Everyone looked toward the Emperor, and no one dared move.

The Emperor waved a hand, his breathing low and heavy.

Feng Jin, acting on the order, stood and said, “Someone, drag both of them out.”

Several imperial guards entered and hauled away the man who had already collapsed earlier, along with the young eunuch who had just lost his life.

Feng Jin sat back down, raised an eyebrow, and looked at the guard who had just struck someone down.

“Commander Hui, how dare you! With His Majesty right here, you still dare to kill someone?”

Commander Hui knelt in the hall, set down the sword in his hand, raised his eyes, and cupped his hands. “Reporting to Your Majesty, reporting to the eldest prince.”

“This servant was ordered to protect Her Ladyship the Consort. Given the situation just now, if this servant hadn’t acted, it would have been hard to guarantee Consort Ya’s safety.”

“Please forgive this servant’s offense, Your Majesty! Forgive me, eldest prince!” Commander Hui knocked his head against the floor three times.

“Your Majesty.” Nanny Huang let go of Consort Ya and knelt as well.

“Your Majesty, this servant did hear what the young eunuch said just now, but this servant doesn’t understand—this old servant never harmed anyone, please investigate thoroughly, Your Majesty!”

The female physician knelt and cupped her hands. “Your Majesty, upon examination, Consort Ya’s body shows no signs of harm.”

“This humble physician also found no suspicious medicine in Consort Ya’s chambers.”

“Nonsense!” Consort Ya, now properly dressed, glared at the female physician. “Just now I was clearly not in my right mind—otherwise how could I have mistaken someone else for His Majesty?”

Consort Ya hadn’t actually mistaken anyone for anyone—tonight, she had arranged to meet the eldest prince, Feng Jin.

She had thought it would be a wonderful night, but never expected the Emperor to suddenly appear and shatter everything.

And the Emperor hadn’t even chosen her token that night—he had simply come to Yaxiang Hall on a whim.

Unexpectedly, he had run into this whole affair.

To protect himself, Feng Jin had killed one of his own secret attendants.

If the Empress hadn’t burst in a moment ago, giving Feng Jin a way out, he might not have found the excuse he was currently using.

The Empress could probably guess at the truth, but she certainly didn’t want to see her son destroyed over a woman.

So she had fabricated a pretext to help Feng Jin escape the situation.

With such a convenient excuse offered, Feng Jin naturally wasn’t about to let it go to waste.

Consort Ya, of course, would never harm Feng Jin either—no matter what, Feng Jin remained her leverage for the rest of her life.

Everything had fallen into place so naturally.

At this moment, the only one left completely in the dark was the ruler seated in the highest seat.

“Reporting to Your Majesty, every word this humble physician has spoken is true.” The female physician cupped her hands in explanation.

“Mm.” Feng Qiongcang waved a hand. “You may go.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” The female physician cupped her hands, stood, and led her people away.

The hall fell silent for a moment before Consort Ya walked toward the high seat.

“Your Majesty, do you not believe this concubine?”

Before Consort Ya could reach Feng Qiongcang’s side, she was stopped by his personal guard.

She glanced at the guard, circled around to the other side, and knelt at some distance from Feng Qiongcang.

“Your Majesty, this concubine truly was framed! This concubine doesn’t even know who that man was—how could I possibly have…”

“Your Majesty, please, you must investigate thoroughly and restore justice to this concubine!”

The Empress looked at the woman kneeling on the high platform, then turned back and waved a hand.

Her general nodded, cupped his hands toward Feng Qiongcang, then stood and strode over to stand beside the Empress.

The Empress glanced at the teapot on the table, and the general picked it up and poured her a cup of tea.

The hall was very quiet—even the sound of tea being poured into the cup seemed unusually loud.

“We’ll discuss the matter later.” Feng Qiongcang poured himself a cup of tea, resigned. “I hear you drugged the Empress—is that true?”

The Empress showed no anger at the Emperor’s attitude. Little Feng had told her that whoever got angry lost the most, and she had slowly learned to be less angry and be kinder to herself.

She had been with Feng Qiongcang for thirty years now, and she understood better than anyone what kind of man he was.

He valued self-interest above anyone else.

Outwardly, as a princess from another kingdom, her usefulness to him exceeded even that of Consort Ya.

But privately, Consort Ya’s father, the horse-herder Gao Jinsheng, was wealthy beyond measure, and was exactly the sort of person Feng Qiongcang needed to curry favor with within the Feng Clan.

With the Feng Clan currently fairly stable, Feng Qiongcang naturally favored Consort Ya all the more.

The Empress drank alone, lost in her own world, as though the events here had nothing to do with her.

“Drugged the Empress?” Consort Ya’s eyes widened as she looked at the Empress.

“How could this concubine possibly have drugged the Empress? Your Majesty, this concubine has been wronged!”

The moment she finished speaking, Consort Ya clutched her chest and burst into tears.

“What kind of situation is this? First I’m wrongly accused of adultery, now wrongly accused of poisoning—you might as well just give me thirty strikes of the rod and be done with it!”

The Empress set down her cup, looked at Consort Ya, and frowned. “Does Consort Ya perhaps think this palace is behind all this?”

“Does this palace poison herself to harm herself? Does this palace stuff a man into your chambers, specifically so the Emperor and Jin’er could come watch the spectacle?”

“Hah!” The Empress gave a cold laugh. “This palace has always known Consort Ya was clever, but I never expected you could twist right and wrong so thoroughly with just a few words.”

“Your Highness, this concubine meant no such thing.” Consort Ya said pitifully.

“Didn’t you?” The Empress raised an eyebrow. “Who doesn’t know that this palace punished Attendant Xin with thirty strikes of the rod just recently?”

“Or does Consort Ya think that after doing so many filthy things, thirty strikes of the rod would be enough to make it all go away?”

Not just Consort Ya—even the Emperor’s gaze on the Empress had changed by now.

All this time, she had been seen as an Empress who knew nothing of worldly affairs.

If anyone were to ask which Empress required the least worry, it would surely have been the one sitting in the hall right now.

Yet unexpectedly, today she had completely abandoned her usual manner of letting big matters become small and small matters disappear, her eyes now carrying a hint of ruthlessness.

“Your Highness, you… what are you saying?” Consort Ya froze for a moment, even forgetting to cry.

She took a deep breath, withdrew her gaze, and looked at the Emperor.

“Your Majesty, this concubine did nothing—do you believe this concubine?”

Feng Qiongcang withdrew his gaze from the Empress and said flatly, “The evidence is conclusive—how am I supposed to believe you?”

He didn’t look at Consort Ya, instead lifting his teacup and taking a light sip.

“Tell Consort Ya what you’ve all found out.”

“Yes.” The Empress’s general cupped his hands, accepting the order.

He repeated loudly everything he had said before.

“This concubine did not do it!” Consort Ya crawled forward on her knees and tugged at Feng Qiongcang’s sleeve.

“Your Majesty, this concubine truly doesn’t know, this concubine…”

She turned to look back at Nanny Huang, kneeling in the hall, and said coldly, “Nanny Huang, what is the meaning of this?”

Nanny Huang’s legs went weak with fright, and she crawled forward on the ground.

“Your Majesty, this was this old servant’s doing. This old servant only wanted to avenge Consort Ya,” Nanny Huang stammered.

“The medicine this old servant gave the Empress wasn’t poison—it would only have made her weak and fatigued, truly not poison, please investigate thoroughly, Your Majesty!”

“Nanny Huang, how dare you!” Feng Jin’s low voice rang out.

“Do you know that poisoning the Empress is a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations?”