Ascension

“If I die one day, just let me go quietly, all by myself... I can’t take any more turmoil.”

Time flew by in the blink of an eye. The sight of you kneeling barefoot in punishment back then, and the aloof, noble figure before me now, are impossible to recognize, and I no longer wish to recognize them. Amid the shifting lights and shadows, I can just make out a hazy smile, a beauty a peony could never match, not even by a fraction.

Zheng Daiyuan, even though you became a ruler, do you understand the pain of being one?

Snow fell thick and fast, without stopping for days. I heard you calling. I saw you struggling, Zheng Daiyuan.

But it was already too late.

You just left like that, curled up, looking as you had when you were little and always cold.

Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. “Don’t be scared. I’ll hold you... then you won’t be cold.”