Killer Queen: Tyrant, prepare to die!

Chapter 53 His Majesty has gone mad! He clings to the corpse and refuses to let go.

As dawn broke, hurried footsteps could be heard outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Xuan Ying was about to stop him when Nangong Ye woke up—he had barely slept all night, and his eyes were bloodshot.

"Your Majesty!" The little eunuch scrambled to the palace gate, his voice trembling uncontrollably, "Tangli Palace... something has happened at Tangli Palace!"

Nangong Ye's heart sank.

He threw off the covers and rushed out barefoot.

Xuan Ying grabbed the dragon robe and chased after him, only to find that he wasn't even wearing boots.

He ran like a madman towards the Tangli Palace, stepping on the cold bluestone ground.

"Your Majesty! Shoes—"

Nangong Ye couldn't hear anything.

Only one thought occupied his mind: It can't be her... it can't be...

The Tangli Palace is in complete chaos.

The palace maids and eunuchs knelt on the ground, their faces pale.

The door to the bedchamber was wide open, and from inside came Jinshu's heart-wrenching cries: "Your Majesty... please wake up, Your Majesty..."

Nangong Ye rushed to the door, but was frozen in place by the sight before him.

Shen Qingci lay on the bed, her face ashen, her lips purple, her hands folded in front of her chest.

She was wearing that faded old palace dress—the kind worn in the Cold Palace, made of a material that even the lowest-ranking palace maids in the Tangli Palace disdained to wear.

Jinshu lay by the bedside, crying so hard she almost fainted.

"Qing...Qingci?" Nangong Ye's voice was very soft, as if he was afraid of waking her.

He moved step by step to the bedside, reaching out to touch her face, but his fingers trembled in mid-air.

Touch her cheek.

It's cold.

Bone-chilling cold.

"Qingci?" he called again, this time louder, "Wake up, I...I've come to see you."

The person on the bed remained motionless.

Nangong Ye moved his hand down to check her breath.

No.

There wasn't a trace of life.

"No...it's impossible..." He grabbed her wrist suddenly and pressed his fingers to her pulse.

A dead silence.

He switched hands and pressed them against her neck, chest, and everywhere he could feel a pulse—nothing! Not a single beat!

"Imperial Physician! Summon the Imperial Physician—!!" Nangong Ye roared, his voice filled with a panic he himself was unaware of.

Several imperial physicians rushed in, led by the head of the Imperial Medical Academy.

"Quick! Take the Empress's pulse!" Nangong Ye yanked aside a royal physician and practically shoved him to the bedside.

The judge cautiously extended his finger and placed it on Shen Qingci's wrist.

A moment later, his face turned deathly pale, and he knelt down with a thud: "Your Majesty...the Empress...she has no pulse, she...she has passed away..."

"Nonsense!" Nangong Ye kicked him to the ground. "Quack doctor! Get out of here! Send someone else to treat you!"

The second imperial physician stepped forward, and after examining her, he also knelt down: "Your Majesty, please accept my condolences... Her Majesty is indeed... poison has entered her heart meridian, and there is no way to save her."

The third one, the fourth one...

All the imperial physicians gave the same diagnosis: no pulse, body ice-cold, and face bluish-purple—typical signs of death from poisoning.

"Poisoned..." Nangong Ye staggered, his eyes fixed on the person on the bed. "Who? Who poisoned him?!"

His gaze suddenly swept towards Jinshu.

Jinshu cried uncontrollably, "It was...it was the tonic that Consort Rou sent before...The Consort couldn't bear to throw it away...Last night, last night I don't know how, it just..."

Consort Rou.

Liu Ruyan.

Nangong Ye's pupils shrank to pinpoints.

"Xuan Ying!" His voice was as cold as ice. "Go to Huayang Palace and bring Lady Liu here. Now! Immediately!"

---

Inside Huayang Palace, Liu Ruyan was doing her hair and makeup.

Her heart skipped a beat when she heard hurried footsteps outside.

When she saw Xuan Ying leading the Imperial Guards in, the jade comb in her hand fell to the ground with a "clatter".

"What...what are you doing?" she asked, trying to remain calm.

Xuan Ying said expressionlessly, "His Majesty requests the presence of Consort Liu."

"I am still under house arrest—"

"Take her away." Xuan Ying interrupted her, and two imperial guards stepped forward, one on each side, and dragged her out.

"How dare you be so disrespectful to me! His Majesty will not let you get away with this!"

Nobody paid any attention to her.

They dragged her all the way to Tangli Palace, where Liu Ruyan was slammed to the ground.

She looked up and first saw the imperial physicians kneeling all over the room, then the dead man on the bed, and finally—

Nangong Ye stood barefoot by the bed, his bright yellow nightgown covered in dust, his hair disheveled, his eyes bloodshot, staring intently at her.

His eyes looked like he wanted to devour her alive.

"Your Majesty..." Liu Ruyan's voice trembled.

"The tonic you sent?" Nangong Ye's voice was eerily calm.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty is concerned about my sister's health..."

"I ask you, was it you who sent the tonic?!" he suddenly roared, his voice shaking the roof beams.

Liu Ruyan trembled in fright: "It was...it was a gift from me, but I had absolutely no intention of harming anyone, Your Majesty! The tonic was made of the finest donkey-hide gelatin and ginseng, and it's recorded in the Imperial Hospital—"

"Records?" Nangong Ye sneered. "Then tell me, how could donkey-hide gelatin and ginseng cause someone to bleed from all seven orifices and die from poisoning?"

Liu Ruyan was stunned.

She subconsciously looked at the bed—there were indeed dried, dark red bloodstains on Shen Qingci's lips, nostrils, and eyes.

That couldn't have been caused by ordinary poison!

