Chapter 515 - Have You All Lost Your Minds

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Jiang Yeqian completely ignored the empress’ sudden reddening face. He began speaking some truths with a livid face.

“You keep saying that I’m not allowed to call myself ‘humble servant’, but you’ve never forgotten your status as an empress.

“You keep using the royal plural!

“You told me not to call myself ‘humble servant’, not to care so much about the differences between an empress and a servant—but you’ve always prided yourself as the high and mighty empress.

“It’s not I who cares about the differences between an empress and a servant. The one who really cares about status is you!”

The empress listened to his raspy and pleasant voice, speaking words that reprimanded her. Her head was buzzing. “I…” Why was he reprimanding her? How manly!

“You deliberately brought up that Li Ruoxuan and I were at Nanfeng Pavilion just now!

“You were not trying to find out what Li Ruoxuan was thinking, you were trying to test me. You wanted to see if I would do it for Qi Qingyao…

“You’ve secretly traced all of my whereabouts in Qingzhou City. You studied my movements and figured I might be interested in Qi Qingyao—so you called her into the Capital to meet you.

“On one hand, it was because of Si Jin. On the other hand, you especially wanted to see what she looked like!

“Upon our arrival in the capital, you, the high and mighty empress, then sent your own eyes and ears to track me and Li Ruoxuan’s whereabouts. Then, Your Majesty, being especially paranoid, suspected that I was most likely very interested in Qi Qingyao!

“That was why you were pressing me just now—asking why I used to visit the Qi Residence so often and why I showed up at Nanfeng Pavilion last night.

“I told you that she was just a useful chess piece, but you weren’t satisfied. The empress’ innate suspicion irked you, and you suspected that I was lying!

“So, you used the last resort. Disregarding the existence of the demon king Si Jin, you purposely ordered me to kill Qi Qingyao! You wanted to prove your inner suspicions right!

“If Li Ruoxuan hadn’t come forward just now, and if I had stopped at a critical moment, you’d have suspected I fancied her and secretly gotten rid of her later!”

“I wonder if what I’m saying is true, Your Majesty.”

Jiang Yeqian had straightforwardly stated all the casualties that revolved around the encounter just now.

The empress had not expected him to understand her thoughts so well. This suddenly made her feel like she had nowhere to hide, and her ruddy complexion turned pale green. “We… We…I…I- I- I- I…”

Jiang Yeqian’s dry eyes seemed covered in snow. “There’s no need to act all buddy-buddy with me. It’s expected for Your Majesty to have so many sophisticated resources to depend on in Northern Liang! If you didn’t have such capabilities, I’d doubt your abilities as an empress.” He deliberately did the opposite and praised her for being amazing.

However, the empress was hung up on the actual subject at hand. “Do you really not like me at all, Jiang Yeqian?”

Jiang Yeqian was silent for a moment before he answered. “Liking you is out of the question. The relationship between you and I is strictly one between an empress and a servant, nothing more.”

“...”

The empress also fell silent. After a significant period of silence, she finally exclaimed, “I don’t want to give up!

“What kind of girl do you like? I can change!”

Jiang Yeqian, “...”

Noticing his silence, the empress said again, “Do you not even know what kind of women you like?”

Jiang Yeqian replied once more, “I don’t have anyone I like.”

The empress said keenly, “Your pause just now indicates that you do. You only bluntly said no when I asked you the second time. You’re lying.”

Jiang Yeqian rubbed his forehead, sensing a headache setting in. “Your Majesty, I want to resign. Approve my resignation first, then we’ll discuss the rest.”

The empress grabbed the hem of his clothes again, desperately urging him to stay. “If I approve your resignation, you’ll leave the capital! We feel like you’ll leave us forever! So, we won’t approve it! We’ll never approve it!”

“Empress…”

Jiang Yeqian could not help but utter this word.

His tone was unprecedentedly disdainful.

It was like a high and mighty authority calling upon an inept puppet.

