A Life of Splendor

A voice, sounding almost like a dream, drifted in from far away. In a daze, she heard it whisper in her ear: There is no why. If everything is fate, then you must accept it… Death is nothing more than a way out.

Her heart jolted. As if waking from a dream, she saw the world’s splendor fade like smoke before her eyes. She opened her tear-blurred eyes and watched a raging fire consume all that opulence. The charred black fragments that remained, their scorched stench, seemed to mock this world steeped in fame and fortune.

With one soft declaration that she refused to believe in fate, she made so many people lose themselves.

What was the empire?

What was the empress’s throne?

What was a king?

What was love?

What was resentment?

What were ties that bound them?

What did it mean to be showered with endless affection?

What did it mean to rule the world and command a vast realm?

What did it mean to be the mother of the realm, glowing with boundless glory…

In the end, nothing was as satisfying, as all-consuming, as a great fire.

No matter what it was, once the flames swallowed it, all that remained was a handful of scraps, charred black and brittle.

Nobility and poverty, beauty and ugliness, prosperity and desolation… What difference did any of it really make? In the end, it was all ash in the palm, sparks in the flames. A handful of dust ended one life, and the mortal world came to its close.

She had witnessed the ridiculous yet seemingly happy life of that woman, and suddenly realized that her own existence was another person’s calamity!

He and she gazed at each other across lifetimes, separated by layer upon layer of cages and curtains, schemes and suspicion!

He was king, she was queen. A king and queen, caught up in endless entanglements.

“Yuncheng, from now on, you will never get what you want. Are you willing to accept that?”

“For Ting’er, anything is worth it. Of course I’m willing.”

“But have you ever thought about it? From now on, more and more people will be waiting for you to love them.”

“That doesn’t matter. As long as I can keep looking at her, that’s enough.”

But have you considered the price? It is wanting something you can never have!

Whenever Zhinuo saw her heartbroken, he would look at her tenderly and say, “Don’t worry. We’ll find a way.” He hoped he could protect her for the rest of her life, but Feng Mo’s words laid bare the truth: “Qingyan, do you know how much it will cost to make good on that promise, ‘We’ll find a way’?”

She said she couldn’t bear their kindness toward her. Then one sentence from Xuanyuan Haoge unraveled every knot in her heart and split open the armor she had kept shut for so long: “Because we all love you.”

She had heard his cruelest words: “Haoge, have you ever truly cared for me?” “Never.”

He had heard her most desperate words: “I might actually start believing that you’ve fallen in love with me.” “Why? Is that not allowed?” “You’re a king. How could you let yourself fall in love…”