BBTTD Chapter 1.2

Someone said something at the outer doors — the court officials surged out en masse, and the vast outer hall turned cold and desolate. Su Jiao clung to consciousness with all she had, her trembling hands groping into her sleeve for something.

Her fingers hadn’t yet reached the porcelain vial hidden there when —

“Ah —”

A foot came down hard on her fingers.

A shadow fell over her. It was Zhang Momo, who had served her in the palace for five years — now smiling an obsequious smile.

(TL: 嬷嬷 (mómó) = respectful term for an older female servant or palace attendant)

“This servant knew it — you demon empress, you had a trick up your sleeve. This life-saving medicine is a precious thing indeed. Allow your servant to present it to the Prime Minister as a gift.”

Zhang Momo wrenched the porcelain vial from Su Jiao’s sleeve. Prime Minister Yun looked down at her from above as she coughed up mouthful after mouthful of blood.

“Without this old woman, this official would never have known of your plan to flee tonight.

Su Jiao — your brother never sent anyone to meet you. From beginning to end, it was only this official who set a trap at the place where you planned to escape the palace. The original plan was to catch you fleeing in guilt and execute you in public — but you were clever enough to go to Qianqing Palace to tend to the sick instead —”

He had exhausted himself scheming to secure his daughter’s position as Empress. He had wanted to be rid of the Demon Empress at the earliest opportunity — yet his daughter had died before the Demon Empress did.

“As a daughter, abandoned by your father and brother. As an empress, rejected by the imperial family and the world entire. What reason does someone like you have left to live?”

Prime Minister Yun let out a cold laugh and emptied the porcelain vial Su Jiao had fought to the death to retrieve. The medicinal pill rolled out onto the floor. A faint spark of light broke through Su Jiao’s ashen eyes. She crawled and dragged herself toward it.

One step. Two steps —

The overwhelming surge of pain swallowed her whole. Her hand finally stilled, three paces short of the pill, every last shred of strength gone.

The breath in her chest grew thinner and thinner. Pain crested and crashed over her in waves. In the final moments before consciousness faded entirely, she suddenly remembered the day she had received that life-saving medicine.

Back then, she and Xie Yan had not yet grown as distant as they later became. One time, she had been keeping him company in Qianqing Palace as he worked through a pile of memorials, and had made a joke on a whim.

“I’ve heard that emperors always keep all sorts of rare and curious things around them. So does a tyrant with such a fearsome reputation as yours keep extra life-saving medicines on hand?”

Xie Yan had seen right through her with a single glance.

“You want it?

Fearless in your usual life, yet I never knew you were afraid of death.”

“Of course I’m afraid,” she had answered, laughing with easy warmth.

“Jiao Jiao is most afraid of dying.”

The pale lavender palace gown was stained crimson. Blood wound its way downward in rivulets. That vivid, vibrant face slowly dimmed and faded. A gray-winged butterfly landed on the end of her hair, casting its shadow across the cold and desolate palace hall.

Much like her life itself — brilliant and alive, and then abruptly, silently, gone.

=====

Lightning split the sky above the window. Rain poured in sheets. Su Jiao’s eyes flew open.

Thud —

Zhang Momo’s medicine bowl crashed to the floor. She stumbled backward as if she had seen a ghost.

“You… you’re awake?”

Su Jiao sat up, her head splitting with pain. The moment she saw Zhang Momo, she froze.

She wasn’t dead?

The agony from before her blackout had been so viscerally real. Su Jiao still felt a heaviness pressing on her chest — yet the Zhang Momo before her and the rain outside couldn’t be lies. Her heart lurched. She flung herself off the bed.

“Ah —”

Zhang Momo’s shriek jolted some clarity back into Su Jiao’s dazed mind. She swept her gaze around and recognized the place as a dilapidated, run-down palace.

That cup of poisoned wine hadn’t killed her?

Where was she? The Cold Palace?

She was still alive?

The familiar yet strange surroundings made her headache worse. But there was no time to dwell on it — only Zhang Momo was in sight, and not a single guard stood watch at the outer door. In an instant, Su Jiao’s mind cut through the fog with crystalline clarity. A single thought rose to the surface.

