After I Asked to Leave the Palace, the Emperor Went Mad

When I was young, I repaid the Empress's kindness by doing everything in my power to protect the Sixth Prince in the Cold Palace. He eventually became the sovereign, wielding the power of life and death, while I became the envied Lady-in-Waiting of the Bedchamber, always by his side. Then, on the day the eldest prince turned one month old, the palace lit thousands of sky lanterns to pray for his good fortune, and the emperor granted me a wish. Everyone thought I would ask him to make me a consort. But I knelt straight-backed and asked only to leave the palace. Beneath his golden sleeves, his fingers clenched tight. Through gritted teeth, he refused: "You can forget it." He thought I had grown too accustomed to a life of comfort, and that I would have to suffer a little before I would willingly stay by his side. He didn't know that I had asked to leave only because I was dying.