Chapter 029: Why Won't You Let Me Go

But at that moment, a voice came from behind him.

"Congratulations, Second Brother, you have won."

In an instant, Li Shimin's heart turned cold. He knew this voice all too well, having heard it since childhood—it was his elder brother, the Crown Prince's voice.

Yet not long ago, he had personally shot and killed the Crown Prince.

Li Shimin whirled around and saw a man standing behind him, an arrow lodged in his forehead, covered in blood, staring at him with a cold smile.

"You have won, Second Brother. From today onward, you are the Emperor of the Great Tang."

Li Shimin stumbled back several steps, staring at the man in disbelief.

"What's wrong? Why so unhappy, Second Brother?" The Crown Prince strode forward and placed a hand on Li Shimin's shoulder. "You have won, after all—killed your own elder brother, killed your own younger brother, killed the brothers you grew up with, and become the Emperor of the Great Tang."

"Why aren't you laughing? Weren't you laughing joyfully just now?"

"You are the Emperor, the supreme sovereign, the lord of all under heaven. Why aren't you laughing, Second Brother?"

Faced with the Crown Prince's relentless accusations, Li Shimin's heart grew colder, his muscles stiffened, and his blood seemed to stop flowing.

At that moment, Li Shimin felt as if he had fallen into an icy abyss. He instinctively looked around and found that the soldiers who had once fought alongside him stood motionless like statues in a temple.

No one stepped forward to save him; everyone just watched him.

At that moment, he felt the gazes of these counselors and generals become piercing, no longer shining as before, but instead accusing him.

"You, the murderer of your brother and sibling, how are you fit to be the Emperor of the Great Tang?"

The Crown Prince continued to sneer, his blood-soaked appearance growing more grotesque and terrifying.

"Second Brother, Second Brother, you are the Emperor of the Great Tang. Why don't you laugh? You should laugh, laugh more heartily than anyone else."

The next second, Li Shimin's vision blurred, and he found himself in the Golden Throne Hall.

He was dressed in a dragon robe; below stood the civil and military officials, including his confidants, his counselors, his younger brother the Prince of Qi, his elder brother the Crown Prince, and his father the Emperor.

All bowed in unison, "Long live the Emperor, ten thousand years, ten thousand years."

Li Shimin immediately jumped up from the dragon throne and said to his father, "Father, this... this is..."

His father said expressionlessly, "What's wrong? Why don't you sit? Aren't you the Emperor of the Great Tang who killed his brother and sibling and forced his father to abdicate?"

The civil and military officials nodded in unison and then said, "We humbly invite the Prince of Qin, who killed his brother and sibling and forced his father to abdicate, to ascend the throne and inherit the great legacy."

Each utterance of "killed his brother and sibling, forced his father to abdicate" was like a knife, easily piercing Li Shimin's chest.

It nearly suffocated Li Shimin.

Especially the eyes of the civil and military officials, which were even sharper.

"Enough! All of you, enough!" Li Shimin suddenly roared. "Do you think I wanted to do this? Do you think I have it easy? Do you think I am made of stone? Why don't you think about me? I had no choice! If I hadn't done this, the one dead today wouldn't be the Crown Prince—it would be me!"

"I was just protecting myself! I am also filled with guilt!"

The Crown Prince sneered, "Since you feel guilty, why don't you go die!"

Li Shimin felt as if struck by lightning.

"Die?" He stared at the Crown Prince in disbelief.

The Crown Prince's gaze was eerie, and he said coldly, "That's right. Since you feel so guilty, you might as well die. If you die, we can still be good brothers. Think of our past—brotherly respect and love, fatherly kindness and filial piety. What a wonderful family we were, Second Brother."

Hearing this, Li Shimin couldn't help but remember.

When he was young, his father doted on him, and the Crown Prince also liked him very much. Whenever there was something good, they always let him and the Prince of Qi have it. At such times, his father would laugh heartily, and his mother would smile gently from the side.

That was indeed one of the most beautiful memories of his life.

"Yes, if only I could go back to those days, how wonderful that would be," Li Shimin murmured.

The Crown Prince's tone grew softer, "That's right, Second Brother. As long as you commit suicide, we can return to those days, to that innocent youth, to that beautiful time."

Li Shimin felt something was off, but he couldn't help nodding, "Yes, I really liked myself back then."

A cold smile curled at the corner of the Crown Prince's mouth. He flicked his hand, and a dagger embedded itself in the ground.

"Second Brother, do you want to go back? Let us return to the past."

As if bewitched, Li Shimin looked at the dagger and walked over involuntarily. He pulled it out; the blade glinted coldly, highlighting its sharpness.

"Remember this dagger? It was a gift I gave you, Second Brother."

"Yes, I remember," Li Shimin said. "It was when I was ten years old, a gift from you, Elder Brother."

"Only by committing suicide with this dagger can you return to the past, Second Brother."

Li Shimin nodded involuntarily, "Yes, as long as I kill myself with this dagger, I can go back to the past... Did you think I would do that?"

The Crown Prince's expression froze.

Li Shimin's dull gaze sharpened, staring fixedly at the Crown Prince, gripping the dagger tightly. "You are already dead, my good elder brother. Why won't you let me go?"

The Crown Prince's stiff expression turned cold, and a mocking smile curled at his lips. "Why won't I let you go? Don't you have any idea in your heart, my good Second Brother?"

Li Shimin remained silent.

The Crown Prince said coldly, "I never thought of killing you, my good Second Brother. Even when we were locked in a life-and-death struggle, I never thought of killing you, because you are my brother. But you—you killed me without hesitation, killed your elder brother, even killed your younger brother, and took your wife's sister. Are you even human, my good Second Brother?!"

Since the pretense was shattered, Li Shimin stopped pretending. "Yes, I admit you never thought of killing me. But do you think I didn't know what you planned to do to me?"

"You wouldn't kill me, but you would strip me of everything—my military power, my status. Everything I had would be taken away by you. And then, under your arrangement, I would obediently stay in my mansion, living out my life in misery. Do you think that's what I wanted?"

The Crown Prince shouted coldly, "At least I spared your life!"

Li Shimin roared back without fear, "Then you might as well have killed me! At least that would have been an end to it, a clean death!"

The Crown Prince stepped forward, a sword appearing in his hand. "Then I'll kill you right now!"

With that, he swung the sword at Li Shimin's head.