Close Combat Mage
chapter-153

“Your Highness, I’ll say it one more time; the matter of the punishment is something we can postpone. After all, even if the Imperial Concubine Hua shouldn’t be secretly spreading rumors about her mistress, it doesn’t warrant punishment by death. You’re being too extreme….” The Emperor strongly said.

The Empress was devastated and heart-broken at the Emperor’s words. Her body swayed a bit before she said in a dejected voice, “Fine. Since Your Majesty insists, then I won’t say anything further. Just do as you want.” The Empress’s expression held boundless grief, as if her life had just lost all meaning.

Seeing the Empress in such a state, Suo Jia couldn’t help but frown. Originally…killing off Imperial Concubine Hua would’ve fixed the situation once and for all. Although it was uncertain what would happen if one provoked the Emperor, allowing Imperial Concubine Hua to continue her trap would practically be more dangerous.

However, since the situation had already reached this point, they could only remedy it as well as possible. Suo Jia said in a distressed voice, “People say that one has to smile at strangers, but never have I heard of making an acquaintance cry. The Empress has deep emotions toward Your Majesty, yet Your Majesty continues to disregard her feelings in such a way. In that case, I ask Your Majesty to send us to our deaths! At least when we die, we’ll be able to maintain our reputation and integrity!”

The Empress, who was originally holding back her tears, began to sob intensely at Suo Jia’s grieved words. She shook her head and sorrowfully said, “That’s right. If Your Majesty treats me in such a way, then I no longer have any reason to stay in this world. In that case, I ask Your Majesty to give us silk scarves and allow us humble servants to die.”

“You!” The Emperor had, after all, been married to the Empress for nearly 40 years. No matter how angry he got, the most he could ever do was throw her into the dungeon or something, but never order her to commit suicide…up until now, the Empress had simply been trying to attract the Emperor’s feelings, and had never made the Emperor fed up with her before.

Thus, when faced with this situation, the Emperor was at a loss for a while. He definitely wasn’t willing to let the Empress die; having been married with her for nearly 40 years and had such a sweet and conjugal love, how could he be so indifferent?

As the Emperor was extremely fretful, the Empress turned around to look at the Imperial Concubine Hua. She lightly fished out the emblem of the Empress, removed her crown, and lightly placed them on the table. She then said in a choked voice, “Since you long for the Empress position so much, I’ll just help you get it. The emblem and crown are both here. Just take them.”

Imperial Concubine Hua couldn’t help but reveal the ecstasy she had tried to conceal. She received the crown and caressed it lovingly. At the same time, the Empress coldly said, “However, I have to say this first: I can hand over this Empress position, but…if you don’t do your utmost to wait upon the Emperor, I won’t forgive you, even after I die!”

The currently completely enraptured Imperial Concubine Hua had absolutely no inclination to listen to the Empress’s words. She subconsciously nodded, then delicately said, “If I become Empress, I’ll naturally wait upon His Majesty. I’ll definitely be a hundred times better than an abandoned woman like you!”

The Empress couldn’t help but give a distressed smile at these words. In farewell, she turned to the Emperor and said in a melancholic voice, “Your Majesty, we’ve been married for 36 years, but this point will be where we break up. From now on, I will no longer be your wife. I hope…I hope that you take care of yourself. I’ll move my stuff to the dungeon now, and await Your Majesty’s orders to commit suicide.” With tears flowing like rivers, the Empress said no more, and turned around to stumble outside the palace hall.

As he watched this scene, tears uncontrollably fell from Suo Jia’s eyes as well. He couldn’t deny the fact that the Empress’s actions were different from how he had planned it. After all…he had yet to understand empathy. At the moment, he still used the comparison of costs and benefits as a starting point when considering a situation. However, he had to admit that the Empress’s response really hit it. What was the most moving? Obviously emotions. This was checkmate for the Emperor; they would now see how he would handle the situation.

With a sigh, Suo Jia shook his head and turned around to say to the Empress’s maids, “Your mistress has already gone to the dungeon. Why haven’t you followed after her to do your duties yet? Do you not know that recognizing a master means staying loyal to them for life?”

Hearing this, the two maids who were struck 100 times each in the face, with resulting bruises so swollen that it was difficult to make our their facial features, crawled out from behind the crowd with difficulty. Ever since the Emperor had entered, they had been obstructed by Imperial Concubine Hua’s servant girls. That’s why, up until now, the Emperor hadn’t even seen them. However…this was exactly part of Suo Jia’s laborious plans!

