Lo Zhong released Lo Xi's lips but did not let go of her. He gave a indifferent glance at Empress Wei and said, "How did your Majesty come to the Imperial Study?"
He was not at all embarrassed by being caught, instead, he remained calm as if nothing had happened.
Lo Xi glanced at Empress Wei, whose face was turning purple with anger, and a hint of cold mockery flashed through her eyes. She then struggled to get up from Lo Zhong's lap.
"Mother." She called out, bowing her head but not making a formal obeisance.
Empress Wei looked at Lo Xi's flushed lips and couldn't help but tremble her hands. "You people are crazy, why...why would you do such a thing?"
She thought that Lo Xi was afraid of punishment from her and had specifically come to the Imperial Study for her plea. She came by herself, but when she saw such a scene, she was so angry that she couldn't say a complete sentence.
Lo Zhong rose and straightened his dragon robe, speaking slowly and calmly, "The Emperor and His Royal Highness the Princess have not seen each other for a long time. We were just sitting closer to talk. Mother, you're too controlling, aren't you?"
"Emperor." Empress Wei shouted angrily, "You think I'm blind? You and your sister-in-law clearly..."
"What exactly happened." Lo Zhong looked at her, his eyes cold enough to frighten.
Empress Wei's expression grew darker. Over the years, she had seen everything Lo Zhong had done, and she dared not provoke him. Therefore, she could only direct her anger towards Lo Xi.
"You, this offspring of hell, did not first come see me and instead went to the general's residence to interfere with your sister's marriage, even with a sword, causing her miscarriage."
"I do not have a daughter as vile as you, how come back to cause harm to us when you could have died on the road to peace marriage."
"Mother." Lo Zhong's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Watch your words."
Empress Wei had reached the limit of her anger and did not care about Lo Zhong. After all, she was the Queen Mother and had her own people in the court. He dared not truly offend her.
She looked at Lo Xi with a face full of repugnance and said, "If I had known you were so wicked, I would have strangled you the moment you were born."
"Mother!" Lo Zhong stepped forward, roaring, "You're being too outrageous! I still..."
He didn't finish his sentence when Lo Xi looked up at him and said, "Azhong, I have some things to say to the mother. Can you go out first?"
Lo Zhong didn't want them to be alone together, but seeing the begging look in her eyes, he nodded and said: "Alright, I'll wait outside. Just call me if you need anything."
Lo Xi nodded, and Lo Zhong, accompanied by the attendants of Empress Wei, walked out. After the door was closed, only Lo Xi and Empress Wei remained in the Imperial Study.
Lo Xi sat down in the chair that Lo Zhong had just vacated and looked at Empress Wei with a face of injury.
"A parting of ten years, I thought Mother would miss me as much as I miss her. Unexpectedly, Mother actually wants me to die on the road to peace marriage. It is truly heartbreaking."
Her tone carried a hint of coquetry, as if she were a daughter from an ordinary family pleading with her mother.
Empress Wei's disgust was plain to see as she coldly looked at Lo Xi. "Don't talk to me about this. Do you know how much suffering Yaoer has endured to have a child? Now that she is almost ready to give birth, you used a sword to pierce her belly and cause her miscarriage, almost causing her to die twice."
"Lo Xi, how can there be such an evil person in the world? If I had known you were so evil, Mother..."
"What then? Should I not have been born in the first place?" Lo Xi cut her off, her eyes cold and terrifying.
She stood up and walked slowly towards Empress Wei, saying as she went along, "You call me evil and evil, ask me, am I evil for designing to push my own daughter onto the path of marriage of convenience? "
Thinking of the selfishness that caused her to suffer so much, Lo Xi couldn't help but feel the urge to take out the dagger in her pocket and rip out her heart to see if it was black.
But in the end, she held back. Dying so easily would be too kind to her. For someone like her, one must first corrupt their heart, and then subject them to a cruel and prolonged punishment.
