—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
A month had passed since the Beijing Uprising.
During that time, the Imperial Family and court officials had been incredibly busy.
The Eastern Depot, which had failed to detect the rebel Li Zi-long’s activities on Longevity Hill, the Imperial Family’s sacred ground.
The Embroidered Uniform Guard, decimated after losing half its men, including their commander, Guo Duan, while defending Beijing and the Forbidden City.
It was the worst crisis since the Tumu Crisis and the greatest humiliation in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
The martial world was growing stronger with each opening of a Ghost Gate.
The Oirats, their most dangerous enemy who had instigated the Talmun Rebellion, had now been crippled by internal strife.
But powerful forces, including the Mongols, still lurked in the north.
If the Oirats hadn’t collapsed, the Ming Dynasty might have suffered the same fate as the Southern Song, driven south and clinging to a fraction of their former territory.
And then there were the Wokou pirates, ever a persistent nuisance.
Tens of thousands had been eradicated in Shandong, and fifty years ago, they’d been swept from the Liaodong Peninsula.
It seemed like the end, but now they were targeting the south, bypassing the heavily fortified northern coast, creating a new headache.
With the capital in chaos due to the Ghost Gates, the shock and fear within the Imperial Family were immense.
“Fortunately, His Majesty’s wisdom allowed us to contain the immediate crisis, but…”
This was why even the Imperial Family, not just the officials, had been so busy.
The Hongzhi Emperor had calmed the panic by demonstrating the Imperial Family’s commitment to the people.
He opened medical centers and sent members of the Imperial Family to assist, and instructed his siblings and married daughters to distribute relief supplies, comforting the people of Beijing.
Thanks to his actions, the people felt reassured, knowing the Emperor and the Imperial Family were with them, and returned to their daily lives.
It was a wise decision.
He’d also taken the drastic step of hiring unemployed citizens to rebuild the damaged government buildings, averting an economic crisis, and held memorial services for the deceased officials and citizens.
Guo Duan, who had died after closing the Longevity Hill Ghost Gate and defeating the main culprit, was even granted a posthumous title.
The speed with which the title was chosen and bestowed, within a mere month, was unprecedented.
Despite the Emperor’s exemplary leadership, Han Gye-ran couldn’t suppress a sigh.
“How could His Majesty be so bewitched by that vixen…?”
The Hongzhi Emperor favored his concubine, Consort Wan, even more than his Empress.
She held the second highest rank among the consorts, Noble Consort, and was known as Noble Consort Wan.
Despite being nineteen years older than the Emperor, she held his heart.
She had been his wet nurse and comforted him during a tumultuous childhood filled with political strife.
She had even borne him a son…his firstborn.
But perhaps due to her advanced age, the child had died young.
That was when she started to unravel.
Emboldened by the Emperor’s favor, she’d slandered the Empress, leading to her deposition. Then, she’d committed the horrific act of forcing other pregnant concubines to have abortions.
She’d even gone so far as to poison the Crown Prince, Zhu Youji, simply because he wasn’t her son and nearly ended the Imperial line.
Yet, the Emperor protected her. He’d even tried to make her Empress.
Only the opposition of his mother, Grand Empress Dowager Zhou, and the tacit disapproval of his grandmother, Han Gye-ran, who had risked her life to protect him during his most vulnerable moments, had stopped him.
But he was still determined to make her Empress.
“For now, the Empress Dowager and I can keep her in check, but after we’re gone, that vixen will surely corrupt His Majesty…”
Grand Empress Dowager Zhou, hearing Han Gye-ran’s worried words, took her hand.
“Grand Empress Dowager…”
The signs were already there.
As if determined to secure the succession, he’d kept Noble Consort Wan in check and fathered other sons, but he was still easily swayed by her words.
“We should have made that young man our grandson-in-law.”
Han Gye-ran’s lament stemmed from this concern.
The Li Zi-long Rebellion, a cataclysmic event that had reshaped the political landscape of Beijing.
