Forensic Imperial Concubine novel Chapter 608

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!"