lcionline Chapter 344 Imperial Fate, Unquenchable Hatred
Chapter 344 Imperial Fate, Unquenchable Hatred
"These things have nothing to do with you!"
Liu Lingzhen's voice came at that moment: "But you are related to me."
He took out a cloth bag from his person, squatted down and placed it on the ground, then opened the bag and laid out the items inside one by one.
"These are what I've been searching for all these years."
His fingertips brushed over the objects, and his voice softened.
“I remember you loved playing with these things when you were little.”
The Empress slowly turned around, her gaze falling on the object on the ground, remaining motionless.
Liu Lingzhen continued to focus intently on organizing the items in the cloth bag, arranging them neatly one by one.
"This is a rattle drum, this is a kite, this is a cloth tiger..."
I remember you loved to draw. Every time I took you out of the palace, you would always pester me to buy you all kinds of brushes, ink, paper and inkstones.
Look, this is a purple-gold inkstone, this is…
As the Empress gazed at the objects before her, long-forgotten memories began to resurface.
When she was little, she always clung to her older brother, chattering away about her dreams and aspirations.
Back then, when she was holding a paintbrush and leaning over the table, she would point to the crooked outlines on the rice paper.
She said to him in a crisp voice, "In the future, I will paint the magnificent landscape of the vast land."
He painted the smoke rising from the chimneys of ordinary homes.
The painting depicts the warmth of parents, siblings, and other family members sitting around a fireplace;
He depicted the peaceful and prosperous lives of ordinary people, engaged in farming and weaving.
But those naive thoughts have long been worn down by the years, becoming sharp edges.
Now she is the Spirit King of the Spirit Kingdom, a powerful monarch, no longer the naive girl who could only act spoiled at the feet of her family.
She looked at these things in front of her, her eyes surging with resentment.
It was also mixed with some complex emotions that even she couldn't quite discern, like the surface of a lake ruffled by the wind, creating ripples that were then forcibly suppressed.
Liu Lingzhen stood up, her voice filled with melancholy: "You said that you would travel to all the mountains, rivers, lakes and seas outside of the Spirit Kingdom in the future."
Go and paint all the beautiful mountains and clear waters, the birds singing and the flowers blooming there;
To see all aspects of life, and to witness the beauty and splendor of the world;
Go and seek the romantic scenery, the vast blue sea and sky that you so yearn for.
He walked step by step to the Empress, his gaze intense.
"But because of my departure, you have to put away these aspirations, give up your freedom, cut off all your beautiful dreams, and shoulder the heavy responsibility of this country."
He reached out and gently grasped the Empress's shoulders, saying earnestly, "But I know that you still cherish the dreams you had back then."
Before Liu Lingzhen could finish her probing question...
Suddenly, a dagger appeared in the Empress's right hand and was held to his neck.
Her long eyelashes trembled violently, and her voice was squeezed out from between her teeth, filled with icy hatred.
"In my heart, there is only the Spirit Kingdom!"
Those phoenix eyes were now fixed on Liu Lingzhen's face, their gaze fixed on the frozen lake, repeating each word slowly and deliberately.
"And always!"
The brother and sister looked into each other's eyes, and the air seemed to freeze.
A faint white mark had been pressed into the skin on the side of Liu Lingzhen's neck by the blade.
He remained unmoved, simply looking back at her calmly, his eyes revealing a complex undercurrent of surprise, regret, and above all, a profound and knowing sorrow.
After a moment of deathly silence, Liu Lingzhen was the first to break the silence.
"If that's the case, you shouldn't have stopped me when we were at Qianling."
The Empress tightened her grip on the dagger, gritting her teeth, each word sounding as if it were being ground out of her throat.
"I just want to know if the fourth brother is already dead, and if the person in Qianling is a fake!"
Liu Lingzhen's gaze did not waver, nor did she look at the knife at her neck; she simply stared at her intently.
He uttered a single word, as light as a sigh, yet as heavy as a thousand pounds: "Yes."
The empress's voice suddenly rose, and her hand holding the dagger trembled violently with rage.
"What crime has the fourth brother committed!"
Liu Lingzhen's voice remained calm, but carried a hint of helplessness.
“This was not my intention; it was his own choice, and no one can do it for him.”
The Empress's eyes were almost bloodshot.
"The Ling Kingdom has lost a prince. The people will say that my Liu family is disloyal and will collapse internally. The surrounding countries will definitely take advantage of the chaos to attack!"
Liu Lingzhen's tone was so calm it was almost cruel.
"Throughout history, which dynasty hasn't gone through periods of division and unification?"
If they hadn't invaded, how would the Ling Kingdom have had a chance to rise to power!
Do you really think you can revive the Spirit Kingdom with just a few children who haven't even reached the Great Yuan Realm?
"You!" The Empress trembled with rage, tightening her grip on the dagger at his neck.
But in the end, she put the dagger back in her hand.
She gritted her teeth and said, word by word, "My affairs with them."
It has nothing to do with worldly affairs;
It has nothing to do with the people of Ling Kingdom;
It has nothing to do with you... either!
Liu Lingzhen sighed helplessly.
That sigh contained helplessness in the face of fate, tenderness for his younger sister, and a hint of barely perceptible compromise.
His voice was very soft: "Alright, if you believe everything you've done is right, then I, your brother, am willing to lend you a hand and fight alongside you!"
"No need!"
The Empress was clearly not giving up when Liu Lingzhen continued to say the same thing.
Her hands clenched tightly, her knuckles cracking softly from the force, as if they were about to shatter.
She took a deep breath, finally suppressing the surging impulse in her heart, and slowly turned around, looking at him with a deep gaze.
How can you expect me to trust you?
Liu Lingzhen met her gaze and said earnestly, "You should know best what I'm thinking, so why don't you believe me?"
The Empress closed her eyes, her long eyelashes casting a shadow beneath them, as if weighing the weight of his words, or perhaps struggling with something.
The hall was so quiet that only the two of them could be heard breathing and the soft crackling of the burning candles.
A moment later, she opened her eyes, the complex emotions in them gradually subsiding. She finally sighed softly, with a hint of compromise in her expression.
"Come with me."
After saying this, the Empress took the lead and walked towards the door.
As Liu Lingzhen watched her retreating figure, a fleeting, almost imperceptible meaning flashed across her eyes.
He then took a step and followed closely behind.
The two left the bedroom, and the Empress led Liu Lingzhen towards the deepest pavilion in the palace.
This pavilion was built after she became the Spirit King.
The top craftsmen from all over the kingdom were brought together to design the work in collaboration with the master craftsmen in the royal palace.
The process of refining these design drawings alone took them a full three years.
The subsequent renovation took more than a year to complete, and the attic finally turned out the way it does today.
Only she and the nine spirit stars have the right to enter and exit this attic.
Even so, the nine spirit stars were confined to the first floor.
Only the Empress is allowed to set foot on the second and third floors.
This is because the two attics are filled with all sorts of intricate mechanisms.
If someone unfamiliar with this place wanders in, they could easily get trapped inside and find it difficult to escape.