Voyage With The Pirate King

The day her son's concubine killed herself she said, "Good riddance." She was genuinely happy not even concerned about what happened to the little prince. She heard rumours about him but pushed it at the back of her mind. It's not like she cared anyway.

But a few years ago when she heard her son making a deal with that beast on supplying latrion she was very unhappy. She told him that this was directly inviting a snake into his home but her son was stubbornly claiming this would help strengthen their defences. What strengthen their defences? If anything her son was showing the enemy his weaknesses.

A couple of years down the line she had finally met the offspring of her most hated grandchild. Who would have thought one of them was a miniature version of her. She knew this little girl was a monster just like the rest of them but her heart couldn't help but soften when she saw her. She looked just like herself at that age.

Rui Li could read her emotions like an open book but she felt nothing. Drawing out her sabre twice her size she sneered with hatred in her eyes. She stabbed her sabre into the floor and sat on the table while Rui Yewan approached this pair of mother and son.

Rui Yewan had a sinister dark fog engulfing his hand as he stood there towering over them. His expression was as dark as the bottom of wok as he said, "What's the matter? Can't curse anymore? What was it that you said about my great grandmother?.... Was it that her soul would be scattered with no chance to reincarnate or is it that you cursed her to die a horrible death with nothing left to bury? I don't exactly remember."

"It was both," answered Rui Li with her fingers rubbing the hilt of her sabre subconsciously. "Funny, right? Do you know the type of hell your son put us through?.... Do you think she knows?" continued Rui Li with the last question directed at Rui Yewan.

Rui Yewan folded his arms across his chest and said, "Yes, she probably heard of it but didn't care." He crouched down in front of the pair of mother and son staring at them as though looking at a dead man.

With his arms hugging his knees he slightly tilted his head like a fiend in a horror movie and said, "You probably knew didn't you?" in a sluggish eerie voice that had the two covered in a layer of goosebumps.

"She knew what the little beast was up to but she probably doesn't know the feeling of despair and hopelessness that each of us felt. While she was busy pampering her favourite grandchildren we were stuck in that filthy place because of a mess created by both of them."

"If you hated him so much you should have just killed him from the start then the rest of us wouldn't have to suffer," said Rui Li getting emotional. She had her little hand over her forehead with her eyes red from the tears threatening to flow out.

"No, they can't relate but you see...," he said turning to face Rui Li, "we can make them relate. They can get a front-row seat to the show and get to experience what we suffered since birth," he said as a malicious light flashed in his eyes.

The pair that had been silent all this time suddenly spoke and as expected they were still so disrespectful. Actually, the emperor kept his mouth shut. It was his mother who was playing the elder card when she had no right to do so.

It was as though her heart softening a few minutes ago never happened. Her heart was covered in a thick layer of frost as she said, "This had nothing to do with the both of us. What he decided to do with his children had zero correlation to us so why not go and find him instead of disrespecting your elders?!"

Just as she finished speaking her vision suddenly blurred and the dark fog covered her eyes making her experience what they experienced in that dungeon. In her eyes, she was the little girl trapped in that cold dreadful place with no way out.

In these few minutes, she got to experience Rui Li's entire life feeling all her pain and anguish as though re-living Rui Li's past. There was a look of despair on her face but no one pitied her. No one came to her aid. She was as hopeless as Rui Li in that prison with no hope in sight.

She wasn't alone in her despair though. Her son was also experiencing the same thing only that the pain wasn't as severe as what she was feeling.

The two siblings watched them with indifferent eyes as they sat together on top of the table. Rui Yewan draped his arm across her shoulders and said, "How many times should I make them go through this?"

Rui Li raised her head with a miserable smile on her face before saying, "As many times as it takes for them to feel like ending their lives. If it takes all night then let them re-live our torment till then." She was serious about this. Whether they choose to live or die is in their hands.

After they went through it ten times Rui Yewan withdrew his seraphic energy as he crouched before them once more. The two people were drenched in sweat like they were running a high fever. Using the hilt of Rui Li's sabre he poked the old lady first as he said, "Wake up.... this is only the beginning of your nightmare. Do you hear me?"

The empress dowager struggled to open her eyes with her head slanted to the side. She was trembling in shock, fear and anxiety from the most horrific experience in her life. She was almost afraid to open her eyes fearing that this wasn't a dream but reality.

If she opened her eyes and finds out she is that little girl trapped in a hopeless situation she might lose her mind.. Her fate was now heavily reliant on what she could see once the haze in her eyes cleared away and the person in front of her was no longer a blurry figure.