Being a woman, she had always known that it would be impossible for her to be the one in power. So she schemed to be able to give birth to the child who inherited her will. Her voice was shrill, "Are you going to break your promise?"

"I have already taken the throne. Mother, I have finished taking your revenge. From now on, all of my action will no longer be driven by you."

"You."

"Move Empress Dowager Qi to the Cloud Palace and had her stay there." Lin Zi Xuan was looking at his mother, but his gaze was terrifyingly cold and indifferent. "She's not allowed to get out at all."

"Lin Zi Xuan!" Empress Dowager Qi shouted in anger.

However, Lin Zi Xuan didn't pay any attention to her anymore and walked out of the courtyard.

Empress Dowager Qi breathed heavily as she looked at her own son. She didn't really raise him for the past two decades ever since her husband decided to send him to the frontline. All she did was to wait here and fought that b*tch who took her position.

Now, her son had grown up.

She was the one who taught him that he had to be cruel, even to his own family if he wanted to survive in the Imperial Family.

Now, he even dared to go against her.

*prang*

Lin Zi Xuan took a deep breath and continued to walk away. He had thought things through. There was no way he could possibly kill his wife after spending so much time with her and knowing the real her.

And kill his own son?

He didn't want to.

Not like this.

So what if she came from the Lin Family?

He didn't care about it anymore.

Just as Lin Zi Xuan was making up his mind, he heard the ruckus from the guards. They were all shouting and saying that there was some kind of fire.

Fire?

Lin Zi Xuan looked into the distance and saw fire rising from the east area. His mind instantly thought about the Summer Palace and the fact that Feng Ning had come there not long ago.

There were still some people who disliked the fact that he had risen to the throne.

Would they attack Feng Ning instead?

Upon thinking about that, Lin Zi Xuan immediately ordered the soldiers to prepare the horse and all. He had to head over there as soon as possible.

...

It was chaos.

That was all Lin Zi Xuan could think when he saw the destruction on the palace. His heart tightened as he ordered the servants to begin searching for the Empress and the soldiers to deal with the remaining rebels.

"Find Empress Xing! No matter what you do, find her!"

The shout from the Emperor could be heard even from a distance away. The maidservants were all trying to locate the Empress.

They tried.

But not a single one of them found her.

Even after such a long time had passed, there was no sign of her at all.

Lin Zi Xuan felt his heart turned cold when he saw the despair on his servants' face. He knew very well that venting on them would not yield anything, but he was so angry that he didn't know what to do.

"She can't speak, so just find her anywhere..." Lin Zi Xuan felt that he was going crazy as he rummaged the entire area.

Seconds passed like months.

Minutes felt like years.

Hours felt like decades.

Time seemed to be moving so slowly as Lin Zi Xuan tried his best to locate his wife no matter what the cost was.

He wanted to find her.

Just where is she?

Bam!

Punching the wall beside him, Lin Zi Xuan knew that Feng Ning is not here. There was no corpse, no body, no trace of Feng Ning everywhere. It seemed as if she had vanished into thin air.

She's alive.

But where is she?

Lin Zi Xuan swept his gaze across the servants in front of him. His eyes landed on Xiao Yu, who always accompanied Feng Ning.

"You, when did the last time you see her?"

"Your Majesty, this servant...." Xiao Yu was so nervous that she stuttered as she spoke. She explained how Feng Ning asked for her writing tools but she couldn't find any of them and had to return to the main palace. It didn't even take that long, but when she had found it, she noticed that the Summer Palace was already in flame.

Half an incense stick of time.

Lin Zi Xuan felt so frustrated as he walked to the carriage that Xiao Yu used. He kicked the box containing Feng Ning's writing tools as several new sheets of paper fell to the ground. However, there was one scroll that had text written on it.

He frowned.

Picking it up, he immediately recognized his wife's writing.

...

"By the time you read this, I might have left far away. I'm sorry for my selfishness, but I can't stay anymore.

"In my past life, I'm a caged bird, protected by my families to the point I'm unable to fare in the real world. In this life, I'm a tied bird, who can only walk the path prepared for me by other people."

"That's why, this time, let me be free for some time before I enter the underworld and judged for every action I took."

Feng Ning

...

Tied bird...

Lin Zi Xuan knew very well that it was hard for Feng Ning to break out of this life as the Empress and all. She had to follow the protocol very strictly and didn't have a choice in many matters of her life.

From the very moment she was born, she could only become a political tool for marriage or to continue being the princess while her husband was married to her family.

What happened was the latter.

But because of his ambition and goal, she become the Empress.

And it was also the position that allowed her to show her real talent.

But...

Lin Zi Xuan realized that he had lost her.

From the moment he didn't give her any answer, Feng Ning had decided to leave.

He should have realized it.

That his wife is a decisive and ruthless person.

From the moment he refused to answer, she didn't give him any other chance and leave directly.

That is her answer.

Her answer for his silence.