Her Majesty Chose Violence, They Chose Her

Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Can His Majesty Still Be Saved?

The Empress Dowager Faction wanted to convict the Regent King first.

The Regent King simply offered up the throne, letting Prince Jing take his place.

The Royalist Party had no issue with Prince Jing becoming Emperor. They could crown him first and convict the Regent King later.

Prince Jing: "..."

He understood. ’In this whole farce, I’m the only clown.’

Prince Jing looked at Doctor Han. "Doctor Han, is there any hope of saving Your Majesty?"

Everyone’s eyelids twitched at his words. ’What kind of question is that? Your Majesty is dead, and he’s asking about saving him? How hypocritical!’

Doctor Han, however, understood. Prince Jing must know something.

"I have already done my utmost."

The meaning of his words was open to interpretation.

After all, he truly had spared no effort to save the Little Emperor, using every skill in his arsenal.

Everyone who heard him thought Doctor Han was expressing that he had tried his best to treat the Emperor, but had failed to save him.

But only Prince Jing noticed his strange sense of calm.

How could an Imperial Physician who had just let the Emperor die be so calm and composed?

"Let’s set aside the matter of the throne for now. We should first determine whether Your Majesty died of illness or poison."

Prince Jing looked at the Empress Dowager. "Seven days ago, Your Majesty started showing strange symptoms, so I had my son, Xiao Lv, observe in secret. Afterward, Your Majesty claimed to be ill for three days, yet no Imperial Physician went to offer treatment, and there is no record of it in the medical archives. It wasn’t until the day the Empress Dowager suddenly brought a physician to see Her Majesty that she was scared into fleeing, ultimately jumping from that high palace wall in desperation."

"It is a fact that the Regent King saved Her Majesty. But what drove Her Majesty to the point of jumping from a wall just to ask the Regent King for help? Empress Dowager, you need to give us all an explanation."

The Empress Dowager’s heart pounded with panic. She never imagined things would turn out like this. ’Whose side is Prince Jing on, anyway?’

’Don’t tell me he’s planning to use me as a pledge of allegiance to curry favor with the Regent King and secure the throne for himself!’

"I told you, the Regent King incited Her Majesty! Do you not understand?"

A commotion stirred at the entrance as Xiao Lv entered, leading a few soldiers who were escorting several people.

He gave a slight bow. "This junior has brought a few people. I imagine the Empress Dowager will find them familiar."

The captives did not dare to look up. With heads bowed, one of them began to speak. "This servant is Chang En, a steward in the Empress Dowager’s palace. For the past three years, this servant has witnessed the Empress Dowager flogging Her Majesty several times each year."

"Whenever the Empress Dowager was displeased, she would whip Her Majesty with a rattan cane. Over the last three years, nearly every time Her Majesty was ’ill,’ it was because she had been beaten by the Empress Dowager. Doctor Zhou would apply the finest medicine to Her Majesty’s wounds so that no scars would be left behind."

"Her Majesty tried to escape, but she was always dragged back by the Palace Attendants before she could even reach the doors. The beatings would not stop until the Empress Dowager had taken out her anger."

All eyes instantly snapped toward the Empress Dowager, their sharp, condemning gazes feeling like they could pierce right through her.

The Empress Dowager’s face was deathly pale, but she held her ground. "I was merely disciplining Her Majesty. Is a mother not allowed to discipline her own child?"

Prince Jing said, "Whether that was discipline or abuse, I’m sure the Empress Dowager knows full well in her heart."

Chang En fell silent, and another person spoke up. "Three days ago, when the Empress Dowager came to see Her Majesty, she brought someone with her, a person wrapped in a cloak. That person had been given the same poison as Her Majesty."

At this, Doctor Han spoke again. "The poison afflicting Her Majesty is called the Mandarin Duck Knot. It is a concoction from the Southern Domain. It was originally a poison used for torture, but because it can make a man and woman inseparable, it is also known as the ’Drug of Fidelity.’ If Her Majesty were to actually spend a night with another woman, she would fall completely under her control."

Duke Liang flew into a rage. "So! This was the Empress Dowager’s plan all along."

