"Empress Dowager!"
"According to news from outside, during the recent battle in Guangnan, Crown Prince Yan was discovered to have been secretly communicating with the Southern Ocean Kingdom. The Emperor found irrefutable evidence and caught him red-handed!"
"Now, Min Tu, the second prince of the Southern Ocean, and our Crown Prince Yan are both locked up in the Imperial Prison!"
"The case has been handed over to the Three Judicial Offices. Once convicted, they will be executed!"
Sister Qing was inwardly panicking, but her words were clear.
The Empress Dowager, however, was a different story.
After hearing the news, she was completely dumbfounded.
Trembling all over, her face pale, she was utterly irrational.
"Junqi committing treason and colluding with the enemy? Impossible! Junqi would never do such a thing!"
"It must be the Emperor! Yes, it must be his sinister schemes!"
"Emperor, oh Emperor, can’t you bear to see him well?!"
"Are you that eager to see him dead? Are you that desperate?!"
The Empress Dowager broke down, screaming through her tears.
Noble Concubine Shih stood by, her brow deeply furrowed.
Although she also didn’t believe Zhao Junqi would commit treason and collude with the enemy.
But... this doesn’t automatically mean it was the Emperor’s conspiracy, does it?
"Mother..."
"You mustn’t speak such nonsense! How can you blame the Emperor?"
"I do blame him! I, This Dowager, will blame him!" the Empress Dowager almost roared.
Her eyes were bloodshot, her voice hoarse, like a frenzied lioness.
"Let’s go! This Dowager must ask him why he’s so intent on driving Junqi to his death!"
"Why!"
Saying so, she grabbed Sister Qing’s hand and stormed out.
Noble Concubine Shih was shoved aside and nearly fell.
She stared in terror at the Empress Dowager’s frenzied back, as if looking at a stranger.
It was a long while before Noble Concubine Shih finally composed herself.
"Ying Qiu! Ying Qiu, let’s go!"
Ying Qiu hurried forward to support her, and the two of them also departed.
「Meanwhile.」
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Noble Concubine Shih returned to Xifu Palace and did not emerge again.
The Empress Dowager, with Sister Qing in tow, charged directly into the Imperial Study Room.
Li Shengan’s attempts to stop her were futile.
Finally, the Empress Dowager stood directly before Zhao Junyao, who was discussing matters with his Ministers.
"Emperor!" she exclaimed, her expression cold, her voice hoarse, her eyes red and swollen as she glared at him.
Zhao Junyao’s expression flickered, but he quickly rose and said, "Empress Dowager, what brings you here? If you had any instructions, you could have simply sent word. There was no need for you to come in person!"
Seeing the tense atmosphere, the Ministers bowed politely and seized the opportunity to slip away.
Even Li Shengan’s legs were trembling. He was about to slip away when a glare from Zhao Junyao forced him back. He had no choice but to stay obediently in a corner.
The Empress Dowager was supported by Sister Qing as she sat down.
The moment she was seated, she began to wipe her tears.
"You... how could you be so heartless? He is your own cousin!"
Zhao Junyao’s gaze was intense. "Empress Dowager, what are you speaking of? Your son doesn’t understand."
The Empress Dowager was furious. "You still intend to deceive This Dowager? This Dowager has heard all about Junqi’s matter!"
"You intend to have him executed!"
"How can you be so cruel? He is your own cousin!"
Zhao Junyao’s gaze grew colder, and a chill seeped into his heart.
The Empress Dowager is here to question me on behalf of someone else’s son?
So what if he’s my cousin?
Princess Consort Yan hasn’t even reacted yet, and she’s here causing a scene?
Although Zhao Junyao had been mentally prepared, he still found it difficult to accept.
"Empress Dowager!"
"If The King breaks the law, he is to be treated the same as a commoner! Moreover, this was witnessed by all, and he was caught in the act!"
"The evidence is irrefutable. Your son will absolutely not bend the law for personal reasons!"
"If it weren’t for him, many soldiers in the army would not have had to die!"
"But that day, we lost over ten thousand men!"
"Those were all human lives!"
Zhao Junyao’s face was dark and frigid, his words stern and unyielding, showing no sign of being moved.
"You..." The Empress Dowager’s eyes rolled back, and she nearly fainted.
Sister Qing hurriedly supported her. "Your Highness, be careful!"
Zhao Junyao had lost his patience. "If the Empress Dowager is here to seek justice for Zhao Junqi, then please return. He committed treason by colluding with the enemy. That I have not pursued his family is already an act of leniency!"
In fact, is Prince Yan himself truly innocent?
Not necessarily! Zhao Junyao narrowed his eyes.
Under all heavens, all land belongs to The King; who could hide anything from him if he wished to know?
The Empress Dowager nearly fainted from anger again. "Family? You still want to pursue his family?!"
"Zhao Junyao, what is your heart made of? He is your own flesh-and-blood brother!"
"And you are my own flesh-and-blood mother!" Zhao Junyao roared, unable to restrain himself any longer.
His face cold, his eyes bloodshot, he slowly advanced on the Empress Dowager.
"Don’t you forget, I am your son!"
"Yet now, for the sake of a Zhao Junqi, you embarrass me like this!"
"Empress Dowager! Are you hiding something from me?"
The bond between mother and child, a connection of flesh and blood!
Now it seemed the one connected to the Empress Dowager by flesh and blood wasn’t him!