The Abandoned Empress of the Cold Palace

【This story may be a little angsty. Come on, everyone, get your fill of angst! Read at your own risk!】 Synopsis: She was Princess Ruoxi, the most beloved princess of the Spirit Mirror Kingdom. Gentle as snow swirling in the wind and clouds veiling the sun, she was as beautiful as a celestial maiden beneath the moon, with dimples that shimmered like rosy light when she smiled. That day, the entire Spirit Mirror Kingdom celebrated, for the emperor was marrying the most honored Princess Ruoxi. She was also crowned empress that very day. “Brother Crown Prince…” “Mind your words. I am now the emperor, the sovereign of all under heaven.” “Your Majesty…” “Empress, although today is our wedding day, that pitiful look of yours does nothing for me. Prepare the carriage for Consort Rou’s Cloud-Smoothing Palace.” His handsome, elegant face bore a pair of icy eyes fixed directly on her. His hatred had sunk deep into her bones. She could not escape his cold, mocking gaze. “Didn’t you say you loved me, Empress? Then prove it!” His lips curled in a smile, like a profusion of spring flowers blooming on a bitterly cold day. Yet that dazzling smile sent her heart plunging once more into boundless darkness, where not a ray of light could be seen. The bright red virginity mark on her arm stung his eyes. “Wretch!” He slapped her across the face without mercy, putting all his strength into it. Flames of hatred blazed in his eyes. When she lost her balance and fell to the ground, a trace of compassion flickered in his cold eyes, only to be quickly replaced by fury. “The Empress of the Spirit Mirror Kingdom has failed to uphold her virtue as a wife. Throw her into the Cold Palace!” She stared at him with eyes as brilliant as the stars. Her lips moved, but in the end she said nothing. A bitter, bloody taste suddenly surged up her throat, and she spat out a mouthful of bright red blood that stained her moon-white robes. Perhaps seeking release, perhaps unable to endure such merciless cruelty, she fainted. He had given her as a gift to a neighboring kingdom, yet she had returned to the palace untouched. In his fury, he sent her to the Cold Palace on the grounds that she had failed to uphold her virtue as a wife. “Your mother owed me a debt she could never repay in this lifetime. Now that she’s dead, you’ll repay it in her place.” He seized her by the collar and watched as her exquisitely beautiful face gradually turned pale, then glistening tears rolled down her cheeks. Yet she stubbornly refused to speak. A trace of confusion flashed through his eyes. Why didn’t she fight back? Why did she never say a word, no matter how far he went? Did she think she was invisible? Was this her silent way of complaining to him? Her heart was dead and her tears were dry. She would never live for him again.