Forensic Imperial Concubine by Erika Black

The emperor received the news straightaway. When he heard it, he was not displeased at all. Instead,

he smiled in delight.

Andy was unsure about the news. 'His Majesty is overjoyed that Lady Harper is pregnant. The sun

rises in the east today. But

why I felt something is really wrong?'

"What good news!" The emperor laughed loudly. 'A few days after the fake Harper was sent to

Matthew's mansion, the news that

his wife was pregnant spread around quickly. It seemed that Felix and the empress had played the

imposter trick successfully.

Most likely, Matthew was mad with joy and had no idea that the baby was not his.'

"Someone."

"Your Majesty, I am here."

"Go to Matthew's mansion to deliver an imperial edict, and reward them with a pair of high-quality jade,

ten pieces of brocade

and one thousand taels of gold. Tell them that I hope that Harper can deliver a baby for Matthew soon."

The emperor's words

were spoken with the utmost sarcasm.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The empress hadn't received the news yet. The Sleek Palace was deadly silent. The empress was

brooding over the devastating

blow to her pride that she had recently received: her own maidservant had seduced the emperor, and

the emperor had given the

maid the title of Attendant Cheryl. She hadn't punished her yet. However, Cheryl secretly went back to

the empress's palace and

was caught.

"Attendant Cheryl."

"Greetings, Your Majesty." Cheryl trembled in fear. She had been taken away from the Sleek Palace by

the emperor, so she had

to sneak back to get a special possession of hers at the risk of her life. She had hidden it in the

empress's palace. If she didn't

recover it, she would lose the emperor's love.

"You've done an excellent job of seducing His Majesty. He not only ignored my illness, but also gave

you the title of Attendant

Cheryl without asking for my opinion. You impressed me!" When the empress said this, her tone was

calm, and her expression

was gentle, but her anger was obvious to Cheryl. When the empress saw the clothes that Cheryl was

wearing by virtue of her

new rank as the attendant, the sight was very offensive to her eye.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty. Please don't be angry at me! I..."

"You truly deserve to die!" the empress interrupted her. "Tell me. You have sneaked into my palace and

want to steal something.

What is it? You stole His Majesty last time. Do you want to steal my seal this time?"

"I dare not!" Cheryl was so frightened that she fell to the ground, shivering. Stealing the empress's seal

was a capital felony. If

the empress framed her for stealing her seal, even the emperor wouldn't be able to save her.

"Oh, really?" The empress snorted in contempt. "There's nothing you dare not do. Nancy, search this

bitch and find out what she

has stolen."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Nancy went to Cheryl immediately, but the latter was so scared that she wanted to

get up and run away.

Two nannies rushed over and held her down. "You little hussy, how dare you run away from me?"

Nancy stared at Cheryl with an icy cold smile on her face. In front of everyone, she stripped Cheryl of

all her clothes. Cheryl felt

extremely ashamed, but now there was something much more terrible than that, because the voodoo

doll hidden inside her

clothes dropped out when her clothes came off.

"What's this?" Nancy picked up the voodoo doll and was utterly shocked. "You shameless wench! How

dare you use such a filthy thing in this palace? You're courting death!" As soon as the two nannies let

go of Cheryl's hands, she fell to the ground. In spite of her nakedness, she crawled to the empress's

feet and caught the corner of her clothes. "Your Majesty, please forgive me. It's not a voodoo curse for

hurting anyone. I intend no harm to anyone. It's just a spell doll for gaining His Majesty's favor." The

empress narrowed her eyes. "You say you used this doll to win His Majesty's affection?" "Yes. I didn't

believe in its power at first. But after I prayed sincerely to the spell doll that day, His Majesty stayed with

me that night. I originally wanted to take the spell doll away with me, but His Majesty took me away

directly at dawn, so I couldn't. This is the reason why I sneaked back into the Sleek Palace to take it.

Please spare my life, Your Majesty. I wouldn't do this again." The empress looked at the spell doll in her

hand, and then looked at Cheryl who was crying. Then she asked, "Is this really as effective as you

claimed?" "Your Majesty, what I said is true. His Majesty pampered me in every way possible..." After

saying that, Cheryl lifted her eyes up to the empress. Seeing the terrible glare on the empress's face,

she changed her words immediately. "Your Majesty, if you don't believe it, you can have a try."

"Your Majesty, His Majesty is visiting the Sleek Palace. He has already arrived at the gate." The

empress wanted to take that opportunity to kill Cheryl, but as the emperor was already at the gate, she

had no choice but to have her servants knock her out and hide her away. As for the spell doll, she

couldn't find a good place to hide it right away, so she threw it under the bed. The emperor was in a

jolly mood. He thought the pregnancy of Matthew's wife was owing to the empress. When he thought

back upon the time when he raped Harper and that the imposter of Harper whom Matthew loved deeply

was pregnant, he was brimming with joy. Under the assumption that the empress had contributed to

that, he wanted to express his gratitude. "Greetings, Your Majesty." The empress made a show of

trying to arise from bed. "Don't move. Lie down." The emperor waved his hand to stop the empress

from getting up to salute him. "Don't force yourself. You are in poor health."

