Chapter 45

Chapter 45: Zhen Huan Chronicles, An Ling Rong

“Your Majesty, this consort also means well. The palace affairs-” The Empress still refused to give up and was about to keep persuading the emperor, when a joyful shout came from the delivery room. “She’s delivered! Her Highness has delivered!”

The news twisted the Empress’s face. Especially when she saw the anticipation on the emperor’s face, the Empress wanted nothing more than to rush into the delivery room and strangle that baby with her own hands. No matter how angry and jealous she was, the Empress’s loss of control lasted only an instant. Very quickly, she showed a puzzled look.

“Why haven’t we heard the baby crying?” As soon as she spoke, a tiny sound finally came from the delivery room, faint as a kitten’s mewl. The emperor, who had been full of joy, could not help frowning. Although he had long known that Consort Hua’s child was not in good shape, he had not expected the baby to be so weak the moment it was born.

“Not good. The little princess-she-she has no breath!”

Boom! The moment those words rang out, everything exploded. The emperor did not think at all. He rushed straight into the delivery room.

“Your Majesty!” The Empress cried out after snapping back to herself.

But it was useless. The emperor’s figure vanished into the delivery room in an instant. The Empress’s face turned iron-blue with anger. With her already pale complexion, she looked even worse now.

“Ah, my child, my child!”

Inside, Consort Hua’s desperate sobbing erupted. That heartbreaking wail made even those who disliked Consort Hua unable to help feeling sorrow for her. Especially Zhen Huan and Shen Mei Zhuang, who had been pregnant for the first time, and miscarried for the first time. They had also gone through that bone-deep pain.

In that moment, they seemed able to share Consort Hua’s grief. Many people’s eyes reddened. No matter how arrogant Consort Hua had been before, at this moment she was only a mother who had lost her child. Now, the Empress listened with a cold face to Consort Hua’s miserable, hopeless cries.

Yet she could not feel any joy or pleasure in her heart. For some reason, she could not help thinking of back then, when she had held her son in the rain and cried in despair… The two cries were so alike, so hopeless and painful. And of course, there was also the deep hatred in her heart. The moment she thought of that, panic rose in the Empress’s heart.

She turned and left at once. She abandoned a group of consorts who could only stare at one another. No one had expected the Empress to leave at a time like this….

“Dead?” Li Si Qi froze when she heard. “I didn’t expect that the child would still not make it, even after being born.”

“Although the Empress’s mole was caught in the delivery room, she had already put a secret drug in Consort Hua’s tea to weaken her.” Little Teapot explained. “Unfortunately, Consort Hua and her people trusted her too much. They never imagined she was the Empress’s mole. If she hadn’t struck in secret, perhaps Consort Hua’s daughter would have lived.”

“Then it can only be blamed on Consort Hua for not protecting her.” Li Si Qi shook her head lightly. “I deliberately gave her a child, and she still couldn’t keep it. Maybe she’s fated to have no children.”

“Mistress, Consort Hua never had children to begin with.”

“Yes, she never had children to begin with.” Li Si Qi could not help sighing. “When you think about it, Consort Hua’s first child can only be blamed on the emperor and the Empress Dowager. That mother and son are truly something else. They even guarded against an unborn child to the point of wanting his life.”

“Mistress is right.” Little Teapot said. “Back then, the emperor hadn’t ascended the throne yet, and he hadn’t won the fight for succession. He had already started calculating which woman’s child, if born for him, might threaten him.”

“They say like mother, like son. That dog emperor is no better.” Li Si Qi curled her lip in disdain. “Consort Hua losing her first child was their mother-and-son sin together. I gave Consort Hua this child, and it was cut down by that inhuman Empress.”

“After this drama was filmed, Consort Hua and the Empress were both villains who treated human life like dirt, yet Consort Hua could still win the audience’s liking. That’s because she never went after children. Even when she used Wen Yi Princess to compete for favor, she never thought about taking her life.”

“Yes. Unlike the Empress, who looks kind and friendly on the surface.” Little Teapot agreed. “Two-faced and treacherous describes her perfectly. She says one thing, and does another behind the scenes.”

“She tells the consorts to work hard and bear children with her mouth. The joke is that the children she has killed could almost pile up and fill Jing Ren Palace. I really don’t know where she gets the face to say she loves the emperor.”

“The Empress loves the emperor?” Li Si Qi sneered. “That’s the biggest joke, alright. She claims she loves him so deeply she won’t harm him, yet she wants to slaughter every single one of the children of the man she ‘loves’.”

“Consort Hua loves the emperor, so she refuses to make things difficult for the child of the man she loves, because she’s afraid he’ll grieve. From that alone, you can see that the Empress doesn’t truly love the emperor.”

“What she loves is the glory and wealth he brings her, the lofty Empress’s seat. She doesn’t care whether His Majesty will be heartbroken when he loses children, and she doesn’t care whether the heir to the throne is capable.”

“Doesn’t she know the Third Prince is stupid? Doesn’t she know the Third Prince doesn’t have the ability to bear the responsibility of ruling a nation? The Empress definitely knows.”

“In the drama, she wanted to push the Third Prince onto the throne, mainly because that mother and son were stupid enough for her to control. Tell me yourself: in everything the Empress has done, what part of it can be called loving His Majesty?”

“Mistress speaks with reason.” Little Teapot laughed. “The Empress keeps saying she loves His Majesty, but she only treats him as a tool. In her eyes, the Empress Dowager should also be a tool.”

“Do you even have to ask? One hundred percent.” Li Si Qi smiled. “The Empress’s reason for turning dark was losing her son. The main culprits behind her son’s early death were three people: the Empress Dowager, that dog emperor, and Empress Chun Yuan.”

“That dog emperor can give her wealth and honor, so of course she won’t dare lay a hand on him. As for the Empress Dowager, she can safeguard the Empress’s position for her. No matter how much she hates her, she can only swallow it down, because the other party can be used by her.”

“Of course, Empress Chun Yuan didn’t have that luck. She and her child died at the Empress’s hands. You could say her revenge is already paid.”

“Even if she wanted more revenge, it would make sense to go after that dog emperor and the Empress Dowager. So the audience can understand her turning dark and seeking revenge.”

“But they can’t accept that she won’t retaliate against the true culprits, and instead keeps committing sins, causing so many children to die before they’re even born.”

“A person like that, no matter how tragic she once was, won’t make people truly pity her or understand her.”

“The Empress was never anything good.” Little Teapot laughed again. “Mistress, are you feeling sorry for Consort Hua?”

“No. I’m thinking of fulfilling the Empress.” Li Si Qi beamed. “I think the Empress has forgotten what it feels like to be a mother. That’s why she’s become so cold-blooded and cruel. Little Teapot, shouldn’t we let the Empress taste the feeling of being a mother again?”

“Mistress means to get the Empress pregnant?”

“Yes. The other consorts won’t get pregnant until three years later.” Li Si Qi smiled even more brightly. “Our Empress can get pregnant first. After she enjoys a month of nightmares, we’ll find a chance to restore her ability to conceive.”

“Mistress, restoring the Empress’s ability to conceive is no problem, but with His Majesty’s current impression of her, do you think the emperor will sleep with her?”

“Don’t worry about that.” A Si Qi sneered. “The Empress Dowager won’t let the emperor neglect the Empress for long. Sooner or later, the emperor will step into Jing Ren Palace.”

“As long as the emperor spends the night in Jing Ren Palace, with your ability, making the emperor sleep with her will be an easy thing.”

“Don’t tell me you can’t do it.”