Chapter 532: Just pretend this person doesn’t exist, okay?
"Your Majesty, you can't do this! You absolutely can't do this!" The nanny beside her was terrified. She rushed forward and held the Empress Dowager tightly. She turned to Mo Liyuan with tears in her eyes, "Your Highness! Your Highness, please try to persuade her! Imperial Physician Li just warned her that the Empress Dowager is weak and can't withstand any more anger! If she continues like this... what will happen?"
The Queen Mother seemed to have fallen into madness. She desperately waved away the nanny's hand and screamed at the top of her lungs: "Don't stop me! Let me die! When I die, you will all be at peace!"
Mo Liyuan's face was as gloomy as the sky before a storm, and the strong murderous aura almost burst out of his body.
He pursed his lips tightly, his jawline was tense, and his chest rose and fell violently, as if he was trying his best to suppress his surging emotions. If it were in the past, facing such a suicidal threat from his mother, he might have walked away and ignored it.
But now...his royal brother has passed away, and his mother's heart is filled with unresolved depression, which has become a thorn in her heart that cannot be removed. He is really afraid...really afraid that if he is as indifferent as before, it will lead to irreversible consequences.
A heavy feeling of powerlessness gripped him. He took a deep breath, and the breath seemed to sting with ice, stinging his throat. When he spoke again, his voice was more exhausted and suppressed than ever before, as if it had been crushed by a huge rock. "Mother... what do you want? Just tell me."
The Queen Mother's struggles came to an abrupt end. She raised her cloudy yet incredibly sharp eyes, staring intently at Mo Liyuan. Word by word, she articulated her conditions with uncanny clarity: "I want you to depose Lan Xiyue from her position as Princess Consort! And marry Ya'er as the Regent's principal wife!"
"Absolutely impossible!" Mo Liyuan's voice suddenly dropped to freezing point, decisive and without any room for maneuver. His cold eyes, as if looking at a dead object, suddenly swept over Anya who was standing by the bed with an expectant look on her face.
The murderous intent and disgust contained in that gaze were so intense that Anya felt a chill run from her feet straight up to her head, instantly suffocating. Her blood seemed to freeze, and even her breathing stopped for a moment! Fortunately, the terrifying gaze only passed by briefly before refocusing on the Queen Mother, allowing her to breathe deeply as if she had survived a catastrophe.
The Queen Mother knew her youngest son's temperament very well. He was as tough as iron and would rather break than bend. Seeing his resolute attitude, she knew that the position of the principal wife was difficult to shake. She immediately made a "concession", but her tone was more coercive: "Okay! Ya'er can not be the principal wife! But..."
She stared intently into Mo Liyuan's eyes, "She must live in the Regent's Palace as a concubine! Yuan'er, this is my bottom line! If you don't even agree to this..." A look of almost paranoid determination emerged on her face, and her voice suddenly rose, with a madness of burning everything together, "I will go on a hunger strike immediately! I will starve to death in Jingfeng Pavilion! I mean what I say! Anyway, I've had enough of living! If you dare not agree, then wait for me to collect my corpse!"
The bedroom was dead silent, with only the empress dowager's rapid breathing and the nanny's suppressed sobs.
The air was as heavy as solidified lead, making it hard to breathe.
Mo Liyuan's face was so gloomy that it seemed as if water was about to drip out of it. The low pressure emanating from his body caused the temperature of the entire inner room to drop sharply.
He pursed his lips tightly and said nothing, his deep eyes filled with turbulent waves of anger, struggle, helplessness, and the pain of being coerced by his loved ones... In the end, under the Queen Mother's crazy declaration of "dying by hunger strike", his eyes turned into a bottomless cold pool.
After a long time, so long that the Queen Mother almost thought he was going to refuse again, he finally spoke.
The voice was extremely cold, devoid of any warmth, as if it came from the depths of the underworld: "Okay."
Just one word made the Queen Mother's eyes instantly burst into a gleam of success, and Anya's heart was pounding wildly, and she could hardly contain her ecstasy.
Mo Liyuan then added, coldly drawing a line under Anya's cage: "I promised my mother that, according to her wishes, she would live in the palace as a concubine. But..."
He emphasized his tone, his gaze piercing Anya like an ice spike. "She can only live in 'Shuyingxuan' next to Jingfeng Pavilion. She is not allowed to set foot in the main courtyard! If she disobeys, don't blame me for being ruthless! Also, I will only give her the status of a concubine, and will not perform the concubine's etiquette."
"Okay! Okay! As you say! All as you say!" The Queen Mother achieved her goal, and a huge stone fell from her heart. She agreed repeatedly, and even forced a weak smile on her face. As long as the person entered the mansion as a concubine, would she be afraid that there would be no chance?
Mo Liyuan looked at the empress dowager's expression that relaxed instantly, but his heart was filled with cold desolation.
He said no more, not even bothering to look at Anya. He nodded slightly to the Queen Mother, his voice returning to his usual indifference, but with a hint of barely perceptible fatigue: "Mother, please rest well. I will take my leave and will not disturb your rest."
As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around without hesitation. His tall figure, carrying a biting chill and suppressed anger, walked out of the suffocating room with steady but heavy steps.
Mo Liyuan stepped out of the oppressive atmosphere of Jingfeng Pavilion and walked straight back to the main courtyard with heavy steps.
When I opened the door, what came into view was Lan Xiyue's back standing by the window.
Outside the window was the bleak courtyard of the palace in winter, with a few dead leaves swirling in the cold wind. She just stood there quietly, her thin back revealing an indescribable loneliness and alienation, as if there was an invisible layer of ice separating her from this warm room.
His heart tightened, and he walked over lightly, his voice carrying a barely perceptible uneasiness as he called softly, "Yue'er?"
Lan Xiyue didn't turn around, her gaze still fixed on the bare sycamore tree outside the window. Her voice was calm and without a ripple, "Mo Liyuan, the Queen Mother wants you to take Anya as your concubine, and you... agreed, right?"
It's not a doubt, it's a certainty.
Mo Liyuan felt a pang of pain in his heart. He took a step forward, wrapped his arms around her slender waist, and embraced her slightly cold body. He rested his chin on the top of her head, trying to absorb a little warmth: "Yuer..."
He took a deep breath and explained, "My mother is old, and just now she threatened to die... I have no other choice. Believe me, my heart, my eyes, everything I have, can only accommodate you! Even if she entered the mansion as a concubine, to me, she is just a stranger living in the corner. I will never look at her, let alone touch her! Just think of her as... an insignificant idler in the mansion, okay? Just pretend she doesn't exist, okay?"
Lan Xiyue's body stiffened slightly in his arms. She did not struggle, but slowly pried open his hands that were around her waist. She turned around and looked up at him. Her eyes, which were once filled with starry smiles, were now as calm as a frozen lake, clearly reflecting his anxious and helpless face.
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