Chapter 25 — Wedding Day Switch: My Husband Traded Me Away

She let out a piercing shriek, and the color drained entirely from Li Cheng’s face. He had never anticipated that Feng Yuan would bring Shen Rou, the most crucial witness, directly to this place. Instinctively, he moved to interrupt, his voice rising in panic.

My Lord, this is a sacred hall for national mourning. How can we permit a vulgar, common woman to scream and carry on in such a manner?

Yet Feng Yuan paid him not the slightest heed. Instead, his gaze fixed solely upon Shen Rou, and he spoke in a voice frozen with contempt.

Shen Rou. I shall ask you only once.

Who ordered you to use the Illusionary Scent to murder the Emperor?

Speak the truth.

I may yet spare your life.

Should you refuse...

In the depths of his eyes, a lethal intent flared violently.

I will have you endure the most agonizing tortures known to mankind. I will ensure that death becomes a luxury you can never attain, leaving you trapped in a living hell!

Terror seized Shen Rou, shaking her frail body to its core. She cast a desperate glance toward Li Cheng, whose complexion was now ashen, then turned to meet Feng Yuan’s glacial stare. Finally, her psychological defenses completely crumbled. With a sudden, frantic motion, she raised a trembling hand and pointed a direct finger at Li Cheng.

It was him!

It was the Imperial Uncle Li Cheng!

He was the one who gave it to me!

He commanded me to poison the very incense that my elder sister brought into the imperial palace!

Everything was done under his orders!

She confessed to every single detail, utterly betraying Li Cheng without a shred of hesitation. The entire Qianqing Palace plunged into a deathly silence in a single heartbeat. Every eye in the room shifted instantly toward Li Cheng, filled with astonishment, suspicion, and profound dread. The blood had completely vanished from Li Cheng’s face. He pointed a shaking finger at Shen Rou, trembling with a fury so intense it made him dizzy.

You... You are framing me with malicious lies!

My Lord! This woman lost her mind long ago; her words are entirely unworthy of belief!

Is that so?

Feng Yuan let out a chilling, mocking laugh.

Then let the Imperial Uncle cast his eyes upon these. What might they be?

With those words, he drew a yellowish, aged letter from his robes, alongside a thick ledger of accounts.

Here is a record of your secret transactions with Western merchants dating back ten years. It is written in black and white that you purchased massive quantities of the Illusionary Scent.

And this ledger.

It contains the names of every single inside agent you planted within the palace over the years, including the very young eunuch who switched the poisoned brocade blanket onto the Emperor’s dragon bed.

Li Cheng.

Do you still have anything to say in your defense?

With every word Feng Yuan uttered, Li Cheng’s face grew paler, until at last, he looked as lifeless as cold ashes.

With a heavy thud, his knees buckled and he collapsed onto the stone floor. He knew with absolute certainty that he was finished. Thoroughly and irrevocably finished.

No... It was not me...

Still, he made a final, pathetic struggle to cling to life.

It was the Empress Dowager! The Empress Dowager commanded me to do this!

Never did anyone expect that he would betray his own flesh and blood, dragging his biological sister down with him. What a magnificent and tragic farce this had proved to be.

Enough!

At that precise moment, a youthful yet commanding shout rang out from the direction of the dragon bed. Startled out of their wits, everyone turned their heads in sheer disbelief. There, slowly sitting up from the imperial bed, was the young emperor who was supposedly dead. His gaze swept over Li Cheng groveling on the floor and the Empress Dowager, who had frozen in sheer terror. In those young eyes burned an unprecedented frost and a towering wrath.

Imperial Uncle, Empress Dowager.

Just how miserably wretched did you wish for me to die?

That childish voice echoed like a sudden thunderclap across the nine heavens, rumbling through the hushed vastness of the Qianqing Palace. Everyone remained rooted to the spot, paralyzed in utter shock. They stared in horrified disbelief at the small figure slowly straightening up on the dragon bed. Upon the face that ought to have been as pale as paper, there now rested the absolute majesty of an authentic sovereign, a dignity far beyond his tender years.

Emperor... Your Majesty?

The Imperial Uncle Li Cheng was so terrified that he could barely cobble together a coherent sentence.

You... Were you not already...

Already dead, is that what you thought?

The young emperor coldly finished his sentence for him. Within his brilliant, luminous eyes, a raging fire of fury blazed fiercely.

Imperial Uncle, Empress Dowager.

You two.

Are you deeply disappointed?

Me.

I simply refused to die according to your carefully laid plans.

No! It is not like that! My royal son!

The Empress Dowager was the first to snap back to her senses. Scrambling and crawling across the floor like a madwoman, she hurled herself toward the edge of the dragon bed.

It is enough that my royal son is unharmed! You frightened your imperial mother nearly to death!

She reached out with trembling hands, intending to grab the young emperor’s arm, but he ruthlessly slapped her hands away without a shred of mercy.

Imperial Mother?

The young emperor looked down at her. In his eyes lay a profound disappointment and a bone-chilling coldness.

From the very moment you conspired to drive me to my death.

You.

Ceased to be my imperial mother.