Killer Queen: Tyrant, prepare to die!

Outside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, a dark mass of rebel soldiers surged in like a tide.

The cold light reflected from the blade was so blinding that one couldn't open their eyes.

"Protect the Emperor—!!!"

Xuan Ying roared fiercely, and dozens of secret guards and remnants of the Imperial Guard instantly formed a circular formation.

They protected Nangong Ye, Shen Qingci, and others in the center.

But that's too little.

The rebels outnumbered them tenfold, a hundredfold!

"Your Majesty! Let's go through the side hall!"

Cheng Lie, covered in blood, cleaved the charging rebel soldier in two with a single stroke, then turned and roared.

"Fengxian Hall! It has high walls, thick gates, and is guarded by traps!"

Fengxian Hall—the Imperial Ancestral Temple!

This is a place where the ancestral tablets of the Nangong family are enshrined!

"Let's go!" Nangong Ye decided immediately.

He grabbed Shen Qingci's wrist.

With her other hand, she snatched Bao'er from Jinshu's arms and held her tightly in her embrace.

"Father..." Bao'er's face turned pale, but she bit her lip tightly and did not cry.

"Baby, be good, don't be afraid." Shen Qingci grasped Nangong Ye's hand in return, her voice frighteningly calm, "Stay close to your mother."

The group fought and retreated.

The sounds of clashing blades, screams, rubbing armor, and arrows piercing the air mingled together, like a sonata from hell.

The distance from the Hall of Supreme Harmony to the Hall of Ancestral Worship is only a few hundred steps.

But the journey was marked by corpses strewn everywhere and rivers of blood.

Xuan Ying and his guards cleared a path with their bodies; with each step they took back, someone fell.

Cheng Lie covered the rear, and his left arm was slashed so deeply that the bone was visible, but he still fought to the death and refused to retreat.

finally--

"Bang!!!"

The heavy vermilion palace gates of Fengxian Hall slammed shut behind us.

Outside the door, the rebels' banging on the door and their roars came like a torrential downpour.

Inside the door—

Dead silence.

The only sounds were heavy breathing and the soft "tap, tap" of blood dripping onto the floor tiles.

Fengxian Hall is very large.

A towering dome, imposing beams and pillars, and layers upon layers of ancestral tablets.

In the dim, yellowish light of the eternal lamp, it silently looked down upon its wretched descendants.

The air was filled with the scent of aged incense, mixed with the fresh smell of blood.

It was eerie and oppressive.

"Take a headcount." Nangong Ye handed Bao'er to Shen Qingci and gave the order in a hoarse voice.

"Nine guards remain."

Xuan Ying knelt on one knee, a gruesome knife wound etched across his chest.

"Eleven Imperial Guards. General Cheng is seriously wounded."

"Where is Eunuch Li?"

"This old servant is here."

Li Dequan, his back hunched, emerged from the shadows.

His cuffs were stained with blood, but his eyes remained calm.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this old servant has activated the three hidden gates inside the palace. The rebels will not be able to break in for the time being."

"But—" he paused, "our food and water supplies are insufficient; we can only last two days at most."

two days.

Nangong Ye closed his eyes.

If no reinforcements arrive two days later—

They either died of starvation, trapped in the palace, or were hacked to death after the palace gates were breached.

"His Majesty!"

Prince Su, Nangong Lie, was supported by two officials, tears streaming down his face.

"It is my incompetence... that I failed to see through Prince Jing's treacherous ambitions sooner..."

"What's the point of saying all this now?!"

A military general roared,

"Our top priority is to fight our way out! Protect His Majesty and help him escape!"

"How do we break through?!"

Another civil official said in despair,

"There are at least a thousand rebels outside! And most of our twenty-odd men are wounded..."

"Are we just going to wait to die?!"

"Enough!" Nangong Ye suddenly opened his eyes.

Those bloodshot eyes churned with a violent, almost insane killing intent.

He ripped off his bright yellow dragon robe—the garment that symbolized supreme imperial power—and threw it hard on the ground!

The dragon robe fell to the ground, kicking up dust.

"I—am ready to die!"

He hissed, each word like a demon crawling out of hell:

"I'll drag Nangong Shuo down with me—to the grave!!!"

"Mysterious Shadow!"

"Your subject is here!"

