Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Pei Pingjin shouted, “If you want to condemn someone, you’ll always find a pretext! My cousin is already gone. Now you can say whatever you like!”

“Is that so?”

I let out a cold laugh.

With a clap of my hands, several men came forward and brutally forced Pei Pingjin to his knees. As he screamed himself hoarse, they viciously tore Lu Qingshuang’s body from his arms.

Pei Pingjin’s wails shook the courtyard.

“What do you want? I’ll agree to anything! I beg Your Highness, don’t humiliate Qingshuang any further!”

I looked down at the pathetic state he was in, nudged the lid of my teacup, and replied without the slightest concern, “Why, we’ll cut her open and examine her on the spot, of course.”

Pei Pingjin’s pupils shrank, and his entire body began to tremble.

Everyone present went deathly pale, at a complete loss.

Taking in every expression around me, I smiled faintly and said, “As a princess, I naturally cannot wrong the Prince Consort’s cousin. Whether she stole anything is difficult to investigate now that the dead cannot testify. But whether there is a child in her belly-once we cut her open, the truth will be plain to see.”

Pei Pingjin looked as if he had been plunged into the deepest agony.

The short blade for cutting open the abdomen was placed in the coroner’s hand.

Lu Qingshuang’s robes were loosened. The last scrap of cloth preserving her modesty was about to be stripped away before everyone’s eyes.

Pei Pingjin’s cries were heartrending, his howls filling the entire courtyard.

I simply watched, utterly unmoved.

Only when the final layer, her crimson dudou, was about to be untied did Pei Pingjin roar, “Enough. I admit it!”

Tears and snot streamed down his face. He no longer looked human.

Only then did I wave my hand, ordering the coroner and the guards restraining him to stop.

Pei Pingjin, however, seemed as though his spine had been snapped. For a long while, he could not rise.

He lay prostrate on the ground, pain and despair tearing him apart until he seemed covered in invisible wounds.

In a voice thick with sobs and pleading, he said word by word, “My cousin was carrying my child! Your Highness, please spare her.”

At that, I rose without hesitation.

Just as everyone’s hearts leapt into their throats, I brought my blade down and severed one of the Prince Consort’s fingers. Amid his agonized scream, I raised my voice, cold and clear.

“The Prince Consort has been unchaste. That is tantamount to deceiving the emperor.”

“I shall divorce my husband!”

“Men, prepare the carriage. We are entering the palace!”

Pei Pingjin’s expression froze, his face filled with disbelief.

I did not spare him another glance. Lifting the hem of my long gown, I boarded the carriage to the palace without looking back.

He had accompanied me until today, and relying on that face of his, the Pei Clan had already gained more than enough.

And I had endured more than enough as well.