The Empress Dowager opened another compartment, this one holding a single vial. Different from the others. More concentrated. More deadly.
And then I will eliminate my son.
The current Emperor. Her cage-keeper. The man who had relegated her to decorative irrelevance for thirty years.
She would poison him slowly, carefully, over months if necessary. Make it look like natural decline, the weight of stress and age. The physicians would shake their heads sadly and say there was nothing to be done. He would waste away, and the court would mourn, and no one would suspect.
And when he dies, the throne will be contested.
Zhao Yifeng, the legitimate Crown Prince, beloved and charming but untested in true crisis. Liang Jian, the capable general with the stain of illegitimate birth. The court would divide. The princes would war. The empire would fracture.
And I will be the only one with the power to restore order.
