Empress Xu made no sound. And so Ling Jingshu knelt on.

Her knees ground against the smooth, cold floor — dull, spreading pain.

Empress Xu was clearly coming with bad intentions. She had specifically summoned her here today, plainly meaning her no good. In her heart, Ling Jingshu felt a cold, slow sinking.

After what seemed an age, Empress Xu finally parted her lips in an unhurried drawl: “Rise.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Ling Jingshu spoke her thanks, then stood.

She had knelt so long that her knees were numb and aching. When she rose, her body swayed slightly. Ling Jingshu drew a deep breath and steadied herself.

Standing upright now, her gaze rested just enough downward to bring Empress Xu’s face fully into view.

When they had first met, Empress Xu had been alluringly beautiful — elegant, without sacrificing warmth.

This time, with no outsiders present, Empress Xu clearly felt no need to play a part. Her phoenix eyes were slightly narrowed, and within them lay threads of cold indifference and ill will.

Was it because of Prince Yan? Or was it… because of Imperial Physician Wei?

Ling Jingshu weighed it quietly in her mind, but her expression remained perfectly calm, and she stood there with her hands at her sides. If Empress Xu said nothing, she said nothing either.

After a long silent standoff, Empress Xu suddenly broke it with icy words: “Ling Jingshu — do you know the charge against you?”

She spoke in the manner of someone come to deliver punishment.

Ling Jingshu answered with measured composure: “Why does Your Majesty say such a thing? Commoner truly does not know what wrong she has committed. Will Your Majesty please make it clear?”

Empress Xu gave a cold laugh, and the chill in her voice deepened: “Since I have thought fit to speak, I would naturally not wrong you without cause. There is no need for you to go on playing the fool. If you do not confess your error today, I will not let you off easily!”

At the last sentence, her voice suddenly rose, her gaze turning glacial — sharp with a killing coldness.

Ling Jingshu’s heart plummeted. The look on Empress Xu’s face was not something manufactured — the murderous intent was real. This encounter would not be easily survived. She had to summon every last reserve of her wits to see herself through it, otherwise there was no hope of walking out of Jiaofu Palace unharmed.

“Your Majesty, please calm your anger.”

In a flash of thought, Ling Jingshu swiftly shifted her expression to one of frightened distress and fell to her knees in supplication. “Commoner truly does not know what has happened. Even if Your Majesty wishes to punish her, commoner ought at least to understand why.”

Empress Xu gave a cold humph, and the smile that played upon her lips did not reach her eyes. “You silver-tongued little creature! No wonder you have bewitched Prince Yan — body and soul, until he came to me of his own accord to press his suit. Had I refused him, I would have wounded the feeling between mother and son. And yet if I truly had agreed, I would have choked on the humiliation inwardly.”

So it was Prince Yan who had blown into a rage.

Ling Jingshu quietly exhaled with relief and, keeping her head lowered, said: “Please allow commoner to explain.”

“Commoner came to the capital with her younger brother to seek a cure for his eye ailment. Meeting Prince Yan was entirely a matter of chance. Commoner has always known her own station is humble and has never entertained any thoughts of clinging to power or seeking favour, nor had she ever intended to draw close to Prince Yan. And commoner never imagined that Prince Yan would say such things to Your Majesty. Please, Your Majesty, consider the matter clearly.”

Trying to reason with someone who is most fond of protecting those close to her and most stubborn and unreasonable — that, plainly, would get nowhere.

In Empress Xu’s eyes, Prince Yan was all goodness and no fault. If Prince Yan wanted to marry her, it was naturally her own fault — she must have been the one to deliberately entice him. If she were to say something like “I have no intention of marrying Prince Yan,” Empress Xu would only meet it with cold contempt and would not hear a word of it.

Going a layer deeper, Empress Xu’s sudden attack was most likely not solely about Prince Yan either.

To Empress Xu, it hardly mattered that her son took one more side consort — that was a trivial thing. What truly gnawed at Empress Xu with jealous, unbearable hatred was the faint, elusive air of feeling between her and Wei Yan. That was the real thorn.

Only — that could not be spoken aloud. And so Prince Yan had become the pretext Empress Xu had deliberately chosen to make trouble.

Once she had seen through this, clarity swept through Ling Jingshu’s mind.

Ling Jingshu suppressed the fury burning in her chest and lifted her face. In her eyes, a tumbling complexity of emotions played out — shame, self-reproach, desolation, and more — all at once.

If one could say her eyes spoke, then at this moment, Ling Jingshu’s eyes were doing precisely that.

But Empress Xu was made of stone and iron, and was not moved in the slightest. “What? Have you run out of things to say?”

Ling Jingshu’s eyes shimmered with the faintest glimmer of moisture. She pressed down hard on her lower lip before she spoke: “Your Majesty, commoner has a secret of the gravest importance. This secret is known only to commoner’s grandmother and father at home. Commoner now wishes to confide this secret to Your Majesty. Once Your Majesty has heard it, you will understand commoner’s difficulty.”

Even Empress Xu found her curiosity piqued, and her phoenix eyes narrowed slightly. “Oh? And what manner of secret is it?”

Ling Jingshu entreated: “Please, Your Majesty, bid the attendants to withdraw first.”

Empress Xu’s expression turned cool. “Ling Jingshu, what is your meaning by this? If only you and I remain in the inner chambers, and you were to suddenly strike out, would I not be in danger?”

Ling Jingshu allowed a trace of bitter amusement to cross her face. “Your Majesty’s words fill commoner with terror. Even if someone were to give commoner ten times her courage, she would never dare lift a hand against your honoured person. This secret concerns commoner’s honour as a young lady, and it truly should not be known by too many. Please, Your Majesty, take pity. If Your Majesty absolutely insists otherwise, commoner has nothing more to say.”

With that, she closed her lips — quite as though she had no intention of speaking another word.

In every woman, however, there is always some spark of curiosity.

Empress Xu was no exception.

The more tightly Ling Jingshu kept her silence, the more intensely Empress Xu’s curiosity burned.

“Very well.” Empress Xu’s face was composed, and she spoke in a flat, heavy tone: “I will give you this one chance. If you dare to trifle with me, I will not let you off lightly!”

Empress Xu made a gesture. The palace maids and eunuchs standing in attendance filed quietly out of the room.

When the door to the inner chambers clicked shut, only Empress Xu, lying upon her bed, and Ling Jingshu, kneeling before it, remained in the room.

If she were to strike now — how real was the possibility of killing Empress Xu and succeeding?

This tempting thought surfaced in an instant, and almost immediately was pressed back down by reason.

Setting aside the fact that she was unarmed, even if she were to lunge forward and seize Empress Xu by the throat, the moment Empress Xu struggled, the palace maids and attendants waiting outside the door would come rushing in. Even if she could kill Empress Xu, there would be no escaping the palace — and she would drag down the Ling Family and Wei Jieyu and Wei Yan, the brother and sister, along with her.

Empress Xu knit her brow with a trace of impatience. “Good. You have your wish. Now speak — quickly!”

Ling Jingshu gathered her composure and let a look of mournful sorrow settle over her face. “Commoner is deeply grateful that Your Majesty is willing to hear her out. This matter is long in the telling — it must go back several months…”