"I'm sure I wasn't the only one who saw that..."
Dai Li murmured, "Especially those vultures circling us..."
When he had first taken the throne, he'd offended quite a few noble families in his rush to consolidate power.
At first.
The Star Luo Imperial Family's authority still held, and its foundations ran deep. Those people hadn't dared to go too far, and could only obediently swallow their grievances.
But now!
The Star Luo Imperial Family's authority had been swept away.
Its foundations were gone.
On top of that, Chen Fan's gaze had lingered on Zhu Qingque. That would surely give those people immense courage!
Dai Li knew all too well that the noble families he'd crossed dreamed of dragging him from the throne. They even dreamed of making the Dai Family fall from the clouds into the depths of hell!
When that happened.
The Zhu Family might be all right. At worst, they could marry into another noble family.
But his Dai Family would be finished!
They might even vanish from the pages of history...
After so many years as the imperial family, the Star Luo Imperial Family had offended countless noble families. Not even Dai Li could say how many—and there was probably no Star Luo Emperor who remembered them all.
And.
Once the Dai Family fell from the clouds, those people would pounce on them like mad!
At the thought of their filthy, unscrupulous schemes...
Even Dai Li, with his steely temperament, couldn't help shuddering.
"No..."
"This can't go on!"
Dai Li sprang to his feet as if he'd made a momentous decision. He took a deep breath, then strode toward Empress Zhu's chambers.
At that moment.
Zhu Qingque had only recently returned from the banquet. She'd just finished bathing and was combing her hair.
Her well-preserved face was reflected in the bronze mirror.
She looked no older than her early thirties, but she knew that was simply because she'd taken good care of herself.
Just as she stared at her own tired eyes, lost in a daze...
The hall door suddenly swung open.
"Your Majesty?"
Zhu Qingque froze. She set down her phoenix hairpin and stood. "It's so late. What brings you here?"
Dai Li didn't answer. He walked over to her in silence and stopped, looking at her with a complicated expression. His lips moved, but several times he failed to make a sound.
Zhu Qingque sensed something was wrong and furrowed her brow. "Your Majesty, what's the matter?"
Dai Li took a deep breath and finally spoke, his voice hoarse. "Qingque, I... have something I want to discuss with you."
He rarely spoke to her in that tone.
A sudden unease gripped Zhu Qingque's heart. She put down her comb, turned around, and said gravely, "Please, Your Majesty."
Dai Li fell silent again.
He looked at the woman who'd shared both hardship and joy with him for over twenty years, his wife since their wedding. He looked into her trusting eyes, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't bring himself to say the words.
But then he thought of Chen Fan's gaze that day, of the Dai Family's current predicament, of those powerful nobles circling them...
He gritted his teeth and finally forced the words out. "Qingque, could you... could you go seek out the Seven Kill Sect's leader?"
Zhu Qingque stared at him, not understanding. "What for?"
Dai Li avoided her gaze, lowering his voice. "He... wasn't interested in those noblewomen, but he seemed interested in you..."
The air seemed to freeze.
As soon as Zhu Qingque understood what he'd said, disbelief swept across her face.
In fact.
She felt as if her whole body had turned to stone.
She was numb!
Completely numb!
What... was he saying?
Had she... heard him wrong?
A full two and a half minutes passed.
Only then did Zhu Qingque come back to herself. Her eyes widened like bells as she stared at Dai Li. "Your Majesty... what did you say?"
Dai Li didn't dare meet her eyes. He didn't even dare speak, turning his head away instead.
"Smack!"
Seeing that.
Zhu Qingque could hold back no longer. She suddenly slapped Dai Li across the face. "Dai Li!"
"Listen to yourself! Is that any way for a human being to talk?!"
Zhu Qingque's voice grew shrill. "You want me to sleep with some young brat?!"
"I'm your wife! I'm the empress of Star Luo!"
"You want me to... to go to the man who killed my Zhu Family's ancestor?!"
"Are you even human?!"
The more she spoke, the more agitated she became. Tears spilled from her eyes, and her whole body trembled. "I've been married to you for twenty-five years!"
"Twenty-five whole years!"
"I trusted you, Dai Li!"
"We started out as the weakest pair. How did we make it this far, step by step?"
"Have you forgotten all the hardships we faced together?"
"And now, just because of this, you want me to warm that brat's bed?!"
After her slap landed, Dai Li sank even deeper into silence.
A clear handprint had risen on his face.
Dai Li was somewhat enraged by Zhu Qingque's slap.
Everyone knew the Dai Family's imperial household had always lived by the principle that women didn't count as people, but as resources.
With that belief so deeply ingrained, even the Dai Family's emperor had absorbed it unconsciously—and that included how he viewed his own empress.
But...
After Zhu Qingque said all that, Dai Li's anger faded, replaced by guilt.
Still.
He said nothing, listening to her in silence.
Only after Zhu Qingque had finished speaking in a fit of hysterics...
Did he slowly lift his head. Still, he didn't look at Zhu Qingque. "Then do you know the situation we're in now?"
