Winning the Laurel - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Emperor liked my mother.

Imperial Father and I were forced to kneel on the floor while he sat on the dragon bed, holding my mother in his arms and laughing happily. Ignoring her stiff, purpling face, he insisted on feeding her grapes.

The entire palace was lit in bright imperial yellow. Rows upon rows of short candles had been set aflame, and the brighter that light burned, the more it stung my eyes.

“Good girl.” He forced the grape into my mother’s mouth, making her swallow it, then revealed a deeply satisfied expression, as if his twisted desires had finally been fulfilled.

Imperial Father hated him so much his teeth were nearly grinding to dust. If the servants had not been holding us down, he would have rushed up and bitten that bastard’s throat out.

I was just as furious. It felt as if all the blood in my body were flowing backward. I wanted to stab him to death with a single thrust. But he was the Emperor now. I stared at him expressionlessly, though humiliation and rage had already swallowed half my reason.

With a trace of mockery, I said, “Uncle, you’ve already succeeded in usurping the throne. Must you really be in such a hurry?”

“Oh? Is my Little Princess Le Ning angry?” He looked at me with a beaming smile, as if my anger brought him immense pleasure.

He truly was a pervert who took joy in other people’s pain.

I am Princess Le Ning, the only daughter of Imperial Father and Imperial Mother. As a ruler, Imperial Father was honest, kind, and benevolent. Imperial Mother was gentle, virtuous, and the greatest beauty under heaven. They loved each other their entire lives and had only one child-me.

In the past, whenever he spoke to me, his tone was gentle. Whatever I wanted, he would give way to me. He looked every bit like a wonderful uncle.

He really knew how to act. Imperial Father and Imperial Mother both thought he was a good younger brother.

At first, I thought so too. I thought he was my good uncle. But later, I realized he was a pervert.

He was a madman. A vile bastard.

Once, by accident, I saw the name embroidered on his handkerchief. It was actually Imperial Mother’s maiden name.

When I stormed over to question him, he pulled off a perfect escape.

By the time he was searched, the handkerchief was gone.

Well done. He had shown it to me on purpose. He had deliberately disgusted me.

Speaking of which, this good uncle of mine was only six years older than me.

Imperial Mother was sixteen the year she gave birth to me. Imperial Father was seventeen.

In the blink of an eye, I was already eighteen.

Princesses married late to begin with, and all the more so when I was the only princess of this dynasty, honored beyond measure. If a man was not a dragon or phoenix among people, how could he be worthy of marrying me? Besides, someone had been obstructing things from the shadows…

“My little Le Ning, do you dislike Uncle treating your mother this way?” As if joking, he reached out and stroked my mother’s face.

I could no longer hold back my fury. “You-”

Before I could finish cursing him, the old woman beside me slapped me across the face. I glanced at her. She looked familiar. She was probably someone who had once served in the palace.

“You dare hit me?” There was no emotion in my voice when I spoke. I only asked calmly.

What I did not expect was for my good uncle’s face to turn cold in an instant. “Who told you to hit her?”

The old woman dropped to her knees in panic, never having imagined that the Emperor would become angry.

“Drag her away. Chop her into mincemeat.”

He said it without a trace of emotion.

He was indeed more suited to be Emperor than my father.

His anger did not fade, yet he vented it all on my mother. His large hand clamped around her face, while his other hand held a cup of wine, forcing it toward her mouth.

My long nails dug into my palm. There was no need to dye them with balsam anymore. Blood had already stained my nails.

“Zhao Linyuan! Let go! You beast! I have always treated you well, yet you are so cruel and disloyal, caring nothing for brotherly affection. Seizing power and usurping the throne is already an act against heaven! And now, now… you even commit such a filthy deed!”

Imperial Father’s eyes were red with fury. In all these years, this was the first time I had seen him so enraged.

I looked at Imperial Father, then at Zhao Linyuan.

I had to admit, he looked very much like my uncle.

But my uncle was younger than him, and better-looking too.

Still, that did not change the fact that Zhao Linyuan was a lowborn wretch.

“I know what you want. Let go of my mother.” The servants no longer dared to hold me down, so I rose calmly and walked to his side.

Mother shook her head, trembling. “Ah Ning, don’t do anything foolish!”

I smiled and held Mother’s ice-cold hand. Ignoring Zhao Linyuan, I crouched down beside her. “Mother, I love you.”

“Mother loves you too!” Mother tried to hug me, but Zhao Linyuan stopped her. He would not let my mother hold me. That possessiveness of his had already become a twisted desire.

Zhao Linyuan reached out and gripped my mother’s throat. “Sister, don’t touch Le Ning.”

Why… not let her touch me?

