Chapter 112 --112
"So you decided to become Emperor."
"Yes. Not for power. Not for status. For her." He walked back to his chair and sat heavily. "I wanted to build an empire where she could be safe. Where her brilliance could flourish. Where we could be together without anyone threatening her. So I fought. I schemed. I eliminated my brothers one by one. I killed anyone who stood between me and the throne."
His voice was matter-of-fact, recounting murders like business transactions.
"It took me eight years. Eight years of brutal political warfare. But I won. I became Emperor. And I was finally ready to bring Lin Mei to the palace, to crown her as Empress, to give her everything I’d promised."
He paused. The firelight cast shadows across his face.
"Three days before the coronation ceremony, someone poisoned her."
Silence.
"I had the best physicians in the empire. The strongest healers. Every antidote, every cure, every desperate measure. Nothing worked. She died in my arms, confused and terrified, asking me why I’d lied to her about being a merchant." His voice cracked slightly. "She died thinking I’d betrayed her trust."
Elara didn’t know what to say. For once, her usual clinical detachment felt inadequate.
"I investigated," the Emperor continued. "Found the poisoner. Found who hired them. Found the entire conspiracy." His eyes went cold. "It was the noble families. The ones whose daughters are now my consorts. The First Consort’s family. The Second Consort’s family. All of them working together. They couldn’t let a commoner become Empress. It would threaten their political positions, their status, their carefully maintained hierarchies."