The wind shifted, carrying the scent of ash—someone nearby had lit incense, perfumed to mask the stench of blood that soaked this square on execution days. I wondered if they'd offer incense for me.
Probably not.
Not for traitors. Not for witches. Not for Empresses who died on their knees.
"Her Imperial Majesty Shen Li," the eunuch began in a voice lacquered with disgust, "is hereby stripped of all titles, ranks, and honors under the decree of the Son of Heaven, Sovereign of All Under Heaven, His Majesty Zhao Yunxie."
The scroll in his hands shook slightly from the cold. Or perhaps it was fear. I hoped it was fear.
"Her crimes are as follows: the use of dark enchantments to poison the mind of the Emperor, the manipulation of court affairs through unclean arts, conspiracy with foreign agents to destabilize the Empire…"
Ah, they'd refined the script since yesterday. Yesterday it had simply been treason. Today it was witchcraft and foreign collusion. By sunset it might be cannibalism.
I tuned him out.
The names echoed in my head like a background noise.
Zhao Yunxie.
Sovereign of All Under Heaven.
My so called husband.
I remembered his voice in the garden after our wedding, when he took my hand in secret, away from the ministers and eunuchs and whispered, "You're not alone now. I see everything and I see you."
I remembered the first time he summoned me without ceremony to sit by him—not as Empress, but simply as Li'er.
I remembered the night he told me, without words, that he would destroy anyone who looked at me with ill intent.
And I remembered the day he signed the edict for my execution without blinking.
The eunuch cleared his throat and read the final line. "Let her death serve as a cleansing. Let no shadow of her poison remain."
Two guards grabbed my shoulders.
This time, I didn't resist because i am welcoming death with open arms.
They dragged me from the cart, my knees hit the stone— Sharp pain flashed up my thighs, but I barely registered it. The square gathered before me with excitement in their eyes.
I could feel thousands of their eyes. They expect me to break, cry, plead.
How disappointing I must have been.
A child once taught to curtsy in embroidered shoes now knelt on bloodstained stone with cracked heels and a frozen spine.
My name and my crown now gone. But my memory? That remained and I hope to remember this day even when I become a ferocious ghost.
The crowd quieted down. Even the wind seemed calm as the ceremonial gong tolled once. From behind the crimson curtain, a black-robed official stepped out and bowed low.
"All rise for His Majesty."
A ripple of motion moved through the crowd nobels bowed and soldiers dropped to one knee. Even the executioner lowered his head.
I remained kneelin.
The curtain parted further—and there he was.
Zhao Yunxie stepped onto the viewing platform, dressed in his full imperial regalia: midnight-black robes embroidered with golden dragons, the dragon crown upon his brow glinting coldly in the morning light. He moved with the calm certainty of a man untouched by consequences.
He looked down upon the square as if it were merely another court audience.
Then his gaze met mines and stayed
It was not the first time he had looked at me like this. Once, it was with hunger, the kind that burned behind his eyes when he thought no one saw. Once, with fury, when I crossed him in court over the exile of a scholar.
And once—just once—with something dangerously close to love.
But now… now, there was only calculation.
His expression did not shift at all. Not at the blood on my mouth. Not at the bruises flowering across my collarbone. Not even at the exposed state of my body, humiliated before the eyes of his people.
I stared back, unblinking.
And then—I smiled.
Slowly and deliberately . The same smile I used the first time I lied to a minister's wife and ruined her household.
The same smile I used when I delivered bad news wrapped in silk.
Zhao Yunxie's fingers twitched on the armrest.
It was small movement and unnoticed, but I saw it.
He is shaken.
Good.
Let him fear me. Let him feel that something about me was wrong—unclean, unkillable, still watching him from beneath the weight of his justice.
Let him wonder, in the deepest part of his mind, What if she comes back?
The sky above the square darkened while the snow fell heavily. My breath came in soft blowing out mist, slower now.
The executioner approached, sword gleamng.
The blade rested against the nape of my neck and still I held Zhao Yunxie's gaze.
If he wanted me to beg, in this lifetime he would never see it.
If he wanted to see tears, he should've looked elsewhere.
Because if going to die looking into his eyes smiling.