Refusing to Serve Me? Then Off With Your Head!

Chapter 56 Mistakenly Thought His Majesty Was A Virtuous Gentleman

The emperor suddenly became easy to bully.

Tian Bing Qing put on a grateful look, maybe because I redempted His Majesty in front of those officials who kept waiting for imperial children (and kept sending their daughters to the palace to pay respect to whoever they can think of.)

I heard, after it was announced that I was pregnant, a lot of rumors about His Majesty's hidden disease disappeared overnight.

Truth spoke louder than words.

Even E Huang had became a lot more obedient, no longer spewing lies to flatter His Majesty. She would stare at my flat tummy while fussing over the smallest things; "Your Ladyship, be a little more careful. What if something happens to the little prince or princess inside your tummy...."

As for the concubines, they seemed to have memorized the palace's rules within one night. I had only gotten quiet for a couple of days and they would dress up prettily to visit me. They would look at my tummy lovingly as though the child in my stomach was their's. They wouldn't go away even if they got shooed away.

I kept trying to send them away, but they would pretend to be dumb and kept drinking tea and chatting.

After a few days, I could no longer stand everything. The noble madams outside the palace had their own restriction and the emperor had relieved me of that worry. However, the concubines were only a couple of steps away with loads of time to squander. They treated Zhong Hua Palace like it was their entertaining room, looking like they wanted to drag me to play with them until the sun sets.

I heard, pretending to be sick was a trick that always worked. However, it unexpectedly failed me this time.

I rested inside the hall, pretending to be sick. They, on the other hand, stood outside under the hot sun, looking as though they weren't willing to lose to one another.

It was very messy.

"The empress is pregnant with the dragon seed, how can we simply sit at ease at own palaces? We must stay at Zhong Hua Palace to tend to her. Even if we cannot personally tend to her, we should at least stay here so that our hearts will be at peace." They looked like they were willing to do anything for the safety of the dragon seed.

E Huang went out to persuade them, only to return begrudgingly, "All of them are calculating foxes..... They are hoping that the emperor would speak to them once he returned from the morning court." She looked at me in worry.

I had the utmost trust for Feng Zhao Wen.

As expected, when His Majesty returned from the morning court, he released a verbal decree. He ordered them to observe vegetarian diet in their own palaces as a way to pray for the unborn dragon child.

The expectant concubines almost cried on the spot.

I laughed happily; jokingly telling him that we should build a temple to accommodate those concubines. He glanced casually at me while reading a memorial, saying, everything in the back palace was up to the empress.

I once heard that the world's most difficult and inescapable enemy was one's own spouse. You do something shady to me, and I would do the same in return.

Lucky for me that although the emperor had a lot of shortcomings, he had never tried to pull off anything despicable in the dark. If I really sent those concubines to a temple, the court would be in an uproar. Why should I do something that stupid?

I should better just take care of my own health properly.

After the first snow during the 11th month, my morning sickness finally disappeared. My appetite got better. Just as I made a promise to myself to regain all those weight that I lost during the early stage of my pregnancy, a news arrived from the Marquis of An's manor. Uncle Tong had fallen ill.