"No...it's impossible..." She shook her head frantically, "What I sent was truly a tonic; Your Majesty can investigate if you don't believe me—"

"Investigate?" Nangong Ye walked up to her, squatted down, and grabbed her chin. "Liu Ruyan, do you think I'm easy to fool?"

His fingers were icy cold, and he gripped her so tightly he almost crushed her bones.

Tears streamed down Liu Ruyan's face from the pain: "Your Majesty... I'm innocent... truly innocent..."

"Injustice?" Nangong Ye released her, stood up, and took out the porcelain bottle from his pocket—the one she had sent earlier. "The imperial physician has examined this medicine."

Inside is "The Death of a Crimson Beauty," a rare poison from the Western Ridge. Those poisoned will slowly suffer organ failure, dying with a bluish-purple face and blood oozing from their seven orifices.

With each word he spoke, Liu Ruyan's face paled a little more.

"This poison is extremely rare; in the entire palace, only your Liu family has been able to obtain it."

Nangong Ye's voice grew colder and colder.

"Back then, Shen Qingci was poisoned with this very same poison. Now, you've sent another bottle."

He bent down, leaned close to her ear, and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"Do you really think I know nothing?"

Liu Ruyan felt her blood run cold.

She opened her mouth, wanting to explain, but no sound came out.

Nangong Ye straightened up, stopped looking at her, and turned back to the bedside.

He slowly sat down, reached out and picked up Shen Qingci, holding her tightly in his arms.

Her body was cold and stiff, her hair lying on his arm, lifeless.

"Qingci..." He buried his face in the crook of her neck, his voice muffled, "Don't scare me... Open your eyes and look at me..."

"You can curse me, you can hate me... but don't just lie there like that..."

"I know I was wrong... I really know..."

His shoulders began to tremble.

He held her tighter and tighter, as if trying to warm her up with his body heat.

Jinshu knelt to the side, watching this scene, and cried so hard she couldn't breathe.

She was genuinely crying—even though she knew the Empress had faked her death, seeing His Majesty like this still made her heart ache.

Everyone in the room—the imperial physicians, palace maids, and eunuchs—kept their heads down, not daring to utter a sound.

Only Liu Ruyan remained slumped on the ground, watching Nangong Ye hold the dead man.

Listening to his soft whispers, a feeling I couldn't quite describe welled up inside me.

She should be happy.

Shen Qingci is dead, the position of empress is vacant, and her opportunity has arrived.

but……

Why is His Majesty so sad?

The way he held Shen Qingci was like he was holding the most precious treasure in the world.

That look in his eyes, that tone of voice—she had never seen anything like it before.

He doted on her, rewarded her, and gave her fine clothes and food, but he had never held her like this before.

Not even once.

"Your Majesty..." Liu Ruyan said softly, "The dead cannot be brought back to life, please... take care."

Nangong Ye suddenly looked up, his eyes piercing like knives.

"roll."

One word: chillingly cold.

Before Liu Ruyan could say anything more, Xuan Ying had already signaled the Imperial Guards to drag her out.

The hall fell silent again.

Nangong Ye held Shen Qingci, motionless. After a long while, he spoke, his voice hoarse beyond recognition:

"deliver an imperial order."

"Empress Shen, the deposed empress, was gentle and virtuous, and was unjustly wronged. She is now posthumously honored as Empress Xiaoyi and buried in the imperial mausoleum with the rites due to an empress."

"The court was closed for three days, and the whole country was in mourning."

"As for the Liu family—"

He paused, his voice filled with hatred, "To murder the Empress is an unforgivable crime."

He was stripped of his title, demoted to a commoner, and banished to the cold palace.

Without my decree, you shall never leave this place for the rest of your life.

The imperial decrees were passed down one after another.

The entire palace, no, the entire capital city, was shaken.

---

Huayang Palace was converted into a cold palace.

As Liu Ruyan was thrown into that small, dilapidated room, she was still screaming, "I am a Noble Consort! How dare you treat me like this! Father will not let you get away with this—!"

The door slammed shut and locked.

She lunged at the door, pounding on it desperately: "Let me out! Let me out—!"

Nobody paid any attention to her.

The sound of eunuchs talking could be heard outside the window:

"Have you heard? His Majesty held Empress Xiaoyi's body for two whole hours without letting go."

"The imperial physician said the body was already stiff, and His Majesty wouldn't let anyone touch it."

"Sigh...who could have imagined? Everyone used to say His Majesty disliked the deposed Empress, but now it seems..."

"Shh, stop talking and get to work."

The footsteps faded into the distance.

Liu Ruyan slid down to the ground, her eyes vacant.

She finally understood what that unease was.

Shen Qingci is dead.

But she lost completely.

Losing to a dead man.

---

Night was falling in the Tangli Palace.

Nangong Ye was still holding Shen Qingci.

Xuan Ying brought in the porridge and gently advised, "Your Majesty, you haven't eaten all day..."

"go out."

"His Majesty--"

"I'm telling you to get out!"

Xuan Ying remained silent for a moment, then put down the bowl of porridge and left.

Nangong Ye looked down at the person in his arms.

In the candlelight, her face remained ashen, her lips purplish, devoid of any life. Yet he always felt that she would open her eyes at any moment and look at him with that cold, stubborn gaze.

"Qingci..." he murmured, "Do you... hate me very much?"

"So much hatred that you wouldn't even die in my arms?"

He raised his hand and gently stroked her eyebrows and eyes.

"But I... would rather you hate me than die."

A tear fell onto her cheek, quickly rolled down, and disappeared behind her temple.

Outside the hall, Xuan Ying leaned against a pillar, listening to the suppressed sobs inside, and slowly closed his eyes.

That night, no one in the palace slept.

---