I rescued the Seventh Prince, Pei Jin, from a heap of beggars. The tendons in his hands and feet had all been severed.
I helped him endure humiliation and hardship for seven whole years, suffering countless trials so he could seize the throne.
But he used every means at his disposal to make empress the woman who had once made him feel lower than a dog.
He said to me, "She has suffered so much. Do you understand?"
I looked at him quietly. "Let me leave the palace. I want to go home."
He said yes.
Later, his only child fell into a lotus pond, and he ordered the palace servants to drain the water and fill in the pond.
They brought up a mutilated corpse, every finger chopped off.
That once-arrogant emperor fell to his knees beside the remains, weeping as he called my name again and again.
