Chapter 36 My worries are all I can do to ensure her safety.
Lian looked at Lü Liu, whose body was covered in whip marks and whose clothes were tattered, clearly the result of severe torture...
At this moment, the general, clad in black armor, spoke up at the opportune moment.
"Your Majesty, it's been a long time. Have you ever thought of me?" He nimbly dismounted, raised his hand to remove the helmet covering his face, revealing a handsome face with a hint of evil—it was Ying.
Ying approached Bai Lian and whispered in her ear, "Your Majesty, it's been a long time. Have you ever thought of me?" His tone was light and flirtatious, as if they were old friends reunited, rather than in this desolate place.
"Regarding the Empress's matter, I must thank Your Highness for lending me a helping hand." He smiled with a hint of mockery.
Bai Lian suddenly looked up, her sharp gaze piercing him. Ying, however, neither avoided nor dodged, meeting her gaze with an open and almost sincere look, causing Bai Lian to unconsciously furrow her brows.
“However, Your Highness will have to come with me now. I apologize for any offense.” Ying straightened up and waved her hand. Several soldiers stepped forward to surround Bai Lian.
"As for His Highness the Crown Prince, I will speak on behalf of the Empress..." Before Ying could finish speaking, he heard a noise behind him. He tilted his head and jumped over Bai Lian's shoulder to look, and saw Jia Luolin's angry gaze.
Ying chuckled lightly, as if she had expected this: "It seems I don't need to waste my breath."
He turned to Galorin, his posture respectful, but his tone devoid of warmth: "Your Highness, His Majesty has decreed that you must immediately depart for the palace."
He deliberately dragged out his words, glancing meaningfully at Bai Lian, "As for the Crown Princess's involvement in the case, Your Highness... needs to return to the palace together to make a decision."
He enunciated the word "decision" with exceptional clarity, as if it were a heavy hammer blow to Galorin's heart.
Galo Lin remained silent; he knew all too well what "returning to the palace to make a decision" meant.
That was by no means a fair trial, but rather the final judgment of the imperial power against the rebels.
His gaze was fixed on Bai Lian, who was surrounded by soldiers. The arms that were trying to get close to her and restrain her made the anger in his chest almost burst out.
He desperately wanted to rush forward, sever all the chains, and annihilate everyone who touched her! Even if it meant abandoning his position as crown prince and bearing the eternal infamy of treason, he would do anything to ensure her safety!
But reason held him back tightly.
Before her stood the Imperial Guards, directly under the Emperor's command. If they made a move, not only would they fail to save her, but they would also confirm her guilt of rebellion.
The only delaying tactic at the moment is to temporarily endure, obey the Emperor's decree to return to the palace, and then devise a plan for the future...
A profound sense of powerlessness washed over him, and Galorin clenched his fists. He watched helplessly as that slender yet tenacious figure was mercilessly separated by layers of cold iron armor.
Bai Lian never resisted from beginning to end; she simply walked calmly, even peacefully, toward the carriage that symbolized her status as a prisoner.
The rising sun just grazed the eaves, and a gentle breeze stirred her loose hair and tattered clothes.
Just before she stepped onto the carriage, she suddenly turned around and looked in his direction.
The alluring red lotus mark on her forehead shone brightly in the morning light. Her eyes were calm and undisturbed, and the corners of her lips even carried a very faint, elusive curve. Her posture was not that of someone going to their death, but rather that of someone going to attend a magnificent feast.
In that instant, Galorin felt as if her heart had been violently gripped...
The carriage eventually sped away, leaving behind a desolate courtyard. A pool of spring water rippled in the wind, like a silent sob.
-
The imperial power of the Feng Dynasty did not remain unstable due to this turmoil.
As Emperor Jia Fengtian's illness gradually healed and his health improved, he revitalized the court.
In the Golden Hall, those ministers who had been secretly observing and harboring ulterior motives changed their tune and submitted memorials one after another, vehemently pointing the finger at the Bai family, who were inextricably linked to the death of the deceased empress, as the charge of "treason."
Jia Fengtian, who had always seemed to favor the Bai family, surprisingly went along with his ministers' wishes this time, pointing all the blame at Bai Moyuan and ordering his arrest and severe punishment.
Deep within the prison, the cold, damp atmosphere seemed to seep into one's very bones. Ying jingled the keychain in her hand as she walked to the cell door where Bai Lian was imprisoned.
"Your Majesty, did you sleep well last night?" He grinned as he approached the iron bars and peered inside. The cell was dimly lit, and Bai Lian sat quietly in the shadows in the corner, half of her figure swallowed by darkness, her expression unreadable and no sound audible.
Ying shrugged indifferently, leaned against the cell door and sat down, as if talking to himself: "I even specially asked someone to change your cushions to thicker ones..." He listened carefully, but there was still no response from inside. The cell was as quiet as if it were empty.
He pursed his lips and continued in that casual tone, "Oh, by the way, His Highness the Crown Prince went to see the Emperor again this morning because of you. When the Emperor refused to see him, he knelt outside the palace gates for a long time. Yesterday was the same; he knelt for even longer... Haha, the Crown Prince of a nation, behaving like this."
