The Truth II
Before Bai Xiang'er took her life, she was the first daughter from the Bai estate to have married into royalty, and to the doted fourth prince, Long Xiongwei at that. She could remember how she felt ecstatic basking in the envious gazes of many.
She thought that she have caught herself a good opportunity towards fame, riches, and love. But it didn't take long before the truth slapped her hard across her face.
The fourth prince was through and through indifferent. Like an iceberg that never showed any hint of softening nor warmth. He just let all those women sent to his residence be, not caring if they lived or die, just providing them enough to not be blamed.
After a year of neglect, she then heard that her third sister from a concubine married the crown prince as well. People told tales about their love and how the crown prince doted on her.
Her disappointed heart gave birth to ugly jealousy and unwillingness. Being a well-known beauty, her self confidence was something not to be trifled with. She devised a scheme to drug the fourth prince into sleeping with her.
What she did not foresee, however, was the vigilance that the fourth prince had. All his food and beverages to the incense he used were all monitored. So to say the least, her plan failed and she brought a huge disaster her own way.
The prince had her tortured before sending her to the abandoned courtyard where she was left to rot.
Days turned to months and months to years, all she heard was the gossip about Bai Xingmei and the crown prince. Along with these tales of love that made her teeth and gums itch, was one grave news that shook the entire capital. The King was dying.
The king was someone wise and benevolent. He encouraged talents which made the dynasty flourish thus a lot of people were saddened by this news. When the king was on his deathbed, a lot of speculations came forth. The supporters of the crown prince were on guard since the other contender was not only doted on but was also much more capable and wise.
Thus to no surprise, the king broke the norms and passed the throne to his fourth son, Long Xiongwei. The imperial capital once again exploded with unprecedented news.
When the King passed, the fourth prince ascended. With the help of his brother, the second prince, and his trusted friend, the left prime minister, Wei Feng, he stabilized his reign.
The empress as expected was not happy about this but she can only swallow the bitter pill and advice the crown prince to lay low and stage a coup at the most opportune time.
The monarch transferred to the palace, bringing along his people from his residence. And that included Bai Xiang'er.
Although, she was the empress in name, everyone by now knew how she was abandoned and sent to the cold palace. So despite the grand name, only embarrassment and pity were felt towards her. This ignited more hatred and unwillingness from her.
She thought to herself that she was never supposed to have this. She was a beauty, she was talented. So in what way did that slut Bai Xingmei surpassed her for her to be entitled to have all the fame and happiness while she rots in this place? So what if her husband was the emperor? Wasn't she living a life worse than death?
With those thoughts whirling inside her mind the whole night and day, she lost it and used her remaining money from her dowry to have a servant smuggle a poison for her.
With this resentment, she vowed that in her next life, she would not let a single person escape. Especially that fourth prince and Bai Xingmei. With these thoughts, she downed the poison, welcoming it like a ray of salvation.
When Bai Xingmei breathed her last, at the same time, the crown prince finally got enough power to stage his last struggle. Colluding with the hostile kingdom, they made attacks in the border while the crown prince gathered his hidden forces to kill the emperor.
With the help of the hostile kingdom, the emperor's forces would be greatly reduced leaving him defenseless as tofu in the imperial capital.
This would have been a great strategy if the emperor was not Long Xiongwei. As a veteran of the war, he never let his guard down, and having heard snippets of the crown prince's movements, he made a counterattack using his forces that he personally nurtured.
The fight lasted for a month and the crown prince and the empress were beheaded in the plaza and their bodies were hanged on the gates of the capital. The fourth prince stabilized the situation after a few months and he was able to continue his reign without much hitch afterwards.
This would have lasted until the end of his time if the reversal was not made. But the war was like a surging tornado that served as the last nail to seal the coffin. The world's flow of fate cracked further and it was around this time that the world's consciousness made the reversal.
So the moment Bai Xiang'er opened her eyes, she went back to her 12 years old self. With the memories and hatred of the past life, she had used this as a fuel to exact her revenge.
She built up her fame using her beauty and talent that she had inherited from the past life. All for the sake of the crown prince. In her last life, the crown prince was a worthy contender of the crown, he also loved and respected his wife, that slut Bai Xingmei. So making this person hers would be way better than marrying that block of ice.
As her hate wouldn't end before she can kill off that bastard prince, using the memory she had, she remembered that the fourth prince would be assassinated on his way back to the capital before his coming of age banquet.
With this knowledge, she made a force from the ground up by herself. She nurtured them to be formidable throughout the land. She then sent these assassins to ambush the prince when he was wounded fending off the first attackers. The prince died then with a poisoned arrow struck on his heart.
From then on, the halo that belonged to the dead prince was snatched by the crown prince, assuring a smooth succession after the emperor died.
With her authority as an empress, she pushed Bai Xingmei into marrying an old minister with a very hardcore fetish, which brought her to her death.
With the prior instability, and the current disarray, which was much worse than before, the world's consciousness had no choice but to wake up for the second time.
But since it already woke up forcefully twice, it was very weak. Right after bringing it back to the point where it all started to fall apart, it suddenly fell into a deep sleep, with no assurance of being able to wake up. The damage it took was way too much for it.
When it brought the time back for the second time, another girl from the same estate woke up. And that was the time Ying Yue came into this world.