Chapter 15: Regent, Are You Going to Shield Her?

The young Emperor stood silently to the side, his calm and cold gaze fixed on the girl’s stunningly indifferent face. The shadows in his eyes churned, and the hand hanging by his side involuntarily clenched.

Ji Yucang walked up to Shen Ning and raised his hand to brush her cheek, wiping away the bloodstain on her face. “Killing someone on your wedding day, you’re probably the first.”

Shen Ning’s tone was indifferent. “They provoked me first.”

“Shen Ning.” The Empress Dowager suppressed her anger, her voice betraying a hint of murderous intent, “A Prince who breaks the law is the same as a commoner. Even though you have married the Regent, you are still on the path to death today—”

“Empress Dowager.” Ji Yucang turned his head, his voice distant and merciless, “Shen Ning is my wife, and it’s not the place of others to lecture her.”

The Empress Dowager’s expression stiffened. “Regent, are you going to shield her?”

“A servant who offends their superior is already a capital offense.” Ji Yucang said coldly. “Has the Empress Dowager never killed a servant in the palace?”

The Empress Dowager was momentarily speechless, her face turning ashen, unable to utter a word.

“Mother.” The young Emperor spoke in time, his voice gentle, “Uncle is right. A servant who offends their superior is indeed a capital offense. It’s only right that the Empress Mother gives them a lesson.”

Although those servants were also following the princess’s orders, killing them would be a provocation to the royal princess.

But at the moment, that wasn’t important.

“Your Majesty?” Princess Jiahe looked at him in disbelief. “It was Shen Ning who tried to kill me. Your Majesty should have her executed by a thousand cuts!”

The young Emperor’s gaze fell on her swollen forehead, his eyes deep, his voice indifferent. “Why did Elder Sister not stay at the front to drink and instead bring people to the bridal chamber?”

“Your Majesty.” The Empress Dowager gripped the handkerchief in her hand, her eyes clouded with a layer of gloom, “Jiahe came to see the new bride, isn’t that allowed?”

The young Emperor concealed the look in his eyes. “If they hadn’t come, there wouldn’t have been such a conflict.”

“So, it seems that the fault lies with Jiahe instead?” The Empress Dowager was furious at his cowardice, unable to hold back her words, “If Shen Ning had killed Princess Jiahe, would Your Majesty also find it justified?”

“They are princesses, I won’t kill them.” Shen Ning said indifferently. “If they kneel down and kowtow to me, I’ll spare their lives.”

The Empress Dowager looked at her in shock, as if she had heard something utterly unbelievable: “You… you want the princesses to kowtow to you?”

All the maids and eunuchs in the courtyard stared at her in horror, secretly wondering if the eldest daughter of the Shen family had been driven mad by some stimulus.

“You’re dreaming!” Princess Jiahe screamed hysterically, her voice that of an uncontrolled shrew, “You should be torn apart by five horses, you wretch! How dare you make this princess kneel? I’d rather die than kowtow to you, you wretch! You, who cannot preserve your chastity—”

“No problem.” Ji Yucang said indifferently. “Jiahe, Jiayu, kneel down and kowtow to your aunt.”

As soon as the words were spoken, the courtyard fell silent.

Everyone stared in disbelief at the Regent.

“Regent, do you know what you’re saying?” The Empress Dowager was so angry that her face turned deathly pale, her voice trembling with rage, “Jiahe is a princess! A legitimate princess! She is the biological daughter of the late Emperor and myself, and you dare to make her kneel and kowtow to a wretch?”

Jiahe’s face turned pale as she stared at him blankly: “Uncle, I am a princess, a royal princess, she is just a…”

“I do not wish to repeat myself.” Ji Yucang said, his hands behind his back, his voice as indifferent as frost, “If you do not wish to be married off tomorrow, do as I say.”

The Empress Dowager swayed, almost fainting.

She simply couldn’t believe that Ji Yucang would dare to threaten her, the Empress Dowager, in front of so many people today.

He was practically trampling on the dignity of her and her son!

Princess Jiahe clenched her teeth tightly, her face showing anger, humiliation, hatred… but in the end, she stiffly knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Shen Ning.

“Today’s humiliation, I will return to you tenfold, a hundredfold in the future.” Jiahe stood up, glaring fiercely at Shen Ning, “You better pray every day that you don’t fall into my hands!”

With that said, she left with a heart full of hatred.

Shen Ning remained expressionless, not taking her threats to heart at all.

Princess Jiayu clenched her hands, looking at Shen Ning with a cold and sinister gaze, knowing that with the Regent present, continuing to stand off would not lead to any advantage.

The Regent didn’t even give face to the Empress Dowager, so how could he care about anyone else?

Princess Jiayu did not want to be married off, so she could only endure the humiliation and do as she was told, kneeling down to kowtow to Shen Ning before rising and covering her face as she left.

The two princesses left in a disheveled state, and the Golden Courtyard became so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

The Empress Dowager’s expression had never been so ugly: “Good, very good, this is just great! I have never seen such an arrogant and fearless person. Shen Ning, you have broadened my horizons!”

As she said this, the Empress Dowager’s eyes, as she looked at Shen Ning, were filled with intense killing intent, with a strong desire to tear her to pieces the next day.

Shen Ning showed no fear, only looking at her with an expressionless face.

The Empress Dowager’s face was gloomy, and she turned around coldly: “Return to the palace!”

A group of people left in a grand procession, escorting her away.

Before turning to leave, the young Emperor in his bright yellow dragon robe took a deep look at the audacious eldest daughter of the Shen family, his eyes filled with an unclear and unpredictable darkness.

After the crowd of people had left, the courtyard suddenly felt empty.

Inside and outside the bridal chamber, numerous corpses lay scattered about.

The surviving maids of the Regent’s estate and several female officials were trembling with fear.

Ji Yucang ordered indifferently, “Clean this up.”

The guards on duty outside accepted the order and swiftly entered the room, carrying the corpses out.

Two female officials led the maids to quickly fetch water, wiping the bloodstains in the bridal chamber clean, and replacing all the bedding and curtains with new ones.

Ji Yucang stood in the courtyard, looking at his new wife: “Opening a massacre on your wedding night, do you have anything to say?”

“Nothing to say.” Shen Ning replied indifferently. “They were looking for death themselves, whether it’s a new wedding or an old one.”

Ji Yucang said, “Why didn’t you ask someone to find me for help?”

Shen Ning looked at him: “Would you have helped me?”

“What do you think?”

“I wasn’t sure before, so doing it myself was faster.” Shen Ning’s tone was indifferent. “Now it can be confirmed, you probably would have helped me.”

Ji Yucang said, “What if you were not a match for them?”

“Since I took action, I will bear all the consequences myself.” Shen Ning’s tone was calm. “If I die, it’s my own fault, and I can’t blame anyone else.”

Ji Yucang walked up to her, a few subtle expressions added to his stern face: “In that case, I just got married and lost my wife. Wouldn’t that make me a pitiful soul?”

“Is the security of the Regent’s estate not strict enough, or did they deliberately let them loose?” Shen Ning’s gaze was cold. “You let them in, wasn’t it to see such a result?”

Ji Yucang looked at her deeply, the corners of his mouth slightly raised: “Shen Ning, you are so smart that it makes me look at you with new eyes.”