Frozen Fire

Chapter 24

A Song of Goodbye

The Emperor silently let his consort help him to wear his formal attire for the day. The beautiful was barely lifting his face even just for once as if he was too engrossed with the task. As he was done putting on a black long robe with dragon embroidery, the Consort stepped behind, knowing the Emperor was now ready for his morning court.

The Emperor was smiling gratefully and muttered "Thank you, sweetheart," that the Consort replied with a simple nod.

"Tonight I will be late. I am going to go for an inspection in the town. You don't have to wait for me for the meal," The Emperor said. Once again, the Consort was obediently nodding his head.

Behind the royal couple, Xiao Guizi appeared. The old eunuch was bowing down with full of respect before reminded that it was the time for them to head to the royal court. The Emperor glanced back at his Consort. He looked like he was about to say something, but the words were getting caught in the tip of his tongue. In the end, he just turned his body to follow Xiao Guizi to exit the room.

The Consort was also not too different. Even though the Emperor already disappeared behind the door, he was still staring longingly toward to door. There were so many that he needed to say to the Emperor for the last time but he just couldn't find the right words.

"What's the matter, Your Highness?" Xiao Guizi asked the Emperor. They were finally getting out from the Hong Palace. There was a palanquin that already waiting for the Emperor to bring him to the main palace. But the man stopped his steps so abruptly.

The Emperor ignored the old eunuch's question. He gestured to one of his guards to come closer. "Stay here, don't let anyone enter or get out from the Hong Palace. Do as what I've ordered, don't let anything happen to the Consort." After he said that, the Emperor entered his palanquin with a final glance to the Hong Palace.

This time, Xiao Guizi didn't ask anymore. Now he knew that the day had come. He wouldn't himself bother the Emperor any further since the man must already have too much on his plate at the moment. He just could quietly pray to the Gods and Goddesses in heaven.

-

Cheng Guo Wei was hiding behind the dark alley. His royal attire was nowhere to be seen. Today, he dressed casually like a normal citizen, letting himself mixed up with all normal who walking around in the crowded market.

In a quite long distance from his place, but it was still on his sight range, there was the Emperor along with the guards and ministers were standing in front of the market's lining stalls.

The Royal Advisor smirked. This was the chance he had been waiting for years. It took plenty of preparation for him to prepare everything. But the Emperor's journey some while ago was giving him enough time to make a move freely in the palace, to infiltrate the Emperor's trusted guards and searching for an ally. He had set up a trap to kill the Emperor.

In certain positions in each corner of the market, there were high skilled assassins who had been waiting for a signal from their ally among the Emperor's guards to make a move.

Actually, this wasn't the first plan the Advisor had set. Consort Yu claimed that he wanted to kill the Emperor with his own hands. He knew that the Consort's skill was nowhere compared to the Emperor combat's skill, so Cheng Guo Wei prepared a poison without antidote inside of the Emperor's breakfast. He told Consort Yu that with the poison, he could see the Emperor died in front of his eyes.

However, ever since they came back from Jiangnan, the Royal Advisor noticed there was something changed about the Consort and he just couldn't let it slip from his observation. It wasn't so hard to tell that the Consort had fallen for the Emperor, very deep. He started to doubt that if the Consort even still had any desire to kill the Emperor.