My Liege And I

The Dragon Poison

Chapter 54

Wei Li Lian
Princess Elora
The Dungeon

Li Lian felt the coldness of the bowl numb her cracked lips. Her mouth was dry and she was parched for water.

A lone tear stroked her cheek. Coldness was what surrounded her. She was alone, abandoned, unwanted, and unloved. It was winter and nobody was there to warm her.

The Grand Dowager was right. What was there to live for? The harshness of life was unbearable. She was exhausted and tired to carry on.

Li Lian placed the bowl down and pulled her tattered prison garments to wipe her tears.

Regret had become her friend. Pain had become her lover. There was no reason to go on. The one person who pledged to love her forever, her only chance and hope, he was no more.

She did not know which death would be better. The death in her lover’s hands, where she died in spite and hoped he would face regret and remorse forever. Or death by her hand, where he would be spiteful against her forever, that she was wicked to leave him with no explanations and enough apologies.

Yet, thinking again, she owed him nothing. He had sentenced her to die. What happened to his promises where he stated he could not live without her?

Her index finger circled the rim of the bowl in contemplation. Sadly, she said to herself.

“In life, if we could be as when we first met
What need would we have to mourn painted fans when the autumn winds arrived?
Thoughtlessly, change twisted your heart, old lover.”

Li Lian was surprised to hear a voice respond to her poem.

“You say to me that hearts of old lovers change easily
Words spoken during happy times, a clear dawn, a vow
All of it broken hither and thither, my heart aches
Tears like rain patter down, eternal resentment consumes me.”

Li Lian looked at her beloved as he walked in through the same gate the Grand Dowager just exited.

His hazel eyes pierced right into her soul. Naught was displayed on his visage. There was nothing to take away from his presence so as to derive hope.

Unlike the Grand Dowager, Yuwen Hong had no problem crossing his legs and sitting opposite her on the dirty floor. It was a relief to smell his beautiful scent and not the rotten putrid of the dungeon.

Yuwen Hong did not take long to notice the bowl, which he picked and got a whiff of. As he registered the contents of the concoction, his eyes locked with hers and rage instantly dressed them.

“Wife,” his voice bit her with his disappointment, “we said we shall never part till the Heavens merged with the earth, yet you want to leave me alone?" He tsked. "As if you could not be any more selfish.”

“What is wrong with accepting my fate and taking matters into my own hands?”

Yuwen Hong's eyes enlarged, amazed she had the nerve to defend herself.

“It is cowardly. That is what is wrong,” he accused.

Cowardly? He did not understand what hell she was already facing and the volcano that continuously blew fire at her. Because in his mind, she was the oppressor and no part of her ever the victim.

“I am tired,” she whispered.

“If you are tired, then imagine how I feel.”

"Imagining how you feel will not make me better. It adds to my pain."