Returning after a three-year escape from death, the tyrant has turned evil.

Chapter 321 Perhaps Death is a Relief

Song Yi stood under the eaves, the palace lanterns above illuminating the small space she stood in. Jiang Lanye, below the steps in complete darkness, looked up at her.

"Yiyi, I will handle this matter. You stay here, okay?"

Song Yi hesitated for a moment: "But... she did such a vicious thing, I can't bear to see her punished with my own eyes."

"I'll take care of everything. I'll tell you when I get back. Be good."

She hesitated for a moment, looked down at her shadow on the ground, and said softly, "Okay."

"Walk."

Jiang Lanye turned around, and the guards immediately followed.

At this moment, inside Consort Ning's palace.

The palace maid Zhuqing rushed in: "Your Highness! Your Highness! The master has sent a letter; it seems something has happened in the manor!"

Consort Ning's eyelids twitched, and she accidentally knocked over the teacup beside her.

"Snapped!"

Tea splashed.

Consort Ning stared blankly at the tea on the ground, then reached out in fear and anxiety to take the letter. She unfolded it with trembling hands, and after seeing what was written inside, her vision went black, and she almost fainted.

Your Majesty found out the truth so quickly!
She knew from the start that this was something she shouldn't have done; the odds of success were far too low.

Now that their mansion has been raided, it's only a matter of time before it's discovered that the fire saltpeter is connected to her father. It's just a pity for all the innocent people in their family!

Are they all going to be beheaded by His Majesty for this?
What about her?
Being in the inner palace, if something happened to her father and this matter was discovered, she would definitely not be able to escape it either.

Oh, right, Empress Dowager, she has to go see the Empress Dowager!
Perhaps the Empress Dowager can protect her!
Thinking of this, Consort Ning didn't even change her clothes before standing up and hurriedly walking towards the door.

Unexpectedly, the moment the door was pushed open...

"Your Majesty has arrived——"

In the darkness, countless guards marched in orderly steps, drawing their swords and standing on both sides of the courtyard, watching Jiang Lanye walk unhurriedly from the center.

Consort Ning stood there dumbfounded, looking at the man she had loved for years but never had, her heart turning cold.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects."

"Consort Ning, where were you trying to run off to?"

Jiang Lanye spoke calmly.

Consort Ning suddenly looked up: "Your Majesty!"

Jiang Lanye casually raised his hand: "Imprison everyone in this palace."

"Yes."

Soon, the guards scattered, and screams from palace maids and eunuchs echoed throughout the palace. Zhu Qing was so frightened that she shrank behind Consort Ning, and was soon dragged out by two guards who grabbed her arms.

Consort Ning's previously dazed expression finally changed as Zhu Qing was about to be dragged away. She quickly reached out and grabbed Zhu Qing's arm tightly, kneeling on the ground: "Your Majesty, Zhu Qing is my personal maid. Please, Your Majesty, have mercy!"

Jiang Lanye remained expressionless.

One of the guards kicked Consort Ning directly. Consort Ning groaned and watched helplessly as Zhu Qing was also taken away.

Her eyes instantly welled up with tears, and she braced herself against the ground with her hands, barely managing to support her weak body.

Just then, a pair of dragon boots appeared before her eyes.

With tears in her eyes, she looked up at Jiang Lanye: "Your Majesty, must you be so cruel to me?" "Consort Ning, you're still pretending even now. Didn't you almost take the lives of me and Consort Yun?"

Consort Ning knew that Jiang Lanye had already found out everything. She hadn't expected Kang Hai to keep his mouth shut, after all, he was just someone who did things for money.

She chuckled and shook her head painfully: "How could I bear to watch Your Majesty die? I only wish that Consort Yun receive the punishment she deserves."

“Deserved punishment?” His voice was terrifyingly soft. “Tell me, what is deserved, and why can you refuse to accept any punishment!”

Consort Ning was speechless.

If this is discovered, they're doomed either way.

Even on her deathbed, she was still unwilling to accept her fate.

Unwilling to accept the emperor's position, she wondered why she hadn't met him first and why he didn't love her.

"Your Majesty, I have been in the palace for three years and have never received the slightest bit of your pity. Are you going to execute me now?"

"You have committed too many evil deeds; I will never spare you."

She chuckled and struggled to her feet.

"Fine, Your Majesty, you are indeed ruthless enough. Even though I have taken care of you and accompanied you for three years, it is not as valuable as a single hair of Consort Yun's head."

After saying that, she looked past Jiang Lanye's shoulder and towards his back: "But why didn't the Imperial Concubine come with His Majesty?"

When Song Yi was mentioned, Jiang Lanye's icy expression softened slightly:
“I do not want her to see such filthy and chaotic things, especially since she is pregnant now.”

The unconscious gentleness in his tone deeply stung Consort Ning.

She would rather Song Yi come over tonight and mock her to her face than see Jiang Lanye protecting her like a precious treasure.

"Your Majesty, I wish to see the Imperial Concubine. I have something to say to her."

Jiang Lanye looked at her without a trace of emotion: "You don't deserve to see her again."

The last glimmer of light in Consort Ning's eyes vanished completely, gradually turning ashen.

She suddenly lunged at Jiang Lanye.

Jiang Lanye frowned. He always reacted quickly and immediately took a step to the side.

The two guards immediately seized her.

Her hair was disheveled, her face was streaked with tears, and her eyes were filled with a mixture of love and hate as she looked at Jiang Lanye: "Your Majesty, I am the most useless daughter in your eyes. He sent me to the palace, hoping that I would maintain the family's honor, but I failed to do so."

"Now, he has asked me to take Consort Yun's life, but I still failed. Not only did I fail, but the matter has also been exposed. Your Majesty will soon order everyone to be beheaded!"

She laughed: "My father is probably still cursing me now. He only regrets in his heart, regrets having a daughter like me, and regrets sending a good-for-nothing like me into the palace!"

In the end, her eyes were bloodshot, and her gaze was completely broken.

She closed her eyes, as if to ease the unbearable pain in her heart; at this moment, even breathing was painful.

She gasped for breath twice, looking at Jiang Lanye with a bitter expression: "Not only that, but even in the end, the person I have loved for three years will not show me the slightest bit of mercy."

She never won the heart of the man she loved, and even on her deathbed, she couldn't bring herself to rush to him and embrace him.

How sad.

But perhaps, dying like this is also a kind of relief.

If she could live her life again, she would never want to enter the palace, and she would never want to fall in love with someone who could never love her back.

(End of this chapter)