TFWYH – Chapter 210 Innocent Children

Three years later, even though Su Qing had borne no children, she was promoted from a low-ranking noble lady to the position of consort.

That only made the Empress hate her more. Time and again, the Empress schemed against her — but Consort Li had learned from her losses and became increasingly wary, evading trap after trap.

In the fourth year, after long months of careful treatment, Consort Li finally conceived the emperor’s child.

She went to great lengths to protect that child.

Her battles with the Empress could fill a seventy-episode palace drama — one scheme after another, endlessly unfolding.

For a while, everything was under control. The Empress plotted, but Consort Li wasn’t one to be bullied.

The Empress had her noble lineage; Consort Li had the emperor’s favor and the Su family’s vast wealth behind her — their struggle was perfectly balanced.

Ten months later, Consort Li successfully gave birth to twins — a boy and a girl.

The emperor, overjoyed to have children in his old age, and twins at that — a dragon and phoenix pair — was ecstatic. He immediately ordered the Imperial Household Department to draft a decree promoting Consort Li to Noble Consort Li.

But that decree never came.

Because the Crown Prince interfered.

The Crown Prince’s birth mother was the late Empress, and he had been raised under the current Empress’s care.

He felt little affection for her and, at first, had no desire to meddle in her feud with Consort Li.

However, the Su family’s immense wealth tempted him. He had repeatedly hinted for Su Yuan to take his side, but Su Yuan refused.

Shamed and furious, the Crown Prince joined forces with the Empress — and together, they directed their malice at Consort Li.

Dealing with the Empress alone was already difficult for Consort Li.

With the Crown Prince in the mix… it became deadly.

Unlike the Empress, who schemed in shadows, the Crown Prince struck to kill.

He bribed a maid in Consort Li’s service and, in the emperor’s name, summoned her to meet him at the Zhengyun Tower.

Consort Li suspected nothing.

That tower was the tallest pavilion in the palace — a place where the emperor had often invited her before.

But this time, when she arrived, the emperor wasn’t there.

Instead, Zhengyun Tower caught fire.

Completely unprepared, Consort Li and her two newborns were trapped in the inferno.

In the end, only the desperate efforts of a few loyal servants and eunuchs saved her life — but her dearest attendants perished in the flames.

And with them, her newborn twins.

By the time Su Qing finished recounting her ordeal, her face was streaked with tears, and her eyes burned with a madness born of bottomless hatred.

“His Majesty pitied me and did not wish for me to suffer more, so he allowed me to leave the palace under the pretense that I was gravely ill and needed rest. But how could I be content? My poor children — they were so small, and yet they were murdered by that wretch and her son! Ever since I returned home, every night when I close my eyes, I see them — covered in blood, reaching out their little hands, crying that it hurts…”

Her voice broke.

She bit her lip until it bled, her fists clenched so tightly that her nails pierced her palms, and drops of blood slid down her fingers.

Her children were gone — and she was still alive.

Every moment of every day was torment.

But she dared not die. She could not die.

She was their mother — and this ocean of blood-debt must be repaid.

Tang Wan’s brows furrowed, her heart heavy.

Those innocent babies, burned alive so young — it was too cruel.

She asked, “Did His Majesty not punish the Empress and the Crown Prince?”

At that, Consort Li’s eyes darkened further, her whole body trembling.

Madam Su patted her hand and sighed, taking over gently: “His Majesty is getting old — his will is there, but his strength is not. And the Crown Prince is cunning. He erased all traces of his involvement, leaving no evidence for His Majesty to act upon.”

Tang Wan frowned. “He plotted against you — so plot back! Why bother with evidence?”

Su Qing blinked — and then suddenly laughed, her gloom breaking with fierce delight. This goddaughter was indeed the right choice — she suited her perfectly.

“Wan-niang is right! That’s exactly why I must return! Brother, please, send word to His Majesty for me!”