Chapter 1281: Chapter 1279: Confession
"Is there anything that can’t be said in private?" The Empress Dowager still appeared impatient.
Zhao Junyao smiled faintly.
"There is much to attend to today. The Empress Dowager might as well bear with it."
Having said this, he glanced at Luo Manman.
"Repeat what you just said in front of the Empress Dowager!"
Luo Manman turned pale upon hearing this, trembling and kneeling, stammering.
She seemed afraid to speak, yet even more afraid not to, as if she dared not offend anyone.
Zhao Junyao remained utterly unhurried.
The Empress Dowager, however, felt an inexplicable panic.
"What exactly was said? Speak quickly!"
Luo Manman, terrified, could no longer hesitate and directly spilled out the truth.
"Responding to... the Emperor, it was... Wanxin by the Empress Dowager’s side who gave me a bottle of poison, instructing me to find an opportunity to administer it to Your Majesty while attending to you!"
"The poison consisted of thirty pills, one per day! You consumed them over thirty days!"
"They promised me... freedom after those thirty days, but they have not kept their word!"
"Then on that day, Wanxin came to me again, gave me a yellow pill claiming it was the antidote... and instructed me to find an opportunity to give it to you, but..."
Luo Manman’s voice grew softer and eventually ceased daring to continue.
Zhao Junyao’s expression remained unchanged, calmly playing with the teacup in his hand.
And the Empress Dowager.
Her expression turned from green to white, quite dramatic.
After a while, she trembled as she stood up.
"You..."
"You are speaking nonsensical words!"
"You are slandering me!"
Luo Manman glanced at Zhao Junyao, bit her lip, and resolutely said.
"No!"
"Emperor, even with a hundred times the courage, I would not dare deceive you. The poisoning incident was planned solely by the Empress Dowager! And..."
Zhao Junyao raised an eyebrow.
"And what else?"
Luo Manman, resolute, blurted out.
"Also, my entry into the palace was entirely orchestrated by the Empress Dowager; she aimed to place me beside the Emperor as her puppet! To carry out her unspeakable deeds!"
Zhao Junyao turned to look at the Empress Dowager, his eyes slightly squinted.
"Empress Dowager... You, as my biological mother, what deep-seated enmity could you bear against me to commit such acts!"
He chose the term Empress Dowager instead of Mother.
He referred to himself as the Emperor rather than your son!
The words ’biological’ were emphasized heavily, with deliberate irony.
Everyone was utterly shocked, perhaps... the Emperor had long been aware of something!
As for the Empress Dowager.
By now, her heart was pounding, her breathing heavy and uneven.
She glowered fiercely at Luo Manman.
"You..."
"You lowly woman!"
"Why, initially you pleaded with me, asking for another chance! You were the one wanting to enter the palace!"
"When banishing you from the palace, indeed, I wronged you"
"Thus, I pitied you, brought you into the palace to fulfill your wish, yet who knew you... you would repay kindness with enmity!"
One has to admit, ginger becomes spicier as it ages.
Someone like the Empress Dowager, who has feigned sincerity all her life, tells lies without a blink.
However... lies need believers to be called lies.
If no one believes them, they are merely pointless words.
Not to mention Zhao Junyao, even Luo Manman could no longer stand listening.
"Empress Dowager, you must be confused!"
"Before entering the palace, I was only an embroideress at The Embroidery Workshop, how could I have the chance to meet the Empress Dowager?"
"You overestimate me greatly!"
"Obviously, it was you who sent someone to find me, hoping to exploit my past relationship with the Emperor to control him! That’s how you brought me into the palace!"
Upon speaking these words, the Empress Dowager was rendered speechless.
Desperate to shift blame onto others, she hadn’t thought of this detail.
Her face turned from blue to white.
After much consideration, she had just fabricated an excuse and was about to speak when Zhao Junyao interrupted.
"Empress Dowager!"
"Don’t concoct more tales; I am no fool, nor are they!"
The Empress Dowager looked anxiously at those around her.
She suddenly realized that several officials were staring at her, their expressions complex, with deep contempt hidden in their eyes.
She turned pale with fright.
"You all..."
They nodded stiffly.
"Empress Dowager, we... believe what Noble Consort Luo has said!"
Zhao Junyao’s lips curled upward, striking the Empress Dowager as extremely sarcastic.
Feeling embarrassed, angry yet enraged, the Empress Dowager’s last string of sanity snapped.
She suddenly stood up, laughing loudly several times.
"Yes! Correct!"
"It was I who poisoned the Emperor!"
"I have hated him, I have always hated him, I wish he would die before my eyes, what do you say? Are you satisfied?"
If Luo Manman’s words were stones cast into water.
The Empress Dowager’s words at this moment were like a thunderous explosion.
In mere words, she had shocked everyone present out of their wits.
The Empress Dowager... wants the Emperor dead?
Though it was indeed factual, hearing it from the Empress Dowager’s mouth was still so hard to believe.
After all, they are biologically mother and son!
The Empress Dowager laughed coldly and continued.
"How is it, do you all wish to know why?"
"Fine, today I will tell you!"
"Because... the Emperor... was never my own!"
"Hahaha... How does that feel, exciting enough, isn’t it? Hahaha..."
The Empress Dowager seemed deranged as she laughed aloud, her laughter reverberating through the main hall of the Imperial Study Room.
The three presiding officials’ faces changed repeatedly.
"Emperor... this..."
Zhao Junyao sneered.
"No matter, continue interrogating!"
The Imperial Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate composed himself, cleared his throat, and spoke.
"The Emperor’s poisoning has been concluded, masterminded by Empress Dowager Shi! The crime of harming the Sacred One stands!"
"Next is the interrogation for the second case!"
"The death of Lady Tian thirty years ago!"
The Empress Dowager suddenly ceased laughing.
She wobbled before the crowd and then chuckled triumphantly.
"Thirty years ago?"
"Emperor, your skills are impressive indeed, a cold case buried by your father for a lifetime, unearthed by you!"
Zhao Junyao’s pupils constricted suddenly.
"What exactly happened back then?"
The Empress Dowager chuckled triumphantly.
"What? You want to know!"
Zhao Junyao’s gaze narrowed slightly.
"Of course!"
The Empress Dowager’s lips curled upward, thought for a while, and suddenly leaned toward Zhao Junyao’s ear.
"Then let me tell you the story of that time"
"Your biological mother is that lowly woman surnamed Tian! After she gave birth to you... she died!"
"I was the one who caused her death!"
The Empress Dowager continued proudly.
"It was a rainy night, with heavy rain, oh, it seemed quite cold!"
"She gave birth to a healthy prince, the entire palace was jubilant, but... I had just lost my child, how could I witness your happiness!"
"So, I poisoned her, snatched you away, and from then on, you were my biological child!"
"You became the only legitimate son of the former Emperor! I held you in my palm, raised you, and you always called me Mother!"
"Emperor, so how is this story... do you like it?"
Zhao Junyao’s gaze turned icy, his body cold, his heart aching intensely.
"You...!"
