Long Live the Emperor, Minus Me (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 1

  1. Home
  2. Long Live the Emperor, Minus Me (Completed Main Story)
  3. Chapter 1
Next

Chapter 1.

My consciousness returned just before dawn. The moonlight streaming through the papered window was so bright that I thought today would truly be a good day to die.

*

Once my mind was made up, there was no point in dragging things out. I whipped my unsteady body into motion and rose from my seat. My body, weakened from fasting, was utterly useless—but since I was about to depart soon, I felt no distress.

“I had wanted to finish tidying everything before I left….”

The room was filled with precious jewels, gold, silver, treasures, and fine silks and satins. Even after days of sorting through them since being ordered to stay confined, I still hadn’t finished organizing all the gifts bestowed by His Majesty.

Because I had started by sorting the older items, most of what remained were gifts received after my fall from favor—but a few from the days when I was still cherished remained as well. In the end, these would be things my daughter would have to sort through.

Among them, I picked up the letter that had arrived just yesterday afternoon. The paper felt like silk so fine it would be an honor merely to wear it as clothing, and when I untied the ribbon, golden letters cast from molten gold appeared. At such absurd extravagance, I could only laugh.

“This is the sort of thing one should use only to commend great service….”

At first glance, it was as splendid and beautiful as the letters I’d received upon returning victorious from battle—indistinguishable in grandeur. But having received far too many such letters since my disgrace, I already knew what lay within: reproach, fury, and rebuke.

“The favor of Heaven is far too heavy a burden for any mortal to bear, Your Majesty.”

His Majesty’s favor had always been like this—fierce, twisted, and poured upon me in ways I could never comprehend. Half my life had been spent enduring that strange affection.

Sometimes it had been exhausting, sometimes reassuring, and sometimes something I had to tread carefully around. And sometimes…

…it had simply been good.

But now, I was merely weary.

“What could possibly have displeased you so?”

No matter how much I reflected, I couldn’t fathom what I’d done so terribly wrong.

Was it truly so offensive to urge a swift decision on naming the Crown Prince, to prevent conflict among the heirs? Enough to provoke such outrage even after casting me aside?

“Was that truly a crime worthy of death, Your Supreme Majesty?”

Again and again… I had pondered while sorting through all the exquisite gifts His Majesty had bestowed upon me—gifts that would soon become my final possessions.

Had my wording been poor? Had the timing been ill-chosen? Or perhaps I should have simply closed my eyes and held my tongue, living quietly as I was?

Yes. Maybe that would have been enough—pretending not to see, pretending not to hear. Had I cared only for my own safety, I might still be basking in the authority that once made even birds fall from the sky.

But what good would that do me now? I’d been stripped of my post and confined to my home, while a storm of bloodshed raged through the court.

Ten years had passed since the Crown Prince’s demise. The issue of succession, which had gradually grown in scale, finally surfaced last year.

Those who had previously fought only beneath the surface now openly accused and slandered rival factions, straining every nerve to pull me—a neutral party—into their schemes.

And His Majesty, who had tolerated this political strife for ten long years, suddenly began a purge.

My nephew, who had urged our clan to unite behind the Third Prince—the eldest among the surviving imperial sons—as the rightful heir, was stripped of his rank.

A close friend who sent a letter arguing that the Fourth Prince, whose maternal family hailed from a noble house, should ascend the throne to ensure the empire’s stability, was thrown into prison.

Even as everyone around me was swept away, I stubbornly persisted in advising once more: the instability stemmed solely from the lack of a designated heir, and His Majesty must appoint one without delay.

─And this was the result. I was dismissed from office and ordered into confinement. Though called “confinement,” it was little different from exile.

Yet even so, I wasn’t worried for myself—because His Majesty kept sending me letters. Letters written on silk finer than what one would use for garments, inscribed with golden script.

I was certain His Majesty’s anger would eventually subside. Perhaps some resentment would linger, and I might receive a slightly lower title than before—but I believed I could return. If a lowered rank felt shameful, so be it; I’d already been dismissed. I could live like a frog at the bottom of a well in my own domain, for at least there, I’d reign like a king.

…What worried me was my daughter. My only child, barely past twenty, whom I’d had late in life. My heir. My sole remaining family.

