The emperor received the news straightaway. When he heard it, he was not displeased at all. Instead, he smiled in delight.
Andy was unsure about the news. 'His Majesty is overjoyed that Lady Harper is pregnant. The sun rises in the east today. But why I felt something is really wrong?'
"What good news!" The emperor laughed loudly. 'A few days after the fake Harper was sent to Matthew's mansion, the news that his wife was pregnant spread around quickly. It seemed that Felix and the empress had played the imposter trick successfully. Most likely, Matthew was mad with joy and had no idea that the baby was not his.'
"Someone."
"Your Majesty, I am here."
"Go to Matthew's mansion to deliver an imperial edict, and reward them with a pair of high-quality jade, ten pieces of brocade and one thousand taels of gold. Tell them that I hope that Harper can deliver a baby for Matthew soon." The emperor's words were spoken with the utmost sarcasm.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The empress hadn't received the news yet. The Sleek Palace was deadly silent. The empress was brooding over the devastating blow to her pride that she had recently received: her own maidservant had seduced the emperor, and the emperor had given the maid the title of Attendant Cheryl. She hadn't punished her yet. However, Cheryl secretly went back to the empress's palace and was caught.
"Attendant Cheryl."
"Greetings, Your Majesty." Cheryl trembled in fear. She had been taken away from the Sleek Palace by the emperor, so she had to sneak back to get a special possession of hers at the risk of her life. She had hidden it in the empress's palace. If she didn't recover it, she would lose the emperor's love.
"You've done an excellent job of seducing His Majesty. He not only ignored my illness, but also gave you the title of Attendant Cheryl without asking for my opinion. You impressed me!" When the empress said this, her tone was calm, and her expression was gentle, but her anger was obvious to Cheryl. When the empress saw the clothes that Cheryl was wearing by virtue of her new rank as the attendant, the sight was very offensive to her eye.
"Forgive me, Your Majesty. Please don't be angry at me! I..."
"You truly deserve to die!" the empress interrupted her. "Tell me. You have sneaked into my palace and want to steal something. What is it? You stole His Majesty last time. Do you want to steal my seal this time?"
"I dare not!" Cheryl was so frightened that she fell to the ground, shivering. Stealing the empress's seal was a capital felony. If the empress framed her for stealing her seal, even the emperor wouldn't be able to save her.
"Oh, really?" The empress snorted in contempt. "There's nothing you dare not do. Nancy, search this bitch and find out what she has stolen."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Nancy went to Cheryl immediately, but the latter was so scared that she wanted to get up and run away. Two nannies rushed over and held her down. "You little hussy, how dare you run away from me?"
Nancy stared at Cheryl with an icy cold smile on her face. In front of everyone, she stripped Cheryl of all her clothes. Cheryl felt extremely ashamed, but now there was something much more terrible than that, because the voodoo doll hidden inside her clothes dropped out when her clothes came off.
"What's this?" Nancy picked up the voodoo doll and was utterly shocked. "You shameless wench! How dare you use such a filthy thing in this palace? You're courting death!"
As soon as the two nannies let go of Cheryl's hands, she fell to the ground. In spite of her nakedness, she crawled to the empress's feet and caught the corner of her clothes. "Your Majesty, please forgive me. It's not a voodoo curse for hurting anyone. I intend no harm to anyone. It's just a spell doll for gaining His Majesty's favor."
The empress narrowed her eyes. "You say you used this doll to win His Majesty's affection?"
"Yes. I didn't believe in its power at first. But after I prayed sincerely to the spell doll that day, His Majesty stayed with me that night. I originally wanted to take the spell doll away with me, but His Majesty took me away directly at dawn, so I couldn't. This is the reason why I sneaked back into the Sleek Palace to take it. Please spare my life, Your Majesty. I wouldn't do this again."
The empress looked at the spell doll in her hand, and then looked at Cheryl who was crying. Then she asked, "Is this really as effective as you claimed?"
"Your Majesty, what I said is true. His Majesty pampered me in every way possible..." After saying that, Cheryl lifted her eyes up to the empress. Seeing the terrible glare on the empress's face, she changed her words immediately. "Your Majesty, if you don't believe it, you can have a try."
"Your Majesty, His Majesty is visiting the Sleek Palace. He has already arrived at the gate." The empress wanted to take that opportunity to kill Cheryl, but as the emperor was already at the gate, she had no choice but to have her servants knock her out and hide her away. As for the spell doll, she couldn't find a good place to hide it right away, so she threw it under the bed.
The emperor was in a jolly mood. He thought the pregnancy of Matthew's wife was owing to the empress. When he thought back upon the time when he raped Harper and that the imposter of Harper whom Matthew loved deeply was pregnant, he was brimming with joy. Under the assumption that the empress had contributed to that, he wanted to express his gratitude.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Forensic Imperial Concubine