Laugh Out Loud

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Three to go after this one!! Woop, woop!!!

Chapter 82

Emperor Huizhong
Bai Shen Hong
Yuwen Hong
The Grand palace

“Noble Consort Qi, this can end as fast as it started. Why don’t you confess?”

Noble Consort Qi writhed against the ties on her hands and feet. They bound her to the chair, leaving bruises where they made contact with her skin. Sweat also dribbled down her forehead and Yuwen Hong almost spared her because of pity, but that would be injustice to his Li Lian. He needed to know the truth about what happened on the night of the massacre and anyone suspicious deserved to go through the trial process.

“The only harem women who survived were those who were in the Rose Flower Palace, but you were not there. Where were you?”

She coughed and licked her dry lips. “I was not involved in the assassinations that took place in the palace, Your Majesty.”

“You have been saying that, yet you will not tell me where you were?” What was so hard about that?

“I desire not to lie to His Majesty, thus I won't confess.”

“Hah, then I will kill you," he scorned. "Forget the friendship we have, I will kill you.”

“Your Majesty,” she snuffled. “I swear with my life that I did not betray you concerning this case.”

Her innocent eyes pleaded with him but deep down, the ache for his beloved prosecuted her as guilty. He couldn't let it go.

“All right, let us say I believe you." He wouldn't until she confessed. "It still didn't explain why you hurriedly burned the body of Li Lian in cohorts with General Feng, but without my permission. What did you want to hide?”

“Your Majesty, the body of Imperial Concubine Wei was barely recognisable, it would be ominous not  to burn a disfigured corpse.”

Yuwen Hong narrowed his glare at her. She had been punished throughout the week, yet still held on to her statements. Maybe she was not in the bad and he was being overly suspicious, but Yuwen Hong had this wild idea that probably Li Lian was still alive and they had burnt her alive to eliminate her because she was a candidate for the empress seat.

He looked at the officials in charge of the investigations and instructed them to keep going with the interrogation. If she did not confess, let her die.

“Your Majesty,” one of them knelt. “If we keep at this, the Noble Consort will then be scarred by the beatings, therefore disqualifying her from the conferring process. This servant suggests for His Majesty to let us apply another method of punishment and spare her from the disqualification”.

“I don’t care. Since I started reigning, I have not had an empress, I can live for another thousand years without one.”

“Your Majesty!” Eunuch Nam called for his attention.

“What now?”

“The palace guards call for your audience in the courtroom because there is a visitor that they think would be of interest to you.”

Yuwen Hong glanced at Noble Consort Qi again. “You better confess, otherwise I will kill you.” The woman who he had considered a friend was hiding something from him. He should have known better.

As he exited the dark dungeon, he was met by the protestors at the entrance, most of them belonging to the West Wing who stood for their clanswoman.

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