“Thank you, my son!” Consort Mu struck her forehead heavily against the floor and only managed to straighten herself again after a long struggle.
“Mother Consort, allowing one’s elder to kowtow before oneself is a grave act of unfilial rebellion. How could Mother Consort bear to place such a crime upon your son?” As he spoke, the Third Prince reached out to help her up.
Consort Mu had only just begun to rise when she saw the maid lying not far away. It was unmistakably the same face that had frightened her unconscious moments earlier. Consort Mu immediately scrambled toward the corner in terror, while the Third Prince followed at an unhurried pace, his feet never once leaving her field of vision.
“You must be lying to me…” Consort Mu had clearly lost her senses. Retreating all the while, she muttered to herself, “I knew it. You would never let me die so easily… What a pity… The prince most favored by the Emperor is not even of imperial blood…”
After saying this, Consort Mu began laughing to herself, her expression vacant and deranged.
The Third Prince had no interest in her performance and even less patience to watch it. As though performing a magic trick, he produced a wrapped bundle from his robes and held it out to Consort Mu with a cold smile.
Consort Mu’s expression changed. “What is inside?”
“Poison…” The Third Prince’s lips curved upward as he slowly continued, “This is Tumor-Husk Flesh. It is exceedingly rare and requires an intricate refining process, so you must savor it carefully. When mixed with saliva, the flesh releases a distinctive scent. Not only is it delicious, but it will also bring you an unexpected reward.”
“What reward?” Consort Mu asked, her shoulders trembling.
“Is Mother Consort not terrified of snakes and insects? In a little while, they will follow the scent and crawl all over you. A kind of tiny insect will also begin breeding inside your body, providing food for the snakes and vermin. Then you will no longer be lonely.”
In that instant, Consort Mu’s eyes bulged wide, her pupils unfocused and her lips turning blue-purple. She resembled a living corpse.
“Do not bother trying to kill yourself. I have sealed every acupoint in your body. You cannot even close your eyes. There are still several hours until morning, enough time for you to experience it slowly. Mother Consort, is your son not filial?”
The Third Prince’s ghostly voice shattered Consort Mu completely. She shook her head and refused to take the Tumor-Husk Flesh from the bundle. Instead, she raised her hands and clawed desperately at her own eyes. Before long, blood and tears streamed down her face. She roared with her mouth stretched wide and rolled wildly across the floor.
“If you refuse to eat it, your daughter will eat it in your place,” the Third Prince said expressionlessly.
Consort Mu’s screams stopped abruptly. Like a mindless fool, she groped around for the bundle on the floor and soon felt the hard chunks of flesh within it. Resembling a starving beggar, she seized several pieces at once and stuffed them into her mouth.
By dawn, the first ray of sunlight entered Muyan Residence, and the bundle on the floor was completely empty. Consort Mu’s body had swollen and curled like a tightly wrapped rice dumpling. Insects had gnawed all four of her limbs until gleaming white bone lay exposed. Her face was riddled with holes, and vermin still crawled slowly across it. A servant at the doorway was about to enter and help Consort Mu wash and dress, but the moment he saw the figure on the floor, he vomited violently across the threshold. His eyes then rolled back, and he collapsed unconscious.
“May I… see my daughter one last time?” Insects had bitten through Consort Mu’s throat, leaving her able to produce only a hoarse rush of air.
The Third Prince sat leisurely upon a purple-bamboo chair nearby and mocked her. “Are you not afraid your daughter would be frightened to death by the sight of you? Besides, can you still see anything?”
“Just… just let her stand outside the door and say something to me. I beg you. I know I am asking too much…”
Before Consort Mu could finish, the Third Prince interrupted her coldly. “She cannot come.”
No expression could still be distinguished upon Consort Mu’s ruined face. Her entire body merely convulsed as her mangled lips fluttered helplessly.
Entirely unmoved, the Third Prince continued calmly, “You have already eaten her. Is it not better to have returned her to your belly? In your next life, the two of you may be mother and daughter again. I have fulfilled the only wish that remained unresolved in your heart.”
Consort Mu’s body stiffened upon the floor. At last, the longest night of her life came to an end.
The sky suddenly cleared, and dazzling sunlight poured into the fragrant, birdsong-filled Muyan Residence. The Third Prince remembered catching butterflies here as a child. Back then, Consort Mu had always smiled and called him Jue’er—his childhood name. He could no longer remember how many years had passed since anyone had last called him that.
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