A trace of doubt flashed through my heart.

His strength was terrifyingly obvious to the naked eye. Mother’s face began turning red.

If I did not do something soon, he would strangle my mother to death.

So I sank my teeth into his arm.

Whether it was the sight of someone on the verge of death, or the pain of my biting him, something sent a thrill through him as if he had shot straight into the clouds. He laughed loudly, let go of my mother, and pinched my face. I still refused to release him, biting down with everything I had.

After what had happened just now, the palace maids nearby didn’t dare come forward. No one knew what kind of temperament this new emperor had.

“Little Le Ning!” he shouted with a laugh.

I tasted blood in my mouth. At last, I had bitten through his foul skin.

He seemed almost wistful. “From childhood until now, you’re the only one who’s ever made me bleed.”

That was true. He had watched me grow up. Back then, Imperial Father and Imperial Mother were both busy with important affairs, and Imperial Grandfather was still on the throne. He doted on me most of all, so when I begged him, he agreed to let this young uncle of mine play with me every day.

Unfortunately, even as a child I was rebellious and caused no end of trouble. Imperial Grandfather favored me, so every beating and scolding fell on this young uncle of mine instead.

Over time, it was inevitable that something dark would take root in him.

I knew I owed him, so after I grew up, I had always tried to make it up to him with gentleness.

When he reached the age to take a wife, I was especially eager to help arrange a match for him, only to end up being blamed from head to toe.

He didn’t want to go beyond the frontier, so I begged Imperial Grandfather to rescind that imperial decree.

He knelt before the hall and swore that in this life, he would never do anything to defy his elder brother.

Imperial Grandfather had only been gone four years, yet not only had he seized power and usurped the throne, he had even humiliated his own sister-in-law.

Later, our relationship soured because he provoked me again and again.

He deliberately showed that handkerchief in front of me, acting one way to my face and another behind my back. My former fiancé had been framed by him and thrown into prison.

He ruined my chances of marriage.

And now, he had reduced my entire family to his prisoners.

“Le Ning, do you know how much I hate you?”

I still bit him with all my might, until my lower jaw ached.

He didn’t care that I didn’t answer. He pushed my mother off his lap, turned, and faced me directly.

“You used to love crying. The moment you cried, I had to hurry over and coax you. Whatever you wanted, I would risk my life to give it to you. Even if you wanted the stars in the sky, I would pluck them down for you. Back then, everyone else was playing outside, and I was the only one in the room keeping you company. If you didn’t want to go out and play, I wouldn’t go out. If you wanted to write a character, I made copybooks for you. If you wanted to learn painting, I taught you hand over hand. And whenever you were unhappy, you would pour ink straight onto me. I endured all of that from you…”

His tone changed abruptly, and the tenderness of remembrance on his face transformed into a cold, sinister look. “But of all the things you should never have done, you should never have called me a baseborn wretch.”

My heart lurched.

That truly was my fault. I had been ignorant as a child. Egged on by my other Imperial Uncles, I had half-understood and half-not when I heard them call him a baseborn wretch, and I had heartlessly repeated it once.

I knew those words had hurt him deeply, so deeply that for all those years afterward, he never truly spoke to me properly again.

But I knew I was wrong.

From then on, I never said it again. I wished I could dig out my heart and apologize to him with it.

Except today.

Except on the day he usurped the throne.

“It’s been so long since I heard you properly call me Uncle. You’ve always been so hateful since you were little, clinging to me and refusing to leave, calling ‘Uncle, Uncle’ without end. Thinking back on it now, I find it laughable. You don’t remember any of it, but I’ve brooded over it for so many years.”

I released his arm, only because my mouth had gone too numb.

It took me a long while to recover from the stiffness. “I remember.”

He suddenly gripped my chin, his tone mocking and vicious, though there was a trace of expectation in his eyes. “Good. You remember. Then do you remember what you once said?”

I had said so many things over the years. How could I possibly remember all of them?

“I’ve said many things. I can’t remember every single one.” It hurt, and I couldn’t help shrinking back. But now his attention was on me. I quietly glanced at Mother, signaling for her to move aside.

Mother slowly shifted to the side.

He stroked my face, his arm still bleeding. His dark lashes lowered halfway, as if he were murmuring to himself, yet also as if he were genuinely discussing it with me. “Then what do you think we should do? Do you want to save your mother?”

Seeing that he had relaxed, I continued, “You and I are uncle and niece…”

He had been staring fixedly at me, but then, as if sensing something, he suddenly turned his head. Like a starving wolf, he glared viciously at my mother.

“Elder Sister, don’t move again.” His voice was cold as ice. I couldn’t help but begin to fear him. He had truly gone mad. I could not predict his every move. If his madness took hold, he really would kill us.

