"Your Majesty..." she called weakly, her eyes full of reluctance.

"Xiaoyue, how are you?" Ying Yuan asked anxiously.

"I'm fine..." Xiaoyue endured the pain and said, "Your Majesty, please be careful..."

After saying that, she fainted.

"Xiao Yue!" Ying Yuan was heartbroken and howled to the sky.

He hugged Xiaoyue, his eyes full of anger and hatred.

"I must kill you!" he said gritting his teeth.

The man in black sneered: "Just you?"

He swung the blade again and attacked Ying Yuan.

Ying Yuan roared and swung his sword to meet the enemy.

This time, his swordsmanship was more fierce and every move was deadly.

The man in black was gradually defeated and was forced to retreat by Ying Yuan.

Finally, Ying Yuan pierced the black-clad man's heart with a sword.

The man in black fell to the ground, his eyes wide open.

Ying Yuan retracted his sword, walked to Xiaoyue and picked her up.

"Xiaoyue, I will definitely avenge you!" he said softly.

He held Xiaoyue in his arms and left the Imperial Garden.

……

Xiaoyue was sent back to the palace, and the imperial doctors took turns to treat her, but they were all helpless.

Xiaoyue was too deeply poisoned and there was no way to save her.

Ying Yuan stayed by Xiaoyue's bedside, never leaving.

He looked at Xiaoyue's pale face, his heart filled with regret.

If he had discovered the man in black earlier, Xiaoyue would not have been injured.

If he had better martial arts skills, he would be able to protect Xiaoyue.

However, it's too late to say anything now.

Xiaoyue is already dying and may leave him at any time.

Ying Yuan held Xiaoyue's hand tightly, his eyes filled with tears.

"Xiaoyue, you must hold on. I can't live without you..." he said with a sob.

Xiaoyue slowly opened her eyes and looked at Ying Yuan, her eyes full of tenderness.

"Your Majesty..." she called weakly.

"Xiaoyue, I'm here." Ying Yuan said hurriedly.

"Your Majesty, I am... so tired..." Xiaoyue said intermittently, "I want to... sleep..."

"Okay, go to sleep, I'll stay with you." Ying Yuan said gently.

Xiaoyue closed her eyes and her breathing gradually became weaker.

Ying Yuan held her hand tightly, feeling her life gradually fading away. He knew that Xiaoyue was about to leave him.

His heart seemed to be hollowed out.

He couldn't hold back any longer and burst into tears.

……

Xiaoyue is dead.

Ying Yuan was heartbroken and ordered the whole country to observe three days of mourning for Xiaoyue.

He posthumously named Xiaoyue the queen and gave her the posthumous title of "Xiaoci".

He buried Xiaoyue in the imperial mausoleum, together with him.

He would go to Xiaoyue's tomb every day to pay his respects and express his longing for her.

He swore to avenge Xiaoyue and cut the murderer into pieces!

...

The night was deep, the lights in the bedroom were flickering, and the air was filled with the smell of herbs mixed with blood. Ying Yuan sat by the bed, staring at Xiaoyue's gradually cold face. His eyes were empty, but they revealed a chilling coldness. The imperial doctors gathered together, trembling, their faces pale, and they dared not breathe.

"Waste! What's the point of me keeping you!" Ying Yuan suddenly slammed the table, the sound was like thunder, making people's eardrums hurt.

Upon hearing this, all the imperial doctors knelt down and kowtowed. The leading imperial doctor trembled like a sieve, "Your Majesty, please forgive me! Your Majesty, please forgive me! We have tried our best, but the poison is deep in my bones and there is no medicine to cure it!"

Ying Yuan sneered and slowly walked to the side of the imperial physician. He looked down at this group of incompetent people, his lips slightly raised, but his smile was icy and frightening, "Try your best? Is this what you call your best? My queen's life is higher than the sky, how can it be compared to the life of a fool like you? If you say another word of nonsense, I will bury your entire family with you!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the imperial doctors felt as if they had seen hell. They all prostrated themselves on the ground and shouted "I deserve to die" repeatedly, with blood stains on their foreheads.

At this moment, someone suddenly sneered, his tone was sharp and piercing: "Why is there any need to be sad? Your Majesty, you have only lost a concubine, why should the whole world be turned upside down?"

The hall was suddenly silent. Everyone looked up and saw a man in a pale golden robe standing outside the door. He had a cold look in his eyes and a slightly raised chin, looking down at Ying Yuan. This man was the prime minister of the dynasty. He and Ying Yuan had a good relationship on the surface, but in fact, there were undercurrents.

Ying Yuan's eyes suddenly turned cold, and he said grimly: "Prime Minister, you have a refined taste. This is my bedroom, not a place for you to wander around."

The Prime Minister's eyes flashed with contempt, and he bowed calmly: "Your Majesty, this attitude seems a bit too much. You are the emperor, and the whole world is subject to you. How can you lose your temper because of a mere woman? If you want revenge, do you have to spend more elite troops to search for assassins all over the country? Forgive me for being frank, but assassins are mostly tricks used by powerful officials to fight for power, but Your Majesty, shouldn't you think about it a little more?"

Ying Yuan's sneer deepened when he heard this. He glanced at the trembling imperial doctors on the ground, then at the arrogant prime minister, and finally his eyes froze and he slowly took out a black jade pendant from his arms.

"Prime Minister, since you dare to question me, are you familiar with this object?" He raised the jade pendant, his tone lazy and seemingly nonchalant.

When the prime minister saw the jade pendant, his face instantly turned pale. This was clearly something he wore close to his body, but he didn't know when it fell into Ying Yuan's hands.

"Your Majesty, what do you mean by this?" The Prime Minister's voice trembled slightly and he tried to remain calm.

"Intention? Of course, it is to appreciate the exquisite patterns on this object." Ying Yuan raised his eyebrows in a playful manner, but his tone was full of bloodthirsty murderous intent. "But it appeared on the assassin and was found together with Xiaoyue... Prime Minister, please explain why it slipped from your house into the hands of the thief?"

The prime minister was completely speechless, with cold sweat on his forehead. He threw back his sleeves and argued coldly, "Your Majesty, please understand! I have no idea about this, and I have never planned to harm Miss Xiaoyue! This jade pendant may have been stolen by a villain, who intends to frame me!"

"Really?" Ying Yuan smiled, his tone light, but as cold as ice. "It doesn't matter, I will definitely give you justice after my army conducts an investigation."

He paused for a moment, his eyes suddenly grim, "But before that, I don't mind asking your family to pay some interest for this 'fairness' first."

"You dare!" The prime minister's face changed drastically, he could no longer control his emotions, and roared like thunder.

However, the next moment, a powerful palm wind swept, and Ying Yuan kicked the struggling prime minister to the ground. He looked down at him from a high position, and his tone was as cold as frost: "I am here, what can I not dare to do?"

No one dared to make a sound; only the candlelight in the bedroom was still flickering grimly, casting Ying Yuan's eyes, as cold as a sharp blade, onto the Prime Minister's face.

In this chaotic night, the outcome has quietly tilted towards Ying Yuan. However, the beauty of victory is never smooth sailing, it always has the cold temperature of blood, and now, this is just the beginning.

Just when the atmosphere in the palace was as stagnant as dead water, there was suddenly a sound of hurried footsteps from outside the palace. In the flickering candlelight, several eunuchs knelt at the door in panic, shouting with a deathly pale face: "Your Majesty! There is a change in the Prime Minister's Mansion..." (End of this chapter)