淫欲的代价

Wei Yun\'er sighed bitterly. It was truly her misfortune of eight lifetimes to encounter a man like Xian Taiwen. What had she really benefitted from him? Help in taking down the Wei family? The fool couldn\'t even properly take care of them and the vicious wolves were probably out there somewhere enjoying freedom they didn\'t deserve!

She would have done a better job finishing them off! But no, she decided to trust this incompetent clown before her and because of what? He claimed to love her. What a scummy bastard!

When Xian Taiwen noticed the looks Wei Yun\'er was giving him, he paused. She still dared to look down on him even now! He slowly breathed in to compose himself and then glared at her. "Give me the antidote and I will spare you."

Wei Yun\'er kept silent. She had no idea what he was going on about anyways and she was too tired to pay him any attention. She would admit that seeing him once again had brought her hope that he might have returned to his senses but now she was sure that Xian Taiwen had truly changed. She had to get out of here at all cost!

"Still not saying anything?" Xian Taiwen scoffed, did she think that keeping silent would save her? He looked to the guards and ordered her to be taken to the dungeon. They must torture the whereabouts of the antidote out of her by all means!

Wei Yun\'er struggled but it was no use. Even when she shouted that she had no idea what Xian Taiwen was talking about in the first place, he refused to listen.

Hours turned into days and days turned into weeks but Xian Taiwen didn\'t get any antidote. Wei Yun\'er was tortured within an inch of her life but still claimed to be innocent. He began to doubt himself. Could he be wrong? Did she truly have no hand in his predicament?

Then if not, who was it? The faces of the women in his harem flashed across his mind one after the other. It must be one of them! His enemies must have planted a spy in his harem and she must have been the one to make him impotent.

Xian Taiwen\'s paranoia increased to the point of madness and he started throwing the consorts into the cold palace one after the other. Soon, that wasn\'t enough as he started throwing them into the dungeons to be tortured in search of the antidote.

These women were actually daughters of noble families and soon enough word got to them. They were livid. How could the emperor do this? There wasn\'t even evidence to prove that his impotence was their daughters\' fault and yet he tortured them beyond belief!

Petitions after petitions started arriving at the imperial palace. They were requests by the nobles to have their innocent daughters released. But Xian Taiwen only laughed in their faces and cursed at them.

This was his family matter, how dare they try to interfere? The petitions only increased and even the court ministers started pressuring him too. After all, some of the ladies in the dungeon were their daughters.

Xian Taiwen scoffed. Did they think they could force him to give in? He stopped attending court all together. Soon enough, rumours began to spread amongst the common people that the emperor had gone mad.

When Xian Taiwen heard of this, he mobilized his soldiers against the common people and nobles alike. At this point no one dared to speak openly and everyone lived in fear. One wrong word and you were slashed to pieces by the emperor\'s soldiers.

Xian Taiwen\'s infamy as a tyrant spread and he was cursed behind closed doors but he paid no mind and continued his search for the antidote. No need to worry, he thought, everything would be solved once he presented an heir to these shallow minded people!

The ministers gave up on Xian Taiwen and began exchanging correspondence with the third prince secretly. The third prince, of course, remained aloof. Telling them he had no interest in the throne but the ministers pleaded even harder.

This was a matter that concerned the nation in general. Their loyalty was to the nation and not a particular ruler, they needed to save the nation before Xian Taiwen buried generations worth of history in the ground. The hard work of their ancestors must not go to waste!

Their persistence increased when they found out that the third prince was cured of his ailment and had even given birth to a son with his princess consort. He had kept the news secret for the safety of his child. This was wonderful!

Finally, the third prince \'reluctantly\' agreed. The ministers were beyond elated and started planning out a coup with the third prince. Each person brought out their forces and supported the third prince with every resource they had. This wasn\'t the time to hold back selfishly!

Who was Xian Taiwen? He soon caught wind of their actions and blocked the entrance to the imperial capital with rows of soldiers. He was going to see how that brother of his was going to wrest the throne from his grasps.

His only regret was not finishing him off when he had the chance. That Xian Yuwen really hid too deeply! Well it wasn\'t too late, Xian Taiwen thought as he mobilized teams of secret guards to get Xian Yuwen\'s head and that of his child.

He Yuan was still a nameless observer in all these. Things had escalated quicker than he thought. Although Xian Taiwen had the bearings of an emperor, he wasn\'t fit to be an emperor.

He had spent most of his life at the frontlines, fighting wars and protecting the nation. Where could he have had the time to understand politics? Even if he had read books and what not, experiencing it personally was a different thing.

Xian Taiwen might have the strength, but how could he compare to his siblings who had grown up in the imperial capital, eating politics for breakfast? When pressured, Xian Taiwen tended to use force as was the way of the army but he forgot that ruling a nation was different from commanding his soldiers.

The only reason he got the throne was that unlike, his siblings, he was the general of an army and Wei Yun\'er had won him the heart of the common people but now that Wei Yun\'er had been branded as an evil spirit and his bloody methods had given him the reputation of a tyrant, how could he redeem himself?

At this point, even if Xian Taiwen produced an heir, he still wouldn\'t be able to keep the throne. He\'d already lost the trust and faith of the people.

He Yuan didn\'t really do much. If Wei Yun\'er and Xian Taiwen were half as clearheaded as they liked to portray themselves, then his plans wouldn\'t have succeeded. In the end, their obsession for their goals had pushed them over the edge.