The Empress Dowager, the consorts, and the imperial heirs all came to their senses.
The one who had entered first had stood there, dazed, from beginning to end. Even when the Empress Dowager herself questioned him, he had shown no reaction. In bearing and manner alike, he was utterly unlike the Emperor they had known.
If he hadn't looked exactly like the Emperor, they would have grown suspicious long ago.
But now, the one who had entered later was the one who acted and spoke just like the ruler of the nation they knew!
The Empress immediately led the imperial heirs forward to pay their respects. The Empress Dowager quickly left her seat, pushed aside the curtain, and asked with a frown, "Imperial Son, what exactly is going on?"
Inside the gauze curtain, Ruan Xilu and the other consorts who had just loudly denounced the impostor as a scoundrel pretending to be the Emperor all went deathly pale. Their delicate bodies stiffened, and for a moment they had no idea what to do.
It was one thing that they had been quick to declare the later Emperor a fake. The crucial point was that, under everyone's watchful eyes, they had been entangled with the Emperor who had been there first for quite some time.
If the Emperor who had entered later was the real one, none of them would survive!
Even their Lineages, their children, and their attendants and trusted aides... none of them would meet a good end!
The real Emperor said blandly, "Rise."
Apart from Ruan Xilu and the other consorts, everyone spoke in unison. "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Then everyone stood up.
The Emperor looked at Pei Ling and said in an even tone, "This man impersonated me. Drag him out and behead him!"
Before his words