Chapter 610 - Having Suspicions of the Past and Throwing Consort Zhao into the Cold Palace (1/2)

“Consort Zhao, why did you fall on Consort Yu on purpose? Did you intend to knock her down so as to kill the child in her belly?” The Empress Dowager’s face was livid with anger. She stared at Consort Zhao with her sharp eyes, which looked so gloomy, as if they seemed to drip water. How important the child was to her! It was almost the core of all her plans. During this period, she asked her people to keep a low profile just for the birth of the child.

Unexpectedly, in the end, it was destroyed by Consort Zhao. The Empress Dowager even wanted to swallow Consort Zhao alive!

Consort Zhao’s expression changed greatly. Her body felt so weak that she almost laid on the ground. How could she bear the crime of murdering a royal child? She reached out and grabbed the lower part of the Emperor’s robe. Then she raised her head and looked at the Emperor with tears in her eyes. “Your Majesty, I didn’t. How could I kill the child in Consort Yu’s belly? I don’t have a son. What good will it get for me to murder that child?”

“You are jealous. You are jealous that Consort Yu has His Majesty’s child. Last night, Consort Yu sent someone to your palace and said that her belly hurt, but was stopped outside by your palace maids. You are both jealousy and resentful. You hate Consort Yu for her not being sensible and sending someone to your Mingyue Palace at that time. This morning, you met Consort Yu and there was a quarrel between the two of you. That was why you lost your temper, pretended to be weak and fell on Consort Yu.”

The Empress stated coldly. Of course, she knew that Consort Zhao and the Empress Dowager were close recently. And the latter would not help her at this time. She had investigated it clearly that the people in the two palaces all knew what had happened yesterday. It could not be hidden from others!

Last night, the Emperor had just entered Mingyue Palace when Consort Yu’s people came, and wanted to tell the Emperor that Consort Yu had an upset stomach, but was stopped outside by the palace maids of Mingyue Palace. The palace maids claimed that Consort Zhao did not allow anyone to disturb the Emperor. All the consorts in the palace knew that every time the Emperor came to her palace, it would be an opportunity to fight for his favor.

No one was willing to miss this opportunity!

Consort Yu grew haughty because of the child in her belly and deliberately made trouble for Mingyue Palace when the Emperor came. It was enough to make Consort Zhao hate her. In addition, Consort Yu stimulated her with the child in her belly. Consort Zhao could do such a thing. The Empress gave everyone the facts.

“Your Majesty, I did not. I really did not!” Consort Zhao yelled anxiously and the blood drained from her face. Caichun had indeed mentioned that Consort Yu had sent people to her palace earlier this morning but she did not care at all. However, she did not expect it to be revealed so suddenly. She was already very fl.u.s.tered and could only grab the Emperor’s robes. She looked up at the Emperor pleadingly and tears streamed down her face. She was no longer as gentle and gracious as she had usually been.

The Emperor looked at her coldly beside and didn’t say anything.

The Empress Dowager had already made up her mind. Even though she wanted to draw Consort Zhao to her camp so that she could leave a throne in the Emperor’s side depending on her face similar to Consort Xian’s, she found that the thorn was not planted in the Emperor’s side, but in her heart. If the child was really gone, all her plans were disrupted. How could she not be angry and resentful? She vented all her anger on Consort Zhao.

She turned around and said to Emperor Zongwen, “Your Majesty, those are the facts. Consort Yu and Consort Zhao talked in the pavilion. Consort Zhao pretended to fall into Consort Yu’s body when she left and caused Consort Yu to have a premature birth. It is unknown whether she could be alive or not. It was the people’s quarrel from jealousy. It’s not a big deal, but plotting against the royal child…”

The Empress Dowager did not finish her sentence but had expressed what she meant. Emperor Zongwen only had three sons now. It was true that he did not have many children, and thus, he valued his children very much. The jealousy between the consorts in the imperial harem was not a big deal. However, it was a grave crime to be vicious to the point of harming the Emperor’s children.

Consort Zhao shook her head frantically when she heard that the Empress Dowager was going to punish her. She tugged on Emperor Zongwen’s robe tightly as she looked up tearfully. Her beautiful face was filled with helplessness and despair. She was betting that the Emperor would pity her when he saw her face because it was the last expression Consort Xian had before she died.

“Your Majesty, I really didn’t. When I was about to leave, I suddenly felt that someone tripped me. Initially, I didn’t go to the direction of Consort Yu. But for some unknown reason, someone seemed to have pushed me behind. Your Majesty, please believe me. I really didn’t do anything wrong to you. I really wouldn’t harm your child.”

The gloom in Emperor Zongwen’s eyes reduced a little because of her charming and pitiful face. However, hatred and anger appeared in the Empress’s eyes.

Yes, it was this face that looked at Emperor Zongwen so pitifully and wiped out the Emperor’s feeling for the Empress. From then on, the Emperor hardly stepped into her Tianfeng Palace. If it weren’t for the support of Ding General Manor, the Empress believed that she would have been hacked to death the moment that woman died.

Why was her daughter so disliked and why did she end up like this? It was all because of that woman’s mournful expression before she died. The hatred in the Empress’s eyes carried with some venom. Consort Zhao had become Consort Xian in front of her. The inexplicable disaster almost made her become a dethroned Empress. How could she not hate the woman?

The hatred had always been in her heart, and now it was like a knife scratching her heart. She pressed her fingers tightly on the corner of the table, gritted her teeth, and held back the hatred in her heart. She used the strength of her fingers to ease her mood and slowly lowered her eyes. At this time, she could not lose her temper or be irritated by this expression!

“Your Majesty, I have already asked the palace maids and eunuchs present at that time. They all said that Consort Zhao had cursed Consort Yu viciously before the incident. Then, she fell in a strange direction, as if she had twisted her body on purpose. However, there was no one close to them at that time. The two palace maids who followed her did not see anyone approaching Consort Zhao. So Consort Zhao’s words that someone pushed her isn’t the truth.”

Anyway, she would not spare Consort Zhao easily today!