All at once, I felt cold all over. I didn’t know how he had become what he was now. Perhaps his hatred had been planted from the very beginning, and now it had merely borne the cruel fruit of revenge.

The hall was far too cold. For the first time, I felt that home was not a home, but a tomb-a lavish tomb that could bury the entire Zhao Clan.

He reached out, and the palace maid beside him understood at once. She brought over a dagger and placed it in his hand.

He drew the dagger from its sheath, then suddenly changed his expression and gave me a wicked smile. “Le Ning, Uncle will play a fun little game with you today. Take this dagger and choose between your Imperial Father and your Imperial Mother. Only one of them can live. Otherwise, they both die.”

He held me forcibly in his arms, gripping my hand and forcing the dagger into it. My heart went utterly cold.

“Zhao Linyuan! You would make a child kill her father and murder her mother! You beast! You beast!” My father grew more and more agitated as he cursed, while Mother wept uncontrollably beside him.

For a moment, it felt as if my eardrums were about to be pierced. All sorts of chaotic voices rang beside my ears.

Zhao Linyuan was very pleased. His breath brushed against my ear as he deliberately let it drift slowly over the nape of my neck. “Le Ning, hurry and choose.”

And yet, his words worked like a charm. My ears fell quiet in an instant, and even my mind became much clearer.

I seemed to hear what he had once told me before: “Le Ning, people are cowardly. They often hide their weaknesses too well, but the better something is hidden, the easier it is to expose.”

I burst out laughing. “Uncle, I won’t choose.”

Zhao Linyuan thought I was provoking him, and he laughed mockingly as well. “Fine. Then you can watch as-”

Before he could finish, I cut him off. “Uncle, are you in love with my mother?”

His body clearly stiffened. I guessed that I had bet correctly.

He did not love my mother.

“Uncle, the person in your heart is me.” I turned my head and, close to his neck as he had been to mine, whispered something so softly that only the two of us could hear.

He suddenly went mad. He snatched the dagger from my hand, hurled it hard to the floor, seized me by the throat, and ordered everyone to get out.

His grip on my throat was so strong that my brain began to starve for air. The harder it became to breathe, the more I wanted to laugh. So Zhao Linyuan knew fear too?

Everyone knew he adored the Empress. Now that it had been exposed, what was there to be angry about?

But what they did not know was that he had deliberately used that as a cover to hide an even more unspeakable love.

He had fallen in love with his own niece. His biological niece.

Me, Zhao Le Ning.

“How are you so sure that the person in my heart is you? What you are saying is treasonous and immoral!”

He slowly loosened his grip on me, but still pressed me down to the floor.

I looked straight into his eyes and could see the panic and faint sorrow within them. “Uncle, is there anyone in this world more treasonous and immoral than you?”

Usurping power and seizing the throne. Bullying his elder brother and humiliating his sister-in-law.

“So what? What are you trying to say? Are you mocking me? Right now, you are my prisoner, and I am the Emperor. Killing you would take only one word from me!”

“Uncle,” I called out expressionlessly.

This trick worked very well. He slowly calmed down.

He staggered to his feet. “Stay with me. Stay with me for one night.”

I wanted to refuse him viciously, curse him out, then smash my head against a pillar and die, so I could leave behind an unstained name.

But my nails dug hard into my palm, tearing the wound there even wider. If I wanted to save my parents, how could I still indulge in such selfish thoughts?

Seeing that I was still sitting where I was, he gave a mocking smile and continued, “I won’t make you do those things. Just come over and sleep with me for one night, the way you used to.”

He would not lie to me. My legs had already gone numb, and I rose from the floor with difficulty, swaying as I followed him toward the imperial bed.

Zhao Linyuan had already lain down on the imperial bed. The gold-threaded canopy kept me from seeing his face and body clearly; all I could make out was a vague silhouette.

But I could tell that he looked haggard, with none of the fangs-bared, claws-brandished ferocity from moments ago.

I slowly lifted the gold-threaded canopy. He was lying there with his eyes open, looking at me. Our eyes were four-tenths alike. Everyone said nieces resembled their aunts, but I just so happened to resemble my uncle.

He reached out, grabbed my sleeve, and pulled me into his arms. “Uncle will sing you a song. Be good and go to sleep.”

Zhao Linyuan sang line by line, but I did not feel the slightest bit sleepy.

It was the song he used to sing to coax me to sleep. His voice was gentle, his words a little slurred, yet somehow especially lingering.

He said he was putting me to sleep, but in the end, he held me tightly in his arms. I could not break free. I could not escape.

In that brightly lit great hall, I believe I was not the only one who stayed awake. Zhao Linyuan was awake too.