Chapter 34: If You Dare to Like Someone Else, See If I Don’t Destroy You

He had not touched the harem concubines because he was wholly devoted to state affairs, too lazy to bother with those women!

It was not because he was a cut-sleeve!

He was not!

Hearing Zhu Wuhuan’s inner voice, his stomach filled with rage. He grabbed the sleeve she had pointed to and tore it apart violently—

As though ripping her in half!

Pitiful indeed, that even the mighty Emperor had moments when he could not touch a woman and could only vent his anger on her sleeve… truly a sin.

With the sleeve torn, a patch of snow-white skin, smooth as jade, was revealed.

And upon that snowy skin, a bright crimson mark stood out clearly—

That was the shougongsha!

Feng Changye carefully straightened her sleeve, ensuring that aside from the shougongsha, not a bit of her skin was visible. Then he took her hand, turned, and faced the ministers.

“All of you, lift your heads.”

In the silent study, the dozen ministers trembled as they all raised their heads to look at the Emperor and Empress standing before them.

Even the Prince of Jin looked up.

He sneered, waiting to see what tricks they would play now.

Feng Changye lifted Zhu Wuhuan’s hand, raising her arm, and said coolly,

“Hearsay is false; what matters is what you see with your own eyes. Look at the Empress’s arm and tell me, what do you see?”

“…” The ministers, numb with fear, trembled as they looked.

And there it was, the bright red shougongsha, plain before their eyes.

Seeing it, everyone was stunned!

They looked at Feng Changye in disbelief.

Your Majesty!

By doing this, you may have proven the Empress’s innocence—but you’ve condemned yourself!

Pray tell, married to the Empress for five years, and she remains a virgin—are you… unable?

If the ministers were shocked, the Prince of Jin was half-shocked, half-crushed with despair.

He had thought his final counterattack might make the Emperor despise Zhu Wuhuan. Perhaps, before he even died in prison, he would hear news of her execution!

But now… the Empress had been wed five years and was still untouched!

Who could believe the most exalted man under heaven would keep such a beautiful woman untouched for five years?

He laughed bitterly as he looked at Feng Changye.

At least in one thing, he surpassed this brother—he was a normal man!

“…” Feng Changye understood their looks, both the ministers’ and the Prince’s, but he could not care less.

Ever since he came of age, no concubine had borne a child, and people had whispered behind his back that perhaps he was incapable.

And so what?

Should he, just to silence gossip, go “favor” a concubine to prove himself?

Ridiculous!

If today they say he is impotent, must he rush to prove he is not? If tomorrow they say he is not his mother’s son, must he put aside the affairs of state and go weeping to play “find my mother”?

A true emperor does not live by others’ tongues.

When he wished to devote himself to statecraft and not have children, no one could shake him!

Whether his body worked or not, when he wished to sire an heir in the future, with a little prince born, all rumors would collapse of themselves.

He asked evenly, “Tell me, what do you see?”

The ministers all replied as one: “We see the Empress’s innocence!”

Feng Changye’s lips curved.

He glanced at the Prince of Jin. “Then what the Prince said just now about him and the Empress—?”

The ministers answered as one: “It was the Prince’s baseless slander!”

Feng Changye was satisfied.

Just as he was about to speak, the Prince sneered, “Royal Brother, even if there is nothing improper between the Empress and me, so what? That she once admired me is a fact! That her heart held me is also a fact!”

He laughed wildly. “Royal Brother, though you are the highest emperor, your Empress does not love you—her heart is filled with me!”

Feng Changye kicked him to the ground.

Looking down at the Prince’s wretched figure, he smiled lightly. “Don’t waste your effort. Isn’t your goal simply to provoke me, to drive a wedge between me and the Empress, and have me depose her?”

He shook his head, clicking his tongue. “Too bad—I won’t grant your wish.”

He went on, “You say the Empress’s heart holds you. Then I am curious—if that were true, why would she risk her head to demand I confine you? Does the Empress enjoy some game of loving you while seeking your death, hmm?”

Inwardly he thought: And if the Empress still plans to topple me, this tyrant—doesn’t that mean she loves me to death?

Confronted so, the Prince went pale, unable to answer.

On the side, Zhu Wuhuan was overjoyed, delighted by every word.

She nearly clapped her hands to praise the tyrant—brilliant!

When it comes to sharp-tongued retorts, this tyrant is a master too!

Hearing her inner voice, Feng Changye bent his head, holding back laughter.

She thinks this is good? I haven’t even finished yet.

He lowered her hand, returned to his seat, and spoke unhurriedly.

“As for the matter of the Empress having a past affection with the Prince before entering the palace—this, I truly do not care.”

“As a husband, you may demand that your wife remain loyal to you after marriage. She is yours then, and chastity is her duty.”

“But you cannot demand that, before she knew you, she must never have admired another man.”

“At that time, she did not know she would one day wed you. She naturally thought the one she liked was the one she would marry. If she felt her heart stir, what fault was that?”

“Young love is human nature—who has not felt it? As long as she kept within propriety, did nothing improper, and after marrying you severed old ties and faithfully became your wife, then she remains pure.”

At this, Feng Changye smiled and opened his hand toward Zhu Wuhuan.

“…” Zhu Wuhuan was stunned by his enlightened words, yet still walked over and placed her fingers into his palm.

For a feudal emperor to speak with such clarity—this was extraordinary!

He truly did not care that his Empress once liked someone else!

Even in the twenty-first century, not every man could be this open-minded!

This tyrant was becoming less and less like the despot recorded in history. His insight amazed her!

Hearing her inner voice, Feng Changye’s lips curved faintly.

Fool! The reason I speak so magnanimously, the reason I do not care you once liked another, is because I do not care about you at all!

Because I do not care, because I do not love you, whoever you like is not worth my anger.

But!

If I ever come to love you, love you to the bone—and you dare to like another even once—I’ll make sure you don’t survive it!