Pressing her lips together lightly, the Empress Dowager coughed twice and said: “Wait until the Emperor finishes court.”

Once the Emperor left court, he would surely help Consort De pursue the assassin — and might even direct his anger at the Empress Dowager. Yuejian felt a bit uneasy.

However, as it turned out, the old are indeed shrewder — the first piece of news Yuwen Jie heard upon leaving court was not that Consort De had been attacked, but rather: “The Empress Dowager, overcome with fury, has taken a turn for the worse and has fallen unconscious.”

His heart tightened. Yuwen Jie left the Xuanzheng Hall, boarded the imperial carriage, and had them rush toward Huiming Palace.

“Why has she become overcome with fury?”

“I heard there was some conflict with Consort De.” Eunuch Qin said helplessly: “Her Highness is with child, and her temper is naturally a bit poor these days, while the Empress Dowager is already gravely ill — she shouldn’t have summoned Her Highness at all…”

Why on earth would he summon Hua Chun to Huiming Palace for no good reason? The Emperor felt a twinge of worry, and the moment the carriage arrived at Huiming Palace, he stepped down and strode swiftly toward the main hall.

Once inside, he found Hua Chun was not there — only the Empress Dowager lying in the inner chamber, pale-faced with closed eyes, while Consort Xu stood beside her looking worried. Seeing him arrive, she quickly knelt: “This concubine pays respects to Your Majesty.”

Technically she was not permitted an audience with the Emperor, but riding on the Empress Dowager’s favor today had broken the seal on her status card.

Waving a hand, the sovereign did not look at her, only glanced at the Empress Dowager before asking the physician: “How is she?”

“The Empress Dowager is advanced in years,” the physician sighed. “She cannot withstand agitation. From now on, do try to keep her from anger. The medicine is already being prepared; fortunately treatment came in time, or else, if her breath had failed to return…”

He shook his head, leaving the rest unsaid, but the sovereign understood the implication well enough.

“What happened today?” The sovereign looked at Yuejian and asked.

Yuejian opened her mouth to answer, but hesitated. In that moment’s pause, Consort Xu beside her jumped in: “Let the Empress Dowager rest properly. If Your Majesty wishes to hear, let us speak in the outer hall.”

The sovereign nodded and followed her out to the outer hall.

“Today the Empress Dowager wished for Consort De to come pay respects, and also to check whether her pregnancy was stable,” Consort Xu began once the sovereign had sat down. “Who would have expected that, in the middle of the conversation, Consort De suddenly turned sharp-tongued, mocking the Empress Dowager as selfish. The Empress Dowager was already unwell, and being provoked like that, she collapsed.”

Yuwen Jie frowned, his gaze clouded with displeasure as he looked at her: “Without cause, she would not deliberately mock Mother Empress.”

Consort Xu was startled, then gave a strained laugh: “If Your Majesty does not believe this concubine, you may ask the other attendants. The Empress Dowager only advised her not to meddle in court affairs, and Consort Wu spoke out rudely in response.”

After a moment’s thought, she added: “Actually, after the matter with Madam Wan, everyone understood that Consort De harbored resentment in her heart, a knot she couldn’t untie. This concubine had assumed that, at the very least, respect for the Empress Dowager would remain — but who knew Consort De’s grudge ran so deep. Wasn’t Madam Wan a complete stranger to her, with no blood relation at all?”

The sovereign fell silent.

Madam Wan was Hua Chun’s birth mother, who had treated her exceptionally well, and the bond between the two ran deep. That Hua Chun would be angry at the Empress Dowager, he could well understand.

Only, such impulsive behavior today wasn’t like her. Angering the Empress Dowager into illness — what good would that do her? And once the Empress Dowager woke, she would surely place the blame on Hua Chun.

“Where is Consort De?”

