"Hiss!"
When Dai Li came out of Zhu Qingque's bedchamber, the night wind rushed into his face and made him shiver. His head felt especially chilly. "The night wind's a little cold tonight..."
He instinctively touched his left cheek. The burning sensation from Zhu Qingque's slap still lingered there, along with the dull numbness from the slap he had given back.
Thinking of the look Zhu Qingque had given him earlier, Dai Li felt a flicker of guilt. But then he thought of the Dai Family...
In the end, he merely stood on the steps outside the bedchamber, glanced back at the tightly shut doors behind him, then flung his sleeves and strode toward his own quarters.
Dai Li walked quickly, as if moving fast enough could leave all the sights and sounds of a moment ago behind him.
He even tried to comfort himself, Qingque will understand sooner or later!
She's a clever woman. She knows the situation we're in... She should know I have no choice!
But the more he thought this way, the heavier the gloom in his heart grew.
Just think.
He was the Star Luo Emperor, the sovereign of the empire.
And now he had fallen so low that he had to personally send his own empress to an eighteen-year-old junior just to keep his throne.
It was simply...
A crushing humiliation!
I'll remember this grudge!
You'd better pray the Seven Kill Sect never falls into decline!
Dai Li clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms, yet he felt no pain.
"Hah..."
Soon,
Dai Li returned to the entrance of his bedchamber. He let out a long breath and tried to steady himself. But just as he pushed open the door and was about to step inside, he suddenly stopped.
Under the moonlight, he could just make out a dozen or so figures inside the open bedchamber.
Dai Li's pupils contracted sharply.
They were all dressed in official robes, and looked like ministers from court. But the Soul Power fluctuations radiating from each of them made the hairs on Dai Li's back stand on end.
More than a dozen Soul Saints!
The weakest among them was at level seventy-one, while the man at the front had reached the peak of level seventy-nine. He was just one step away from becoming a Soul Douluo!
Dai Li's heart sank as he realized this. They're... in such a hurry?
Most ministers at court had Soul Power levels in the sixties. Only the ancestors behind them were Soul Douluos in the eighties or Soul Saints at level seventy-nine.
Generally speaking, powerful Soul Saints didn't appear among the civil and military officials at court.
So...
Were these representatives of the various nobles who had been granted fiefs?
Dai Li stood where he was, his gaze fixed on the uninvited ministers.
In the middle of the night, more than a dozen Soul Saints were waiting in his bedchamber, and not one of them had announced their arrival.
Could they possibly have come to pay their respects?
Dai Li drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his shock and unease. With a dark expression, he stepped forward. "What are you doing here?"
His voice echoed through the empty palace corridor, imbued with the authority of the emperor.
Yet—
The dozen or so ministers didn't move. Not one of them stepped aside.
The man at the front took a step forward and cupped his hands toward Dai Li. His manner was respectful, but his tone was unusually firm. "Your Majesty."
Dai Li narrowed his eyes and stared at the man at the front. He barked, "Cheng Ming."
"You brought so many ministers and hid outside My bedchamber in the middle of the night. Are you planning a rebellion?"