Chapter 450: Are You Unappreciative, or Too Greedy

The two maids at Gao Zhao Yue’s side were unfazed. They quietly retreated beyond the gauze curtain to wait.

She patted his head. "Have you come to Mother for comfort?"

Yu Wen Tiancheng closed his weary eyes and nodded.

Gao Zhao Yue sensed that his mood was off. "The man who died was your father, after all," she said. "No matter how cruel and depraved he was, he still held some affection for you and the late Empress."

She asked softly, "What is it? Do you regret it?"

Yu Wen Tiancheng opened his eyes, and ripples of emotion disturbed their once placid, numb depths.

"I do have regrets."

Gao Zhao Yue’s expression immediately turned stern. She frowned and said, "Tiancheng, you promised me—"

Their relationship was more than a mere transaction, entangled with other, more complicated feelings. But having killed Yu Wen Shuo and seized power in Xijin, their next step was still to seek vengeance against Emperor Beili for Yu Wen Tianqing’s death.

Yu Wen Tiancheng said, "What I promised you will never change."

"Then what do you mean?" Gao Zhao Yue asked. "What do you regret?"

Yu Wen Tiancheng watched as her brows, elegant as distant mountains, furrowed. He reached out to smooth them flat.

"I regret bringing you to his bedchamber today, letting you see him again."

Gao Zhao Yue chuckled softly. ’A man’s jealousy is no less potent than a woman’s.’

She caressed his young, handsome face and said, "I only came to find closure with him. Now that he’s dead, the hatred in my heart has faded."

Yu Wen Tiancheng stared at her lips and murmured one word.

"Mother."

Though he still called her by that title, he hadn’t seen her as a mother figure since he’d come of age.

’Besides, the Old Emperor stripped her of her rank as a concubine long ago. She and I are no longer related in any way; I really shouldn’t call her that anymore.’

’But if I changed how I address her, it would feel like something was missing.’

’But he didn’t want the shadow of another man to always stand between them. Something had to change.’

Gao Zhao Yue knew what he wanted and leaned in on her own accord.

Her crimson lips were soft and fragrant, but her body remained as cold as ever.

’Yu Wen Tiancheng closed his eyes. Even if he knew Gao Zhao Yue was just using him, he was still willing. It was like drinking poison to quench a thirst, and he would do it gladly.’

Twenty years had passed. She had changed, and yet she hadn’t.

She still possessed a face that could topple kingdoms, but her once-soft heart had long been walled off by the cruelties of the world, leaving no room for anyone new.

Yu Wen Tiancheng’s breathing grew ragged, and his mind drifted back to the past...

"Tiancheng, did you get hurt falling during your equestrian lesson? Why has no one treated your wounds? Come to my chambers, and I’ll put some medicine on it for you."

Gao Zhao Yue was a princess of the Heavenly Moon Clan. Having been in the palace for only a few months, she had already heard some of the court rumors. She sighed and comforted the little Crown Prince, who only came up to her waist.

"The Empress doesn’t dislike you, she just dislikes children."

Because Empress Xiao hated the Emperor, she detested her own son by extension. As Yu Wen Tiancheng sat on Gao Zhao Yue’s lap, he experienced the warmth and softness of a mother’s embrace for the first time.

「Another year passed.」

Gao Zhao Yue gave birth to a prince and was promoted to a concubine. Holding the infant boy, she spoke gently to the Crown Prince, who now nearly reached her chest.

"Tiancheng, this is your younger brother. Will you play with him from now on?"

Yu Wen Tiancheng looked at the wrinkly little baby, watched her lower her head to place a kiss on his cheek, and from that moment on, jealousy took root in his heart.

「In the blink of an eye, another three years passed.」

Gao Zhao Yue was confined to her palace, and even her newborn daughter was taken from her.

Yu Wen Tiancheng climbed a wall under the cover of darkness to see her.

Gao Zhao Yue was startled. "Tiancheng, what are you doing here? Your father has forbidden visitors. Go, quickly, before someone sees you!"

As it happened, an old eunuch arrived to deliver poisoned wine and a length of white silk. She hid Yu Wen Tiancheng under the bed.

The old eunuch waited at the door. With red-rimmed eyes, Gao Zhao Yue picked up the length of white silk. She no longer held any hope for the fickle, heartless Yu Wen Shuo.

Fortunately, her clan possessed many unique arts. She could hold her breath for three days, enough to fool Yu Wen Shuo, but it required her to first perform a blood oath. Thus, Yu Wen Tiancheng, who was there at the scene, became the only person who knew she had faked her death...

At that very moment, a clamor of funeral music and wailing drifted in from outside.

In the side hall, the two people locked in an embrace were both distracted.

’Yu Wen Tiancheng was lost in his memories, his closed eyelids twitching. Now that Yu Wen Tianqing was dead, and Yu Wen Shuo was dead, she was finally, completely his.’

’Gao Zhao Yue, however, was thinking of how to make Beili pay for her son’s life.’

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

The pattern—two knocks, then four, then three—signified a spy with a message.

Gao Zhao Yue decisively pulled away from him. Her breaths were alluring, but her eyes were perfectly lucid.

"Tiancheng, let him in."

Panting, Yu Wen Tiancheng looked at her face, which was devoid of passion. He yanked her hand to his waist.

"Tiancheng, what are you doing?" Gao Zhao Yue asked.

"You know what I want."

Gao Zhao Yue’s voice was laced with urgency. "Can’t it wait? This is important."

"You wanted me to raise an army and attack Beili, so I amassed three hundred thousand troops on the Northern Border," Yu Wen Tiancheng said. "You wanted my father, the Emperor, dead, and I made that happen too."

He squeezed her hand so tightly that the blood drained from her fingertips.

"Is it that the things I lay at your feet come too easily, so you don’t cherish them? Or are you simply too greedy?"

Gao Zhao Yue studied his expression. Having watched him grow up, she could read his emotions perfectly. She caressed his chest with her free hand.

"Tiancheng, are you jealous? Haven’t I already told you? Even my hatred for Yu Wen Shuo has faded."

"But there’s still another that you hate," Yu Wen Tiancheng said. "The moment you hear news of him, you can’t even be bothered to humor me."

Hearing this, Gao Zhao Yue said, "You mean the Emperor of Beili?" The corners of her lips curled into a smile. "Tiancheng, you’ve misjudged me. We’ve never even met."

"Judging by your tone, Mother, you seem quite eager to meet him," Yu Wen Tiancheng said.

Gao Zhao Yue scoffed. "Eager? How could I not be? Every time I think of my son dying in a foreign land, his head severed from his body even in death, there isn’t a single moment my heart doesn’t ache."

A shadow passed through Yu Wen Tiancheng’s eyes, and he gradually relaxed his grip.

Gao Zhao Yue, however, did not pull her hand away. Instead, she wrapped her arm around his waist, trying to soothe his discontent.

Yu Wen Tiancheng could never resist this kind of tenderness from her.

He tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and asked, "How do you want him to die?"

Gao Zhao Yue whispered in his ear, "Make his heart ache just as much. Let him feel what it’s like to lose his own flesh and blood."

"The little prince may be in Lin’an," Yu Wen Tiancheng said, "but he’s surrounded by elite guards day and night. Our Xijin agents can’t get close to him."

He added sarcastically, "Besides, emperors are heartless men. The loss of one’s own flesh and blood means nothing to them."

Gao Zhao Yue’s fingers traced the curve of his ear. "That’s true," she said. "However, I’ve recently heard an interesting rumor."

Yu Wen Tiancheng’s breathing was heavy. "What rumor?"