Mai saw the frustration in Han Bings gaze when he pa.s.sed her the tight bundle of information that had been acquired. The birds could only send so much so he got people to send the messages to different people until they eventual reached him.Once Mai read through the reports she realized why Han Bing was so frustrated. The Emperor had completely changed his operations. It seemed as if running the country was no longer his top concern or even a concern at all.
"Why would he do this?" Mai asked the two men in front of her.
"No idea" Zheng Li said "from the information you can gather that he"s seems as if he is getting people back for something." Zheng Li slanted his head side ways deep in thought.
They went around in circles as they tried to peace the information together. Three family had been completely annihilated leaving no person left alive. Other family had been put under house arrest, with the rest of the aristocratic being held captive in the palace. Soldiers had orders to kill any who resisted including high officials.
The servants had started to clear the table from the dinner dishes. Zhi Ruo was being unusual as she kept stopping when she heard certain family names being mentioned. It didn"t matter if they were the families killed in cold blood or the ones in house arrest. Each seemed to affect her just as much as the last.
Zhi Ruo pulled up a chair with a sunken look as she continued to listen to the threes discussion over the events.
"the weirdest thing of all is that giant block, you know that block like landmark burnt down" Zheng Li said. "what does that have to do with anything going on?"
No one was watching but Zhi Ruos face turned a pale white as she sucked in a sharp breath.
Mai turned towards Zhi Ruo in concern and asked "is everything okay?"
Zhi Ruo stared blankly at the table, Her eyes had glossed over from recalling the past. Everyone sat at the table in silence waiting for Zhi Ruo to come back from her haunted past.
Mai was the first person to break the silence and ask Zhi Ruo "do you know anything about this?"
Zhi Ruo turned her head slowly toward Mai nodding her head.
"As you know" Zhi Rou said towards Han Bing "before I was in charge of looking over you. I was a maid for your mother. That much I have told you before." Zhi Ruo sucked in another deep breath before continuing "what I did not tell you was what happened before you were born."
Han Bings eyes shined with a light as he was finally going to figure out the circ.u.mstances of his past. Why he had to endure the Emperor all this time, why no one else would stop in anything that had happened when he was a child. He stared at Zhi Ruo intently willing her to continue on with the information.
"your mother, Han Aki, was a dutiful girl. If her father told her one thing than no matter what anyone else said she would believe him. He treasured her more than anything else in the world and wanted the best for her. Before to long she was in the esteem attention of two princes that were pursuing her. She was incredibly beautiful and had a air about her. She was kind, the kindest lady I have ever met. She never should have gone near the imperial palace." Zhi Rou said with deep hatred in her voice. " It started innocent enough, the two princes would attempt to impress her. But when neither did, there attention started to turn more sinister. They made her life as difficult as possible in the hope"s that she would chose one over the other. Of course they never let on that they were the ones ordering the difficulties. However, my lady was quick witted, she saw through there acts. Each time one would show up trying to be the knight in shining armor to save her.
Zhi Rou paused to catch her breath before continuing on "when this tactic didn"t work both of the princes were flabbergasted that anyone would actually turn them down. A third prince who had never attempted to get her attention slowly fell in love with her. He hated his brothers with a pa.s.sion and enjoyed the thought of them being rejected. That"s not all though, they slowly learned about each other, shared quick smiles when crossing paths in the palace. It got to the point that the prince would seek her out to spend time with her."
"Over a period of a year the third prince had taken over my young ladies heart. Her every thought was centered around the prince. This didn"t sit well with the other two princes who had been fighting over her originally. They always viewed there youngest sibling as useless, yet, he had acquired what both of them couldn"t. This infuriated then into a deep rage. If they couldn"t have her than no one else would dare touch her."
"The families that were annihilated were ones that had helped them with there cause." Zhi Rou sucked in another breath as she kept going with her story, eyes looking haunted. "The two princes captured you mother and held her prisoner inside a room. In that room they completely ruined her body, scaring it inside and out. They raped her continuously until she couldn"t cry out for help any longer. She had been stuck with them for a week before anyone else had discovered her whereabouts."
"The third prince rescued her from the room and brought her back to his own so no other misfortune would befall her. The doctor who was looking over her was was thorough in his care. He told the third prince when he found out that your mother was pregnant. The third prince knew that one of his brothers had to be the father and demanded that the doctor get rid of it. But you mother refused, said she would kill herself if something happened to the baby. The third prince was furious but could do nothing since he did love her. Before long the information reached the other 2 princes who demanded that she be returned to who ever her child belonged to. The third prince in all his anger killed the other 2 princes in cold blood" Zhi Rou paused to catch her breath.
"Now you may be wonder what does this have to do with this that block being on fire. However that is actually where your mother wanted to be, she could no longer trust any around her and her mind had long been broken from the other 2 princes. The third prince shared such a close resemblance to them that she couldn"t stand the sight of him any longer. He tried his best to help her, but she only got worse as time went on."
"Eventually it got to the point that she would scream if anyone got close to her. This ruined the prince, she was his first love who had gotten raped which he had looked past even the child he could stand but the idea that she couldn"t stand to see his face sent him mad. You of course are her child and technically a imperial prince" Zhi Ruo said while looking deeply at Han Bing "the only prince."