“Resting in the side hall,” said Consort Xu. “In a fit of anger, the Empress Dowager had her kneel for the duration of an incense stick’s burn. Who would have thought Consort De fainted from it. The imperial physician said there was no serious harm, but Her Highness has been lying there in the side hall the whole time, hasn’t come out at all.”

Brow tightly furrowed, the sovereign rose and headed straight for the side hall.

“Your Majesty,” Eunuch Qin murmured beside him cautiously, “please calm your anger. This servant has heard that pregnant women’s tempers tend to run high and they are prone to impulsiveness. Consort De is a sensible person — today’s events surely were not what she intended either.”

Pressing his lips together, the sovereign nodded.

He did not fully understand the workings of a woman’s mind, but he knew Hua Chun well — she wasn’t the type to act out of defiance. Perhaps there was some misunderstanding.

Hua Chun was still lying on the bed clutching her belly, a wave of lingering fear washing over her repeatedly. Who in Huiming Palace had the ability to attempt an assassination and still escape unscathed? The moment she guessed the answer, an endless surge of fury rose within her.

She was the one seeking an heir for the throne, and the one dissatisfied enough to want to kill that same heir was also her! Empress Dowager Ning truly only considered herself — she wasn’t genuinely worried about the Emperor lacking an heir at all!

New grievance piled atop old resentment, Hua Chun’s anger was near boiling, but outwardly she showed none of it — there were still too many people standing around.

She would simply wait for the Emperor to finish court, so she could quickly escape this place.

“Is your belly bothering you?” came the long-awaited voice from outside. Hua Chun sprang up at once and threw herself straight at Yuwen Jie: “You’ve finally finished court! Let’s go back to the Yangxin Hall!”

Slightly startled, the sovereign caught her, pressing his lips together: “Mother Empress is still unconscious.”

Hua Chun frowned: “She woke up ages ago.”

“I went and checked myself. She hasn’t yet,” Yuwen Jie said, his gaze deep as he looked at her. “I heard you angered Mother Empress today.”

Hua Chun shrugged: “I suppose so.”

In modern times, saying something like that would raise no issue at all. Her mistake was momentarily forgetting this was the accursed feudal era, and that was the exalted Empress Dowager — not someone she could just casually vent at.

The sovereign was silent a moment, then reached for her waist, his gaze gentle: “Since that’s how it is, once Mother Empress wakes, you’ll go apologize before leaving.”

Why on earth should she? Hua Chun puffed her cheeks: “I refuse!”

That woman had sent someone to slash at her baby, and she was supposed to apologize to her? Apologize her grandmother’s leg!

Yuwen Jie’s brow creased slightly: “Hua Chun.”

“Calling my name won’t help either,” she said, pulling free of his hand, gritting her teeth. “This concubine does not wish to stay here one moment longer. If the Empress Dowager wants to use some scheme to torment herself for sympathy, you can bear it if you like, but don’t drag this concubine into it. This concubine can go back to Yangxin Hall alone.”

Normally gentle, she rarely got this fierce, every hair on end as if bristling, her eyes fixed on him with the wary hostility of a small beast.

The sovereign said helplessly: “If you don’t apologize, Mother Empress will have grounds to blame you, and then I won’t be able to help clear you of it.”

“Today this concubine only said one sentence out of line, nothing else was done wrong. Rather, the Empress Dowager punished me with kneeling first, then let an assassin into the palace to try to kill me afterward. What grounds does the Empress Dowager still have to blame me?” Her eyes reddening, Hua Chun said: “If I had been careless today and hadn’t brought a winnowing basket out with me, my belly would be gone — do you understand?!”

Slightly shaken, Yuwen Jie’s expression darkened: “What happened?”

Beside them, Qing Niao promptly recounted the entire incident.

“An assassin getting into Huiming Palace…” After listening, the sovereign pondered for a moment. “If he wasn’t caught, there’s no way to know where he came from. You can’t simply pin this on Mother Empress either.”

Rolling her eyes, Hua Chun said: “Then explain this to me — who else besides the Empress Dowager’s own people could move freely through her palace and treat the guards outside as mere decoration?”

