Just as she made up her mind, she suddenly heard a noise from the inner room, which sounded like Hongli coughing. "Someone, bring tea."

Lan Rong sighed inwardly, extremely anxious, "Oh no! The Emperor has already woken up, it's too late to pretend now, you have to help me think of a way!"

With the situation changing, Qiu Cha had no choice but to take a risk. "This servant can perform a ritual on the Emperor, making him believe that something happened between you and him, and then the Emperor will believe it without a doubt."

Lan Rong had seen Qiu Cha's incantation technique before, and it had always worked. Lan Rong trusted her magic, and since there was no other choice at the moment, she could only let her try it.

Both mistress and servant wanted to seize this opportunity, so Lan Rong went into the inner room first, while Qiu Cha took the opportunity of preparing tea to go to her room to get the pendant beads.

Having already woken up, Hongli felt parched and asked someone to bring tea. Lan Rong came in and replied with a smile, "Your Majesty, you're awake. Qiu Cha has already gone to prepare hot tea and will be here soon."

Qiu Cha didn't dare delay. She grabbed the beads and hurried back. She served the tea first, and only then did Hongli pick up his teacup when he suddenly heard Qiu Cha call out.

"emperor……"

Hongli looked up and saw Qiucha take out a rope with a strange black and green bead with a pattern at the bottom. The bead swayed from side to side, as if trying to attract people's attention.

The next moment, Qiu Cha said slowly, "Your Majesty, the person you love most is actually Consort Xian, Lan Rong. You and Lan Rong have already consummated your marriage, so you should make Lan Rong your Empress."

Her voice was unusually alluring, as if it were bewitching people.

As long as the person stares at this pendulum bead, they will be hypnotized, lose their sense of self, and be guided by her words. Qiu Cha had tried this several times, without exception. This time, she thought she would definitely succeed, but to her surprise, the emperor was not bewitched by the bead. Instead, he stared intently at her, his eyes slightly narrowed.

"Qiu Cha, what are you doing? Trying to bewitch me with sorcery?"

Startled by her discovery, Qiu Cha was completely bewildered. How could the spell have failed?

Lan Rong also felt terrified. She never expected that the spell would fail at the crucial moment! Could it be that because Hongli was the true Son of Heaven, the spell was ineffective against him?

Startled by her mistake, Qiu Cha immediately knelt down and begged for forgiveness. Hongli, now completely sober, was utterly astonished. He never imagined that someone in the palace would possess such sorcery! And this person was none other than someone close to Lan Rong!

Thinking back to the strange events that had occurred in previous years, Hongli became increasingly suspicious of Qiucha, but Qiucha vehemently denied it, saying that she was just a beginner and this was her first attempt, and that she had not harmed anyone.

"You dare to try it on me as a beginner? Do you think that's believable?" Her audacity was outrageous, and Hongli wanted nothing more than to execute her immediately. However, to get her to reveal more of the truth, Hongli patiently tried to appear tolerant, promising her favors.

"If you honestly confess your crimes, who instructed you to do what, I will spare your life and release you from the palace."

Qiu Cha glanced at her master instinctively. Lan Rong was terrified and immediately distanced herself from the matter, saying, "Why are you looking at me? This has nothing to do with me, Your Majesty. I had no idea that Qiu Cha possessed such sorcery! Please, Your Majesty, see the truth!"

Just now, Qiu Cha was still hesitating whether to betray her master, but she didn't expect her master to push her out directly!

Life and death are often the greatest tests of human nature. Most people cherish their own lives, including Qiu Cha. Even though Hongli's promise was completely illogical, she had no choice but to believe him when she had no other option.

Most importantly, Lan Rong's ruthless treatment of her as a pawn fueled Qiu Cha's rebellious spirit. She figured since she was going to die anyway, and her master was heartless and could turn on her at any moment, she had nothing to feel guilty about. She decided to tell the Emperor what Lan Rong had done back then; if the Emperor truly kept his promise and didn't kill her, she could save her life.

"Your Majesty, it was clearly you who instructed me to devise a way to bewitch the Emperor, how can you shirk all responsibility?"

Upon hearing this, Lan Rong turned pale with fright and hurriedly defended herself, "Your Majesty, this girl has been instigated by someone to dare to frame me. I would never dare to do such a despicable thing. You must believe me, Your Majesty!"

The two women were fighting like dogs, and Hongli took the opportunity to continue to manipulate Qiucha. In a moment of impulse, Qiucha exposed all the evil deeds that Lan Rong had committed.

"Your Majesty, the one who gave the Imperial Noble Consort the potion to change her gender was not actually Consort Fucha, but Consort Xian! She threatened me to use incantation magic to bewitch Consort Fucha's maid, and then framed Consort Fucha for it."

"And the poison in the lampshade wasn't administered by Dong Ling, but rather by Consort Xian instructing a maid to use a soul-summoning technique on Xiao Xunzi, which made him mistakenly believe it was Dong Ling who had given him the medicine!"

It turns out that not only the transmutation drug, but also the lampshade poison was part of Lan Rong's treacherous scheme!

Upon learning the truth, Hongli flew into a rage. He stood up and walked straight to Lan Rong, pulled out the hairpin from her hair, pointed the sharp tip at her face, and slashed it hard, instantly leaving a bloody gash on her fair face!

The intense pain startled Lan Rong, who screamed, "Ah---my face..."

She instinctively touched her face; her fingertips were sticky, and the bright red blood indicated that her face was most likely ruined!

Just as Lan Rong was filled with terror, Hongli swiftly raised his hand and grabbed her by the neck, his eyes as cold and sharp as knives, "You're about to lose your life, what do you care about saving face?"

His grip was incredibly strong, all his resentment concentrated in his fingers. Lan Rong felt herself struggling to breathe, as if she were about to die! In despair, she tightly grasped Hongli's hand and choked out, "Your Majesty...Your Majesty, spare me!"

In the end, Hongli let her go. Letting her die like this would be too easy for her. He had to make her suffer to the fullest extent of his hatred!

Now he only had one thought: to tell Yu Shan about this as soon as possible. The conflicts between the two of them suddenly became less important. At this moment, he only wanted to expose Lan Rong's true colors and avenge Yu Shan!

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!