Ch.108Qara-Ordo (1)

Kuchlug searched diligently for the crown prince using his soldiers but ultimately failed to find him.

However, he managed to capture a eunuch who had served the crown prince.

Kuchlug then tortured him to discover where the crown prince had disappeared to.

While Kuchlug was struggling to locate the crown prince’s whereabouts, Yelu Pusuwan was attempting to contact Xiao Apgang for her own plans.

“That hideous adjutant is watching… but I have a way.”

Despite the presence of Kuchlug’s adjutant, who was essentially her monitor, Yelu Pusuwan was not one to be intimidated.

Having been born and raised in the imperial palace, she had secret communication networks that Kuchlug couldn’t control.

These were the palace maids.

Among them, she could contact Xiao Apgang through the maid who had cared for her since childhood and served as her nanny.

“You’ve been coming and going quite frequently lately.”

Kuchlug’s adjutant glared at the elderly maid with suspicious eyes.

But she stood her ground and answered confidently.

“The Empress has fallen ill with grief after losing her brother, the late Emperor. To cure this illness, she needs good food, medicine, and care. If I don’t come here daily, the Empress might make unfortunate choices. Are you suggesting that the well-being of the Empress, who is the Emperor’s companion and the palace’s mistress, is not important?”

Faced with such eloquence, the adjutant could only blink.

This was because Kuchlug had threatened him with severe punishment if anything happened to the Empress.

As it was an order from none other than Kuchlug, the Emperor of Western Liao, the adjutant had no choice but to comply.

“Ahem… I understand. You may enter.”

The elderly nanny bowed and stepped into the room.

As she entered, the Empress approached her and spoke.

“Did you handle the matter well?”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

Saying this, she handed the Empress a paper hidden in her sleeve.

The Empress unfolded it and read through its contents.

“Hmm…”

The Empress wore a subtle expression.

Concerned, the nanny asked her a question.

“Is something wrong…?”

“He’s not moving as I want him to.”

The Empress clicked her tongue as she said this.

This was because Xiao Apgang had expressed his unwillingness to accept the Empress’s proposal.

The main reason was that with the Emperor eliminated, he no longer had a reason for revenge.

Another reason was that after being betrayed by Kuchlug, whom he had briefly trusted, he didn’t want to be manipulated by anyone else.

For these two reasons, Xiao Apgang conveyed his unwillingness to move according to the Empress’s wishes.

“This is not good.”

“I will go see him again.”

“No. If the nanny goes back and forth too often, the Emperor will eventually notice.”

The Empress knew that Kuchlug was a man of great ambition.

She knew better than anyone that such a person would not be negligent in monitoring her.

“Then…”

“Are there any young maids left in the palace?”

At this question, the nanny fell into thought.

Recently, when tracking the Emperor, Xiao Apgang’s soldiers had purged many of the young maids in the palace.

As a result, there weren’t suitable candidates.

“There are no young maids that I know of. However…”

“However?”

“I have a daughter.”

The Empress’s eyes widened at this.

Indeed, the nanny’s daughter was one of the few court ladies who could move between the palace and the outside.

Because of this, she had survived the recent coup.

“She’s about the same age as Your Majesty, so it will be easy to disguise.”

The Empress smiled at the nanny’s words.

As someone who was essentially a mother figure who had raised her, the nanny understood the Empress’s inner thoughts better than anyone.

* * *

“Halt!”

The soldiers controlling the palace stopped the women.

A woman with a headscarf and an elderly woman stopped at the soldiers’ command.

“Who are you? Who are you to be wandering around the palace at this hour?”

The nanny stepped forward.

She bowed and then showed a small box.

“I am an old woman who serves the Empress. The Empress said she was hungry at night…”

“Strange.”

The soldier threatened the old woman with an intimidating atmosphere.

Then he turned his head to look at the woman wearing the headscarf.

“And who is this woman?”

“She is my daughter. I found it difficult to care for the Empress, who is suffering from a mental illness, alone, so I brought her.”

“I need to see her face.”

When the soldier tried to see her face, the old woman became angry.

“My daughter is still unmarried. It is unacceptable for such a girl to show her face to a strange man.”

Such customs did not exist in Western Liao.

However, the soldier who had detained the old woman was one of Kuchlug’s soldiers, originally from the Naiman tribe, so he had no way of knowing whether the old woman’s words were true or false.

“Are you refusing inspection?”

“As I said before, we serve the Empress. If you harm us and cause the Empress to receive her food late, the responsibility will fall not on me, but on you.”

When the old woman shifted the responsibility, the Naiman soldiers couldn’t help but hesitate.

Since she claimed to directly serve none other than the Empress, they worried about incurring the Empress’s displeasure and being reprimanded.

“…Alright. We won’t examine the woman’s face. Instead, we’ll escort you to the palace kitchen. The palace is still in turmoil.”

The old woman nodded at the Naiman soldier’s words.

