Chapter 26: Chapter 26: General’s Mansion Eldest Lady VS Transmigrated Younger Sister (Part 25)
The Empress’s hands were steady as she slowly picked up the documents from the floor.
They detailed some matters explicitly, such as which rivals she had persecuted when she was young, which concubines she had caused to miscarry, or whom she had framed and set up.
The Empress wasn’t particularly afraid in her heart. Those people were already buried bones beneath the Imperial Palace by this time, and the Emperor might not even remember their faces, let alone punish her harshly, the Empress who had been by his side for twenty years.
It was merely a shattering of the image the Emperor held of her in his heart. As she aged, she had become less favored in recent years. She didn’t care about herself, only worrying that the Emperor would develop animosity toward the Crown Prince she had borne.
It wasn’t until she flipped to a certain page that the Empress’s hand trembled slightly when she saw that name.
So that’s why, she realized why the Emperor had been so agitated; it turned out he had discovered this particular piece.
The Former Empress, her blood sister, today’s Empress Yuen, was the woman who could never be erased from this man’s heart.
“Your Majesty, what is this supposed to mean?” After a peak of extreme panic, the Empress surprisingly calmed down gradually.
“What matter?” The Emperor, who had once most admired his Empress for her composure during crises, now found her face utterly repulsive.
“Was Ah Le’s difficult childbirth not an accident? I demand you tell me yourself!” The Emperor’s eyes reddened as he looked at the Empress.
“Hasn’t Your Majesty already investigated everything clearly? Why must you ask your servant again?” The Empress gently rearranged her slightly disheveled hair. “Yes, it was me. Back then, out of jealousy for my sister, during her childbirth, I bribed the midwife, originally planning to kill them both. Unexpectedly, the little one turned out to be tough to kill.”
“Slap!” The Empress’s face was struck to one side.
The Empress suddenly laughed, “Vicious woman? Yes, I am a vicious woman! She, Li Lejun, was the most perfect and kind-hearted woman! But even she was silently killed by me. I became the Empress, my son became the Crown Prince, and what about her? Her son is still in the temple as a monk!”
The Emperor shook all over with rage, looking at the woman who had been by his side for more than twenty years, feeling as if he had never truly known her.
“Guards, the Empress has suddenly fallen seriously ill and is not fit to receive guests. Phoenix Perch Palace shall be closed to visitors!” The Emperor left the Empress’s palace without looking back.
During this period, the Imperial City always seemed to have a feeling of an impending storm.
The Empress fell ill and was refusing visitors. The Crown Prince was put under de facto house arrest. Many sensitive individuals sensed that a significant change was about to sweep through the Tianqi Dynasty.
Especially at this time, the Emperor suddenly issued an edict.
Welcome back the Crown Prince who has been praying for the Imperial Family in Qianlong Temple to the palace!
For many years, the Crown Prince had been like an invisible person within the Imperial City, with many almost forgetting that he was originally the most distinguished Prince, yet he had spent over a decade in a humble temple.
“Has His Majesty finally come to his senses?” the Great General said to his wife.
They all knew that the Former Empress was a hurdle the Emperor had never gotten over. They were youthful spouses, deeply in love, and the Former Empress died in her prime, a permanent scar etched in the Emperor’s heart.
The Crown Prince Ji Yu was undoubtedly a pitiable figure. The Emperor had blamed the death of the Former Empress on him, never showing him favor, treating the legitimate son worse than even a decent servant in the palace, and in the end, the Emperor did not even wish to see him, sending him as a young boy to live in Qianlong Temple.
At that time, the Great General and other senior officials had advised against it, but the Emperor was resolute, leaving no room for change.
“That child has finally come into his own after all these years; he’s had a tough time,” Eldest Princess Wen Cheng noted with emotion.