The Ten Attendants' Rebellion (3)
Having secured the Emperor's person, Dong Zhuo marched into the imperial palace of Luoyang at the head of an army of staggering size.
The palace still reeked of blood, as if to testify to the chaos that had erupted only days before, and at the sight of it Dong Zhuo's face twisted in open disgust.
"How is a filth pit like this fit for His Majesty to dwell in? Clear away the corpses and make the palace spotless, now!"
"Yes, sir!"
Dong Zhuo's steps toward power were quickening by the hour.
Under the pretext of attending the Emperor, Dong Zhuo sealed him inside a dazzlingly ornate chamber and set a relentless watch over him.
A handful of courageous officials took issue with this, but most were flogged within an inch of their lives for their trouble, and a few had their heads lopped off outright and strung up in the streets.
Through such outrageous behavior, everyone in Luoyang came to see exactly what ambitions Dong Zhuo harbored. Yet knowing those ambitions as they did, not a soul stepped forward to stop him.
Dong Zhuo's army boasted an overwhelming scale, and everyone in the capital did nothing but watch him for signs of his next move—some bowing low and biding their time, others having submitted purely to snatch whatever crumbs fell from his table.
Perhaps he was still feeling out the mood around him, because for now Dong Zhuo did nothing beyond keeping the Emperor locked away.
But everyone knew what was coming. Sooner or later, a man with absolute power in his grip would begin to run rampant in every way imaginable.
Dong Zhuo summoned every official in Luoyang to the palace. Anyone holding a post, without exception, was called in—and naturally, that included me. By the time I arrived, a considerable crowd had already settled into place, and since more than a few had brought whole retinues of bodyguards, as if to flaunt their strength before the rival factions, the hall felt positively crowded.
The moment I stepped inside with Seo Yeo and Lü Bu in tow, every gaze in the room swung toward us.
"Is that... Lü Bu?"
"The Peerless Under Heaven..."
Most of those eyes were fixed on Lü Bu.
"You've gotten seriously famous," I murmured to her.
"Hmph. Well, obviously."
Snorting with confidence, Lü Bu stood tall and proud, not the least bit cowed by the swarm of eyes upon her.
……
But why has that person been staring at me alone this whole time?
A silver-haired girl with a beauty that stood out even in this crowd was boring into me with an intense glare. Even when our eyes met, she kept staring without a flicker of embarrassment, and I found it more than a little unnerving.
Forcing myself to ignore the girl drilling holes in my face, I found a place to stand.
Plenty more people streamed into the palace after I did, but if I had to name the most memorable among them, it was the golden-haired woman who appeared last. Her hair braided back down her spine, she carried a noble grace in her every step. Though today was the first time I had ever laid eyes on her, somehow I felt I already knew her name.
"It seems everyone has arrived."
Just as every gaze in the room had settled on the golden-haired woman, a haughty, imperious voice rolled out from deep within the hall. Only then did the girl's stare, which had been needling me all this while, finally lift.
Dong Zhuo, a mountain of a man, advanced slowly into the chamber, trailing a larger retinue than anyone else present.
For a moment I caught myself wondering whether even Dong Zhuo might be a woman, but no—he was a man.
His gaze swung toward a single spot.
"That bitch Yuan Shao is late yet again. Keep this up and you may well end up dead by my hand."
……
"Well, how unlike you—no words today. Has fear finally taken root?"
Even under Dong Zhuo's open contempt, Yuan Shao kept her eyes closed and her head bowed in silence.
After mocking her for a while longer, Dong Zhuo's expression hardened, and he spoke with a chill.
"From this day on, do not even meet my eyes. Insolent bitch."
Yuan Shao, who had lately crossed swords with Dong Zhuo over every little thing, could not defy him now. At the sight of that hierarchy of force being settled before their eyes, several faces drained into shock. If even Yuan Shao had been cowed by his might, then it truly seemed no one remained in Luoyang who could stand against Dong Zhuo.
Tearing his gaze from Yuan Shao, Dong Zhuo let out a menacing laugh, as though relishing the reactions still to come.
"The reason I have gathered you all here today is nothing so complicated."
I had a fair guess as to what he meant to say, so I simply listened in silence. With this one declaration, Dong Zhuo would cross a line from which there was no return—and make himself a truly colossal enemy.
"I have pondered it long and hard, and it seems to me that the realm is in such turmoil for one reason above all: an incompetent Emperor."
At his words, the eyes of the few pro-Imperial officials who remained went wide with disbelief.
Delighting in their reaction, Dong Zhuo snickered and pressed on.
"So I am considering deposing this incompetent, weak-willed Emperor and raising the brilliant Prince of Chenliu as the new sovereign. What say you all to that?"
