Page 115 of Empire's Curse

Daiyu’s knees grew weak and she stumbled to the side of the bed, her hands grasping the edge of the mattress as she sank to the floor. “Muyang?”

Ever so slowly, his black eyes peeled open. He stared at her glassily as if he wasn’t really seeing her before a small, faint smile upturned his lips. “Daiyu? I thought I’d never see you again. I must be blessed to see your beautiful face one last time.”

“W-What happened?” All the fight that she had bolstered within herself—in which she had rehearsed exactly what to say—crumbled and disappeared altogether. She could only stare at him in stunned silence. “Commander Yao Bohai told me you were attacked.”

“I was ambushed.” He closed his eyes, a sigh on his lips. “There were four of them. They came soon after you left with Feiyu.”

Daiyu eyed the bloodied bandages around his midsection. She suddenly felt dizzy, her vision blotting with inky splotches and her limbs tingling. She clenched her hands together. This was all her fault. If she hadn’t asked for Feiyu to whisk her away back home, then Muyang might not have gotten this injured. If she hadn’t fled at the first sight of problems, then maybe … maybe there would be a different outcome right now.

“It’s better if you leave,” Muyang said suddenly. He reached forward and grasped a tendril of her long hair. “You were too good for me anyway.”

“What are you saying?”

“Go back home. Learn to love.” He wrapped her hair around his fingers ever so gently, his gaze never straying from her. “I always hurt those who are near to my heart, and I hurt you badly, Daiyu. You should find happiness elsewhere. Away from this cursed place. Away from me.”

“I-Is that what you want?” Daiyu flattened her quivering lips together. “Do you think that I would be happy leaving things as they are now? I wanted to run away from you and this place, but I have so much to say to you, and I’m not leaving without hearing a response from you.”

He released her hair. “Why did you come back?”

Seeing the state he was in, it was easy to forget about everything that had led up to this moment—she could have easily forgiven him without talking about what had happened, for fear that she would never talk to him again. But she didn’t want that. Her heart wouldn’t be able to handle losing him in this way, so soon after he betrayed her, and she knew that if she let this matter go unresolved, she would be bitter forever.

“To hear your side of the story. I realize now that I left too early without hearing what you had to say. When I saw you with Yanlin, something snapped inside of me and I wanted to escape as fast as possible.” She breathed out deeply. A part of her didn’t want to know the answer, but she needed to know. “But I see things differently now. Muyang, why did you ask her to light the lantern instead of me?”

Muyang’s hand lay limply on the bed, no longer trying to touch her or fiddle with her hair. He grimaced, turning his attention to the ceiling of the bed. “Her father asked me several months ago if I could have her do it. This was before I met you. I didn’t think it was important; it’s never been important to me, just a trivial social event that people gossip over—just like everything else in this palace, in this court. I know it holds weight for the women of the empire, but I didn’t care if that woman wanted to boast or pride herself in doing it. For me, it was nothing more than a favor for an old friend.”

Daiyu curled her hands together. She had expected an answer like this, but it sounded even more unsatisfying to her ears than she had thought it would. “And you couldn’t have told him that you changed your mind?”

“I didn’t think you would care. You … don’t seem to care for these courtly matters.”

“Is that what you find entertaining about me? The fact that I don’t know how court works?” She wanted to laugh, but her tone grew more heated, her cheeks burning. “That I’m just a stupid country bumpkin who wouldn’t know any better if you take advantage of me or humiliate me or make a fool of me in front of everyone?”

He flinched, his midnight-like eyes widening. “No, that’s not … not what I intended.”

“You could have told him that you changed your mind. That you no longer wanted her to do it because you secured yourself a wife, and you wanted to make your wife feel special rather than his daughter. You could have explained that to him,” she continued hastily. “You didn’t have to allow anything. You’re Emperor Drakkon Muyang. You don’t follow other people’s orders.”

“I know. I apologize, Daiyu.” He closed his eyes again and he looked so vulnerable in that moment that her anger quickly dissolved. “I should have prioritized your feelings over slighting Lord Wang and his daughter. I realize now that it was a foolish mistake on my part to allow it in the first place.”

“You need to talk to me more. You can’t just do these things that pertain to me and not tell me. Do you know how embarrassing it was for me to be caught off guard in front of everyone when I realized you had chosenherto light the lantern?”

“I apologize.”

“No, that’s notenough.” Her eyes burned once more but for a different reason. She relived the memory of the laughing women, the nobles eyeing her, and Yanlin’s cruel grin. “You can apologize all you want, but it’s not going to change that everyone viewsYanlin as the proper empress, while I’m just a farm girl. And now it’s made even more clear that I’m not important to your court becauseyoumade it that way.Youshowed them that a noble’s daughter is more important to you than your ownwife.”

Muyang reached for her hand. “She willneverbe my empress.”

“I wish I could believe you, but you betrayed my trust.”

“Daiyu, I have no plans of marrying her.” He held her hand tighter. “Even before I was attacked, I had no plans to be with her. So don’t think I’m only saying that now that I’m dying.”

She wanted to believe him, but she didn’t know what to think. She also realized how cruel it was for her to be asking this of him while he was bedridden and injured; it certainly could have waited until he was better. But sheneededto know. She needed to be a bit selfish.

“You’re not going to die,” she murmured.

He rubbed her knuckles weakly with his thumb. “I never planned on marrying anyone after you. You’re more than enough for me, Daiyu.” Muyang tried to push himself into a sitting position, but Daiyu held him down in alarm.

“What are you?—”

His face wracked with pain and the bandages grew redder. “Let me sit,” he growled, eyes flashing. Daiyu freed his shoulders and he pulled himself together. He rested his back on the headboard and shifted on the mattress to make himself more comfortable. The whole time, his breathing was labored. “I won’t be lying here like a dead man while my wife is speaking about the terrible ways I’ve hurt her.”

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