Killer Queen: Tyrant, prepare to die!

March 23rd, the first quarter of the Yin hour.

The candles inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation were still lit.

Nangong Ye sat alone behind his desk, the document laid out before him not in the form of memorials.

Instead, it contained all the "evidence" records found last night in the secret compartment of Liu Ruyan's Huayang Palace, as well as the complete case file of the interrogation in the Heavenly Prison.

The candlelight flickered, illuminating his pale, thin profile and the deep shadows in his eyes.

He turned the pages one by one, and the more he looked, the colder his fingers became, and the heavier his heart grew.

Those words and confessions paint a picture of an incredibly intricate and vicious web, a web of deception and harm that has lasted for an extended period.

Until the very last page, when he saw the supplementary statement from Physician Zhang, it was mentioned that...

If a man carries the medicine in that handkerchief with him for a long time, it may also hinder his ability to have children...

He slammed the file shut and closed his eyes.

The hall was deathly silent, with only the occasional crackling sound of candle wicks popping.

After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes, his eyes no longer showing any hesitation, only a cold determination.

"Mysterious Shadow".

"Your subject is here."

"Draft an imperial edict."

---

At the hour of Chen (7-9 AM), the sky was overcast, with leaden-gray clouds hanging low over the imperial city.

A group of eunuchs from the Directorate of Ceremonial, dressed in crimson robes and with expressionless faces, carried bright yellow scrolls.

Surrounded by twelve armored guards, they trudged with heavy steps.

After passing through the long palace corridor, we arrived directly at the entrance to the Heavenly Prison where Liu Ruyan was temporarily imprisoned.

At the same time, another team of eunuchs of even higher rank arrived directly outside the gate of the Liu residence.

"Imperial edict arrives—Liu Chengzong, receive the edict!"

The main gate of the Liu residence was wide open, and Liu Chengzong, who seemed to have aged twenty years overnight, appeared to be much older.

Wearing a court robe he hadn't changed out of, and supported by a servant, he staggered out to greet them.

He knelt on the cold stone steps in front of the mansion gate.

Behind him, a sea of ​​Liu family members and servants knelt, their faces ashen.

The head eunuch unfurled the imperial edict, his shrill voice devoid of emotion, yet like a death knell, striking the hearts of every member of the Liu family:

"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: It has been found that Lady Liu, a commoner in Huayang Palace, is morally deficient and of wicked character."

While in the Prince's residence, she deliberately harmed the imperial heir; after entering the palace, she faked a pregnancy to gain favor and deceived the emperor.

Frame concubines and persecute colleagues;

He privately used the forbidden palace drug "Zhu Yan Mo".

He poisoned the late Empress Shen for a long time, causing damage to her health and nearly killing her.

His actions were despicable, and his heart was wicked; his crimes are too numerous to recount!

This means that Lady Liu was stripped of her title and all her official rank and clothing, and reduced to a commoner.

He is to be imprisoned in the northeast corner of the Sixth West Palace to reflect on his mistakes; he will not be released until he dies! So be it—

He was stripped of his title and reduced to a commoner!

Banished to the cold palace!

You cannot leave unless you die!

Every word was like a nail hardened with ice, piercing deeply into Liu Chengzong's eardrums.

Pierce his heart!

His vision went black, and he felt a metallic taste in his throat; he almost fainted on the spot.

"Prime Minister Liu, receive the imperial decree," the eunuch delivering the decree said coldly.

Liu Chengzong trembled violently and suddenly banged his head against the ground.

With a series of loud thuds, tears streamed down his face, and he cried out in a hoarse voice:

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please have mercy!"

My daughter was ignorant and made a grave mistake. This old minister is willing to take the blame for her!

I beg Your Majesty to remember that my daughter once did...

I have served Your Majesty before you, and in consideration of my many years of diligence, please grant me leniency!

The Cold Palace... Is the Cold Palace even a place for a human being?!

That would drive someone to their death, Your Majesty!

He cried with genuine emotion, as if he were truly an old father heartbroken for his unfilial daughter.

But in his heart was a chilling despair and overwhelming resentment.

The Cold Palace!

That's where Shen Qingci used to be!

Your Majesty did this on purpose!

This is to torture Ruyan in the same way, to avenge Shen Qingci!

"Prime Minister Liu," the eunuch's voice remained icy.

"His Majesty's decree is crystal clear."

The evidence against Liu Shuren is irrefutable and unforgivable.

His Majesty's decision not to punish the entire Liu family is already an extraordinary act of mercy.

You... should still express your gratitude.

Extraordinary leniency? The entire family spared from punishment?

Liu Chengzong sensed the chilling warning hidden in those words—

Just because His Majesty hasn't taken action against the Liu family yet doesn't mean he won't in the future!

If we don't know what's good for us now, something even bigger will happen right away!

He clenched his teeth tightly, his mouth filled with the taste of blood.

Finally, he slammed his forehead heavily onto the cold ground.

Squeezing out a broken voice through clenched teeth: "This old minister... thanks Your Majesty... for your great favor..."

The words "great favor" were uttered as if they were spoken with tears of blood.

---

Deep within the imperial prison.

After the imperial edict decreing him as a commoner was read aloud, and two burly old women stepped forward expressionlessly,

They needed to strip off the last rough prison uniform she was wearing.

When she changed into an even more tattered gray linen prison dress, Liu Ruyan went completely mad.

"No! I won't go to the Cold Palace! I won't go!!"

She screamed shrilly, struggled desperately, and scratched the old woman's arm with her fingernails until it bled.

"I am Consort Rou! I am His Majesty's favorite!"

You can't do this to me!

"I want to see His Majesty! I want to see His Majesty!!"

