The Emperor's Phoenix

Chapter 38 | Her Attack

刘 映 月

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Liu Ying Yue

For a split second, Emperor Tang slightly shifted his head to meet her gaze through the crack of the door as she quickly moved away in panic. The revelation of his relationship with that woman was simply too shocking that Ying Yue wasn't sure whether she actually made some sort of sound to signal her presence.

...How?...And for this long, they hid it...

After a hesitant pause, she continued eavesdropping on the conversation once again.

"Your existence was a mistake!" The consort hissed, spurred on by the spontaneity of her rage.

Her son simply chuckled, unaffected by her harsh words. "And what does that say about you, mother? Are you aware of how much of a selfish bitch you are? I did everything for your request, yet--"

"Enough of this!" She harshly released her grip, turning her back as he bore a disappointed glare.

"How cowardly. Yet..." He smirked as she paused, awaiting his next words. "...It only takes one mistake to birth another. Have a good night, mother."

The woman pursed her lips with clenched fists, her eyes narrowing in a momentary, pained expression. Ying Yue agilely climbed onto the roof of the palace, gazing after her step mother's retreating back as she stormed off. It was only then that she realized the metallic glint coming from one of the bushes surrounding the outside of his room, which she determined to be part of a ring of traps.

...Just what kind of a woman is Consort Sui...? Who is she really...?

Unfortunately for Ying Yue, she still had yet to find out. While she was tempted to ask Emperor Tang due to his sudden switch in sides against the consort, it would obviously go against what An Fen had told her to do--not act rashly. She silently crept among the tiles of the roof in pursuit of her step mother, unconsciously holding her breath as the woman muttered something to guards standing by before entering her bedroom.

Four men...I can obviously make it past them and into her room to slit her throat--but since An Fen said not to...

Withdrawing a dagger from her sleeve, Ying Yue threw it at a nearby bush. As a soldier went to investigate the source of the sound, she leapt down from the roof as they immediately drew their swords. She unsheathed her other dagger and rushed forward to meet their blows, pretending to put up a futile fight in her defense. As a man knocked the weapon out of her hands, she held them up in a position of resignation as they observed her warily.

"Tch, she's just another pesky villager...Should we...?"

Another soldier sheathed his sword with a shake of his head. "No. She told us not to disturb her. For now, just throw this woman into the dungeons with the others."

As one of the soldiers restrained her arms behind her back, she came with them in annoyed passiveness as they descended the stairs to the jails. Ying Yue's eyes widened at the motionless bodies lying in each cell, an overwhelming stench of death hanging in the air.

Her eyes darkened as she grit her teeth in silent anger, a soldier laughing at the furious expression on her face as he forced her into an unoccupied cell.