace maid’s face instantly turned deathly pale. Her voice cut off, and with a thud, she dropped to her knees. The others buried their heads against the floor, not daring to lift them.

“May Her Highness calm her anger! No matter how much you hate Noble Consort Yun, you mustn’t…” She glanced left and right, then leaned close to my ear and whispered, “You mustn’t make such a big show of it.”

My eyes widened at once. The palace maid’s words were like a sinister wind blowing into my ear, making me shiver. How could someone with a Barbie-doll face be more scheming than the Grand Governor of the Western Depot? Honestly, she would make a much better Her Highness than me. She’d definitely sit steadier on this seat.

“Noble Consort Yun, huh.” I repeated it as if in deep thought.

The little palace maid immediately understood and raised her voice. “Noble Consort Yun committed an offense against her superior first. His Majesty will surely uphold justice for Her Highness.”

Wha-an offense against her superior? Above a Noble Consort, wasn’t there basically only the Empress?

This realization eased my mind a little. In the few palace intrigue dramas I had seen, whenever some concubine made a comeback and rose through the ranks, an Empress had to be sacrificed.

Still, I couldn’t just sit around doing nothing and count on someone else to kill me. If I was going to court death, I had to keep that matter firmly in my own hands to feel at ease.

I patted the palace maid lightly on the shoulder and said, “It’s fine. The white silk has another use.”

The palace maid still wanted to say something, but I immediately cut her off. “All of you, withdraw. No one is allowed within a hundred feet of this place.”

I said it out of kindness, hoping they would avoid being caught up in an undeserved disaster. But when I saw the terror and despair on their faces as they backed out of the room on their knees, I still felt a little guilty.

The white silk had been neatly folded into three layers and placed on a rosewood tray. A palace maid trembled as she knocked her forehead against the floor again and again, crying nonstop, “Her Highness, please reconsider!”

“Get out!” I roared at her. “No one is allowed in here.” Hopefully, her loyalty would buy me a little time and hold off anyone who might barge in to save me.

Sorry, original owner. I know it wasn’t easy for you to claw your way up to Empress, but I also spent thirty years barely clinging to life before finally managing to die. If there is a next life, I’ll give you all the years I was supposed to have. For now, just let me have this.

Clutching my stomach, which hurt about as much as level-ten period cramps, I swayed out of bed. My bare feet landed on the jade floor, but I couldn’t be bothered by the cold biting into my bones. I dragged a wooden chair beneath the ceiling beam. The height would just barely do.

It took several exhausting tries before I finally managed to toss one end of the white silk over the crossbeam. They said ancient beams were sturdy. Hopefully, I could get this done in one go and pass away smoothly.

I tied the two ends together in a bowline knot-easy to tie, easy to untie, convenient and secure. Compared to a Saddam-style hanging noose, it even seemed a little more humane.

Once the preparations were complete, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, rose onto my toes, and slipped my head through. I relaxed my whole body, settled my expression into peace, and even let a faint smile hang at the corners of my mouth. If I left quickly enough, maybe I could still run into the original owner on Naihe Bridge.

Suddenly, with a creak, the outer door was pushed open, interrupting my thoughts and throwing off my movements.

“Empress, I already told you this matter has nothing to do with Yun’er. You…”

A voice full of vigor drifted from the central hall into the inner chamber, then abruptly cut off. I looked down and, from afar, met a pair of panicked, uncertain black eyes.

Tsk. Suicide really did require focus, or unexpected complications would arise. I didn’t dare delay and immediately kicked the stool away.

My hands dropped. My vision went black. The last image frozen before my eyes was a bright yellow dragon robe.

Fresh air poured into my lungs and stung my nasal passages. Amid violent coughing, I opened my eyes once again, physiological tears streaming out uncontrollably.

Sitting by the bed was a big yellow man. Oh, he seemed to be the one I’d seen while hanging myself: the emperor.

His Majesty was even younger than I had imagined, around his early thirties. He had sharp brows, star-bright eyes, and an unfathomably deep gaze. It would have been even better if those soul-snatching black eyes weren’t fixed on me so intently.

“Have you lost your mind?” he snapped right away.

Now this was awkward. I had no idea how to explain things to this supreme ruler. Should I say I was merely a ghost who wanted to return to the embrace of the Underworld? Wouldn’t that just confirm his accusation that I had lost my mind?

Fortunately, the white silk had still done some good. Right now, my neck felt like it had been caught in a forklift clamp, and I couldn’t make a sound at all. I couldn’t even nod or shake my head. All I could do was stare back at the emperor with tear-filled eyes.

If the emperor and I had any unspoken understanding, he would issue an imperial decree and grant me death.

Unfortunately, His Majesty clearly failed to read the firm resolve to face death without fear in my eyes.

He flung his sleeve and rose in fury. “Where are the people of Xian’an Palace?”

In the end, only the center-part Barbie little palace maid knelt trembling on the floor. “In reply to His Majesty, aside from this servant, everyone else obeyed orders and withdrew beyond a hundred feet in every direction.”

“Whose orders?” His Majesty looked like a volcano on the verge of eruption. I slowly raised my hand, and after confirming that I had drawn his anger, I gradually pointed at my own chest.

I had to admit, the emperor’s twisted expression as he choked back his fury was a little funny.

“Pass down my command. From this day onward, no one in Xian’an Palace is permitted to leave the Empress’s sight. If any accident befalls the Empress, everyone present will be executed without exception.”

Was this the ultimate form of a domineering CEO? I took back what I had thought earlier. This guy was not handsome at all! Not only did he treat human lives like grass, he was using such a despicable, low-down method to threaten me.

And I, in this new world I had transmigrated to after death, had once again been morally blackmailed.