The Empress Dowager retorted, "Nonsense! You’re fabricating all of this just to slander me! It’s preposterous!"

Prince Jing replied, "It’s simple enough to prove whether or not this is slander. Summon every Imperial Physician from the Imperial Hospital. Let them publicly determine if Her Majesty was poisoned or merely ill. The truth will be revealed then."

Duke Rong interjected, "Even if Her Majesty was poisoned, how can we be sure the Regent King wasn’t the one who administered it?"

Prince Jing found this absurd. "Who in this world would poison someone and then personally stand guard over the body? Is he afraid people won’t find enough evidence to use against him?"

’The Regent King isn’t the Emperor,’ he thought. ’Is he an idiot?’

Duke Rong was about to argue further when suddenly, the great doors of Zichen Palace slammed shut.

Immediately after, the sound of clashing swords echoed from outside.

Fresh blood splattered against the windows, a large stain slowly trickling down.

While they were still arguing, someone had already made a move.

Who was it? Who was fighting outside?

The doors were shut, and the sky outside seemed to darken with them. The spacious hall was plunged into a deep gloom, and a sudden wind, from a source unknown, caused the curtains to dance wildly.

"What’s happening? Who did this?"

"Stop with these theatrics!"

As the officials panicked in confusion, no one noticed Doctor Han quietly step back and discreetly remove the silver needles from the Emperor’s head and neck.

"AGH!"

No longer sealed by the acupuncture, Xiao Yang was jolted awake by the sheer pain.

She convulsed, bolting upright in bed, only to find herself surrounded by people.

As if on cue, a sudden clap of thunder echoed from outside. A blinding flash of lightning pierced the gloom, illuminating Xiao Yang’s ghastly pale face.

"AHHHH!!!!"

The Empress Dowager, standing nearby, was so frightened that she stumbled and fell backward.

Xiao Yang tilted her head. "Empress Dowager?"

She was in so much pain she felt she was going mad. "What are you doing here, Empress Dowager? Did you come to see for yourself whether I was dead?"

She leaned forward, her face contorted in agony and her eyes filled with a maniacal hatred, like a demon crawling up from the depths of hell. "Empress Dowager, it hurts so much... I feel like I’m dying... I really want to make you feel this too... Ugh... AHH..."

A sudden, excruciating spasm of pain wracked Xiao Yang’s body, cutting her off mid-sentence. Her agonized, contorted expression only made her look more terrifying.

"AHHH!!!"

The Empress Dowager shrieked, scrambling backward in terror. The others were just as frightened. Only Wang Hai came to his senses and tried to help her, but the terrified Empress Dowager violently shoved him away.

"Go away! Get away! It wasn’t me! I never meant to kill you..."

"It has nothing to do with me... Don’t come to claim my soul..."

Xiao Yang hadn’t expected the Empress Dowager to be so terrified. She froze for a second, then looked at the others. Her gaze swept past Prince Jing and Xiao Lv before finally resting on Rong Yin.

"Regent King, what’s the situation?"

The windows were closed, and the eerie, cold wind vanished.

Palace Attendants quickly lit dozens of lamps, bathing the room in bright light.

The officials, who had just been scared witless, nearly collapsed. As they came to their senses, they realized their backs were completely drenched in a cold sweat.

The apparent resurrection just now had been utterly terrifying.

The Emperor wasn’t dead, but they had nearly been scared to death.

Xiao Yang was helped to sit up in bed, and Rong Yin explained what had just transpired. His explanation also served to inform everyone else why the Little Emperor had seemingly died, only to come back to life.

She had simply been in too much pain, an unbearable agony that would jolt her awake even if she were knocked unconscious. She had relentlessly begged the Regent King to kill her. Left with no other choice, Rong Yin had turned to Han Yang, putting him in a difficult position. Han Yang explained that he knew an acupuncture technique that could seal off a person’s five senses, making them appear as if they were dead.

However, the technique was risky; if it went wrong, it could leave the person permanently witless.

Xiao Yang felt like she was being tortured to death anyway, so she couldn’t care less about becoming witless. She immediately threatened Han Yang to perform the procedure.

And so, she had been lying there in a state of feigned death, able to escape the agony.