Chapter 8

Chapter 8

So that was it.

Their earlier deference to me had only been because Zhao Ling disliked me.

And now, their open hostility was only because they mistakenly believed Zhao Ling liked me.

I ordered Bao Li to give the cloak to her and said, “Xiuyi Song is with child. Until His Majesty’s anger subsides, I hope you will take care of yourself.”

With that, I paid her no further mind.

But curiosity gnawed at me. Once, when Zhao Ling was in a decent mood, I could not help asking him, “The baby in Xiuyi Song’s belly… it is His Majesty’s, isn’t it?”

The corner of Zhao Ling’s mouth twitched. He gave me a cold sidelong glance. “What do you think?”

“…Then why does Your Majesty not visit her? It is clearly happy news.”

“The Empress will know soon enough.”

When he said this, his expression was so calm that later, when the Song Family was implicated in failures of state affairs, imprisoned and executed by Prince Liang, and Song Youshu, though heavily pregnant, was also dragged into the case and detained, it suddenly occurred to me that he seemed to have expected it all along.

And from beginning to end, he had never intended to save her.

I said urgently, “She is carrying Your Majesty’s child.”

“So what?”

“She will die.”

“That was her own choice.”

Zhao Ling was practicing calligraphy. I stared at him, my lips parted, and my heart suddenly went cold. “Why is Your Majesty so heartless?”

“If she had truly cared for me, how could it have come to this?”

“I don’t understand.”

“You should not have come to beg me to save her, because the ones who most want her dead are the Hu Family.”

“I told her long ago that while the greater situation remained unsettled, I could not have a child born. Even if there were to be a birth, it would have to come from the Empress.”

“She said she understood, that all she asked was for me to treat her well. Yet in the next breath, she hid it from me and secretly conceived a child. I am shackled on all sides, never knowing whether I will survive the next day, and under such circumstances, all her family could think of was how to produce the eldest imperial son and climb higher by latching onto him.”

“Shortsighted people will always see only their own interests, and they are stupid beyond saving. They kept claiming they treated me with sincerity, yet they took me for a fool. Is sincerity truly such a vile thing, made of such lowly methods?”

Zhao Ling looked up at me, his eyes icy. For a moment, I did not know what to say. Then he continued, “The Empress says I am heartless? I clearly gave her a chance. I told her to get rid of the child, but she refused to choose. She still dreamed of rising in status through her son and was certain I would stand on her side and protect the Song Family. Was she not also making use of my sincerity?”

I knew Zhao Ling would not turn against Prince Liang now.

The former official of Prince Yi’s Residence had already arrived in Luoyang. Outside the palace, he was rallying righteous forces, waiting for an opportunity to purge the court and execute the treacherous ministers.

Song Youshu had already been completely abandoned by him.

I should not have meddled in these matters.

But at the time, my heart had not yet hardened completely. Some kindness still remained.

I ordered Cui He to prepare the imperial carriage and left the palace for the Hu Family.

Zhao Ling watched me from afar, his expression peaceful.

He was right. The ones who most wanted Song Youshu dead were the Hu Family.

And not only the Hu Family, but also my maternal grandfather’s Xu family.

Without my two uncles and that cousin-uncle of mine, Xu Xun, fanning the flames, why would Prince Liang ever have thought to raid the home of a mere seventh-rank minor official?

Only they would care about the child in Song Youshu’s belly.

Mother often praised me for being obedient.

But that day at the Hu Family, for the first time, I went mad.