After I asked to leave the palace, the emperor finally came to see me in the Rear Palace Alley.
He said impatiently, "A Ning, stop making a fuss."
"I know you want a title, but the empress won't agree. The court still needs the Shen family to fight the Xiongnu."
How ridiculous. The Son of Heaven himself wanted to grant a palace maid a title, yet still needed the empress's approval.
Besides, the Shen family had long since fallen from power. They were no threat at all.
He was simply afraid his legitimate elder sister would be unhappy.
But without a title, my son would forever remain a lonely ghost, unable to enter the ancestral temple.
Later, I faked my death and left the palace. After burying my son, I sold scented balm in a small town.
I heard that the emperor suffered blinding headaches every night, in agony,
and that within half a year he deposed the empress and wiped out the Shen family.
He searched desperately for a palace maid skilled in blending dragon's-breath incense, promising her the position of empress.
But I no longer wanted anything.
