Empress Xingluo, "Your Majesty... What did you say?"

"I am definitely not the only one who saw this scene..."

Dai Li muttered, "Especially those guys who have been eyeing us like tigers."

When he first ascended the throne, he had offended quite a few noble families in his rush to consolidate power.

At first.

The majesty of the Star Luo Imperial Family still held sway, and their foundation was unfathomable, so these people dared not go too far and could only hold their tongues and endure it.

But now!

The majesty of the Star Luo Imperial Family had been swept into the dust.

Their foundation was gone.

Moreover, the way Chen Fan's gaze had lingered on Zhu Qingque would surely give these people immense courage!

Dai Li knew very well that those noble families who held a grudge against him dreamed of pulling him off the throne—they even dreamed of seeing the Dai Family fall from the clouds into the abyss!

When that time came.

The Zhu Family might be fine; at worst, they would just marry into a different noble house.

But his Dai Family would truly be finished!

They might even vanish into the river of history...

As an imperial family that had stood for so many years, not even Dai Li—or perhaps any Star Luo emperor—could clearly remember exactly how many noble families they had offended over time.

And.

Once the Dai Family fell from the clouds, these people would surely pounce like madmen!

Thinking of their various unscrupulous and filthy methods...

Even with Dai Li's temperament, he couldn't help but shudder at the thought.

"No..."

"It cannot be like this!"

Dai Li stood up abruptly, as if he had made a major decision, took a deep breath, and strode toward Empress Zhu's bedchamber.

At this moment.

Zhu Qingque had just returned from the banquet, finished her bath, and was combing her hair.

The bronze mirror reflected a face that had been well-maintained.

She looked to be only in her early thirties, but she knew very well that this was merely the result of good care.

And just as she was staring blankly at her own weary eyes, lost in thought.

The palace doors were suddenly pushed open.

"Your Majesty?"

Zhu Qingque was slightly startled; she set down her phoenix hairpin and stood up. "It is so late, why have you come here?"

Dai Li did not answer. He simply walked to her in silence, stood still, and looked at her with a complex gaze. His lips moved, but several times, no sound came out.

Zhu Qingque sensed something was wrong and frowned slightly. "Your Majesty, what is the matter?"

Dai Li took a deep breath and finally spoke, his voice hoarse. "Qingque, I... I have something I want to discuss with you."

He rarely spoke to her in such a tone.

Zhu Qingque's heart tightened inexplicably. She set down her comb, turned around, and said seriously, "Please speak, Your Majesty."

Dai Li fell silent again.

He looked at the wife who had shared his joys and sorrows for over twenty years, looked into her trusting eyes, and found that the words he wanted to say were stuck in his throat.

But when he thought of Chen Fan's gaze during the day, the current plight of the Dai Family, and those power-hungry nobles eyeing them like predators...

He gritted his teeth and finally forced the words out. "Qingque, can you... can you take the initiative to go find that Seven Kill Sect leader?"

Zhu Qingque was stunned for a moment, unable to process this. "Find him for what?"

Dai Li avoided her gaze, his voice dropping even lower. "He... he didn't take a fancy to those noble ladies, but he seems to have taken a fancy to you..."

The air suddenly froze, as if in terror.

After hearing those words clearly, the expression on Zhu Qingque's face turned to one of utter disbelief.

She even felt as if her entire being had turned to stone.

Numb!

Completely numb!

What... was he saying?

She hadn't misheard, had she?

A full two and a half minutes passed.

Zhu Qingque finally snapped back to reality, her eyes widening like copper bells as she stared fixedly at Dai Li. "Your Majesty... what did you just say?"

Dai Li dared not meet her gaze, nor did he dare to speak, turning his head away.

"Slap!"

Seeing this scene, Zhu Qingque could no longer hold back. She lashed out with a fierce slap, striking Dai Li across the face. "Dai Li!"

"Listen to yourself! Is that even human language!?"

Zhu Qingque's voice grew shrill. "You want me to go and keep a greenhorn company?!"

"I am your wife! I am the Empress of Xingluo!"

"You want me to go... to go to the man who killed the ancestor of my Zhu Family?!"

"Are you even human!?"

The more she spoke, the more agitated she became, tears streaming from her eyes as her entire body trembled. "I have been married to you for twenty-five years!"

"Twenty-five whole years!"

"My trust in you, Dai Li!"

"How we started as the weakest pair and climbed our way up step by step to where we are now?"

"Have you forgotten all the hardships we faced together!?"

"And now, because of this, you would actually, actually ask me to go and warm that boy's bed?!"

After being struck by her slap, Dai Li fell into an even deeper silence.

Only a clear handprint emerged on his face.

Under Zhu Qingque's slap, Dai Li felt a flicker of resentment.

It was common knowledge that the education of the Dai Family royal house had always held that 'women are not people, but resources.'

Under the influence of this ideology, even toward his own Empress, Dai Li possessed a subconscious bias.

However...

After Zhu Qingque finished speaking, the resentment in Dai Li's heart vanished, replaced by guilt.

Yet, he remained silent, listening quietly.

Only when Zhu Qingque had finished her hysterical outburst did he slowly lift his head, still avoiding her eyes. "Do you know what our current situation is?"