The empress’s hands froze as she was grabbing the hem of his clothes. She raised her head and gazed longingly at the arrogant but precious man who stood before her.

The man looked down at her condescendingly, as if he was looking at ants on the ground. Then, he reached out his fair hand and gently held the empress’ chin with his delicate, soft fingers.

He lowered his head.

The empress’ breathing was extremely tense.

Her heart was pounding.

The man’s gaze was high and mighty, and extremely arrogant. He leaned in close to her ear, his voice filled with mockery.

“If you don’t approve this, I also have a million other ways to leave the Capital mysteriously. Once I leave, you’ll never see any sign of me ever again!”

The empress’ eyes instantly lost focus.

She knew he was being serious.

The Head Grand Secretariat whom she fancied looked handsome and gentle, but his approaches could be extraordinarily ruthless.

The man spoke again in an extremely dangerous tone. “But if you approve, I won’t have to disappear mysteriously. I’ll stay in the Capital unreservedly.”

The empress’ unfocused eyes gradually regained focus. She pleaded, like a drowning person grabbing driftwood in the sea, “You really won’t leave?”

“Not anytime soon.”

Jiang Yeqian loosened his grip and took a step back. He casually brushed some non-existent dust off his body.

At that moment, he was thinking that if the empress of Northern Liang was a regular puppet, she could continue to be one.

However, if she had turned into a fool tormented by love, the empress of Northern Liang should be replaced.

This matter had to be brought to the attention of the Wenchun Hall so they could draw up a plan.

Thus, he really could not leave anytime soon.

The Zhaixing Administration would have to cooperate with Wenchun Hall and Xuanwu Administration to plan a coup d’etat. It would be better if the empress of Northern Liang was rational!

The clueless empress responded happily, “We approve! We will allow you to resign—but you will have to remain under our watch for the time being. When we want to summon you, you have to come to see us.”

Jiang Yeqian blurted out the following words mercilessly. “That’d depend on my mood.”

He swiftly turned around and gracefully walked away on his crutches.

The empress looked at the figure of the cold man, her gaze filled with anger and embarrassment.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

She felt like the words ‘depend on my mood’ that had come out of the man’s mouth were arrogant and domineering, which made her both love and hate them…

…

After the carriage returned to the State Preceptor’s residence, Li Ruoxuan wanted to help Qi Qingyao. However, seeing that she did not say a word, he did not say anything either and just waited. He waited for a long time before Qi Qingyao returned to her senses and asked dumbly, “Are we here?”

“We’re here.”

“...”

She got off the carriage in silence. Perhaps it was because she had done enough mental preparation along the way. Though her steps were still not steady upon getting off the carriage, she still insisted on walking back to the courtyard on her own.

Li Ruoxuan followed closely behind her. After watching her walk back to her room, he turned around and returned to his own room without saying a word.

Zhu Shen knew something must have happened in the imperial palace.

Thus, he followed His Excellency back to the study.

After sitting at the scented rosewood desk, Li Ruoxuan glanced at the stack of documents on the desk. He seemed very irritated, and he had yet to leaf through any of the documents. His eyes seemed empty. He placed the palm of his hand on the desk and curled his fingers, tapping on the desk rhythmically.

Zhu Shen stood at the side and waited, thinking to himself that His Excellency was seldom like this…

His Excellency was very upset, but why?

Was it because Lady Qi had been strangled, or had something else happened in the palace?

“Your Excellency?”

“Yes?”

“Lady Qi’s neck…”

“Yeah.”

“...” Yeah? Yeah, what? What was going on? Zhu Shen was mildly anxious.

“She was almost strangled to death by the Head Grand Secretariat, so she’s somewhat traumatized now.” Li Ruoxuan’s fingers suddenly stopped.

Zhu Shen, “...”

Eh?!

The Head Grand Secretariat? Strangled Lady Qi?

Ah?

Had he lost his mind?