No one born in the imperial palace is truly innocent. Case in point: right now, I’m hanging in a cage, iron chains piercing straight through my bones.
And the real kicker? The person putting me through this hell isn’t some stranger—it’s my brother. My one and only, flesh-and-blood brother in this whole messed-up world.
Honestly, I have no idea how to describe what I’m feeling right now. Pain? Nah—been there, done that. I’m way past pain. I’m just numb.
Maybe I’ve been numb since I was a kid. Yeah, probably started way back then.
As far as I can remember, my father—the emperor—never liked me. Actually, he never liked any of his kids. I honestly don’t know if he cares about anyone at all.
Bottom line: he never once looked at me or my brother like we mattered.
My imperial consort mother was always sickly, and after I was born, she got even weaker. But did the emperor care? Not a chance. Aside from sending the royal doctors over on schedule, it was like he couldn’t even be bothered to show up. Honestly, judging by how my mother looked, she didn’t mind one bit. I know for a fact she never liked the emperor.
There weren’t many consorts in the palace, and the emperor wasn’t in any rush. Even though the ministers kept nagging him to marry more women and crank out more heirs...
But the emperor always said, ‘Two sons are plenty for me.’
Back then, I thought that meant he actually liked me and my brother. I mean, why else wouldn’t he want more kids?
But because my imperial consort mother's health was so poor, the empress asked the emperor to give her my brother, saying she was worried my mother couldn’t handle raising both of us.
The emperor hesitated for a moment, then nodded. I asked my brother, “Do you want to go?”
He asked, “Why are you asking me that?”
I said, “If you don’t want to go, we can talk to the emperor—we’ll stay with imperial consort mother.”
But he said, “I want to go. I don’t want to stay here with imperial consort mother.”
I was stunned. Why? Why?
Because imperial consort mother isn’t as powerful as her. Because there’s no future staying with imperial consort mother.
That was the first time I saw him look so twisted, like staying with imperial consort mother was some huge shame.
I didn’t understand why he thought that. Was it just because she was the empress?
In the end, he left with her, and I became even lonelier.