Along with duties as a young Commander of the Imperial Army, the sarcastic and reckless Li Liang also searches for the Young Princess who was lost several years back, by the orders of the cruel Emperor of Shenghuo. Though he follows the Emperor's or...
The grand hall. Guests, nobles, servants, dancers, musicians, priests, guards, the Emperor, the Empress and the Princess.
It was the Princess's birthday; held luxuriously every year. As usual, the royal family sat down on royal thrones and chairs, enjoying the scene. The Emperor had a cold frown on his face, the Empress sat with much elegance and lips curled up into a gentle smile and the Princess had a blank expression on her face while she listened to the music.
A group of maids came to the Princess and bowed. The little Princess lifted her head to them. "Princess, it's time for you to get ready for your special dance performance," a maid said. The Princess looked at her mother, the Empress, and imagined her nodding.
The Princess got up and let the maids lead her to a room outside the grand hall. The Empress watched anxiously at the departure of the Princess from the grand hall.
***
The Emperor slapped his bodyguard who fell to the ground with a crash. "How many times did I tell you to keep an eye on the Princess?!" the Emperor roared.
"But, Your Majesty." The bodyguard bowed. "She was taken away by a group of maids to get ready forㅡ"
"I do not care about maids! They are being taken care of right now. My question is, how could you let them take her away without any objection?!" the Emperor roared again.
They were in the Emperor's room. The Emperor, the Empress, the Princess's bodyguardㅡ the Head Bodyguard and his family.
"Your Majesty! Please spare him!" the Head Bodyguard's wife pleaded. "Join your hands, pray before His Majesty!" she yelled at her twelve-year-old. The boy flinched and joined his hands.
"Please spare us, Your Majesty..." he said, frightened.
"What will you do now?" the Emperor grabbed a fistful of the Head Bodyguard's clothes and lifted him off the ground.
"Your Majesty, Iㅡ" the man started but was cut off again as the Emperor threw him on the ground. He landed with a loud noise, wincing at the pain on his side.
"Will you pay for our loss?! Do you even know how serious this is?!" the Emperor growled, placing his foot on the man's head.
"Your Majesty!" the Empress said. "Calm down, Your Majesty!"
"Do not interfere, Empress! Are you not worried about the Princess now?! She was your dear daughter, wasn't she?! What happened to all your love towards her?!" the Emperor screamed at the Empress with bloodshot eyes.
"But, Your Majesty, we should stay calmㅡ"
"Calm, my foot!" the Emperor growled and pressed his foot harder so that the man's skull nearly crushed beneath the pressure.
"You will pay for this, you bastard!" the Emperor screamed and unsheathed his sword.
"No! No, Your Majesty!" the man's wife broke down into tears as she continued to beg the Emperor to leave her husband.
The sound of the piercing of flesh came flowing into everyone's ear, followed by the sound of painful wailing. The Emperor slashed the man's body into pieces.
"Your Majesty!" the wife howled, pulling her son closer to her, afraid he might get hurt. The child watched in dazed horror. The man lay, dead and motionless, his blood surrounding him, forming a pool.
His wife howled and cried out her pain. His son watched the body of his father with empty eyes. The Empress was stunned at the scene. The Emperor pierced his sword through the man's heart, making sure he no longer stays alive. The man's blood splattered on his family's clothes.
"This is what he gets..." the Emperor said slowly, his breath ragged and his eyes the colour of the Crimson Moon.
Suddenly, he grabbed the man's wife's arm wildly and lifted her aggressively. "You..." he growled, studying the woman from head to toe. The woman shrunk under his furious gaze.
"You will pay for it too."
He quickly ordered his men to lock the howling woman up as he dragged her away to whatever place he wanted to keep her.
The child watched as the Emperor snatched his mother away. His eyes kept straying from his father's lifeless body and the door through which they left.
Why didn't he stop the Emperor? Was it because he was little, powerless and afraid of him? If he stopped the angry man, perhaps he could have saved his father. What if the cruel Emperor killed his mother too?
The Empress looked at him, her eyes moist with silent tears. She walked over to him and sat down to meet his height.
"Listen. Can you do me a favour?" she asked, placing a hand on his cheekㅡ an action which reminded him of his mother.
He cocked his head to the side. "Can you forget everything you saw today and grow up to be powerful?" the Empress asked, sniffing away her tears. He did not answer.
"No, don't forget anything. Remember this moment and grow up strong. You cannot crumble, okay? Grow up strong," the Empress said, with a flame of what he assumed was called determination in her eyes. "Take your revenge." the Empress said, grabbing his shoulders and giving them a light squeeze.
Take your revenge... Revenge?
The child burst into tears. The Empress pulled him into an embrace and patted his head. "My mother... what will happen to her?" he cried. "Father is dead..." he cried.
"Cry as much as you can right now. Let all your pain out in your cries. But save your rage for the time of revenge..." she said.
The child set his mind while he cried on the Empress's shoulder.
I will seek revenge on the Princess and the Emperor, he repeated several times in his head.
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