“Nothing in this world is absolute,” the sovereign said. “You hold a prejudice against Mother Empress.”

Taking a deep breath, Hua Chun’s rational mind told her the Emperor’s words were correct, spoken from a standpoint of fairness and impartiality.

But she felt wronged, thoroughly wronged! A wave of irritation surged up from deep inside, momentarily drowning out her reason.

“Whatever Your Majesty says is right — this concubine holds a prejudice against the Empress Dowager, this concubine has wronged Her Highness!” she said with feigned calm, then looked up at the Emperor: “But this concubine does not intend to apologize. If the Empress Dowager wishes to blame me, then let her.”

With that, she pushed past him and walked out.

Pushed back half a step, the sovereign’s anger flared slightly: “Hua Chun!”

Ignoring him entirely, Hua Chun grabbed Qing Niao’s hand and rushed out, leaving Huiming Palace without looking back.

“Your Majesty?” The attendants outside wanted to stop her but didn’t dare, and Eunuch Qin could only look to the Emperor for instruction.

Staring after her retreating figure for a long while, the sovereign’s eyes were full of anger, his hand clenched into a fist, before he finally calmed down: “Leave her be.”

“Yes.” Eunuch Qin bowed his head.

“So infuriating!”

Walking along the path, Hua Chun grumbled quietly to Qing Niao, unable to stop her nose from stinging and eyes reddening: “What is he even doing? A mama’s boy? Everything his mother says is right?”

Qing Niao helplessly patted her back gently: “Don’t say that either. His Majesty doesn’t know how dangerous the scene really was, and besides, the Empress Dowager is his elder after all, so it’s only natural he’d be stricter with you over it.”

“Then let him go be with the Empress Dowager!” Hua Chun gritted her teeth. “If I have a son, he’ll take the Hua surname!”

Qing Niao laughed despite herself: “Don’t say things out of anger. Once you calm down and cool off, you’ll realize His Majesty didn’t really do anything wrong — he just might have a preconceived notion, thinking that since you’re pregnant, and given what happened with Madam Wan, it’s understandable you’d show disrespect to the Empress Dowager, so he wanted you to apologize. He’s just worried you’ll be punished by the Empress Dowager.”

“Do you know?” Hua Chun’s expression turned serious as she looked at her. “I used to think the stupidest lines in TV dramas were ‘listen to me explain’ and ‘I won’t listen, I won’t listen’ — but now, I really do want to say, I won’t listen!”

“Pfft.” Qing Niao laughed: “You’re too caught up in it to see clearly.”

“Never mind!” Hua Chun said. “If he wants to shield the Empress Dowager, let him. We’ll just go home ourselves.”

“All right,” Qing Niao nodded. “Once we’re back, this servant will make you some pastries.”

Nodding, Hua Chun felt like a wronged little bun, and the moment she reached Yangxin Hall she wrapped herself up on the bed, curling into a ball, mouth pouting.

“What’s the situation over at Huiming Palace?” Unable to hold back, she still asked.

Rui’er said quietly: “His Majesty should be attending to the medicine. The Empress Dowager has woken up.”

“Oh.” Nodding, Hua Chun took the pastry Qing Niao brought and stuffed a mouthful in.

That evening the Emperor didn’t come by either. Hua Chun figured he’d probably been kept back by the Empress Dowager, so she didn’t wait up and went straight to sleep.

The next day, news came that the Emperor had favored Consort Xu with his presence overnight.

Hearing this, Hua Chun gave a dry heave.

“Your Highness?” Qing Niao patted her back worriedly.

“It’s nothing, just morning sickness.” Wiping her mouth with a handkerchief, Hua Chun said: “He does what he wants, mother and son of one heart can conquer anything — guess I’m just the outsider here.”

“Don’t think that way,” Qing Niao said. “If he truly saw you as an outsider, His Majesty wouldn’t have shielded you so much either.”