Capítulo 1587: Chapter 1594: The Death of Nangong Yu (5)
Cold sweat broke out from her forehead as she gazed in terror at that icy and ruthless face, clueless about what she intended to do.
“Princess Zhao Yang wants to ask me who I am? And why I lured you here, right?” The woman, as if she could see right through Nangong Yu’s thoughts, said coldly, “Let me tell you—today, I lured you out to send you on your way!”
Upon hearing this, Nangong Yu nearly collapsed. If her acupoints hadn’t been immobilized, she’d be trembling uncontrollably at this moment, because she could tell—this woman was absolutely serious, not merely trying to frighten her.
The woman moved behind her, leaned close to her ear, and whispered chillingly, “Today, I used Mu Caifei’s name to deceive you and bring you here. By killing you, Empress Dowager Mo will undoubtedly blame Mu Caifei for the pain of losing her daughter. She will furiously retaliate against the Mu Family. By then, the dog emperor will find himself torn between both sides, and eventually, he’ll turn against Mu Caiwei. Once they start destroying each other, the Great General will have his chance!”
Nangong Yu was simultaneously terrified and shocked. At this moment, she understood everything—the woman was one of the people still loyal to former General Li Kaifeng. She planned to use Nangong Yu’s death to provoke discord between the Emperor and Empress, driving them to mutual destruction.
Yet, even though she completely understood, it was already too late. The woman’s hand had pressed against the back of her heart, her voice as piercingly cold as the ice of a bitter winter.
“The Great General helped the dog emperor ascend the throne, yet instead of showing gratitude, you repaid kindness with betrayal—you caused our young lady to be poisoned by Gu and ultimately killed her. Our Great General was then thrown into prison by your dog emperor, enduring endless torment. You ingrates, betrayers who repay kindness with cruelty—you will face your retribution…”
The rest of her words were lost to Nangong Yu’s ears. All she felt was a sharp, unbearable pain, as if something had pierced through her body and nailed right into her heart.
“Pop—”
She spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, her body flying backward before collapsing into the icy creek water…
Her two maids, who had been standing tens of meters away, saw her in the moonlight. To them, it looked like the princess was standing with her back to them, speaking to Madam Mo. Then suddenly, Madam Mo circled behind the princess and gave her a strong shove, causing her to tumble into the creek!
“Princess—”
The two maids screamed and ran toward Nangong Yu!
When they reached the creek, they found Nangong Yu face down and motionless in the water. The two maids jumped in, frantically shouting as they lifted her up, only to see her forehead had hit a protruding stone in the creek, creating a gaping, bloody wound from which blood gushed forth like a spring. Her face was entirely obscured by blood, and she had already fallen unconscious.
“Princess—Princess—”
The two maids screamed in terror, their souls seemingly scattered from fright as they shouted and tried to staunch the bleeding.
But no matter what they did, the blood wouldn’t stop, endlessly pouring out and staining everything around it. One maid, braver than the other, gritted her teeth and tore off a piece of fabric from the hem of her skirt with a “rip,” hurriedly wrapping it around Nangong Yu’s head. The bleeding finally stopped, but Nangong Yu’s breathing had completely ceased.
“Princess—Princess, ah—”
The maids wailed in hopelessness, their cries reaching heartbreaking intensity. They weren’t crying because they loved Nangong Yu; rather, they knew that with her death, they, as her close servants who failed to protect her, wouldn’t survive either—and they might even implicate their families.
In such a grim fate, they thought it better to follow their mistress to the grave, sparing their families the punishment…
…
The two maids who had been serving Nangong Yu in the palace had boiled the water and cleaned the bath tub, preparing everything for her bath. When they came to fetch her, however, they discovered she was no longer in the room. Seeing that the two guards stationed there had also disappeared, along with the princess’s cloak, they assumed she had gone out and patiently waited for her return.
And so they waited—two whole hours passed, the bonfire banquet had already concluded, but the princess had not returned. Only then did the two maids panic and begin searching for her everywhere. Despite combing through the entire area near the palace, they couldn’t find her.
The two maids, alarmed, ran to report to Empress Dowager Mo that the princess had gone missing.
Upon hearing that Nangong Yu was missing, Empress Dowager Mo turned pale as ash and immediately sent word to the Emperor, ordering the entire hunting ground to search for her.
They say many hands make light work—all the guards, officials, and sons and daughters of ministers at the hunting ground were mobilized. Two hours later, someone found the corpse of Princess Zhao Yue, who had been dead for hours, near a creek less than two miles away from the palace.
Princess Zhao Yue had died a brutal death—her entire body was drenched, the bloodstained wound on her forehead obscured her face. Her wide-open eyes, blood-red in her pupils, gave her an expression of death filled with indignation.
Her two maids were beside her: one of them hung lifelessly from a tree, eyes bulging and tongue stretched out; the other, head injured and bleeding, lay beneath a blood-streaked tree, seemingly having fainted after failing to die on impact.
When Empress Dowager Mo arrived at the scene and witnessed her beloved daughter’s ghastly death, she completely unraveled. Her usual composed and high-ranking demeanor vanished. She clawed at her own hair, wailing and shouting to the heavens, her cries filled with bloodshed and unending anguish!
The ministers and madams all knelt, pleading with her to take solace, but Empress Dowager Mo refused to listen, clutching Nangong Yu’s corpse and crying out in despair.
Nangong Yi saw the tragic sight of Nangong Yu and felt a deep pain in his heart. Although Nangong Yu had continuously disappointed him in recent years, she was still his biological younger sister, whom he had cherished since childhood. He remembered the time when their mother, brother, and sister depended on each other for survival—how he had loved her, doted on her, protected her in every way, exhausting all his efforts to shield her from Jin Guifei’s harm.
He never anticipated that after finally eliminating Jin Guifei, ascending to power, and reigning over the world, his sister would die—and in such a horrifying way, leaving him unable to accept it!