Love In The Palace

Epilogue

Chapter 50.

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Recap: in the previous chapter, Jade was no longer able to leave her bed due to her illness. She was prepared for her death and asked Bisen to take care of Yiron and to never let Yiron enter the palace. She also made sure that Yiron has a fake name, Yiran, so that no one will ever know that she was the lost princess. Soon after, she passed away peacefully. She met Crown Prince at the afterlife and they were finally reunited after many years of longing and waiting.

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"What?" He drops the book roll onto the wooden table, his eyes never blinking and his mouth is trembling. In fact, his whole body is trembling.

"Mistress Leanne has just passed away this morning." Eunuch Wan repeats again while keeping his head down, not daring to look at Emperor Ming.

"Mistress Leanne has already died years ago. You are lying. Lying to the son of Heaven is punishable by death, do you understand?!" He knows that Eunuch Wan is not lying, he knows that he is telling the truth. However, he is not willing to accept that fact, he is in so much of denial, he is too devastated by the news that he refuses to believe it.

"Then...tomb cleaner Lady Yeva...has just passed away this morning."

"Lies... Lies!" Emperor Ming hastily grabs a pile books in his hands and throws them all away, then his eyes are looking around, his mind is thrown into a thousand of questions that he cannot ever answer. It has only been seven years since she returned, how is it possible? She is only thirty nine years old, she is still so young!

But she is sick, so what is not possible? He is just not aware of her illness. Everyone from when he was still the Third Prince, from when he was still feeling a slight tinge of happiness, has left his side, everyone. Not a single person is left anymore. He is left alone now, with no one else to understand him, with no one else to talk about those years.

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It is at night, it is the only time he can sneak out of the palace without getting found out. He takes his steps carefully with his eunuch following from a distance behind. The hut in sight has not slept yet, the people inside are still awake as the candles have not been blown out yet. It is not a lie, really, for white cloths have been hung outside the hut, fluttering gently as wind blows. He can no longer wait, so he hastens his pace and in no time he is already standing by the doors, catching the attention of Bisen and Yiron.

"Yo-your Majesty!" Bisen drops the cloths in her hands and kneels on the floor immediately, pulling the confused Yiron along with her. The young girl has already forgotten about the face of the Emperor that she met years ago and it surprises her that the Emperor will actually come to visit her Aunt's funeral, a nobody's funeral.

"How?" Thousands of questions are flooding his mind, but he can only utter that one word.

"She has always been ill."

"..." It may have been fate, it may have been life that brings the three together to send her off. They never thought that they will be the ones to send her off, to watch her leave this world. Especially Emperor Ming, who has sent so many people off in his life, who has gone through endless numbers of deaths, who must not show his tears despite how crushed he must be feeling for he is the Emperor.

"Cut a small amount of her hair and bury it together with some of her belongings beside his tomb."

"...."

"That is the least we can do...to reunite them..."

"...yes, Your Majesty."

When he turns to look at Yiron, he is surprised, as if he is seeing her again, as if she is back, her well-known striking beauty that is as dangerous as poison.