"How many people are eyeing our position, wanting to drag us down from the heavens?"

"Now that we have lost the foundation of our ancestor to hold the line, once we are pulled down, do you think your situation will be any better than this?"

"Dai Li!"

Zhu Qingque shrieked, "Stop making excuses and trying to justify yourself!"

"I am telling you, this is impossible..."

"Dai Li, you coward! You don't dare to confront the Seven Kill Sect head-on, so you use your own wife to curry favor with them! What kind of man are you!"

"Enough!"

Seeing Zhu Qingque completely lose her reason, the guilt in Dai Li's heart was smothered by cold severity, and his face showed impatience. "Have you said enough!?"

Dai Li's sudden roar caused Zhu Qingque to freeze for a moment.

But a moment later, her eyes reddened again. "Not enough! I haven't finished..."

"Slap!"

A resounding slap landed on Zhu Qingque's face.

The blow was incredibly powerful, so violent that it sent Zhu Qingque stumbling back two steps, crashing into the vanity table and sending powder boxes clattering to the floor.

She paid no mind to any of it, instead clutching her face, looking at Dai Li before her in disbelief. "You... you hit me?"

Dai Li breathed heavily, his chest heaving violently.

Seeing Zhu Qingque's palm-marked face out of the corner of his eye, a flash of guilt crossed his heart, but it was quickly suppressed by fear. He took a deep breath, his tone icy. "Look at yourself, acting like a shrew. Where is the dignity of an Empress?"

Zhu Qingque opened her mouth, but no words came out. She simply clutched her face, staring at him blankly as tears flowed silently down her cheeks.

Dai Li turned his head away, his voice low. "That Chen Fan, he didn't pay any attention to those noblewomen at all. Conversely, his focus was on you."

Zhu Qingque shuddered. "You... what do you mean?"

"He looked at you for two seconds!"

Dai Li whipped his head back, his eyes bloodshot. "Two seconds! He barely glanced at any other woman present for more than an instant, but he lingered on you for two whole seconds!"

"Qingque, don't you understand yet? If... if the Xu Family whispers in his ear, and he gets a sudden impulse to support the Xu Family in replacing my Dai Family..."

"The Xu Family?"

Zhu Qingque rasped, "Xu Wensu did indeed defect to him, but how many people are even in the Xu Family? My Zhu Family..."

"The Zhu Family?"

Dai Li interrupted her with a cold sneer, "Can the meager strength of the Zhu Family compare to the Seven Kill Sect?"

"And don't forget, your direct kin in the Zhu Family are all gone. What makes you think the Zhu Family can support you the way they did back then?"

Zhu Qingque's lips trembled. She wanted to retort, but found she couldn't utter a single word.

The current head of the Zhu Family was indeed just a cousin, and that was the closest blood relation she had left...

Seeing that Zhu Qingque had fallen silent, Dai Li walked up to her, his tone softening slightly, "Qingque, I have no choice... You and I have both seen that Chen Jianjun of the Seven Kill Sect with our own eyes."

"He only struck three times, and those three strikes killed our two ancestors who were supposed to be our foundation!"

"If he wants to wipe out my entire Dai Family, what do I have to stop him?"

"Even if the Dai Family's Soul Master Legion could take revenge afterward, we wouldn't be able to come back to life..."

As he spoke, Dai Li reached out to touch Zhu Qingque's shoulder, but she dodged him.

Watching the silent Zhu Qingque, Dai Li's hand froze in mid-air. He remained still for a moment before finally withdrawing his hand, his voice hoarse, "Think about it... carefully."

With that, he stopped looking at Zhu Qingque, turned around, and strode out of the bedchamber.

Zhu Qingque stood before the chaotic vanity, motionless for a long time.

Her face burned with pain, but her heart was ice-cold.

She looked at her palm-marked face in the bronze mirror and suddenly felt like a stranger.

Was this really the same Dai Li who had once faced every hardship by her side?

Why, why would he push her out?

Hadn't they promised to face every hardship and difficulty together?

But how did it come to this...

With her mind in complete turmoil, Zhu Qingque stood rooted to the spot for a full two and a half minutes before finally closing her eyes, two trails of tears sliding down silently.

She didn't know how long she spent composing herself.

Zhu Qingque opened her eyes again, but her gaze had become as calm as still water.

She thought back to the words her elder sister had whispered into her ear, clutching her shoulders tightly before she died.

'The Dai Family... they don't treat us like human beings. You... must be careful!'

At the time, she had been in the midst of sharing hardships and facing life with Dai Li, and she had dismissed those words, thinking her sister was trying to shake her resolve.

But now...

Zhu Qingque silently picked up the fallen phoenix hairpin from the floor, walked to the bronze mirror, and pinned it back into her hair. Then, she rose and walked into the bathroom.

After bathing, Zhu Qingque summoned a palace maid, changed into a clean red phoenix robe, fastened her belt, and sat upright before the vanity.

She stared at the dignified, composed face in the bronze mirror for a long time.

"Your Highness, are you... going out?"

The palace maid asked cautiously.

Zhu Qingque did not answer. She simply stood up, smoothed her sleeves, and walked out without looking back...