Forensic Imperial Concubine novel Chapter 568

"I've confirmed it with the imperial physician. The imperial physician said that Francis has long suffered from a serious chronic illness, and his current condition is just a momentary improvement before death. Some days ago, he was seriously ill, and it was doubtful that he would survive past New Year's Day. Strangely, he has become much better after leaving the Imperial Palace. He even had the strength to ward off the sword which would have killed Father. His illness... Don't you think it's rather hard to explain?" said Felix.

"I have also heard from the imperial physician that he was born a very weak body," answered the empress, her eyes lighting up.

"Mother, do you find it believable?" Felix was obviously unimpressed by what she said. If Francis was really born with a weak body, how could it be possible for him to recover as soon as he moved out of the Imperial Palace? There must be something he didn't know.

Holding her teacup in her hands, the empress fell into silence. She had guessed what was going on with Francis' body, but she didn't have any evidence to prove that Francis' weakness was just a pretense. On her second thought, it seemed to her that Francis could not possibly be a threat to her and her son. After all, a prince with so little time left to live surely couldn't be the next emperor. However, she was still worried that the Bu Clan would be foolish enough to support Francis.

"What is the Bu Clan's position?" the empress asked in a contemplative voice. The Bu Clan held the greatest prestige among the civil officials. If they supported Francis, then he would be competitive despite his poor health.

"The Bu Clan was summoned to visit Francis," Felix said as a surge of resentment arose from his heart. He was also the emperor's son, and had been proclaimed to be the crown prince by the emperor himself. But over the years, the emperor had shown him very little favor, and had even been on his guard against him. The two of them were not at all like father and son.

"Oh, I see. In other words, His Majesty did so, in order to fool others," the empress commented. A cold and calculating light flashed in her eyes. "In that case, Francis is indeed no threat to us. We should be wary of Matthew instead."

"Today, I went to Uncle Matthew's mansion. He and his wife treated me with extraordinary hostility," Felix said, gritting his teeth. He ached with resentment whenever he thought of the big pearl on the dog's neck.

"Oh, really? What happened?" the empress asked, with her face darkening instantly.

"Yesterday I sent a bead of pearl to his mansion. But when I paid a visit today, I found the pearl hanging on the neck of a black dog." In his wrath, Felix clenched his fists as if he were about to tear Matthew apart. Still, he had no choice but to be patient because he knew perfectly well that he had no military power and was no match for his uncle.

"What? That arrogant bastard has gone too far this time!" the empress growled upon hearing that. She felt so provoked by that story that she immediately smashed the teacup in her hand onto the floor. The maids were so scared that they kneeled on the floor at once. Hearing the chaos inside the room, Nancy quickly came in, cleaned away the porcelain fragments from the floor, wiped up the tea on the floor, and then made another cup of tea for the empress. After doing all this quickly, she waited quietly outside at a distance, to prevent anyone from getting close or eavesdropping.

"Mother, we can't just sit still and wait for death. When Hoffman offended Uncle Matthew before, Uncle Matthew partnered with us to get rid of him. Now I'm afraid he has us in his target. If we just sit still, we'll be in trouble," Felix reasoned. "Francis is on good terms with Uncle Matthew nowadays. If he wants to use Francis to deal with us, we will both be in danger."