"Take an inventory of all weapons, gunpowder, and poison! I want this Fengxian Hall to become Prince Jing's tomb!"

"yes!"

"Eunuch Li!"

"This old servant is here!"

"You are familiar with the mechanisms; you've laid deadly traps at every entrance and exit of the palace! I intend for every rebel who dares to break in—to never return!"

"This old servant... obeys the decree."

Nangong Ye turned around and looked at Shen Qingci.

She looked at the baby in her arms.

Those eyes were bloodshot, filled with despair, yet also carrying an almost tender resolve.

"Qingci." He reached out and gently stroked Bao'er's face.

"Later... if the palace gates are about to break down, take Bao'er and go through the secret passage in the back hall."

He pointed behind the high platform where the memorial tablets were enshrined:

"There is a secret passage there that leads directly to the moat outside the palace."

"Yes...it was a way I prepared for myself back then, in case I was ever deposed."

He laughed, a bitter laugh:

"I never expected to need it today."

Shen Qingci looked at him quietly.

Looking into his eyes, I saw a deep, desperate, yet incredibly real love and regret that was almost overflowing.

She did not speak.

She simply and gently took his hand.

Then--

shook his head.

"I'm not leaving."

Her voice was soft, but firm:

"Bao'er isn't leaving either."

Nangong Ye's pupils contracted: "Qingci! Now is not the time to be willful! You—"

"His Majesty."

Shen Qingci interrupted him, raising her eyes.

Looking at the layers upon layers of ancestral tablets,

Looking at the flickering glow of the ever-burning lamp, his voice was eerily calm:

"You said that our ancestors are watching from above."

"Watching their descendants kill each other."

"Look at this ancestral temple that has been worshipped for hundreds of years, it is about to become a river of blood."

She paused, then slowly turned her head to look at Nangong Ye:

"What do you think they'll think?"

Nangong Ye was stunned.

"They'll think—"

Shen Qingci spoke each word carefully.

"This emperor named Nangong Ye,

This prince named Nangong Shuo,

Who, in the end, is truly worthy of the Nangong surname?

"Who is worthy to sit on that dragon throne?"

"Who is truly worthy of being called a wise ruler?"

She released Nangong Ye's hand, held Bao'er in her arms, and walked step by step toward the high platform where the memorial tablets were enshrined.

Then, he turned around.

Open to everyone.

"If Your Majesty wishes to fight to the death, I will accompany you."

"But before I die—"

She stared at the palace door that had been slammed shut with a loud crash, a cold glint flashing in her eyes:

"I want Nangong Shuo to know—"

"What do you mean, 'unacceptable by our ancestors'!"

"What do you mean by 'unforgivable by heaven and earth'?!"

Before the words were finished—

"boom!!!"

The palace gate was finally forced open a crack!

Blinding sunlight, mixed with the ferocious faces of the rebels, poured in through the gaps!

"Nangong Ye!!" Prince Jing's voice came from outside the door, filled with the arrogance of a victor, "Come out and face your death! Perhaps I will—leave you a whole corpse!"

I.

He has already begun to refer to himself as "朕" (Zhen, the imperial "I").

Nangong Ye flew into a rage, drew his sword, and was about to charge out—

But a hand gently pressed down on it.

It is Shen Qingci.

She looked at him and shook her head.

Then, he leaned down and whispered something in Bao'er's ear.

Bao'er blinked her big eyes, seemingly understanding but not quite, but nodded emphatically.

Shen Qingci straightened up and looked at Eunuch Li:

"Master."

Li Dequan bowed: "Your Majesty's command."

"Is there any 'secret' in this Fengxian Hall—" she said slowly, "that even Prince Jing doesn't know?"

A glint of light flashed in Li Dequan's cloudy old eyes.

He looked up at the highest tablet, which belonged to "Empress Dowager Duanhui".

for a long time.

He smiled.

That smile was desolate and tragic, yet it carried an almost sacred resolve.

"have."

He said in a hoarse voice:

"Before the late Empress Dowager passed away, she left this old servant with a message."

She said—

"If one day, descendants become unworthy, brothers fight amongst themselves, endangering the ancestral temple—"

He slowly knelt down and kowtowed deeply towards the memorial tablet:

"Then let this old servant... open his 'Heavenly Eye'."

"Please, ancestors—"

"Open your eyes!!!"