Ning An Palace was blanketed by a suffocating silence.
The thick stink of rust filled the air as Imperial Physicians streamed in and out through the curtains, occasionally murmuring quietly to each other. In their wake stepped servant women entering with golden basins of clear water and leaving with basins of blood.
The Tian Sheng Emperor's face was indiscernible as he waited in the Outer Palace, not able to read a single word of the book in his hand.
Madam Feng was beyond man's arts. She had held nothing back when she had smashed her head, and all of the Imperial Physicians had agreed that it was a miracle she was still breathing, but somehow, the next breath was never her last.
