"Unworthy? Why would Your Majesty say such a thing?"
The emperor's self-deprecating expression was very different from usual, which made Gu Jiangli realize that the vulnerability she had seen last night was not an illusion, but a real phenomenon.
If the emperor is not entitled to have children, then what is her mission here?
Now that she has arrived, the emperor must have many children.
"Your Majesty, you are the chosen one of Heaven, the Emperor of Great Jiang. If you are not worthy of having children, then who is? Why would Your Majesty have such thoughts? It is heartbreaking to hear."
The emperor was very guarded; even though he was very gentle with her last night, he never truly let his guard down.
What she needed to do was to gradually lower the emperor's guard and gain his complete trust in her, so that she could use the emperor's hand to do things.
The emperor narrowed his eyes, his scrutinizing gaze falling on Gu Jiangli's face.
Aside from concern and worry for him, nothing else comes to mind.
His smile deepened, but his gaze grew even colder. He lowered his head, bringing his face close to Gu Jiangli's, his tone icy.
"I once had a child."
With just that one sentence, Gu Jiangli's memories of the emperor's child surfaced.
When the emperor was still the crown prince, a maidservant became pregnant with his child, but the empress dowager aborted it.
Some say that they were punished because they did not value the child, thus leaving the emperor childless.
But this was just a rumor circulating in the palace, so she decided to pretend she didn't know.
"Your Majesty once had a child?"
"I thought that with Consort Gu's intelligence, she should know such secrets. It turns out you haven't heard of them?"
Gu Jiangli shook her head frankly, her eyes clear and bright. "Your Majesty has misunderstood me. I am introverted and don't like to talk much. I rarely interact with other concubines in the harem. Perhaps they are not comfortable telling me about these things that are circulating in private."
Gu Jiangli's feigned ignorance was incredibly convincing; as she spoke, she even became aggrieved, as if she were utterly unwelcome in the deep palace.
Whether the emperor saw through her trick or not, he simply began to tell her about the child.
"The Empress was my Crown Princess back then. One of her maids was pregnant with my child. However, the Empress sent that maid a red flower, which caused her to miscarry."
Gu Jiangli feigned surprise, "Empress Dowager...why? No matter what, that's His Majesty's child..."
"The Empress Dowager did this at my behest," he chuckled. "Because she was a lowly maid. How could I, as the Crown Prince, allow a lowly maid to give birth to my eldest son?"
The emperor pronounced each word very heavily.
He seemed to have a deep-seated hatred for "maids".
However, in Gu Jiangli's view, the emperor was more like torturing himself in this way.
The Empress Dowager was a maid, and the Emperor himself was born to a maid. Deep down, he could not possibly despise the identity of a maid.
Gu Jiangli suppressed the surprise on her face.
She thought she should understand the emperor's thoughts now.
In the tranquil Guangming Hall, Gu Jiangli let out a soft sigh.
She stepped forward, wrapped her arms around the emperor's waist, and pressed her face against his chest. Through several layers of clothing, she could hear the rapid heartbeat in his chest.
The emperor was stunned. He instinctively tried to push Gu Jiangli away, but miraculously stopped after touching her arms.
“Your Majesty…” Her voice was soft and gentle, like a feather brushing against his heart.
The emperor's eyes trembled, his breathing became somewhat rapid, and he lowered his head slightly, staring directly at Gu Jiangli's forehead.
"Your Majesty, I know that the child had a reason to die, but it is neither the Empress Dowager's fault nor His Majesty's fault."
"The fact that the child was not destined to be with His Majesty does not mean that His Majesty was not destined to be with the other children."
As she said this, she lifted her head from the emperor's embrace and looked at his slightly flustered face. She knew then that she had made the right bet.
"Your Majesty, being in the royal family means that the path one walks is bound to be more arduous than that of children from ordinary families. That child couldn't endure the hardship and didn't want to come, but he will go to a good family."
"And Your Majesty will surely have children who are willing to be born into the royal family. I believe that day will come."
Gu Jiangli understood that it must not be so simple for the emperor, who was the child of a maid, to ascend the throne.
As a young emperor, he suffered countless scorn and contempt because of his birth. To break through these prejudices and ascend to the position of crown prince, he must have put in a hundred times more effort than other princes.
Even though his father was an emperor, his mother was a lowly maid, and she still couldn't escape ridicule and contempt from all sides.
At that time, he was just a prince...
He himself had not yet secured his position, and if he allowed a maid to give birth to a child, the consequences were unimaginable.
If the child is actually born, the child will not only live the same life he did when he was a child, but he himself will also be subjected to countless taunts once again.
She could easily imagine how the late emperor, the court officials, and the other princes who had not yet ascended to the position of crown prince would treat the man before her.
Therefore, that maid's child must not be kept.
This was the best decision the emperor could make.
It is a foolproof plan that can both prevent the child from suffering and protect oneself.
It's just a pity for that maid; her perfectly healthy child was lost just like that.
So much time has passed, and the emperor has been on the throne for eight years, yet no one has conceived his child except for that maid.
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