"I'm feeling much better now. Don't worry," the empress said with a smile. "Your Majesty seems to be in

a good mood now."

The emperor smiled heartily. "I'm in an excellent mood, because Matthew's wife is pregnant."

The empress's eyes glimmered. Then she realized how well Felix had performed the task of changing

Matthew's wife. He not

only took Harper away, but even sent a pregnant imposter to Matthew's mansion. Matthew always

regarded himself as a wise

man. But now his wife had disappeared and he had to raise someone else's son. Every time this came

to the emperor's mind, he

would break into laughter.

"It's a truly delightful event."

"I agree with you." The emperor gave a loud belly-laugh. Then he suddenly smelled a soothing aroma

from the empress, which

was very alluring to him. Looking at the empress's middle-aged face, he still found it appealing. He

swallowed, and his voice

became slightly hoarse. "How long haven't we been close to each other?"

The empress was a little surprised and looked at the emperor. There was an interest in the emperor's

eyes which she had not

seen for a long time. Then she replied, "I can't remember. It has been a long time since Your Majesty

stayed in my palace last

time."

"May I stay here with you tonight?" The emperor touched the face of his empress. His voice was low

and husky, full of lust. If he

weren't concerned for her health, he would have leaned forward to kiss her.

The empress thought for a moment and nodded. A satisfied smile appeared on the emperor's wrinkled

face. He climbed into the empress's bed. Nancy, who guarded outside, felt relieved to see that the

empress had finally regained the emperor's favor and

that the emperor still cared about the empress. "Nanny Nancy, how should we deal with Cheryl?" the

old nanny asked in a low voice. Cheryl had been knocked out and hidden in the closet like a useless

rag-doll for the moment. If the emperor and the empress restored their relationship, Cheryl would be

history! "Wait for Her Majesty's decision," Nancy said lightly. "Her Majesty is so angry with her. We have

to let her vent her anger as she pleases." "Got it."

Nancy asked the others to leave, and she stayed outside the empress's palace. Listening to the sounds

inside the palace, she

smiled contentedly. Then she remembered the one in the Spring Palace and the weak Prince Francis,

and she couldn't help but

sigh.

'This is an opportunity. If Their Majesties restore their close relationship, then the crown prince will be

released before long, '

Nancy thought to herself.

The crown prince had been commanded by the emperor to stay confined to his mansion and reflect on

what happened. Felix

was not allowed to go out. In addition, Matthew had prevented the news of his wife's pregnancy from

spreading everywhere, so

the news hadn't spread to the crown prince's mansion yet. If Felix knew Lady Harper was pregnant, he

would realize that their

plan had already failed.

In the crown prince's mansion, Felix was quite calm and absorbed in his study of statecraft. Since she

came back from the

emperor's birthday banquet, Fiona said she was uncomfortable and didn't want to share the same bed

with Felix. The latter

noticed nothing unusual about her. After all, there were many concubines in his mansion, and he had

never been very interested

in his wife.

Fiona locked herself up in the room. Even though she behaved normally, she woke up from her

nightmares every night,

dreaming of being pressed under the emperor and brutally tortured. What happened that day was a

nightmare that she couldn't

shake off. It haunted her relentlessly.

"Are you okay, Your Highness?" her maid asked gingerly. "Did you have a nightmare again?"

Fiona was still in trepidation. She felt a little relieved as she found herself sleeping on her own bed in

the crown prince's

mansion. Then she said hoarsely, "I'm fine. You don't have to stay up with me at night. Go and sleep."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Fiona got dressed, poured a cup of cold tea and drank it all. The cold tea was the only thing that could

calm her nerves. During

these days, she was unwilling to see Felix, because his face resembled that of his father, and would

remind her of the brutal

treatment she had endured. As a royal daughter-in-law, Felix's wife, the wife of the future emperor, she

should be a motherly role

model for the whole country. However, the emperor, who was her father-in-law, had raped her. If such a

scandal were to spread,

she would die without a burial place. She didn't dare to reveal the news to anyone. After all, this was

the biggest scandal of the

royal family for centuries!

The royal family would need to cover up this scandal, so they wouldn't uphold justice for her. To be

more specific, no one was

able to uphold justice for her. Even Felix certainly wouldn't do it, either. If he knew what the emperor

had done, he might simply

wrap her up and send her to the emperor's bed again. At the thought of this, Fiona felt extremely

painful and her face turned

pale. Was it possible that it was, in fact, Felix who had sent her to the emperor's bed?

This idea lingered in her mind and she was haunted by it. It was a plausible idea, given the way Felix

had always treated her

indifferently!

"Felix, you're such a heartless man!" Fiona gnashed her teeth. "Since you're heartless, you won't be

able to blame me if I'm cruel

to you. You and your father forced me to do it!"