EWRN - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Rebirth

The thirty-first year of the Yuanjin era was an eventful one.

In the spring of the thirty-first year of Yuanjin, Emperor Yuanjin of the Great Yuan Kingdom, Huo Jinyu, had been on the throne for thirty-one years. His twenty palace consorts had produced no offspring, and rumors swirled through the court and the common folk. The ministers were beside themselves with worry over the matter of succession. Meanwhile, both the Second Prince, Prince Anping, and the Third Prince, Prince Qin, were already surrounded by their own children. It was widely rumored that the current emperor was impotent; some even made the bold guess that the Son of Heaven was, in fact, a woman. Every court session was filled with ministers presenting memorials, most concerning the issue of the imperial lineage. At some point, storytellers began to brazenly proclaim that the current emperor was a monarch destined to ruin the nation, a scourge upon the country and its people who must be eliminated for the good of all.

In the autumn of the thirty-first year of Yuanjin, Prince Qin, who commanded a large army, joined forces with Prince Anping. Under the pretext of ridding the people of a menace, they raised an army in rebellion, vowing to cleanse the court. An army of hundreds of thousands marched directly for the imperial city.

In the winter of the thirty-first year of Yuanjin, the capital fell. Prince Qin and Prince Anping, colluding with traitors within, broke through the city gates. The grand army flooded into the imperial city, surrounding the palace so tightly not even a drop of water could escape. The imperial guard was powerless to resist. Prince Qin and Prince Anping pushed straight for the Hall of Imperial Governance. It was the hour of the morning court. Seeing the army storm into the palace, the hundred officials hastily fell to their knees, not daring to make a sound.

Emperor Yuanjin sat silently on the dragon throne, staring at these uninvited guests. The situation was already beyond saving.

The soldiers parted to form two lines, clearing a path for two figures who walked down the center.

Prince Qin and Prince Anping entered the hall side by side, their faces filled with triumph. Prince Qin spoke first. "Imperial Brother, I bet you never thought you'd see this day, did you? By what right have you occupied this throne for over thirty years, yet produced no heir? There are three ways to be unfilial, and having no heir is the greatest. How will you face the spirit of our Imperial Father in heaven? With no successor to the imperial line, how will you face our ancestors? Now, rumors are rampant, and the lowly commoners are in revolt. This is the nation under your rule, Imperial Brother. It seems Second Imperial Brother and I must righteously dispose of a relative today and send you to the Nine Springs to answer for your crimes to Imperial Father." As he spoke, Prince Qin drew his sword.

Emperor Yuanjin rose to his feet and picked up the sword that had long been placed to one side. "So you finally couldn't resist rebelling!"

Prince Qin laughed heartily. "What is Imperial Brother saying? We two brothers have come today to deal with a monster like you. Isn't that right, Imperial Brother? Or perhaps I should say… Imperial Sister?"

Emperor Yuanjin's eyes darkened. "Don't you dare slander me!"

Prince Anping frowned. "Yuanjin, it has come to this. What is the point of hiding it any longer? You've been in this position for too long. It's time you made way for us brothers. If you surrender obediently today, we might just leave you with a whole corpse."

Emperor Yuanjin raised his sword and declared, "Why waste time with pleasantries? If you want to fight, then let's fight." With that, he descended the steps and charged toward the two men. Prince Qin and Prince Anping rushed to meet him, and the three of them began to fight within the hall.

Two fists are no match for four hands. Emperor Yuanjin gradually began to lose ground, though both princes were also wounded. Prince Qin and Prince Anping exchanged a look and continued to circle Emperor Yuanjin, but they did not strike a fatal blow.

The hundred officials, cowering in the hall, watched with wide eyes. Emperor Yuanjin was defeated, no longer able to parry, his body covered in cuts. The imperial robes, once so majestic, were reduced to tattered shreds by their swords, scattering across the floor. Finally, Prince Qin landed a vicious kick to Emperor Yuanjin's abdomen, sending him flying. He collapsed to the ground, clutching his stomach, his sword slipping from his grasp. Prince Qin waved his hand, and several guards immediately rushed forward, seizing Emperor Yuanjin and forcing him to kneel before the two princes.

