After Cao returned, our affairs continued to move forward, and all her conditions kept unfolding. Even during her disappearance, I never stopped following her commands, because the fear of what she said about Yibo had taken root in me. That fear....and my hunger to achieve everything I desired.... guided me up to this very moment.
I kept pressuring Murong about stepping down when Yibo turned thirty, acting strictly under Cao's orders. Whenever I brought it up, he would only smile, never giving me an answer. His silence gnawed at me; it made me think he didn't want to yield the throne or crown Yibo.
But what I saw approaching were the years Cao warned me about....the years when Murong's life would fade because of the poison tea I had been giving him. And she warned me that if he died before Yibo was crowned, chaos would erupt. Murong had brothers, all older and wiser in the eyes of the people, and the empire would split in their arguments over succession.
I pushed him again, until one day he finally spoke....and what he said shook me to my core.
He said, "Taihou, you need not rush to decide life or death for me. If Beiping's throne is written in Yibo's destiny, then he will sit on it, whether I'm alive or gone. What I worry for is him....the war he will face from within and outside these walls. A struggle that will break him... especially because you, his own mother, stand among his greatest enemies."
My breath tightened. I asked why he thought I was among my son enemies.
He didn't answer.....he only gave me that same quiet smile he always wore with me.
Those words lodged deep in my chest. I couldn't bear the weight alone, so I ran to Cao. Even she looked shaken when I told her. She insisted we must act quickly.....force Murong to give up the throne, then killed him entirely. His behavior showed he knew something about me. And if we hesitated, all our past efforts would collapse.
I had no doubt or hesitation in supporting her. What terrified me was Murong possibly telling my father. My father was strict, firm, and unwavering in law....he would be capable of ending me without a second thought.
And so, just as she ordered, I added something to Murong's milk each day. His thoughts gradually softened toward abdication. Then one day, without warning, he returned Yibo to the palace and declared he would step down and place Yibo on the throne.
The next challenge, however, was Yibo himself.
He resisted, insisting he didn't want rulership. He cared nothing for power; he preferred freedom - living as he pleased, doing what he wished, with no interest in the responsibilities of the throne. Among all his life's ambitions, ruling the empire was never one of them.
My panic rose, but Cao told me to calm down. She gave me a special cologne and said to offer it as a gift to him. If he used it for three nights, he would accept.
And so it happened. Within a week, he agreed.
Cao's power rooted even deeper inside me then. There was no one like her in the world for me. She could make me do anything....except sacrifice Yibo himself. He was the one thing I valued above every treasure on earth.
The new King was crowned, and the celebration for his four brides was held. Yibo never objected to the marriages, never even commented on them. I didn't bother asking, because I already knew their fate.
Just as Cao said, Murong died. And Yibo's wives, one by one, became stories of the past. More brides were brought, and their fates were the same. All of this continued, step by step, until I stood on the edge of fulfilling the last part of the agreement.
Then, one ordinary afternoon....just as I was about to complete what I had begun - that boy Zhan appeared in my life.
He didn't come directly. In fact, I doubt he even knew who I was at first. But he came with a burning resolve....determined to fight Yibo because he lost two of his sisters who became entangled in my work.
He carried the same belief many in Beiping held: that Yibo was responsible for the deaths of his wives.
That belief was the root of the trouble. Long before he came near, I told Cao to remove him for me. My heart had already hardened and dried into stone. The servants who worked under me knew well - if they made even the smallest mistake, the only solution I saw was to eliminate them. Once they were gone, my problem disappeared too.
I viewed Zhan the same way. Anyone standing between me and the completion of my purpose deserved only one outcome.... removal.
Cao assured me that there was no destined danger to the boy at this stage, only that we needed to find another solution. While searching for a way out, we decided he should become one of King Yibo's consorts, believing that having him closer would give us more control over him.
But things didn't go as we expected. From the moment Zhan entered the household, nothing went smoothly again. The original plan completely changed into something we never intended. Even the very first milk I prepared-the same one every royal consort accepts-he refused to drink. The garments and scented oils I normally send to their homes for bathing were also rejected. Even when I personally offer them, he still refused to use them. Every angle we tried, he slipped away. In the end, he wore a robe we didn't even recognize, and after that, he stayed in Momma's quarters. She then took him to King Yibo's section without consulting us, even though we had already agreed on how he should be escorted.
Since I needed to separate him from Momma's quarters-because Cao could not enter there-I suggested moving him to King Yibo's wing for monitoring. But Momma changed our entire plan. It infuriated me deeply and burned in my chest with frustration.
