Chapter 492 – Once More, I Meet You By the Pool (2/2)

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In the eyes of outsiders, and even the official records of the court, this place was an abandoned palace. Only the eunuchs and maids at the Divine Empress's side knew that the Empress would occasionally visit this palace to sit or stroll, but nobody understood why. After a certain summer day last year, the Empress began to visit this palace even more, but the people allowed to remain in the palace with her grew less and less.

Today, this palace contained only herself.

The Divine Empress stood by the water outside the palace, her eyes gazing at the small pool before her and remaining there for a very long time.

From dawn to dusk and then into the night, she reigned over this vast country. She was nominally the master of the entire human world. Every day, she had to handle countless matters of the Imperial Court. Her time was incomparably precious, yet she had spent an entire day staring at this small pool.

At the very beginning, it was because her mind was a little restless after speaking with that old man. To her, this was an extremely rare occurrence, so she wished to stand by this water where no one was and calm herself.

Then it was because she recalled what had occurred several times when she was standing by this pool: meeting with that youth.

Later on, it was because she realized that youth had really come.

At that moment, she had raised her head and glanced at those many stars which had just appeared in the night sky. Her lips perked with a sense of derision, thinking, this thing called fate really is interesting.

She had once changed her own fate. She was the person in the world who would most fearlessly confront fate head-on, so she did not leave, instead waiting for the arrival of fate.

In the darkness, the dark green waters of the pool suddenly began to move. The middle part of the pool bubbled most fiercely as if it was boiling.

She quietly watched that place, allowing the night wind to brush against her.

In Taizong's era, she was already acclaimed throughout the world as one of the great beauties. Not even Zhou Yuren had been able to steal away her splendor.

As she became Empress Consort, she became the supreme beauty of the world in the eyes of many.

When she began to read through the memorials in Emperor Xian's place, manage the affairs of state, and was conferred the title of Divine Empress, no one dared to describe her with the word 'beauty' any longer.

Authority would forever be above beauty.

But this did not change the fact that she truly was very beautiful.

The passage of time had left no marks upon her face. Her so-called serenity, composure, and maturity were merely a matter of temperament. There was nothing that could be fussed over with regards to her appearance. She was extremely beautiful, but perhaps because she had reigned over this world for too long, there was a faintly discernible tinge of divine prestige about her appearance, as well as an extremely faint strand of fiendish intent.

As the night wind brushed across her face, that beauty and majesty was all washed away, leaving behind a very ordinary appearance. That fiendish intent was still there, but it had been pushed deep into the space between her eyebrows.

The bubbling and sloshing of water from the pool did not cease, nor did the night wind. The wind circled around her body, and the sacred gown signifying her status and identity transformed into an ordinary cloth dress.

With a gentle gust of wind, she became an ordinary woman. Only that ebony hairpin remained stuck into her hair.

With a spray of bubbles, Chen Changsheng emerged from the water.

He swam over to the side of the pool and climbed out. He walked into a thicket and prepared to change out of his soaking clothes for his spare set of clean clothes, but then abruptly realized that something wasn't quite right.

He turned to look across at the other side of the pool and saw her.