Prince Anping stepped forward and slashed viciously at Emperor Yuanjin's shoulder with his sword. The already tattered clothing ripped open in a long gash, revealing the shoulder and neck beneath, along with a strip of white cloth.

"No wonder I heard from a young age that Imperial Brother had no interest in women. And in recent years, rumors spread that you were impotent, that no tonic or folk remedy could help. It turns out our magnificent Emperor Yuanjin is a woman! You deceived the world for decades, deceived Imperial Father to get the throne. You damnable harlot who brings ruin to the nation, you truly deserve to die!" Prince Anping said with hatred.

The eyes of every official in the court went wide. They never imagined that the emperor they respected daily was, as the rumors claimed, actually a woman! The thought that they had been deceived by a woman for over thirty years, taking orders from a woman for over thirty years, filled them with rage. "You damnable harlot who brings ruin to the nation!" a civil official suddenly cursed aloud. "You liar! You are not fit to be emperor!" "How disgusting!" Seeing that the two princes did not intervene, a chorus of condemnation rose from the court.

In all fairness, Emperor Yuanjin had given so much to this country she loved for thirty years, and had placed so much trust in her own brothers. Just a few years ago, she was a good emperor, a wise sovereign beloved by the entire nation. Yet now, merely because she was a woman, because she could not continue the family line, she was subjected to the utmost humiliation. Without her, Emperor Yuanjin, this country would not be so prosperous, and its people would not live in such peace and contentment. Emperor Yuanjin had intended to select a son of either Prince Anping or Prince Qin to be the crown prince and inherit the throne. Yet this pack of ungrateful, white-eyed wolves had staged a coup, disregarding all familial bonds to humiliate her in front of everyone!

At this thought, Emperor Yuanjin prepared to bite her tongue and end her own life. Prince Qin, quick-eyed and swift-handed, knocked her unconscious. "Tomorrow, we still have to parade you before your beloved subjects for your execution. How could we let you die so easily?" Prince Qin sneered and waved his hand, ordering the guards to drag Emperor Yuanjin to the dungeons.

The next day, at noon.

The weak Emperor Yuanjin was awakened by the piercing, blinding midday sun. The clamor of the surrounding crowd gave her a sense of foreboding. Opening her eyes, she found her hands, feet, and neck were each tied by ropes to five different horses. Emperor Yuanjin was terrified, her mouth stuffed with cloth, unable to speak. Suddenly, a figure blocked the sun. It was Prince Anping.

"Yuanjin, how does this feel? This is my final great gift to you," Prince Anping whispered, then cleared his throat and said in a feigned tone of grief, "A husband has his way, and a wife has hers. This prince was by this woman's side for many years, yet never discovered her disguise as she brought chaos to the court. This prince has failed the spirit of our Imperial Father in heaven! Today, this prince will execute this shameless harlot on the spot! Men! Carry out the sentence!"

Prince Anping stepped aside. The executioners came forward and viciously whipped the horses' rumps. Startled, the five horses bolted in five different directions, quickly pulling Yuanjin up and suspending her in the air. At that moment, the sky suddenly darkened. Black clouds gathered, and a fierce wind swept across the execution ground.

Feeling the excruciating, tearing pain wracking her body, Emperor Yuanjin glared fiercely at Prince Anping from the corner of her eye. If she could become a ghost, she would never let this group of disgusting villains go! Then, her vision went black, and she lost consciousness completely.

At the end of the thirty-first year of Yuanjin, the people forever lost the Emperor Yuanjin they had once loved. A new emperor took the throne, and no one would remember her, save for the history books filled with her infamy.

