The conversation from another time played on in Emperor Xing Wu's ears as he sobbed. If he knew that their last parting was til death, he would have never let Luo Zhi Jin out of the palace.

Luo Zhi Jin was known as Greater Zhou's most beautiful woman and was promised to Marquis Zhen Guo(1)'s young son in marriage. Because of this, no one from the Empress Dowager to his beloved ministers agreed to Emperor Xing Wu's idea to enthrone Luo Zhi Jin as Empress. At the same time, Marquis Zhen Guo has acted as regent for many years and dominated the entire court, and he the emperor, had only received the throne from the hands of his elder brother. Marquis Zhen Guo who had just discarded one emperor wouldn't mind discarding another. Besides, he was the emperor of an entire nation, the reputation of being someone who robbed others of their wives was not something Emperor Xing Wu could take at the time. After giving consideration to this, and giving consideration to that, all he got in the end was the news that Luo Zhi Jin had fallen ill and died.

Emperor Xing Wu had questioned Luo Wei's heredity, but the Luo family had deliberately misreported Luo Wei's birth month for a whole three months. Along with the fact that Luo Wei had always been chubby, no one could see any resemblance to Luo Zhi Jin. And in terms of Luo Wei's name, the "Wei" in his name was not the same as the one that Emperor Xing Wu had suggested, so the emperor wrote off the fact that they sounded the same as a coincidence.

After Luo Zhi Jin died, Emperor Xing Wu enthroned Luo Zhi Yi as his empress, and a year later executed Marquis Zhen Guo's entire family, thus creating a Greater Zhou Empire that was entirely his. The only thing was that he never fell in love with another woman.

"You actually gave birth to me son," Emperor Xing Wu said to the person in the painting, "You actually gave up your life instead of burdening me! Zhi Jin, Zhi Jin... you're such a fool. You only had to wait for me for another year, you only had to wait for me for one more year and I could have had this entire world in my hands! Zhi Jin, you're so cruel, leaving me alone in this world, leaving me by myself."

Some truths only invite sadness. This truth that had not been revealed to Luo Wei in the past life was now breaking Emperor Xing Wu's heart once more. While he was with this young lady of the Luo family, she never said "love" to him, and neither did she appear to like him especially. So all this time, he always thought that the love she gave him was so much less than the love he gave her, but he couldn't imagine that thirteen years ago, she used the most destructive way to tell him that yes, she loved him.

Starting at the portrait before his eyes, Emperor Xing Wu thought that he was the lonely. He's the emperor, he owned the wide world, but in reality he was the only one who understood that all he owned was this painted portrait.

"Your Imperial Majesty," A voice announced from the outer room, "The Crowned Prince and the Second Prince beg for your audience."

Emperor Xing Wu strode to the throne in the front hall, looking at the two sons in front of him, "What is it?"

After Long Yu and Long Xuan knelt their salutes, Long Yu said, "Father, your humble son has come to say goodbye, as I will depart from the capital tomorrow."

"Safe journey," Emperor Xing Wu's tone remained cold as he spoke, "This is a training opportunity for you. The power in this throne will eventually come to rely on you to upkeep, so you should see for yourself how the people of Greater Zhou live their lives."

"Your humble son shall carefully obey father's teachings," Long Yu said as he knelt once more.

"You may rise," Emperor Xing Wu said, "In later days when you're sitting on my throne, no matter how badly you may want to experience the lives of the people, you will not be able to get a chance."

"Father, you will live for a hundred years yet," Long Yu added quickly.

"Your father is also just a man," Emperor Xing Wu's face bore a little smile, "There'll always be a day when I won't be here."

Long Yu and Long Xuan both rushed to kneel on the ground. They dare not accept this sort of talk.

"Rise," The smile on Emperor Xing Wu's face disappeared in an instant. He looked at Long Yu. Long Yu's appearance was also more like his empress mother Luo Zhi Yi, but he held no shadow of Luo Zhi Jin. They were clearly borne of the same mother, but Zhi Yi and Zhi Jin didn't look at all alike. This was also something Emperor Xing Wu deemed regrettable.

Long Xuan stood behind Long Yu, with a different sort of feeling. They were clearly both sons of the emperor, but he couldn't even stand shoulder to shoulder with his older brother. One of them could only be trapped in this palatial city, and the other could travel and see the world. How could Long Xuan be satisfied with this?

FOOTNOTES:

1. Marquis Zhen Guo - His name literally means the Marquis who Holds down the Country, as in holding down the fort. Not sure if this is meant to be named this way, but the title of "Zhen Guo" seems to actually have existed in history.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTES:

I found a mistake in my translations, though it only happened in two chapters (and I've since changed them). For some reason I always read the Empress' name as Luo Ru Yi, but I should have known that it was Zhi Yi because the middle character of three siblings in the same generation tend to be the same. Luo Zhi Qiu is Luo Wei's father, Zhi Jin is his mother, and Zhi Yi is his aunt.