Come evening, when the rooms lit with scented candles and the song of the evening bird resounded in the big garden.

HanYu stood watching the flowers in the wide courtyard. Glancing up to the rising moon, a tear fell. She never got to say her goodbye or even see him one last time. Like a bird she was trapped here, her hand roamed to her belly gently.

"Mistress... Who else knows?"

Shaking her head gently, HanYu turned to Sakura her most trusted maid and friend.

" No one but you. And no one else can know. "

"But he intend to...r-rape you tonight."

Sakura turned her head away as she felt a prick on her heart. Her mistress was placed into such a position yet she could do nothing for her.

"That is good. I won't let him hurt this child. I will be obedient so he doesn't hurt my body. There's no way a person that is pregnant could get pregnant again..."

Although she wasn't a 100% sure, but this was their only way of survival. After pausing she continued,

"We are lucky that it's still early, my stomach hasn't started to grow. We will hide it and as soon as it starts to show...this child will be the 6th prince's son...that is the only way to save this child's life. The last gift Tianzheng left for me."

"Mistress if anyone finds out we will get executed!"

"Keep your voice down, I would rather die than live knowing I killed his child."

Sakura watched the lonely back of her mistress as she walked towards the hall. Words wouldn't even describe the situation she was in. Yet her back held a trace of dignity and righteousness unwilling to bend and betray her love.

The thin silk covering her body barely have her any warmth and it seemed she was more like his prostitute than a dignified woman.

Drunk on wine, JunZhan appeared, wrapping his arms around her slim body that felt cold to the touch.

Oh how he had always dreamed of this night. The night where every part of her would belong only to him. No matter how many woman he had, it could never satisfy his craving for her body, scent and touch.

"HanYu... I've always wanted this."

Through gritted teeth, he ravaged her motionless body. Reaching every inch satisfying himself till the wee morning.

Yet until now HanYu had barely spoken, only nodding from time to time, her eyes shut never looking directly at his. It was as though the person was just a doll from which he is using.

Irritated, he grabbed a bunch of her hair, forcing her face inches away from his. Opening her eyes to meet his, there was a souless stare in her eyes. Just like a broken doll that stared blankly at him. Emotionless and distant.

Seeing her destroyed self, he flung her to the side of the bed, leaving in fury. HanYu remained where she was, gently picking herself up from the floor. Until he was gpne and out of sight did she place her hand on top her womb, praying for the little one inside to be safe.

Only a week had passed, when the Old Emperor announced the 6th Prince as the next Crown Prince, Junzhan smirked, looking down on the officials who had once sided the 8th Prince TianZheng, crawling and bowing at his feet trying to curry favors.

Incidentally, who would knew that his mother, greedy for power, planted a sickness in the old Emperor's body so that her son can quickly take the throne. Falling ill, the Imperial physician paid by the Imperial Concubine Fu, advised that the Emperor had no choice but to abdicate the throne to his son or the stress might really end his life.

Although unwilling, the Emperor sent out the edict and announced to the public that he will abdicate and be a guiding emperor(Retired Emperor) for the New Emperor, JunZhan.

With such news, JunZhan drank his night away. He wanted the throne, who knew it would so easily fall into his hands. This was his fate yet as happy as he was, he still felt there was one thing he owned but never possessed.

Every night it was the same thing. He would use HanYu's body to satisfy himself before leaving in a fury when morning comes.

The Lady, Mei HanYu became a mute lifeless doll in front of him. Not a single word unless he absolutely forced her to speak. Never a single glance towards him and even wiping her hands whenever he touched her as though he had a virus she didn't want.

In his desperation, he tried doing everything he could to please her,

" I will marry you officially, I will make you Empress. I will give you the life you never could attain. I will give you millions in gold and riches."

but it was never enough.

Soon on a fateful morning, news from the inner court spread like wildfire, she was pregnant!

The happy news soon spread and even the Retired Emperor was happy and looking forward to Grandchildren. JunZhan was over joyed, perhaps with his new son she might grow some emotions back but when he met her, she did not look at him. Only a soulless pair of eyes that seemed devoid of life and a belly slightly plump as compared to before where she had a slim figure.

According to palace protocol. When a woman of the king was pregnant, the less stress there was on the body the better. Therefore the Retired Emperor told JunZhan not to disturb her quarters at night. knowing full well that his 6th son favored the lady Mei HanYu so much that he pestered his father emperor to allow him to name her Empress instead of his current first wife.

However, the old Retired Emperor watched his son getting spun around her finger, he could only sigh internally but he truly believed that she would come to love him one day. Like the mind of the old, he too has married a lady he did not love, until the later parts in life.

HanYu locked herself in the room day and night unwilling to show herself to JunZhan. Every morning he would wait for her outside her courtyard doors, only to return to his palace an hour later.

Finally unable to take it, he broke the doors down, his eyes blood red with anger and veins on his forehead.

"Why won't you see me?"

Meeting with a silent and cold back, Mei HanYu continued staring out the window. Her stomach obviously bigger than the last time he saw her. Finally her cold voice broke the silence,

"I... hate you... Every essence, sight and sound of you. Get lost."

