Chapter 19 — The Truth Before the Storm
(The events of this chapter take place before chapters 13 to 18.)
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- "I will reveal the truth to him," said the Emperor, his voice firm, without trembling.
He was addressing Meilin, his former wife.
The only woman he really loved.
The same one he had sacrificed in the name of the throne.
Liyan's mother.
Meilin tenses.
His purple eyes, usually calm, blazed with a contained fire, like a fire that time had never managed to extinguish.
— "Why now? She asked, in a low, almost broken voice.
The Emperor looked away slightly, his eyes fleeing his to contemplate the inner courtyard, where a tree with purple leaves trembled under a breath of light air.
- "I sent my wife, Xīyue, to serve him..." (chapter 8)
- "You know I was waiting for him to find a worthy girl..." (he thought of Yuèyao)
— "At first, I thought they would end up like us. "
- "So I sent Xīyue... to test Yuèyao. Or break it, if necessary." (chapter 11)
- "I was afraid that he would make the same mistake as me... believing that you, Meilin, were a good solution to reign. "
Meilin stared at him, icy.
A cold that even the winter sun could not have dissipated.
- "You talk as if I were the fault in your story. "
- "It was you who snatched me from my son. You who banned me from his life. And now, you want to 'reveal everything'? "
The Emperor slowly mounted on horseback, ready to leave, his dark mantle waving like a shadow.
"My decision is made. I'm not here to consult you. "
Then, without deigning to turn around, he added, in a softer but sharper voice:
"But you had the right to know. Because you are his mother. "
And he walked away, taking with him his silence and all the weight of power.
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☾
He arrived in their son's city before her.
This is why Meilin was not present during the events of chapter 13.
This entire chapter is therefore prior to chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18.
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☀ Present — Return to Chapter 19
The next day, Meilin finally crossed the gates of the city.
But it was no longer the Pure Consort.
It was no longer the fallen favourite of the palace.
She was a mother.
A mother who came to tell the truth.
To look Liyan in the face and whisper to him, so loud that the world hears him:
"I am your mother. "
To confess to him the stolen years.
To give him back what had been stolen from him:
An origin.
A love.
A name.
She was ready to shout her name to the wind:
"Liyan is my son.
The heir I carried in my bowels. "
She had even dreamed of seeing his face again, caressing his black hair and regaining his breath, that fragile breath she had known when he was still a child too young to face cold nights alone.
But when she arrived...
The palace was silent.
A kind of heavy silence, almost palpable, as if the walls were holding their breath.
And Liyan... had disappeared.
With Yuèyao.
Without leaving a letter.
Without a word of farewell.
Without promise.
Just a void.
A silence.
Like a silent response to all the silences that had been imposed on her, Meilin, for so many years.
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The wind, that night, told the walls the pain of a woman who had been silenced too much.
End of Chapter 19