"How many people are watching our position, waiting to drag us down from the heavens and trample us underfoot?"
"Without our ancestors' foundations to hold the line, if we're brought down, do you think your situation will be any better than this?"
"Dai Li!"
Zhu Qingque shrieked, "Don't try to make excuses!"
"I'm telling you, this is impossible..."
"Dai Li, you coward! You don't dare stand up to the Seven Kill Sect, so you're using your own wife to curry favor with them! What kind of man are you?!"
"That's enough!"
Seeing Zhu Qingque completely lose control, Dai Li's guilt was swallowed by coldness. An impatient look crossed his face. "Have you said enough?!"
Dai Li's sudden shout left Zhu Qingque momentarily stunned.
But.
A moment later, her eyes quickly reddened again. "No! I'm not done..."
"Smack!"
A resounding slap struck Zhu Qingque across the face.
The blow was so powerful that it sent her stumbling two steps back into the vanity. Her makeup boxes clattered to the floor and scattered everywhere.
But she paid them no mind. Clutching her face, she stared at Dai Li in disbelief. "You... you hit me?"
Dai Li panted heavily, his chest heaving.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the handprint on Zhu Qingque's face. Guilt flickered through him, but fear quickly smothered it. He took a deep breath, his voice cold. "Look at you, acting like a shrew. Is that any way for an empress to behave?"
Zhu Qingque opened her mouth, but no words came out. She merely covered her face and stared at him blankly, tears streaming silently down her cheeks.
Dai Li turned his head away, his voice low. "That Chen Fan didn't pay any attention to those noblewomen. Instead, his attention was on you."
Zhu Qingque trembled. "You... what do you mean?"
"He looked at you for two seconds!"
Dai Li swung around, his eyes bloodshot. "Two seconds! He only glanced at the other women there, but he lingered on you for two whole seconds!"
"Qingque, don't you understand? If... if the Xu Family whispers in his ear, and he acts on impulse and helps the Xu Family replace my Dai Family..."
"The Xu Family?"
Zhu Qingque asked in a hoarse voice. "Xu Wensu did indeed join his side, but how many people does the Xu Family have? My Zhu Family..."
"The Zhu Family?"
Dai Li cut her off with a cold laugh. "How can the Zhu Family's meager strength compare to the Seven Kill Sect?"
"And don't forget, all your close kin in the Zhu Family are gone. What makes you think they can support you like they did back then?"
Zhu Qingque's lips trembled. She wanted to argue, but found herself unable to say a word.
The current head of the Zhu Family was indeed only her cousin, and he was her closest remaining relative...
Seeing Zhu Qingque fall silent.
Dai Li walked over to her, his tone softening slightly. "Qingque, I have no choice... You and I both saw Chen Jianjun of the Seven Kill Sect with our own eyes."
"He only struck three times, and those three strikes killed the two ancestors who were the very pillars of our strength!"
"If he wants to wipe out my entire Dai Family, what could I possibly use to stop him?"
"Even if my Dai Family's Soul Master Legion takes revenge afterward, we won't come back to life..."
As he spoke, Dai Li reached out to touch Zhu Qingque's shoulder, but she pulled away.
Looking at Zhu Qingque, silent and unresponsive, Dai Li's hand hung frozen in midair. After a moment, he finally drew it back and spoke hoarsely. "Just... think it over."
With that.
He stopped looking at Zhu Qingque and strode out of her chambers.
Zhu Qingque stood before the wrecked vanity, motionless for a long time.
Her face burned, but her heart had turned to ice.
She looked at her reflection in the bronze mirror, at the handprint on her face, and suddenly felt like a stranger to herself.
Was this really the Dai Li who'd once faced every hardship alongside her?
Why? Why was he pushing her forward?
Hadn't they agreed to face every hardship and every difficulty together?
But how could he...
Zhu Qingque's thoughts were in utter turmoil. She stood there for a full two and a half minutes, then closed her eyes as two trails of tears slipped silently down her cheeks.
She didn't know how long it took her to compose herself.
Zhu Qingque opened her eyes again, but now her gaze was calm as still water.
She thought of the words her elder sister had whispered in her ear, gripping her shoulder tightly as she lay dying.
"The Dai Family... doesn't treat us like people. You... be careful!"
Back then, Zhu Qingque had been weathering hardship alongside Dai Li. She'd thought her sister was trying to shake her resolve, and had dismissed her warning.
But now...
Zhu Qingque silently picked up the phoenix hairpin from the floor. She walked to the bronze mirror and slid it back into her hair, then got up and went into the bathroom.
After bathing.
Zhu Qingque called for a palace maid and changed into a clean red phoenix robe. She fastened her sash and sat upright before the vanity.
She stared at her dignified, composed reflection in the bronze mirror for a long time.
"Your Majesty, are you... going out?"
The palace maid asked cautiously.
Zhu Qingque didn't answer. She simply rose to her feet, straightened her sleeves, and walked out without looking back...