Chapter 4125: 4.1725 Paralysis
Without saying much, guards stepped forward, grabbed Empress Liu in a few swift motions, and pushed her towards the door.
"Audacious! Audacious!!" Empress Liu shrieked, struggling with all her might against their restraints.
"Rong Li! You ambitious wolf! You killed His Majesty! It was you!!"
Duan Yue pressed his hand to his head, exasperated, and turned to look at Wu Yong, who stood nearby. "Chancellor."
"Yes!" Left Chancellor Wu Yong nodded, rose, and lifted the gauze curtain to step outside the screen. He cupped his hands towards the Empress. "Your Majesty, please grieve. His Majesty did indeed pass away due to the worsening of his injuries."
"His Majesty has been injured since early years, seeking medical treatment for so many years. Who in the court and throughout the land doesn't know this?"
"Just before this, His Majesty calmly instructed us on a few matters and passed away very peacefully."
"His Majesty departed serenely. Please, Your Majesty, do not continue to shout here."
"You group of treacherous officials and thieves, you've all been bribed by Prince Chen! All of you want to deal with my Li'er! Treacherous officials, treacherous officials!"
Being cursed as a treacherous official and thief by the Empress, Chancellor Wu Yong, no matter how extraordinary his demeanor, was so angry that his nose was almost crooked.
"Your Majesty, please watch your words!" Wu Yong said in a deep voice.
A person walked directly out of the inner chamber, coldly looking at the ranting Empress, and said with an unruffled, solemn expression, "In the Empress's eyes, are this King and Prince Li, Prince Qing, Prince Lu, the Left and Right Chancellors, and the ministers of the Six Boards, all treacherous officials??"
Empress Liu looked at the handsome middle-aged man with a cold, solemn expression before her, and couldn't help but freeze slightly.
"Rui? Prince Rui?" Empress Liu was dumbfounded.
Then, seeing the various princes and ministers emerging from the inner chamber in a single file, she felt utterly unwell.
"Prince Li? Prince Qing, Prince Lu! You, how are you all here?"
Prince Qing's heir faintly glanced at the Empress and said in a deep voice, "His Majesty had already drafted the imperial edict for succession. He summoned us and, in front of all of us, handed the imperial edict to the Crown Prince."
"Empress, you were truly disrespectful just now. His Majesty had already conferred the title of Crown Prince upon Prince Chen three days ago."
Yet, just now, the Empress kept mentioning Prince Chen this and Prince Chen that. Was this from heart to mouth, a complete refusal to acknowledge that the person before her was now the Crown Prince?
"Oh, oh!" Old Prince Qing had always been a mediator who smoothed things over.
Seeing his son now so disrespectful to the Empress, directly confronting her, he quickly tugged at his son's clothes, trying to mediate. "Your Majesty, please don't take offense. My son is just outspoken and says whatever he thinks."
"Your Majesty must also be speaking carelessly due to excessive grief over His Majesty's sudden passing. Please, everyone, don't take offense, don't take offense."
"You! You were all summoned by His Majesty?" The Empress trembled all over, her entire face suddenly turning pale.
The Emperor knew his life was coming to an end. Before he passed away, he hadn't even planned to look at her again.
How much did he despise her!
Empress Liu suddenly collapsed to the ground, completely devoid of strength.
She knew, she had always known, that this Emperor had no place for her in his heart.
He loved someone else. Although His Majesty had never told them, as a woman's intuition, she knew it to be absolutely true.
"Empress, please grieve," Chancellor Wu sighed.