Chapter 1959

The imperial edict was proclaimed to the world, the Emperor's word was final, and there was no room for turning back!

It was she who had personally severed the last glimmer of possibility!

Before her eyes, the image of Gao Yang bowing to her to thank her for her grace seemed to float, as well as the back of him leading his horse away alone.

He called himself a commoner, drawing a clear line!

He was already resolute, and she had not hesitated to make enemies of tens of thousands of commoners and scholars, ordering the Imperial Guards to suppress them, and publicly issuing an imperial edict!

"It was me, it was me who didn't trust him..."

"If he really wanted to force me, why resign? With his capabilities, he would have a hundred ways; why wait until today? Why... use this method? Zhang Ping and Zhang Shou could fool me once, they could fool me a hundred times!"

"It was me who was wrong, Gao Yang was right..."

Wu Zhao raised her eyes, thinking of the break in the Imperial Study.

In the past, there was the "why don't they eat minced meat" incident; as an emperor, living in the palace, what one sees and hears, even if it is the major affairs of the world, all depends on the reports of court ministers and local officials.

Emperors are inherently easy to be deceived!

Human hearts are complex; for the sake of self-preservation, power, and money, what wouldn't people do?

How low-level were the methods of Zhang Ping and Zhang Shou this time? It was purely an accusation born of fear, but what about next time?

If they carefully set up a trap and produced seemingly "ironclad evidence," would she believe it?

Not believe it once.

But what about twice?

Three times?

This instant.

Wu Zhao questioned her own heart, feeling a stinging pain.

"Would I... really always trust him? This accusation was so far-fetched, yet I..."

Thinking of this, Wu Zhao clenched her fists tightly.

Her nails dug into her palms, causing a sharp pain, but Wu Zhao seemed not to feel it at all.

At this moment, she finally understood the despair and clarity behind Gao Yang's "total negation."

This was not an insult, but a statement of a cold fact—ever since she borrowed the power of the Xiongnu, the foundation of trust between them had already vanished.

"Heh... hehe..."

"So... the one who was wrong was never him, it was me... it was me who personally destroyed all of this!"

Wu Zhao gave a desolate laugh, tears sliding down silently, dripping onto the naive picture drafts on the desk, quickly blurring into a patch of water stains.

She tremblingly reached out her fingers, gently stroking the moist ink, as if wanting to grasp something, but only grasping a patch of cold nothingness.

She did not blame Gao Yang's resolution, and even less could she continue to hate him.

All resentment, unwillingness, and anger vanished before this cruel truth, leaving only boundless heartache and regret, like a cold tide drowning her.

"No light in his eyes, how disappointed must he have been?"

Xiao Yuan's previous words now became the sharpest knife, fiercely stabbing into Wu Zhao's heart and twisting it hard.

"Your Majesty, why don't I find a way for you to have a long talk with Chancellor Gao through the night? Once the misunderstanding is cleared up, Chancellor Gao will definitely come back."

"Chancellor Gao has you in his heart!"

Xiao Yuan could not bear it, feeling a pang of heartache.

In her memory, except for the last break in the Imperial Study, Wu Zhao had never been so fragile, so heart-wrenching.

"I am an emperor, an imperial edict is not child's play, the monarch does not joke; now, even if I have ten thousand regrets, I can only swallow them alone."

"Even if this is very painful!"

"Furthermore," Wu Zhao raised her head, light flickering in her eyes, looking directly at Xiao Yuan; it was a bloody clarity after the pain.

She said in an extremely calm tone, "Before this, I was always absolutely certain that I would never burn bridges after crossing them; no matter how much merit Gao Yang achieved, I would always give him the greatest trust."

"But now... I am no longer sure."

She stared at Xiao Yuan, slowly standing up again, a smile appearing on her noble face, a smile that was extremely brilliant, and she said to Xiao Yuan.

"Xiao Yuan, you are right."

"Although I don't want to admit it, I have to admit that I... really have fallen for Gao Yang."

"But precisely because I like him, and precisely because I have seen the abyss hidden behind this 'liking'—an abyss that even I cannot control—I cannot let him come back!"

Xiao Yuan was shocked, but also puzzled, "Your Majesty, why?"

"Why?"

Wu Zhao gave a desolate laugh, intense pain flashing in her eyes, and she said word for word, "Because the heart of an emperor is the most changeable! And also the most... dangerous!"

"Today, in my rage and suspicion, I could grow suspicious of him because of a few nursery-rhyme-like storybooks and the accusations of two idiots in their fear..."

"In the future, if Gao Yang's power grows even greater, if his merit overshadows the master, if there are even more ingenious framings in the court, creating even more 'conclusive' ironclad evidence, then, can I still trust him deeply as I once firmly believed?"

Her gaze penetrated Xiao Yuan, as if questioning the depths of her own soul.

She shook her head and said with unprecedented clarity: "I am no longer sure!"

"One suspicion can be blamed on being deceived by treacherous villains, but what about twice? Three times? The longer one sits on this dragon throne, the less truth one hears, and the more blurred the 'truth' one can believe becomes; human hearts are treacherous, and for the sake of party strife, for the sake of toppling him, those people will stop at nothing; one day, I... might really become the kind of monarch he feared and predicted, the kind who 'kills the hunting dog once the rabbit is caught'!"

She looked at Xiao Yuan, who was full of heartache, and said with a smile: "Since he has already left the whirlpool, how can I drag him back into the abyss?"

"If you like someone, you can't just watch them walk toward their death, right?"

Wu Zhao slowly raised her hand, wiping the tears from her face with extremely slow movements, and as she did so, she seemed to wipe away the last trace of gentleness as an emperor.

Then.

She forcibly straightened her back, the broken smile on her face completely fading, leaving only the majesty of an emperor and boundless coldness, her phoenix eyes turning into a heaven-shaking fury, and she said coldly, "Summon Zhang Ping and Zhang Shou!"