The Imperial Family had lost a powerful asset at Longevity Hill.
The loss of Guo Duan was significant, but the confirmed absence of the Unrivaled Martial Artist, the guarantor of the Imperial Family’s absolute power, was even more devastating.
The Imperial Family had made various efforts to fill the void.
The head of the loyal martial arts family, the Yang family of Xinzhang, came to the capital, and Han Gye-ran, who had remained largely secluded, using age as an excuse, began to actively engage in outside activities.
These were minor issues.
The head of the Yang Family, like Guo Duan, was a renowned peerless expert. He would protect Beijing in Guo Duan’s stead for the time being.
The real problem was the Hongzhi Emperor.
Paranoia, an occupational hazard for those in power.
It had taken root.
He no longer trusted the Eastern Depot or the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
To him, they were incompetent fools who had failed to detect Li Zi-long’s construction of the Ghost Gate summoning altar on Longevity Hill.
He decided to create a new, directly controlled intelligence and military organization, the Western Depot, surpassing even the Eastern Depot in authority.
And Wang Zhi, a loyalist of Noble Consort Wan, was appointed its director.
“The directors of the Eastern and Western Depots don’t need to be powerful martial artists. They’re strategists, not fighters. But we must stop them from seizing control of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and choosing its commander based on political ties instead of ability.”
If only that young man were here.
Not just for his strength, but for his potential as Guo Duan’s successor. He could have countered Noble Consort Wan’s ambition to control the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
Even a cursory investigation would reveal the Hebei Peng Family’s interest in him.
With Guo Duan gone, extracting him from their influence would be difficult.
This was a time when the imperial court should be united, raising a single voice in resolve…but instead?
The thought of the corrupt officials, blinded by greed, who had dismissed him with a paltry reward, made her blood boil.
-What? He didn’t seem that interested anyway, and he took the Sky-Gazing Howler’s horn, so let’s just leave it at that?
-Besides, the Grand Empress Dowager seems homesick lately?
It was utter nonsense.
Hadn’t they witnessed the importance of a peerless expert during the chaos in Beijing?
She wanted to ask them what they would do if another peerless expert plotted against the Imperial Family.
The Forbidden City, despite its mystical defenses, had its limits. Without a peerless expert to protect it, it was vulnerable.
This was why one shouldn’t associate with those obsessed with power and scholarly pursuits.
The memory of her own brother, who had sold his sisters for power and wealth, resurfaced, a reminder of the painful past she’d thought she’d forgotten.
Han Gye-ran clutched her chest in frustration.
“Gr-Grand Empress Dowager! Please, calm yourself!”
“Haa… I apologize for losing my composure in front of the Empress Dowager.”
“Don’t worry. I will also speak to His Majesty on your behalf.”
The two elder stateswomen found comfort in their shared concern.
While the Empress, as the Emperor’s official consort, was technically in charge of the inner and outer courts, the current Empress, Wang, lived in fear after witnessing the previous Empress’s downfall at the hands of Noble Consort Wan.
Thus, Noble Consort Wan held significant influence over both courts.
The Empress Dowager had maintained a precarious balance, but the creation of the Western Depot had tipped the scales in Noble Consort Wan’s favor.
“I truly… I don’t know what I would do without you, Grand Empress Dowager. Just as you protected His Majesty from assassins, please protect the Imperial Family once more. I will follow your lead.”
“Empress Dowager…”
As they reaffirmed their resolve, the door burst open, and a cheerful voice rang out.
“Grandma~ ! I’m here!”
Only one person could enter Han Gye-ran’s residence, the home of one of the most respected elders in the Imperial Palace, so freely.
The only princess of the previous Emperor who hadn’t married and left the Forbidden City.
Princess Jiaxiang, Zhu Yi-xiang, was that person.
Seeing someone else in the seat usually occupied by Han Gye-ran, she widened her already large eyes and bowed quickly.
“Oh, Em-Empress Dowager!”