However, her struggles were futile against the well-trained nannies and the ruthless eunuchs.

Soon, she was forcibly stripped of her outer clothes and forced into a musty, patched criminal garment.

Her hair was haphazardly tied up and hastily secured with a wooden hairpin.

"Let's go, Consort Liu." The eunuch's voice was completely flat.

She was roughly dragged out of the cell and down a long, gloomy corridor.

The sound of the chains dragging on the ground echoed harshly.

The moment she stepped out of the prison gates, the bleak sunlight stung her eyes.

She saw the majestic palaces in the distance, and the familiar flying eaves and brackets.

That was the place where she once enjoyed immense glory and dominated the fates of others.

At this moment, she was being escorted to the most remote, desolate, and terrifying corner of the palace—the Cold Palace in the northeast corner of the Sixth Palace of the West.

That was a tomb that swallowed the youth, lives, and hopes of countless disfavored concubines!

The closer you get, the more dilapidated the environment becomes. The palace walls are mottled, overgrown with weeds, and crows caw in the withered trees.

A stale, despairing atmosphere permeated the air.

Finally, they stopped in front of an iron gate that was mostly peeling off its red paint and covered in rust.

The door was pushed open with a sickening creak.

A mixture of musty, dusty, and some indescribable chill wafted over me.

Liu Ruyan was suddenly pushed inside.

She staggered a few steps and fell onto the cold, damp, dusty ground.

Looking up, what comes into view is a small, dilapidated room with a leaky roof.

The paper windows were tattered and rustled in the cold wind.

Thick spider webs hung in the corner of the wall, and several mice scurried past, rustling as they heard the noise.

The room contained nothing but a crooked, broken wooden bed, a table with a missing leg, and a cracked chamber pot.

This... will be her future grave.

"ah--!!!"

Liu Ruyan let out a scream that sounded inhuman, scrambled to her feet, and frantically pounded on the tightly closed iron gate.

"Let me out! Let me out! I don't want to be here! I'll die! I'm going to die!!"

The cold clanging of chains locking came from outside the door, followed by the eunuch's emotionless instructions:

"You'll have one meal a day, delivered through the doorway. Take care of yourself, Lord Liu."

The footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

No matter how much Liu Ruyan cried, cursed, or begged, there was no response from outside.

She slid down to the floor in despair, her back against the cold, icy door.

He stared blankly around the cage.

Suddenly, her gaze froze.

On the leg of the broken wooden bed near the corner, there seemed to be something carved.

She crawled over on her hands and feet, brushing away the thick layer of dust.

By the dim light filtering through the roof, she could see clearly.

Those weren't patterns; they were several lines of deeply engraved characters.

The handwriting was somewhat messy, yet it carried a chilling stubbornness.

She recognized it:

"In the sixth year of Jinghe, on the seventeenth day of the eleventh month, it snowed. It was cold."

"March 21st, the seventh year of Jinghe (820 AD), rain. Severe abdominal pain. Hoping..."

The words that followed were blurred, as if they had been repeatedly rubbed.

But the bottom line has the deepest writing, almost as if it were scratched out with a fingernail.

Traces of dark brown color, resembling dried blood:

"Nangong Ye, I hate you."

boom--!

Liu Ruyan's mind felt as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer!

The sixth year of Jinghe... the seventh year of Jinghe... that was the time Shen Qingci spent in the Cold Palace!

This was carved by Shen Qingci!

This bed, this room, is where Shen Qingci lived back then!

Your Majesty... Your Majesty actually threw her into the same room where Shen Qingci suffered back then!

"Hahaha..." Liu Ruyan laughed hysterically, but then burst into tears.

retribution……

Is this retribution?

She orchestrated sending Shen Qingci here back then.

Now, she herself has been thrown in, sleeping in the same broken bed, facing the same despair!

Shen Qingci carved his hatred for His Majesty here back then.

Now she is here, tasting something more terrible than hatred—the fear of being utterly abandoned and waiting to die in decay.

---

The Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Liu Chengzong, disregarding everything, stormed into the palace and knelt down outside the hall once more.

His forehead was bleeding profusely from banging on his head, and he pleaded desperately for his daughter's life.

He was even willing to relinquish his position as prime minister, only asking that His Majesty remove Liu Ruyan from the cold palace.

Even if they are confined to a place with slightly better conditions.

The palace gates were tightly closed.

After a long while, Nangong Ye's hoarse and weary, yet incredibly clear and cold voice came from inside, seeping through the crack in the door:

"Prime Minister Liu".

"When Lady Shen was banished to the Cold Palace, did you... ever utter a single word of pleading for her?"

Outside the door, Liu Chengzong froze instantly as if he had been doused with ice water, collapsing to the ground with a deathly pale face.

There was no more speech.

Inside the hall, Nangong Ye stood by the window, gazing blankly in the direction of the Western Six Cold Palaces.

He knew which room Liu Ruyan had been sent to.

He chose it on purpose.

Clear words...

The suffering you endured there, the despair you tasted...

Now, it's her turn.

As dusk fell, the leaden clouds did not disperse; instead, they grew even heavier.

A strange, dark red sliver of moonlight struggled through the clouds, coldly illuminating the imperial city.

It was like a bloodshot eye peering into human tragedy.

A blood moon hangs in the sky.

Bad omen.

In the Phoenix Perch Villa, after hearing Jinshu's report, Shen Qingci simply put down his teacup.

"The Cold Palace..." she repeated softly.

Looking towards the palace, his eyes held neither sorrow nor joy, only a bottomless chill.

"Good."

She got up, walked into the courtyard, and let the dark red moonlight envelop her.

"The old drama has come to an end."

"A new game..."

"This is just the beginning."