Instead of progress, everything kept falling apart. We barely managed to maintain our duties over the other royal consorts, but Zhan was impossible for us to influence no matter what angle we approached. What began as a quiet struggle became an open conflict, and everything about me surfaced unexpectedly. The battle turned into something personal... something I never imagined.
Dowager Taihou broke down into heavy sobs. She cried until she was exhausted, and no one dared interrupt her. Then she continued, voice shaking:
"My greatest fear now, the one I cannot answer to Cao with everything already ruined, is losing Yibo. They insist his blood must be taken as compensation for failing to fulfill their conditions. I cannot lose him. He is the only..."
Her voice cracked, and she couldn't continue.
Jasrah was crying as well, and the rest of her siblings could only sit in silent distress.
Zhan's attention was entirely on King Yibo. Since Yibo lowered his head and clasped Zhan's hand tightly within his own, he hadn't moved since then. His grip remained firm, even though Zhan was clearly in pain from the tightness, yet Yibo held on as if it were the only thing keeping him grounded.
Everyone was pulled from their thoughts when Grandfa cleared his throat. He exhaled slowly and adjusted his sitting posture.
"You made a mistake," he said calmly, "and you walked into the kind of deception those witches use to control people's hearts and desires. Cao's influence combined with your own misguided ambitions drove you into this household with the wrong intentions. But she lied-she had nothing to do with the pregnancy you carried. When she gave you those remedies, the child was already there..."
Everyone in the room jolted in shock-even Dowager Taihou herself.
King Yibo tightened his grip on Zhan's hand even more firmly.
Grandfa nodded. "What I'm telling you is the truth. There was already a pregnancy. Even if she had given you her medicine, the only thing it could have helped with was a health condition that delayed conception-it could never create a pregnancy. In your case, the child was already there before anything else."
He paused and sighed.
"The inability to conceive is a painful trial-one that breaks the heart in ways only those who experience it can understand. Seeking remedies is fine, but there are steps one must take with caution."
"When we don't conceive, desperation clouds our judgment. All we want is a child. We rarely stop to consider that perhaps the timing is simply not right for us. We just see what we lack, and chase it from any source possible."
"In that desperation, if you turn to people who use manipulation or dark practices, you may face four outcomes. First, you risk handing over your sense of trust to the person who convinces you they alone can grant you what you seek."
"Second, you may unknowingly allow harmful spiritual forces into your life simply because you went searching blindly."
"Third, some women-even without realizing it-may be given something that creates the illusion of a pregnancy, either physically or through manipulative techniques."
He paused again.
"And finally, there are situations where a woman was already close to conceiving naturally without knowing it. When she receives a remedy during that time, everything aligns-and she believes the result came from the one who misled her. And so she remains convinced that her child came from that source..."
"Just as it happened with you, Cao had her own ambitions for this empire. And as fate would have it, you also had your private desires, which led you straight into her hands. She used that to turn you into her messenger-someone who could deliver her intentions without anyone ever suspecting her presence or linking her to the events that unfolded. Everything was designed so her influence would never be traced back to her.
Your story reminded me of something my father once said: no matter how much you know, human understanding is small. And the birth of Zhan was something far beyond your control-something that would disrupt all your plans without you even realizing it. That is why everything about him was kept hidden until the day he reappeared, proving that your efforts were never stronger than what was already set to come.
Deception is a deep fall. It is a foundation that destroys a person's dignity in both the world they live in and everything that follows. The moment you believe someone other than your own rightful efforts can grant you protection or success, you open the door to danger. Someone like Cao will guide you step by step into places you never imagined going-exactly what happened to you.
At first, you went to her because you wanted a child. Instead of giving you genuine help, she instructed you to stop performing certain good deeds for a few days. She did that because she knew you still had people around you who could easily help you see your mistakes. She needed your heart clouded so that even if someone tried to pull you back, you wouldn't listen-your mind had already been blinded.
Her first tactic was to distract you and keep you from anything that might clear your thoughts or give you clarity. Once you were emotionally weakened, she knew you would become dependent on her, thinking you needed her influence to get what you wanted.
It's like bribery-once a person accepts a bribe, they can be pushed into doing anything, even things that harm themselves. That's how her so-called "remedies" worked. They were never connected to what you asked for. She gave them to you only to harm what was already growing inside you. She knew the child existed long before you came to her.
But nothing she did could stop the pregnancy from developing. When that failed, she moved to her next stage-separating you completely from your own wellbeing.
Then came stage three: separating you from your husband.
