Killer Queen: Tyrant, prepare to die!

March 25th, morning.

The mornings in the Cold Palace come later and are colder than in other places.

The sparse sunlight struggled to penetrate the remaining grime and dirt on the broken windowpane.

A few blurry patches of light were cast on the dusty ground.

Instead of bringing warmth, it made the room feel even more lifeless.

Liu Ruyan huddled in the corner of the creaking, broken wooden bed.

He was wrapped in a thin, musty-smelling blanket, his eyes staring blankly at the light leaking through the hole in the roof.

In just two days, her once beautiful cheeks had become deeply sunken.

His eyes were dark and bluish-black, his lips were dry and cracked, and his hair was greasy and matted, like a tangled mess.

The magnificent palace attire and exquisite hairpins seemed like something from a past life.

At this moment, she was no different from any other deposed concubine in this cold palace who was either insane or waiting to die.

The sound of chains being opened came from outside the door.

Liu Ruyan's eyes flickered, but she didn't turn her head.

It was nothing more than sending a bowl of icy, thin porridge that reflected one's image and a cornbread as hard as a rock.

However, when the door was pushed open, it wasn't the familiar, hoarse shouts of palace servants that rang out.

It wasn't the dull thud of the food box being placed on the ground.

Instead, it was the sound of extremely light and steady footsteps.

And... a very faint, cool fragrance of plum blossoms.

This taste...?!

Liu Ruyan trembled violently and turned her head stiffly and extremely slowly.

Against the equally bleak light streaming in from the doorway, a red figure stood silently inside.

The red dress was still striking, but it lacked some of the aggressive brilliance of the palace banquet.

It possessed a more subdued, cold majesty.

Without makeup, her eyes and brows were clear and bright, like the water of a cold pool.

He just looked down at her calmly.

Shen Qingci.

Liu Ruyan's pupils suddenly contracted to their maximum size.

It made a strange "hoarse" sound from its throat, like an old, broken bellows.

She sprang up from the bed, but stumbled due to weakness and cold.

I barely managed to stand by holding onto the cold wall.

She stared intently at the person in the doorway, her eyes flashing with rapidly changing emotions—

Fear, resentment, disbelief, and finally coalesced into a near-death madness.

"It's...it's you?!"

Her voice was hoarse, like sandpaper being rubbed.

You've come to laugh at me?!

Shen Qingci! You bitch!

It's all your fault! You're the one who ruined my life!

Shen Qingci did not answer immediately.

She slowly walked into the small, dirty room.

The room was filled with an atmosphere of despair; his gaze calmly swept over the mottled walls.

A drafty window, rats scurrying around in the corner.

Finally, the light fell on Liu Ruyan's distorted face.

"This house,"

She spoke, her voice cold and clear.

There was no mockery or glee as Liu Ruyan had anticipated; it was merely a bland statement.

"It's still the same. Even the musty smell hasn't changed."

Liu Ruyan froze.

Of course she understood what Shen Qingci meant.

This is the house where Shen Qingci lived!

She carved her hatred for His Majesty here!

"You're feeling smug? Hmm?"

Liu Ruyan laughed nervously, her laughter sharp and shrill.

"Aren't you happy to see me thrown into the doghouse you used to live in?"

Shen Qingci, you win!

Are you satisfied now that you've ruined me like this?!

Shen Qingci walked to the table with the missing leg.

I stretched out my fingertips and gently brushed away the thick layer of dust that had accumulated on the table for who knows how long.

Her fingertips were stained with black dirt, but she didn't care at all.

"To harm you?"

She finally raised her eyes and looked at Liu Ruyan.

"Liu Ruyan, it was Nangong Ye's decree that sent you here."

The things that are being brought up are the remnants of your own past.

What does it have to do with me?

"What's it to you?!"

Liu Ruyan screamed.

He lunged at the table, bracing himself with his hands on the filthy surface.

He stared intently at Shen Qingci.

"If it weren't for your miraculous return to life!"

If it weren't for you bringing that little bastard back!

Why would Your Majesty bring up old matters?

Why are you investigating me! It's you! You ruined everything I had!

"Everything I have?"

Shen Qingci repeated softly, a faint yet chilling smile curving her lips.

"Everything you have refers to the power of the Liu family and the honor of being a concubine."

Or... is it what you think you possess, Nangong Ye's 'love'?

"Shut up!"

Liu Ruyan was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"His Majesty loves me!"

Back in Jiangnan, I shielded him from swords and arrows, and he held me in his arms all night without sleeping!

He said he would always protect me!

It's all because of you!

You're the obstacle blocking my way!

"You stole the empress position that should have been mine!"

"The Jiangnan Imperial Palace, used as a shield?"

A barely perceptible hint of mockery flashed across Shen Qingci's eyes.

She suddenly leaned forward, getting closer to Liu Ruyan.

Lower your voice and ask in a volume that only the two of you can hear:

"Liu Ruyan, do you really think that arrow from back then... was an accident?"

The madness on Liu Ruyan's face froze instantly, replaced by an incredulous horror: "You... what do you mean?!"

"What I mean is,"

Shen Qingci straightened up, her voice returning to normal, but her tone was even colder.

"A person who can maintain power in the harem for many years, using forbidden drugs..."

Framing concubines and faking pregnancy to vie for favor.

A woman who can cover up her marks almost flawlessly...

Such a capable woman,

They'll definitely design a scene where someone shields the emperor from a sword, right?