Run!

The rain was still pouring outside. Su Jiao bolted down the steps without a moment’s hesitation and ran.

The dilapidated palace had only one winding, narrow path. Watching that slender figure disappear into the distance, Zhang Momo finally snapped back to her senses and gave chase in a panic.

“My Lady, My Lady — where are you going in a rain like this?”

The matter over there wasn’t finished yet. If this imperial prince’s consort ran over and witnessed something she shouldn’t — even several heads wouldn’t be enough to pay for it!

Zhang Momo twisted her body in pursuit, shouting the whole way — terrified her cries would attract the guards. Su Jiao ran to the edge of a lake and stopped dead. Zhang Momo, squinting through the driving rain as she chased, wasn’t paying attention, and Su Jiao stuck out her foot and tripped her straight into the lake water.

The lake wasn’t shallow. The moment Zhang Momo plunged in, she began to shriek in helpless panic.

“My Lady the Prince’s Consort, save this servant! Pull me out!”

Prince’s Consort? What prince’s consort?

Su Jiao assumed she had mixed up her words in her panic. She gathered her drenched skirts in her hands and crouched at the lake’s edge.

She stared with cold eyes as Zhang Momo thrashed and struggled in the water.

This old woman had followed her faithfully from the Cold Palace for five years. She had genuinely thought her loyal — never knowing when exactly she had become one of the Yun clan’s people.

And in the end she had betrayed Su Jiao’s whereabouts, and dared to stand on her hand and mock her as she lay dying.

Old scores and new — Su Jiao kept her face expressionless as she extended her hand toward her.

Zhang Momo’s eyes lit up.

“My Lady, quickly — pull this servant out — Ah!”

Su Jiao pressed down on her head without hesitation and shoved her under the water.

“Insufferably loud.”

With Zhang Momo dealt with, Su Jiao crept stealthily onward and ran.

The rain began to ease. She grew more and more certain she recognized this path — but there was no time to dwell on that now. Su Jiao ran through a decorative gate, through a covered gallery —

Thud —

A broken sword came hurtling straight at her head.

Su Jiao dodged it with quick reflexes, assuming it was a guard coming to arrest her. Without thinking, she snatched the broken sword and flung it back.

Clang —

“The Prince’s Consort?”

Two people who had been locked in a struggle both looked over.

For a moment, the three of them stood staring at each other through the curtain of rain. Su Jiao froze.

The two people standing before the hall — one was the head eunuch who had served the Empress Dowager for over a decade, a ruthless and calculating man. The other was…

…Dressed in the regalia of an imperial prince, features still carrying the slight unripeness of youth…

Xie Yan.

This was…

Xie Yan’s dagger was still pressed to the old eunuch’s throat. He had been about to speak when, without warning, the broken sword was flung back — and struck him squarely on the forehead.

Xie Yan toppled straight over.

As he fell, the layout of the hall behind him came into full view.

A simple bed. A pear-wood table…

Furnishings she recognized — furnishings she had lived with for two years. This was… Yongning Hall.

The shock of it slammed into her chest. Su Jiao staggered back two steps, pressing her hand over her heart. Brilliant colors swept past her eyes. She looked down — and saw clearly what she was wearing.

A bridal gown.

Gone was every trace of the burning agony from the poisoned wine. A young Xie Yan. Yongning Hall. And what Zhang Momo had just called her —

Prince’s Consort.

An impossible, unthinkable realization crashed over her like a wave —

She had been reborn?

The eunuch, seeing her standing frozen to the spot, immediately raised his voice in a sharp cry toward the outside.

“The Third Imperial Prince is gravely ill, and his attendants have been negligent in their duties! The Prince’s Consort has carelessly knocked the Prince unconscious! If the Third Imperial Prince does not wake by tonight, this servant will report to Her Majesty the Empress that every last person in Yongning Palace is to be buried alive with him!

Men! Seize every last one of them!”

The shrill cry rang out. Su Jiao, who had not yet recovered from the realization that she had been reborn, felt the world go dark before her eyes all over again.

She had only just been reborn — and already she was to be buried with the tyrant?