"Your Highness, the Crown Prince! Your Highness! Wake up!"

The tearing pain in her body had not yet faded, but an irritating voice sounded in her ears.

Huo Jinyu struggled to open her eyes, feeling beads of cold sweat rolling down her forehead. Her undergarments were soaked through, as if she had just been pulled from water. 'How am I still alive?' Huo Jinyu wondered silently. The sensation of her limbs being torn off was still present. She painstakingly moved her hands and feet. 'They're still here?' She raised a hand, only to find it had shrunk, and there were no wounds on her body. Looking up, she saw that this was her own bedchamber.

From beyond the bed curtains, the urgent voice came again: "Your Highness, the Crown Prince! It is time to bathe and prepare for the enthronement ceremony!"

Crown Prince? Enthronement ceremony? Huo Jinyu was stunned. Could it be that she had returned to the past? Huo Jinyu pushed aside the curtains and looked at the palace maids kneeling all over the floor of her bedchamber, still in a daze.

After her bath, Huo Jinyu looked at the long strips of white cloth and frowned. She still wrapped them around her chest until it was flat and showed no trace of her figure, then she put on the yellow inner and outer robes and slowly walked out.

The enthronement ceremony was solemn and grand. Drums rolled in unison, and bronze bells rang out. The civil and military officials prostrated themselves on the ground. Huo Jinyu accepted the dragon crown and the imperial seal, walked past the officials, and ascended step by step to the end of the Hall of Imperial Governance, where she sat upon the dragon throne. Placing the imperial seal on the desk and straightening the dragon crown, Huo Jinyu gradually came to her senses. She had returned to the year she was fifteen! She hadn't died, and she had been given a chance to do it all over again!

Huo Jinyu stared intently at the civil and military officials below, and at her two imperial brothers. The Second Prince, Huo Jinye, was thirteen this year, and the Third Prince, Huo Jincheng, was only five. It was these two, the very princes she would personally ennoble in the future, these two white-eyed wolves who would take her life, subject her to dismemberment by horses, and ruin her reputation. And it was these officials who stood by and did nothing during the coup, who kicked her when she was down! And the tens of thousands of ignorant commoners outside! They should die! They should all die!

Huo Jinyu's eyes blazed with fury. Her hands on the desk clenched into tight fists. She wished she could kill these people right now, kill every last one of them!

The hall was utterly silent. The prostrated officials began to sense that something was wrong; the newly enthroned emperor did not seem to be in a pleasant mood. The officials and Huo Jinyu's two imperial brothers knelt on the ground, not daring to breathe. The standoff continued.

After about half an hour, just as everyone's knees were about to give out, a faint voice came from above: "You may rise."

Everyone rose. Two elderly officials even stumbled.

The officials stood respectfully with their heads bowed. They could only feel the immense pressure emanating from the new emperor. They had thought him just a greenhorn who had not yet come of age and hadn't taken him seriously, but they never expected to be kept kneeling for half an hour. A military official secretly raised his eyes to look at the newly enthroned emperor, only to meet a pair of deep eyes, like a vortex that threatened to pull one in. The official's heart pounded with fear, and he quickly lowered his head. He found he could not see through this young emperor at all.

Huo Jinyu remained silent for a moment longer before speaking. "From this day forth, it shall be the first year of the Yuanjin era. My ascension today is the great fortune of Yuan and the peace of the people. After ascending the throne, I shall follow the path of benevolence and filial piety, and rule the kingdom with propriety." She silently added in her heart, 'As if.' Following her words, a eunuch read the late emperor's edict.

This damn throne. Once she'd had her fun and gotten her revenge, whoever wanted it could have it!

Huo Jinyu's gloomy gaze rested on her two imperial brothers, her expression thoughtful. Since the heavens had given her a second chance, it must be so she could take her revenge properly! Huo Jinye! Huo Jincheng! And all these bootlickers and ignorant commoners! She wouldn't let a single one of them go!

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