The Ant Woman Ch. 13

He was sitting alone at his dining table, mindlessly putting piece after piece of food in his mouth, not even tasting it all. All he could taste well was the wine.

"I'm not a virtuous woman, Your Majesty. I've deceived you, and I know I deserve death. All I can do is ask that after my child is born, and I've been beheaded, that you please find a worthy consort to raise the little one. Separate all the well earned hatred of me from the innocent child."

The Emperor gulped down a very large amount of wine. It burned so much more than it normally would. A eunuch rushed to refill the cup.

"His Majesty might not wish to remember Bora, but this concubine does. She was vicious and foolish. She had a maid of mine falsely put to death. For this concubine, that was a crime worthy of the worst deaths. And so, with the help of my palace's madam, I used Your Majesty's might to have Bora killed. Pollen Lady Kumi willingly took poison. She was the one who sought out the poison's ingredients. With my permission, she bribed my Yuwei to lie to you and blame Bora."

The Emperor slurped down a rich broth. Some dribbled down his throat. He swiped it up with, of all things, his fine sleeve.

"Please don't blame Yuwei. She's so easily intimidated. In fact, it would've been dangerous for her not to obey Pollen Lady Kumi and I. She had little choice."

Holding his fist to his mouth, the Emperor endured a small hiccup.

"But now, I've discovered something else. Yuwei had been truly, honestly threatened this time. Pollen Lady Kumi instructed her to put a slow acting poison in my medicine so that I'd seem to be ill and then die. Later, I had Lien secretly watch Yuwei receive more of the poison from the Pollen Lady's maid. That confirmed Yuwei's claims."

Normally, the Emperor liked the taste of raw fish with sticky rice. As he scraped it into his mouth, he found that it was oddly dull on his tongue. His stomach was beginning to cramp, but he didn't care. He just needed to eat.

"And so, this concubine decided to respond to this betrayal with the greatest harm possible. This Bamboo Lady Wen, this woman Your Majesty trusted, she's truly quite evil, unworthy of Your Majesty's kindness."

He started coughing. It was a compulsion. It made his body shake.

A eunuch tried to help him, but he shot up from his seat and ran to the nearest potted plant. He vomited into the carefully held soil and roots.

***