Ying's voice suddenly stopped. He keenly heard a very slight rustling sound coming from the cell. Although it was fleeting, it did not escape his ears.
A triumphant smile appeared on his face. He stood up and brushed the grass clippings off his robes. "Heh, so you still care about him. It's just a pity that, apart from him, the others you care about... probably won't last much longer." With that, he made a move to leave.
"stop!"
A cold voice sounded from behind. Ying turned around and saw that Bai Lian had silently appeared behind the cell door.
Her long, lustrous hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall. Her face, though pale and without makeup, still possessed a breathtaking beauty, and her elegant demeanor made her seem far more like a prisoner.
"Huh?" Ying raised an eyebrow in feigned surprise, opened the cell door, walked around Bai Lian, and scrutinized her skin, which was completely intact and even the whip marks had faded. "Your wounds healed really fast! I even went out of my way to find medicine for you before... You really are a 'monster'."
He leaned closer, lowered his voice, and said with a dangerous undertone, "If it weren't for the fact that the people who tortured you were my men, your astonishing secret would probably be known to the world long ago. But... I'm getting more and more curious, what exactly will it take for you to die?"
He suddenly reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder in an intimate gesture, yet his tone was cold and ambiguous: "Look, 'monster,' I'm so interested in you. How about... you come with me? Anyway, there's no room for you here."
"Insolence!" A cold glint flashed in Bai Lian's eyes, and without hesitation, she struck behind her with her elbow. Ying nimbly jumped back to dodge.
"Hey, I was just kidding, why are you so angry!" Ying flashed back to the cell door and deftly locked it. "Alright, I know what you want to ask."
He looked up, the playful expression fading from his face, replaced by a cold one. "It won't be long before your father, Bai Moyuan, is 'invited' here. I might as well take pity on you and your daughter and arrange for you to...see each other one last time. See how considerate I am?"
Before he could finish speaking, he saw Bai Lian, who had been expressionless, suddenly raise her hand and grab the iron bars of the cell door tightly. An uncontrollable flame of anger finally ignited in her calm eyes.
Ying narrowed her eyes with satisfaction, her tone tinged with sarcasm: "It seems that's really the case. No matter who it is, once they're troubled by love, they become so pathetic."
After saying that, he didn't linger and turned to leave.
-
Inside Jinyang Palace, the air was filled with the fragrance of incense. The chief eunuch bowed respectfully and reported cautiously to Jia Fengtian, who was reviewing memorials: "Your Majesty, His Highness the Crown Prince has been waiting outside the palace for some time today..."
Jia Fengtian paused in his grip on the vermilion brush, but without looking up, he slowly said, "Bring him in."
Galo Lin, her lips pressed tightly together and her eyes bloodshot, silently entered the main hall.
Just as he was about to bow in accordance with etiquette, Jia Fengtian put down his pen, stood up, walked to him, and gestured to stop him from doing so.
“Father, your son…” Galo Lin’s voice was hoarse.
“Lin’er,” Jia Fengtian interrupted him, looking at his most favored son with a complicated gaze, “I understand you. But there are so many women in the world, why must you…” His tone seemed to carry a hint of a sigh, but then turned cold and authoritative, “Why must you be so obsessed with just one vixen!”
“Father! Lian’er is definitely not a witch!” Jialuolin argued urgently, “The situation was critical that day, and she only acted to protect herself, which is why she accidentally used too much force…”
"A careless mistake? What a careless mistake!" Jia Fengtian roared in fury, "With this one 'careless mistake,' she easily took the lives of several elite soldiers! If she's so ruthless today, will she dare to usurp the throne in the future?!"
Galo Lin's body trembled violently, and her face instantly turned pale. Her father's worries were not entirely unfounded. No emperor could feel at ease with an uncontrollable "outcast" with terrifying power sitting on the throne of the future Queen Mother.
Jia Fengtian stepped closer, his gaze sharp and fixed on Jia Fengtian's eyes. He asked, word by word, "Tell me, who exactly is she? What is her background?"
Galo Lin's hands, hanging limply at her sides, clenched into fists as she met her father's scrutinizing gaze, but ultimately chose silence. The air in the hall instantly froze, becoming heavy and suffocating.
"You, who are always calm and composed, have fallen so deeply..." Jia Fengtian's voice turned cold. "It seems that I really underestimated her skills."
Galo Lin felt as if his chest was being torn apart by two forces. On one side was the kingdom and state of his Galo clan, the emperor he had to serve, and his father whom he could not disobey; on the other side was the only woman he loved and vowed to protect.
Even someone as rational as him struggled to weigh the relative importance of each other at that moment.
He took a deep breath, suddenly knelt down, and said firmly, "Father! No matter who she is or where she comes from, she is my lawfully wedded wife!"
"So, you mean I can't even deal with this vixen?!" Jia Fengtian suddenly flung his sleeve, his face contorted with rage.
"Father, please calm your anger!" Galo Lin kowtowed deeply. "Your subject... Your subject did not mean that..." The words of pleading for forgiveness rolled in his throat a thousand times, but were too heavy to say.
Jia Fengtian turned his back, no longer looking at him, his voice filled with the coldness and determination of an emperor: "Lin'er, my patience is limited."
The kingdom of the Taja clan will not tolerate any potential threats.
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