Guided by the soldiers, they arrived at the palace kitchen, and the soldiers dispelled their suspicions.

This was because, as the old woman had said, many maids were already busy preparing food for the Empress in the kitchen.

“…We don’t need to be here.”

The soldiers said this and moved away from the kitchen.

Seeing this, the old woman went outside to confirm that they had completely disappeared.

“Your Majesty. The soldiers have left.”

“That’s a relief.”

When the woman in the headscarf removed it, the maids who had been pretending to cook all tried to bow.

The Empress gestured for them not to observe formalities.

“Continue to pretend to cook. And if anything happens, inform the nanny.”

“We obey your command.”

After entrusting the surveillance to the maids, the Empress moved to the back of the kitchen.

A man was standing there.

“You’re late, Your Majesty.”

“The Emperor’s surveillance was quite intense, so I was delayed.”

The Empress answered with a coquettish smile.

The man nodded and then went straight to the point.

“The reason I came here is to reject the proposal you sent.”

The man, or rather Xiao Apgang, answered before the Empress could speak.

The Empress nodded, saying she had expected this.

“I knew you would reject the proposal.”

“…”

“But the reason I came to meet you in person is to persuade General Xiao Apgang directly.”

As the Empress said this, she slightly loosened her attire.

Xiao Apgang looked at the Empress with eyes that questioned what she was doing.

“Are you thinking of rejecting me?”

“…”

“If you embrace me, the weakness the Emperor holds over you will disappear.”

“…How did you know?”

“The late Emperor was my brother. And I saw what my brother did right beside him, so I couldn’t help but know.”

As the Empress said this, she continued to loosen her clothes.

In the moonlight, her body began to stand out more.

“Don’t you want revenge?”

“Revenge is over.”

“Then what about power?”

“…”

“If you had power that wouldn’t be swayed by someone like Kuchlug, you wouldn’t have suffered such humiliation.”

“I know why Your Majesty is making this proposal to me.”

Xiao Apgang took a deep breath.

Then, looking at the half-naked Empress, he spoke boldly.

“I also know that you see an opportunity in the fact that the crown prince has not yet been secured.”

“You’re correct. I will become regent as the crown prince’s aunt after securing him.”

The Empress answered proudly.

Ambition dwelled in her eyes.

“And when the time comes, I will end the regency.”

The Empress slowly moved forward.

She approached until her breath touched Xiao Apgang’s skin.

“I will make our child the Emperor of Western Liao.”

“…”

Xiao Apgang couldn’t say anything.

This was because, as she said, if he embraced her now, the weakness Kuchlug held over him would disappear.

And his family would belong to the Western Liao imperial family, enjoying glory for generations.

This meant he would no longer be manipulated by anyone.

The Empress had no reason to betray Xiao Apgang like Kuchlug did.

After all, a child born from their union would undeniably be the child of the Empress and Xiao Apgang.

There could be no more certain token of promise than this.

Xiao Apgang steeled his resolve.

And he slowly backed the Empress against the wall.

Realizing that Xiao Apgang had succumbed to her persuasion, the Empress smiled slyly.

A man and woman against the wall.

And between them, bestial breathing began to escape.

The sounds were quite intense, but they were drowned out by the noise coming from the kitchen.

* * *

The young child put on Mongolian attire placed before him.

And he took a deep breath to compose himself.

“I am no longer a crown prince. I am Yelu Chucai, a subject of the Mongols.”

Yelu Zhilugu, or rather Yelu Chucai, was willing to do anything for revenge for his father.

Even if it meant cooperating with the Mongols who were trying to bring down Western Liao.

If someone else had seen Yelu Chucai burning with revenge, they might not have understood.

This was because he could have simply reclaimed Western Liao with Mongolian help and then established a lord-vassal relationship with the Mongols.

This would have allowed him to continue the lineage of the Liao imperial family.

But there was a reason why he, who had been the crown prince, had to commit an act close to treason for revenge.

It was because of his aunt’s betrayal.

None other than Yelu Pusuwan, the Emperor’s sister, had joined hands with Kuchlug to plot a rebellion.

Yelu Pusuwan had immense influence in the court.

Because many officials followed her, even if Yelu Chucai returned as crown prince, he would inevitably become her puppet.

For this reason, Yelu Chucai had no choice but to decide to become a subject of the Mongols and bring down the Liao dynasty.

“If only I had more power…”

Blood began to flow from Yelu Chucai’s tightly clenched fist.

He resented his own inability that forced him to make such a decision.

“I will ensure this never happens again.”

Yelu Chucai said this to compose himself.

Then he turned his head to look at the books placed before him.

Being still young, Yelu Chucai couldn’t train in martial arts.

For this reason, Temujin had given him books to build his strategic thinking.

“Though I cannot kill them with my own hands, I will serve my lord and ensure the deaths of Yelu Pusuwan, Kuchlug, and Xiao Apgang who killed my father. And I will repay my lord’s kindness.”

A wolf had already begun to take residence in his eyes.