An crazy expression appeared on his face, he wore the golden robes of an emperor yet he felt so insignificant under her scrutinizing gaze. When did her gentle eyes ever learned to look at people like that. It contained within them a hatred so strong even the blind would be able to feel it.

"If you hate me then kill that child. You can't can you? Harming a "Longzi*" will mean execution of your entire family."

Laughing in his madness, the Emperor JunZhan looked at her. She turned slightly, revealing a smirk on her lifeless face, yet it did not reach her cold eyes.

"If I have this child in me. You can't touch me either for 9 months... I will live for 9 months until this monster inside is rid of me...and then who knows I might just choose the next path."

After a long pause, Mei HanYu tilted her head to the side, her glare just as condescending as she looked down on the pitiful man Infront of her.

"JunZhan... I will never be yours. What you have is merely a physical part of me..."

Bringing her thumb to the center of her chest, she pointed and continued,

"This here, inside... Will NEVER be yours. Not to a man like yourself."

Clenching his teeth and fists, he resisted the urge to go crazy and slam the crazy bitch to the ground. Even if he was the Emperor what she said was true. So what if he was a strong cultivator reaching the peak of Silver rank he clenched his fist and slammed it into the wall, blowing a hole in it as the dust and debris scatter.

Such a stupid rule set by the ancestors. As long as she was pregnant, he too could not harm her or it would be execution, even for the Emperor himself.

Blood seeped from his fist that were clenched tightly. He knew it deep down he could never win against TianZheng. Even after his death, she still hung on to him, never a day passes where she was actually looking at him the emperor. All along she never had a single part of him in her eyes.

In his fury, he did not see her clenched fist. Even if it's for the sake of fooling JunZhan, to call their son a monster, even if it was just acting, hurt her deeply.

Spitting out coldly, Emperor JunZhan knew no matter what he did she was never his to begin with. what a foolish man he had been.

"So be it."

Turning to the palace maid, he commanded as he walked out.

" Since she likes locking herself in, lock her in this place. I don't wish to see an inch of her."

Ever since that command was passed, the life in the Phoenix Palace changed. the palace became desolate, through the rumors and words spoken by the maids, its name slowly fading from the prestigious Phoenix Palace into the Fallen Phoenix Palace.

The palace was suppose to be the home of the Empress yet now a new one was build and the people slowly shifted and left until all but Mei HanYu and Sakura were left. Her title, a mere Imperial Concubine.

Their food were simple cold hard bread, porridge and plain vegetables accompanied with bitter tea. Doing everything they could to survive. There were many who did not want that child to survive, especially the new Empress, the first wife of the 6th Prince, Mu HuaRong.

Hoping that the child would die the Empress even planted a birthing poison in HanYu's food. If she can get rid of HanYu that alone is enough to satisfy her jealousy for the woman who stole her place. Even now during intercourse, JunZhan never called her, the Empress's name, but always the whore Hanyu.

On the day HanYu went into labor, she gave it her all to make sure her son was birthed with no complications. The current Empress did everything she could to delay the Imperial Physician from arriving and helping with the childbirth. Leaving them no choice but to do it themselves. Thank god Sakura had learned how to assist with childbirth.

*RETURN TO CURRENT TIMES*

*Crackle*

In the eerie silence of the camp, dusk had fallen and only the campfire lit the surroundings. The logs cracking as her story continued.

Everyone around the fire listened in horrified shock. this was a story they never expected. This was a hole in the history books written by the Scholars of the Empire.

Tianhuo had no expression on his face but unbeknownst to everyone, deep within it was a flurry of Emotions.

Sakura wiped at the tears in her eyes as she continued.

"Once you, my prince, were born into the world. Your mother, Imperial Concubine HanYu made me promise to always look after you from a far. Her health took a turn for the worse and she became bedridden. I'm sure you remember. "

Tianhuo knew that what the lady Sakura spoke of was true. He remembered his mother as someone who was weird. She had always been cold and distant but there were times when he would catch her looking at him warmly with a hint of pain in her expression. Although she acted like she didnt care, when he pretended to fall, he could see panic on her face before she composed herself and looked away.

He never knew why his mother was like that until now. It was all an act, she could not let anyone know he was not the Emperor JunZhan's real child.

One couldn't be cautious enough, you never know when the eyes and ears of the palace walls were listening and watching you.

How could she "love" the monster he created with her. Thus she had to refrain and act like she hated the damn child so JunZhan would never suspect , his true father was... the true Crown Prince TianZheng!

Tianhuo clenched his fist as he remembered his mother growing weaker. She held onto his hand and repeated the same riddle over and over to him. It was only on that day did she ever willingly held his hand and gaze at him full of sadness and emotion.

"The Heavens can be Gentle and Benevolent,

But the it can also Punish and Burn with the fire of Justice. My Tian* will hold the heaven's Benevolence and Raging Huo*... The Heavenly Dragon will soar into the sky and take his rightful place."

Until her last breath on her death bed. On that day as though the Gods were angered, the setting sun painted the sky a scarlet red. Tianhuo remembered holding onto her cold hands until he was forcefully dragged away and locked in the small room in the East palace.

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