Liu Ruyan's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

His lips trembled, but he couldn't utter a single word.

That was her deepest, most secret, scheme that she had never fully revealed even to her father and brothers!

How could Shen Qingci know?! How could she possibly know?!

"Look,"

Shen Qingci looked at her sudden change in expression, his eyes showing no surprise, only an all-knowing coldness.

You know it in your heart too.

That so-called "deep affection to shield someone from harm"

From the very beginning, it was a play you meticulously planned.

"A performance designed to solidify His Majesty's favor and deepen his guilt and pity towards you."

"You're talking nonsense! His Majesty truly cares for me!"

Liu Ruyan's voice trembled as she tried to refute, but her confidence was already waning.

"sincere?"

Shen Qingci felt as if she had heard a joke.

She tilted her head slightly.

Looking out the window at the gray sky, fragmented and cut apart by high walls,

"Liu Ruyan, we have both stayed in this palace and served the same emperor."

Do you really think that the man sitting on that dragon throne...

How much genuine affection will be reserved for the women in the harem?

She turned back, her gaze sharp as a knife, dissecting Liu Ruyan's last vestige of self-deception:

How much of his "kindness" towards you is compensation for "shielding" you from harm?

How much of this was done to appease and exploit the power of your Liu family?

And how much of it is because you are more 'sensible' and more 'thoughtful' than Shen Qingci?

She knew better how to please him, how to be a favored concubine who wouldn't cause him trouble and could even help him balance the court's power.

Liu Ruyan staggered backward, her back hitting the cold wall before she could barely stand.

Every word Shen Qingci uttered was like the sharpest needle.

It burst the glamorous bubble she had built up over many years of vanity and self-hypnosis.

"As for me,"

Shen Qingci's tone carried a faint, almost pitying, mockery.

"I stole your position as empress?"

Liu Ruyan, ask yourself honestly,

When the late emperor arranged my marriage, the Shen family was a family of impeccable character, and it was only natural that I would become the empress.

And you, daughter of the Liu family, your social standing is sufficient...

But at the beginning, when you entered the Prince's Palace,

Wasn't she also a pawn sent to the emperor's side by the Liu family to consolidate their power?

She took a step closer, staring intently into Liu Ruyan's unfocused eyes:

"We are not any different."

They were all bargaining chips sent by their families to this shameful place.

The only difference is that I, this chess piece, once foolishly believed in the "affection" of the player who wielded the pieces.

But you recognized reality much earlier and chose to fight and grab by any means necessary.

He was trying to transform himself from a pawn into a player.

Shen Qingci's voice was soft, yet it carried a resounding power:

"But what did you get in the end after all that fighting and snatching?"

His Majesty's momentary favor?

The title of Imperial Concubine was merely a hollow honor?

Or perhaps it's just a place in this cold palace now...

And the phrase, "Your love disgusts me"?

"No...that's not how it is..."

Liu Ruyan murmured, shaking her head, but tears welled up uncontrollably, washing away the grime on her face.

Shen Qingci's words were like a cold scalpel.

She laid bare before herself all the obsessions, madness, and self-righteousness she had accumulated over the years.

It turns out... what she thought was deep affection was actually scheming.

The victory she perceived was an illusion.

The enemy she thought she was was, in the other party's eyes, just like her... a pitiful and pathetic pawn.

"Shen Qingci..."

Liu Ruyan raised her head, her eyes revealing for the first time a mixture of confusion and a near-collapse-like clarity.

"Do...do you hate me?"

"I hated it."

Shen Qingci readily admitted,

"When he was in the cold palace, suffering from abdominal pain due to poisoning, when he heard that the Shen family had been raided, and when Bao'er was almost harmed..."

I would love to eat your flesh raw.

She paused, then her tone became strangely calm:

"But now, standing here, looking at you like this... I suddenly feel that hating you would be a waste."

She turned around, seemingly intending to leave, but stopped at the door without looking back, leaving only a light, fleeting remark:

"Liu Ruyan, just stay here."

Use the rest of your days to think carefully about who you've lived for and what kind of life you've truly led.

"As for His Majesty..."

Shen Qingci's voice carried a hint of cold, all-knowing indifference:

He might find your "love" disgusting.

"But one day, he will also discover that everything he thought he controlled, including himself..."

Aren't they also pawns manipulated by imperial power, by the current situation, by their own desires and suspicions?

"We are all the same."

After saying that, she didn't linger and walked out of the house, which was filled with an atmosphere of decay and despair.

The heavy iron gate behind her slowly closed, separating the inside from the outside.

Liu Ruyan slumped to the ground, leaning against the cold, damp wall, staring blankly at the closed door.

Shen Qingci's last words echoed repeatedly in her mind like a curse.

piece……

They're all just pawns...

Even His Majesty...?

She suddenly remembered something her father, Liu Chengzong, had said to her meaningfully a long time ago:

"Ruyan, in this palace, love is the most unreliable thing."

You must remember, the honor and disgrace of the Liu family are paramount.

She recalled the deep, unfathomable look in Nangong Ye's eyes when he occasionally glanced at her, as if he were assessing something.

So it turns out... from beginning to end, she schemed and struggled, giving her all, even going so far as to become a devil to fight for it...

Is it just an illusion?

"Haha...hahaha..." She laughed softly, the laughter sounding even worse than crying.

As she laughed, large tears rolled down her cheeks.

I don't know if I'm crying over my own absurd life.

Are they still crying for the one sitting on the dragon throne, perhaps equally powerless... the chess player?