The air in the room froze solid at his proposal to replace the Emperor.
Within that frozen silence, I closed my eyes and sank into thought. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, this is where Ding Yuan rises in opposition and comes to blows with Dong Zhuo.
Then what was I to do? Act just as the history demanded? Or hold my tongue?
While I was still wrestling with the question, Dong Zhuo came striding toward me.
"And what do you think?"
…?
Why is he addressing me of all people?
When my face clouded with confusion, Dong Zhuo sneered.
"What an idiot. You still haven't grasped the situation?"
……
He was trying to cow me exactly as he had Yuan Shao, and I gave him nothing in reply.
True, I had brought soldiers of my own, but they were nothing beside the enormous host Dong Zhuo commanded—and I'd heard he had recently absorbed the General-in-Chief's troops as well, so his numbers had only swollen further.
"Don't try to weasel your way past. Answer me, and quickly."
In other words, Dong Zhuo was testing me, here and now. Would I join his side—or stand against him?
Having sorted out my thoughts, I opened my mouth.
"Before that, I have one question."
"Hm? Very well. I'm in a good mood today, so I shall indulge you."
Meaning he'd have brushed me off if he weren't?
Working under this man would be utterly exhausting.
"Recently, soldiers from Xiliang have been extorting the common people. I wonder—are you aware of this?"
I had witnessed it with my own eyes several times, in fact. They strutted about as if the city belonged to them, visiting every manner of abuse upon the people of Luoyang, and it left a sour taste in my mouth.
Dong Zhuo laughed at my question.
"These are my soldiers, who raced here from distant lands for His Majesty's sake. Surely we can turn a blind eye to that much?"
……
"When rewards are owed, they must be paid in full."
He was certainly the type to be beloved by his own soldiers and officers. In his mind, apparently, once you were on his side, you could do whatever you pleased to the common folk—and that was precisely why I despised him all the more.
"...Then what, may I ask, is to become of the people suffering for it?"
"...Hahahaha!"
He had gone silent at my question—and then, quite suddenly, he began to laugh. A laugh that sounded jolly and was anything but; at the sound of it, the air around us froze over all the more.
"I see. Now I have some notion what manner of man you are."
……
"Just like all the other gnats who buzz at me about 'the people' every chance they get."
Dong Zhuo leaned his bulk toward me and fixed me with a venomous look.
"Men like that make me sick to my stomach."
……
"Now. I will ask you one final time."
He had evidently abandoned any pretense of subtlety, throwing the question out bare.
"Will you submit to me? Or will you die?"
……
When I made no reply, Dong Zhuo sneered as though he had expected exactly that, and turned his back.
"Then, if there are no objections to the deposition of the Emperor—"
"You said men like me make you sick to your stomach, did you not?"
"Hm?"
Dong Zhuo turned a puzzled gaze on me.
"I feel the same."
……
Sensing that something grave was about to leave my mouth, his expression hardened. I hardened mine in turn and met his eyes square on.
"Looking at a beast stuffed to the brim with greed like you, I find I cannot stop the nausea."
A complete declaration of enmity. Heaven knows I wanted to fling a whole bowlful of curses at him, but given the setting, I restrained myself as far as I could.
"Raising the brilliant Prince of Chenliu as the new Emperor—for the sake of the nation? Save your nonsense. You dress it up as patriotism, but no one in this room is a fool. We all know you chase nothing but your own gain."
"You insolent whelp—!!"
Shing!
Even with my insults held as far in check as I could manage, I had still managed to enrage him. Dong Zhuo, fury shooting to the crown of his head, ripped his sword from its sheath—and at the motion, the attendants trailing behind him drew their weapons as well, their hostility aimed squarely at me.
"Well, well. You lot had best think very carefully about what you're doing."
As Lü Bu stepped forward from behind me, Dong Zhuo's crowd—only now registering her presence—flinched as one.
"The moment any of you swings whatever you're holding, every last one of you dies right here."
……
Seo Yeo, too, had rested her hand on her scabbard since moments before, her eyes fixed on Dong Zhuo.
"Damn it! This has done nothing but sour my mood!"
The standoff lasted only a short while. At length, Dong Zhuo snarled and slammed his sword down onto the floor.
At the sight of him apparently backing down, I twisted the knife.
"Wow. So you can restrain yourself after all. Scared, perhaps?"
……!
Dong Zhuo's face flared red all over again, but he said not a word—simply stomping out of the chamber, his footsteps booming against the floor.
……
Once he was gone and an awkward silence had settled over the room, I too turned my back and left the palace.
So in the end, just as in the original history, it looks like I'll be crossing blades with Dong Zhuo after all.