Chapter 184: I am done with all of these
Zhao Ling Xu whispered. "With all of this."
He stepped back, turned, and without a second glance, walked out of the courtyard.
Neither the Empress nor the Prime Minister moved to stop him. The silence left in his wake was unbearable.
The Empress slowly sank onto the stone bench by the koi pond, her strength seeming to leave her all at once. Her trembling hands fell into her lap, and her shoulders slumped forward, the weight of everything crashing down.
The Prime Minister walked slowly to stand beside her, but did not speak. He only looked at her with something unreadable in his gaze.
The wind stirred the trees. The koi swam peacefully in their pond. And the sky overhead remained indifferent to the collapse unfolding below.
...
Zhao Ling Xu walked slowly down a narrow corridor flanked by high stone walls, the silence of the night wrapping tightly around his slender figure. His hands were buried in the folds of his dark robes, and his head was bowed, his brows furrowed as if weighed by thoughts far heavier than the footsteps he dragged across the cobbled path. The echo of his movement sounded hollow, mirroring the emptiness beginning to gnaw at his chest.
Just as he was about to turn a corner, a shadow moved ahead of him. Zhao Ling Xu looked up, and his eyes instantly narrowed when he saw who stood in his way.