Stage four: using you to sabotage your son's future, staining his name and reputation before the entire kingdom. When people cried for his removal, if wasn't because of Zhan feeding him that poisonous milk, part of Cao's plan is to drag him down. If that plan failed, she already had another one prepared.
Had she succeeded in arranging the marriage she wanted-one that would give birth to the heir she desired-she would have won completely. The woman she wanted for that role wasn't just anyone; she was a dark spirit raised for this moment. From the day she became pregnant, Cao's intention was to eliminate you, then eliminate Yibo, and let the newborn child inherit the throne. After that, she would seize the kingdom through your family line.
The only reason Zhan survived your situation and your son survived everything that followed was because he still held onto values and upbringing at heart. King Yibo inherited the noble character of his father, not your flaws. The goodwill and hopes people had placed on him protected him, and his grandmother's determination kept him safe from the influence of people like Cao.
The deaths of his father and grandfather happened because of their time has come, not because she had the power to cause it. Even if she had stepped back, they still would have died around that same period-as would Yibo's wives.
But now, the weight of their lost lives rests on you and on her, because you both allowed everything to happen. She didn't force you-you agreed with her actions.
Shame on us for such blind ambition.
Shame on us for chasing desires without seeing where they end.
Shame on the heart that dismisses the wellbeing of others as if it means nothing, no matter how small or how significant.
Everything you think belongs to you-does not.
And if you ever allow selfishness or arrogance to dictate your choices, you will eventually pay for it on a day when nothing in this world can cover the cost."
On the day when everything catches up with a person-when debts are paid and actions return to their owners-every wrong you have done must be repaid one way or another. And if you have nothing left to repay with, the cost still comes due. Many people believe they are gathering achievements, only to discover at the end that everything they earned has been drained away, paid out to those they harmed along the way. What effort have we truly put in that we feel bold enough to believe we can trample over others and still come out victorious?
Some even mock those they wronged, claiming nothing touched them. But harm done to someone else does not vanish just because it is ignored. It leaves a mark-one that follows you whether you see it or not. And often, the one who swallows their pain quietly is far more dangerous to your future than the one who confronts you, because you never know when the debt will return.
Why do we never consider that the people we've wronged might be the very ones who rise above us in the end? That they are the ones who will stand in a place of strength while we fall? All because we chased approval, power, or pride at their expense.
You think it's a victory-humiliating someone, pushing someone aside, blocking someone's progress. You celebrate it, you laugh, you feel superior. But in the end, it is you who becomes the loser, the one with nothing left.
People who destroy others' lives often start young. They say, "She was immature," or "He was just a child," as if that excuses the harm. But habits carried into adulthood grow stronger and heavier. Eventually, even the smallest cruelty becomes a burden too large to escape.
You enjoyed your dominance. You enjoyed the power. You believed you were winning. But in the end, you are the one who lost everything.
Most who harm others are young, just starting their lives-barely married or not yet married-because those who reach a mature age and still choose to crush others are some of the most foolish people alive. Yet the young believe their actions are insignificant, thinking life has only just begun.
Who told you that harming another person is nothing?
Who convinced you it won't return to you someday?
Even a person who builds an empire-if you pass by and scatter what they built, that is still a violation. And if you destroy something someone treasured, even if you don't see its worth, that does not make it worthless to them. You may be young now, collecting the losses of others, but all you are doing is piling up weights that will crush you later.
Look at how lack of wisdom ruins a person. Every time you wrong someone, you give them power over your future. Because one day, compensation will be required-not with money, but through consequences you can't avoid.
Just like today. Everything returned to you at a time when you no longer had the chance to make amends. There is no one left to forgive you, no path to undo what you did. Meanwhile, the people you wronged received their relief, while you were left carrying the weight alone.
Cao used you to achieve her ambitions and left you with the ruins.
Shame on a life lived without awareness of consequences.
Shame on a life built as if it can never collapse.
Shame on a life where harming others feels normal.
Shame on desires that silence conscience.
Shame on a heart that becomes numb and believes everything is justified.
Dowager Taihou wept uncontrollably as these truths sank into her. The pain in her chest was sharp, and her whole body trembled. She wanted to speak-if only to her only son-but she could not bring herself to lift her head or form a single word.
At last, King Yibo rose slowly, unsteady on his feet, still holding Zhan's hand tightly. His eyes never lifted to meet anyone's gaze. Without speaking, he drew Zhan with him and left the room through a private passage. They disappeared down the quiet corridor, and Zhan's heart pounded as he felt King Yibo stumbling beside him-clear proof that something was deeply wrong.
Zhanxianyibo💚❤️💛