Given the bloodbath currently engulfing the court, my confinement—tantamount to exile—was almost a blessing. Everyone even slightly suspected of involvement in the succession dispute was being swept away, and already half my clan had been dismissed or punished.

In this climate, it was only a matter of time before my daughter, newly appointed to office, became entangled.

I couldn’t tell her to resign and return home—if I did, it might appear as though I harbored rebellious intent.

But I couldn’t leave her in the capital either. If I did, it was only a matter of time before His Majesty’s wrath reached her. She was currently at home under the pretext of caring for my illness, but if this dragged on, even that excuse might lose its credibility.

Thus, I had only one choice left: to die in my daughter’s stead.

As long as I lived, even if His Majesty forgave me, his favor would return only to me. But if I died… then perhaps His Majesty would extend that forgiveness to my daughter instead.

So, after my confinement was ordered, I carefully calculated the optimal moment to die. Too soon wouldn’t do—if I died while His Majesty’s anger still raged, I’d pass on his fury rather than his favor.

Too late wouldn’t work either—if I died after his anger had already subsided, he wouldn’t feel pity for my daughter in my place.

This was the result of that meticulous calculation. For these past few days, I’d even stopped eating to prepare. All that remained was to end it swiftly.

“The final touch….”

My gaze settled on the letter still clutched in my hand. Yes, this would be perfect to mark my end. The memories from the time I received it were too precious to use something from my better days as my farewell.

I bowed deeply before this final imperial decree.

“May Your Majesty reign eternally in peace and prosperity for ten thousand years.”

I only pray that in Your Majesty’s reign, there shall never again be a servant like me.

Let all affection, hatred, and anger be borne by me alone as I depart to the netherworld. Thus, never again—neither in life nor in death—may even the hem of your sleeve brush against mine.

This alone do I earnestly wish.

*

Trending

“…He sighed as he met his death at the age of sixty-five. After Lee Baekryeon’s passing, the Zhen Empire began its march toward ruin.”

I read the final line as if engraving it into my mind, then closed the book.

What I’d been reading was “The Biography of Lee Baekryeon”—a character chronicle from the Zhen Empire, which had fallen fifteen hundred years ago.

And my previous life.

“That ain’t how it really went down…”

Though “Lee Baekryeon” was my former self, my true death differed somewhat from what was recorded there.

The chronicles described me as having succumbed to illness in bed, but in truth, I took my own life.

It wasn’t surprising the record hadn’t been preserved accurately. It wasn’t as if I’d done anything wrong—and when the empire’s second-most-powerful man, who once wielded absolute authority, was cast aside merely for urging proper succession and then committed suicide, it was something best kept quiet.

What did intrigue me, however, was how many people truly knew the real reason for my death.

My daughter must have known—she handled my remains. And since she wouldn’t have done it alone, perhaps two or three servants knew as well.

“But what about you?”

How had His Majesty felt? That was harder to be certain of.

Under normal circumstances, he surely would have known. After all, he attended my funeral and saw my body with his own eyes. But what about then? At that time, when his unretracted favor, inexplicable anger, and unreasonable reproaches were all tangled together—

Would you have come to see me then, or would you have turned away until the very moment I was buried in the earth?

“…Ah, who knows.”

I shook my head to dispel the thought. After all, it didn’t matter now who knew of my death.

Enough time had passed for both those who knew and those who didn’t to return equally to dust. Enough time for an entire nation to fall and fifteen centuries to flow by.

Now, at last, it truly didn’t matter. Even though neither of my most fervent wishes—His Majesty’s eternal reign nor the empire’s permanence—had come to pass,

I only hoped that, unlike me, His Majesty’s final days had been peaceful—free of regret and remorse.

Having confirmed what I came to verify and offered belated blessings for his soul, I started to rise from my seat—only to encounter a rather significant problem.

“I guess I’ll just have to wait until someone comes….”

My feet didn’t reach the floor. When I’d first arrived at the library, my nurse had fetched books for me and helped me into my seat, so I’d only just realized this fact.

Indeed. The man recorded as an undefeated general, a loyal minister of unparalleled virtue, and a statesman of the age—“Lee Baekryeon”—now existed as a three-year-old child, unable even to climb down from a chair by himself.

Most Commented This Week
Next

YOUR COMMENT

1. Please write comments in English.
2. Inline comments are now available. Tap the end of any line in a chapter to share your thoughts instantly.