As expected, everything was going precisely as Suo Jia had planned. When the Emperor suddenly saw the two maids looking even scarier than ghosts, with bruised faces, eyes swollen into slits, and their eyes, nose, and mouth all expelling copious amounts of blood, the Emperor was majorly shocked!

He was first at a loss for words, but the Emperor soon recalled what Suo Jia had just said. These two girls were the Empress’s close maids, so why were they like this? What had happened? They had clearly been beaten up!

Frowning imposingly, the Emperor said in a heavy voice, “What’s going on here? How did those two get in such a state?”

Only after being faced with the Emperor’s questioning did Imperial Concubine Hua regain her senses. Her expression drastically changed as she quietly stood there without a word, her mind furiously racing to think of a way to divert the question.

Unfortunately, Suo Jia didn’t give her much time. With a sneer, Suo Jia said in disdain, “You should ask this question to Imperial Concubine Hua. She had ordered the maids to be beaten. As for the reason why, only she herself knows.”

The Emperor furrowed his brows and looked over at Imperial Concubine Hua. Just now, he had personally seen that the two maids had walked out from amidst Imperial Concubine Hua’s group of maids. From this, the Emperor had already vaguely guessed many things.

Imperial Concubine Hua’s mind was in complete disarray when her gaze met the Emperor’s questioning one. How was she supposed to respond? There was no way she could explain. After a while passed, she still couldn’t think of a reply.

What made Imperial Concubine Hua the most depressed was that, typically speaking, the Emperor never came to the chambers of the concubines during the day. Yet why had he come here today? If she had known this earlier, she wouldn’t have dared to act so unbridled and despotic.

Seeing Imperial Concubine Hua stall for time, Suo Jia couldn’t help but smile darkly. Since that woman had actually given Suo Jia a chance to speak, it would be best if he didn’t regret it.

Suo Jia coldly said, “How can it be that they were only beaten up here? Her Highness was also trapped outside the palace by hundreds of soldiers for over half an hour!”

“Stop speaking nonsense! You guys clearly charged your way through. You weren’t trapped for half an hour at all!” Imperial Concubine Hua angrily shouted.

Suo Jia darkly chuckled and suddenly replied, “That’s right…it seems I did indeed remember wrong. We charged straight in by ourselves. Ai…those guys were really a bunch of fools. They dared to obstruct us even when Her Highness herself was present. Isn’t that just seeking death?”

Imperial Concubine Hua suddenly realized what she had said wrong, but it was too late. At that moment…the Emperor was already looking at her with a furious expression. If she didn’t come up with an explanation now, and infuriated the dragon, the end result would be something she didn’t even want to imagine!

As she was thinking this in fear, the Emperor said in a low voice, “Imperial Concubine Hua, tell me the truth now. What exactly happened here? Why were the Empress’s maids beaten up? Also…the Empress was even kept out of her own home? What is going on here?”

“It…it…it was those two brats. They were being extremely rude to me, so I ordered for them to be punished. As for the Empress being kept out, that…that’s something I didn’t know either.” Imperial Concubine Hua hurriedly replied.

“Pfft…” Suo Jia said in disdain, “Yes…those two girls were indeed audacious. But why had they dared to act so brazenly? As for the matter of the Empress being kept out, there’s no need to question the mastermind behind that.”

Suo Jia looked scornfully at the Emperor and said in a low voice, “Do not abandon the one that has gone through trials and tribulations with you. As a man, especially as the Holy Light Empire’s Emperor, you should be setting an example. Right now, you’re being partial towards Imperial Concubine Hua’s youthful beauty, and abandoning the wife that you had once loved. This is really something that others would sneer at.”

The Emperor exploded with fury at Suo Jia’s words, but was unable to bring himself to speak. He could punish Suo Jia, but it was true that he was feeling guilty about himself. How could he bring himself to oppress Suo Jia?

Coldly staring at the Emperor, Suo Jia suddenly raised his voice and said, “Before Her Highness forfeited her position, she was your wife. Yet you let your own wife be trapped outside her own home, and even forced her to suffer from such humiliation in her own room. Can you still even be counted as a man? You’ve lost face for all the ancestors of Holy Light’s imperial family lineage!”

At this point, no matter how good the Emperor’s temper was, he could no longer contain his anger. He burst into fury and shouted, “How brazen! To think that you would dare to dishonor me…Men! Drag him out…and behead him!”