Empress Wei was pushed back a step by her and coldly said, "Marrying for convenience was the path you, as the eldest princess, should have taken. Even if you had not gone to the Western Regions to marry, you would have married in another country..."
"Marrying for convenience is not my destiny." Lo Xi interrupted her again and said, "The emperor once said that I am his first child, his treasure, and even if he dies, he will not send me to marry for convenience."
Empress Wei suddenly thought of something, her expression becoming uglier. She coldly laughed, "Fine words are easy to hear from anyone. Don't forget, it was he who issued the edict for your marriage for convenience."
Lo Xi looked at her and suddenly burst out laughing: "Yes, the edict that ordered me to marry for convenience was indeed issued by him."
Then she shifted the topic, saying, "But why would the emperor suddenly issue an edict for me to go to a marriage of convenience in place of Lady Lou Yao? No one knows better than you, Mother."
Empress Wei's face flashed with a hint of unease. She turned away her gaze and said, "How would I know what my son did?"
"Do you not know?" Lo Xi's hand clenched tightly within her sleeve before she finally released it.
She laughed, "I know. As the Princess of Lingjiang, I should sacrifice for my country and my people. I am willing to go to a marriage of convenience."
As she spoke, her eyes shot out an ocean of hatred: "But you shouldn't have let Lady Lou Yao seduce Chu Yao, causing him to deeply fall for her. Then, along with the father of Xiao Rㄣ and my grandfather, they forced the emperor to make me marry Lady Lou Yao instead. Even the State Teacher said at the state sacrificial ceremony that I am cursed and will bring disaster upon the country."
If Lady Lou Yao hadn't deliberately approached Chu Yao and told me that she and Xiao Rㄣ were deeply in love, I would have certainly agreed to their union and married for convenience.
Chu Yao might not fall in love with her, but he also wouldn't torture her without regard for her as a person.
But they still forced her into a dead end, designing for her to marry for convenience on behalf of Lady Lou Yao, and even spreading rumors to Xiliang.
Said she was in love with Chu Yao, jealous of Lady Lou Yao, and killed her to take her place to marry for convenience in Xiliang, causing her to be tortured by Chu Yao more than she would have died.
Faced with her questions, Empress Wei was utterly unimpressed. She coldly said, "These are your fates; you should accept them rather than try to alter the will of heaven."
"Accept your fate? Hahahaha." Lo Xi seemed to find it the funniest thing in the world. She walked up to Empress Wei and leaned in close to her ear, saying, "You can go persuade your precious offspring to accept their fate now."
With this said, Empress Wei's face turned pale as if it were suddenly blanched. She took a few steps back in shock and looked at Lo Xi with a shocked expression.
"Disrespectful, what absurdities are you spouting?"
"Nonsense and nonsense," Lo Xi twirled a strand of hair with her fingers, her tone full of mockery. "At first, I couldn't understand why you, who are my own mother, would favor Lady Lou Yao over me, hate me, and even wish for my immediate death."
As she spoke, she paused for a moment, looking at Empress Wei's pale and bloodless face before continuing to say:
"In the second year of my stay in Xiliang, I finally realized why you wanted me dead. It was because I accidentally discovered something indecent of yours, and that Lady Lou Yao is your and..."
"Shut up, shut up." Empress Wei became angry and raised her hand to strike Lo Xi.
Just as her hand was about to touch Lo Xi, there was a crisp "slap" sound, and Lo Xi grabbed her wrist and slapped her hard across the face.
Her left wrist had once been bitten to the point of being broken, and though she could not exert much strength even with it healed, for Empress Wei, who had never been struck with a palm, this was the ultimate humiliation.
"Lo Xi, you beast! Don't you fear thunder and lightning striking?" Empress Wei roared out.
"That's heaven and earth smiting." Lo Xi said as she pulled out a bottle from her pocket, not giving Empress Wei a chance to react, and poured the white insects inside into her mouth.
"If that's the case, wouldn't everything I do next send me straight to the underworld?"
