The news got out quickly and soon reached Consort Zhuang. She was stunned into inaction for a good while with panic flashing through her face, but the panic was soon replaced by viciousness. If she’s still in a coma, I must not allow her to survive to utter a word! That bitch sure is hard to kill, resurrected after being submerged for so long. If fate wills her to be unconscious, though, let her stay that way forever!

A steely smile tugged at Consort Zhuang’s face, and her eyes shone with madness. She caressed the emerald jade bracelet on her wrist - a gift from the emperor after the first night she served him. She’d always cherished it like her greatest treasure. In an unusually tender voice, she murmured, “Soon, our wait will be over. He’ll be ours and ours alone!” A look of delusional blissfulness overtook her expression, and she held the bracelet to her chest.

She changed into the outfit of a palace maid and quietly made her way to the An’ning Palace with a bowl of medicine. She knew the guards’ schedule. She took a walk around the palace and returned just in time for the guards to change shifts. She’d gathered enough information to know that the emperor and the princes were with the empress dowager while the imperial physicians treated her.

Heavens granted her this opportunity!...