She hadn’t heard that the Empress Dowager was visiting!
Her face clearly expressed her panic. It was an expression ill-suited for the intrigues of the Imperial Court.
“Yi-xiang, I told you to always observe proper etiquette and announce yourself before entering. Empress Dowager, please forgive her. It’s my fault for spoiling her.”
“It’s alright, Grand Empress Dowager. Princess Jiaxiang is like a daughter to me. I wouldn’t fault her for this. And neither would you.”
The reason Zhu Yi-xiang hadn’t known about the Empress Dowager’s visit wasn’t entirely due to her own carelessness.
…Well, maybe a little, but the main reason was that the Empress Dowager had visited in secret to avoid Noble Consort Wan.
The potentially awkward atmosphere quickly dissipated thanks to the Empress Dowager’s generosity and Zhu Yi-xiang’s playful nature.
Despite the difference in their status, Zhu Yi-xiang easily joined their conversation, giggling and squeezing between them.
“So, what were you talking about?”
She asked, then quickly continued, as if telling them not to answer, “Ah! Let me guess! My marriage? Right? Right?”
Seeing the subtle shift in their expressions, she leaned closer excitedly.
Han Gye-ran gently pushed her back. “Yes, yes. You’re right.”
“I knew it! It’s that person Grandma mentioned before, right? The one she suddenly preferred over Hwang Yong-jin!”
Zhu Yi-xiang was nearing twenty.
It was rare for a princess to remain unmarried past twenty, so it was time for marriage proposals.
Hwang Yong-jin had been considered a suitable match, but after the Beijing Uprising, Han Gye-ran had abruptly cancelled the arrangement.
Zhu Yi-xiang, who had been anticipating leaving the palace, was baffled.
“That’s right.”
“So, I’m really getting married this time?”
“Well…”
Han Gye-ran averted her gaze, feeling guilty.
She’d cancelled a promising engagement in search of a better match, only to come up empty-handed.
What was the difference between that and sabotaging her granddaughter’s marriage?
Unable to admit the truth, she gave a very roundabout answer.
“Such important matters as a princess’s marriage cannot be decided lightly. It’s still under discussion with the ministers. I’ll let you know as soon as there’s any progress.”
“Hehe, okay!”
Zhu Yi-xiang had watched her older sisters marry and leave, feeling both envious and sad.
Even though the Forbidden City was a world of its own, life within its walls could be stifling. While marriage would bind her to another family, it offered greater freedom than life in the palace.
Even with societal expectations, she was still a princess. No family would dare to restrict her with their rules.
And from what Han Gye-ran had said, the potential groom wasn’t from a particularly powerful family, so that wouldn’t be an issue anyway.
Without the need to consider his family background, she was more interested in the man himself.
“Is he really that strong? Stronger than you, Grandma?”
“Yes. Much stronger.”
“Wow… Is he stronger than Uncle Guo Duan?”
“Hmm, I’m not sure. I think Guo Duan was probably stronger.”
“He’s… not like, forty or fifty, is he?”
“Do you think I’d marry you off to someone that old? He’s not even thirty yet.”
“Hee… that young, and that strong?”
Zhu Yi-xiang was quite knowledgeable about martial arts.
Her most trusted elder was Han Gye-ran, the Martial Consort of Haedong, after all.
To her, a peerless expert in his twenties was something out of a martial arts legend.
Grand Empress Dowager Zhou also listened intently, eager to learn more about her potential grandson-in-law.
Zhu Yi-xiang was interested in him as a potential husband, but the Grand Empress Dowager saw him as a crucial asset, a potential successor to Guo Duan and a bulwark against Noble Consort Wan.
A few days after their pleasant conversation, Han Gye-ran received shocking news from the maid she’d sent to the Peng Family as a messenger.
Namgung-Woo had already left.
“What? He left with the Family Head’s eldest daughter on a canal boat? Those Hebei Pengs Bastards! They’ve already made their move!”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
