"Yes, I was crazy and cruel enough to throw my beloved wife to the Cold Palace. There is no difference in you, Mother. You deserve to bear the same hell that you created for my wife." Huang Shu said coldly. "I also want you to rot in that Cold Palace and die out of starvation. I'm sure you can't last long."

Before he left, he glanced at the box of buyun leaves on the table. He clenched his fist to steel his heart, then he called the guards outside.

Three guards came and witnessed the sight of Empress Dowager Aixi and Emperor Xianliang. The Empress Dowager looked too shocked to react, while the Emperor's face was cold and unfeeling.

Huang Shu ordered these men first, "Go open that box and shove the Buyun leaves in Empress Dowager's mouth. Ensure she eats everything, even if she pukes it out, keeps shoving it, and chugs her with water. I want to make sure that she drinks everything, just like how she poisoned my wife."

Empress Dowager Aixi reacted wildly when she heard that. She couldn't believe her son would be so cruel.

"Huang Shu, you dare doing this to your old mother! You know I did this for you! I did this for the nation! You are blinded by him!" Empress Dowager struggled when two guards tried to hold her down.

"What are you two doing?! Don't you see that I'm Her Majesty Empress Dowager Aixi!? You will be executed for harming me!" Empress Dowager struggled with all her might to no avail.

But the guards became a bit hesitant after Empress Dowager announced her title as a threat.

"Do not hesitate. This is the order of the Emperor, the son of heaven. Empress Dowager Aixi has harmed my wife and future Empress to secure her power. This counts as an attempt at regicide. I order you all to punish her."

Thus, the guards didn't hesitate anymore. They held Empress Dowager's old body even though she kept struggling. She screamed, calling Huang Shu with swear words unfit for her status as Empress Dowager.

Meanwhile, the other guard clenched her jaw and shoved the Buyun leaves on her throat before chugging her with water. In just a chug, Empress Dowager started feeling nauseous and lost her strength immediately.

She felt her stomach had been stabbed by hundreds of knives, and she retched until she puked everything, including the buyun leaves.

"Continue," Huang Shu ordered.

Huang Shu watched how his mother was fed with Buyun leaves, and she kept puking out everything, then she got fed again until she almost lost her life.

Huang Shu felt an emptiness in his heart.

He pitied his mother a bit, but what disturbed him the most was this unsatisfied feeling.

'Not enough… the pain this woman caused to Yunyu for two timelines… are not enough….'

'Yunyu was slandered, poisoned until he lost his fertility, and he was thrown to the Cold Palace by me….'

'Mother Empress might have hurt Yunyu so much, but the blame is also on me….'

'Wife, if… if you remember everything, will you still love me?'

After Huang Shu watched his mother unconscious, he told the guards to call a few servants and another Physician to treat Empress Dowager. He also told them to bring all Empress Dowager belonging to the Palace of Desolation, the actual name of the Cold Palace, the same Palace that Huang Shu was thrown by him.

After he dispersed everyone, Huang Shu returned to the Palace of Serene Harmony. His leg felt heavy because he kept thinking about Yunyu and everything that he went through.

He blamed everyone as much as he blamed himself for hurting Yunyu, knowing how ignorant he was in the previous timeline.

'I basically treated my beloved wife as a trophy… after he won the inner battle against his imperial brothers to seize the throne, he married Yunyu immediately because he thought that Yunyu would be his biggest achievement.

He treated Yunyu as an achievement that he could get after he became the Emperor. So he thought, as long as he showered Yunyu with money and comfort, then Yunyu would be happy.

He then continued raking more and more achievement in his life, just like people who were rebirth to fix his life and get all he wanted. He did get everything he wanted.

But he became greedy and forgot about the sweet wife that was the source of his motivation in the beginning.

He was blinded by power that he became cold-hearted and banished his beloved wife to the cold Palace for two years. Bai Yunyu was starved for two years, barely taken care of, and was sickly.

He was so malnourished until there was nothing left but skin and bones. He knew that his mother was also the one to blame, but it wasn't only because of her. It was also his fault.

He stood in front of the Yunyu's room. The door was closed, but he could faintly hear the voice of the Imperial Physician ordering the maids to help Yunyu.

He took a deep breath, trying to find himself some courage because imagining his wife Yunyu lying weakly on the bed right now was too much for his heart.

The eunuch who had been following Huang Shu opened the door for him, and Huang Shu walked in.

The Imperial Physician and maids prostrated in front of Emperor Xianliang immediately, but the Emperor's eyes were only at his wife. He was lying on the bed with pale skin and a weak body, which made him remembered what happened to Yunyu back then, inside the glass case.

"H—How about my wife? Is he alright?" Huang Shu asked.

"Master Bai Yunyu's condition is still frail, but I've given him medicine to boost his strength. Don't worry, Your Majesty, Master Bai Yunyu will be alright after a long rest, but aside from that… this physician cannot treat Master Bai's fertility back. The effect of a high dose of Buyun poisoning is quick and permanent, Your Majesty."

Huang Shu knew it already, but whenever he was reminded of it, his heart crushed again.

"Leave now. I want to have my time with Master Bai Yunyu," Huang Shu said.

The Imperial Physician and the maids left silently and closed the door. Huang Shu sat at the edge of the bed, staring at Yunyu's face and caressing gently.

At least, Yunyu's body was still warm…

Huang Shu kept staring at his wife's face silently, and a tear dropped on Yunyu's cheek.

Huang Shu wiped the drop of tear on Yunyu's cheek with his sleeve, but after he wiped it, another one dropped on Yunyu's face. He tried wiping it, but the tears kept dropping, so Huang Shu just hid his face and cried in Yunyu's chest, soaking the inner robe.

"Wife… please wake up. I don't mind whether you're infertile or not. I will still love you, Yunyu…"

"Yunyu…"

"If you know everything, about how cruel I was to you, treating you like a trophy and tossing you to the cold Palace when I found you disturbing my perfect life—"

"—will you still love me?"

"I'm scared that you will leave me and hate me forever once you recover your memory, Yunyu."

"Please… please don't hate me. I'm begging you…"

That night, the mighty Emperor Xianliang cried in his wife's chest, kept calling his wife's name while begging for forgiveness.