My Sin

Conversations

"Empress!" Noble Lady Yun muttered loudly under her breath, but it all seems to be in vain because the empress continued to throw flour.

"Empress!" Tried Noble Lady Yun a second time, but to her avail, the empress continued.

"Empress!" Tried Noble Lady Yun a third time, but she still got no response.

"Liu Quiaqio!" Yelled Noble Lady Yun loudly.

"What?" Asked the Empress as she turned her head to see Noble Lady Yun making weird movements with her eyes.

"Oh! Did you get flour in your eyes? No? Then why are making those weird  movements with your eyes?" Asked the Empress confused.

The eunuch who seemed to catch the helplessness in Noble Lady Yun's eyes and renounced the arrival of the Emperor. The empress's mouth made an 'oh' of understanding, and everybody was waiting for him to turn pale or ask the emperor for forgiveness but what he said next caught everyone off guard.

"So why did we stop again?" asked the empress with pure confusion on his face.

"The emperor's here, so we have to greet and entertain him." Explained Noble Lady Yun with a low voice, only to hear the empress let out a dejected 'oh'.

"Mommy, are we stopping? I don't want to stop! War is fun." Said Hu'er, the crown prince with a vicious face while looking at the trembling servants that were targets of the crown prince.

"Yes unfortunately this war has been stopped, but this war shall continue another day. So general Hu Feng should not feel discouraged, because the outcome was and will be the same." said the empress in a serious tone.

"That outcome is?" asked the princess while tilting her head.

"Victory!" said the empress in a matter-of-factly tone.

After the cute and fun dialogue between mother and son, the empress finally turned his head towards the emperor and greeted the emperor and the prince. He then ordered Li Dani to arrange a table with refreshments and sweets. Then he brought out a tray of cakes that looked more like art for the little princes.

"Mommy made art cakes again," uttered the princess, Ruan'er with joy.

"Ywes mwommy made the mwagnificent cakes again. (Yes mommy made the magnificent cakes again)," echoed Tao'er with his pronunciation off due to his age.

"Mother, thank you for taking your time and making art cakes, but you should take more care of your body and make this son feel at ease." Said the usually inhospitable prince with endless love and warmth in his voice, his manners still impeccable.

"Yes! Yes! Mother hears you! stop nagging will you?" Responded the empress with a pout.

"Your Majesty, how are the upcoming banquet preparations going?" Asked Imperial Concubine Shu completely ruining the warm atmosphere.

"They are great, Though a lot I got Noble Lady Yun helping me." The empress answered with a calm voice and a smile that did not reach his eyes. He knew exactly what Imperial Concubine she swanted to do.

"Oh! That's great this concubine knows you passed out and were weak during this week so your majesty ought to get help." She said with a genuine voice.

The emperor's eyes warmed at the sight of his caring concubine and turned coldly to see the empress's reaction only to see her calm, and feeding the princes along with the two princesses. 'He was actually acting so nice to another woman's child? They must be really close.' thought the emperor.

"We heard you were pretty weak, and the preparation for the banquets is piling up more work, How about letting Imperial Concubine Shu help?" He asked nonchalantly but it seemed more like an order.

"Your Majesty, you mocked my beloved daughter for her manners a week ago while you yourself are worse. You obviously heard me say that I have Noble Lady Yun's help for the preparation but completely disregarded that, you are indirectly insulting my choice as a wrong one, but also deemed Noble Lady Yun as incompetent. I made the choice because I know who can help me and who cannot. If a poisoning incident happens Noble Lady Yun would take care of the situation with poise and would appease the people, she is trained for that since she's from the Minister Of Crimes Mansion, while Imperial Concubine Shu would just cry and say that it was not her to you and you would say that it's okay angering the people that are scared, and anxious for their lives further. It has happened two times and both times It was my father that was sent to deal with the rebels due to your actions. I do not care if you love her or not but while doing so make sure not to hurt those around you." Sated the empress calmly leaving no room for arguments.

"Hahaha! Sister-in-law this prince indeed have missed that smart mouth of yours, it has been gone for 7 years. Indeed a long time" Teased Grand Prince Lin, shocking everyone.

"I knew I should've let you die that day." The empress said loud enough for everyone to hear him.

"That makes me sad empress," responded Grand Prince Lin with a fake sad voice. 

"What does you being sad has to do with me?" asked the empress with a raised brow.

The conversation between grand Prince Lin and the empress was shocking to everyone. 'They actually knew each other? The empress saved the grand prince? When?' These were the questions going to everyone's mind currently.

"Imperial father!" An arrogant little voice rudely interrupted the conversation.

"Second prince what are you doing here?" asked the emperor, his voice filled with doting.

"My teacher finished his lesson already, First brother I didn't see you at the lesson, were you sick?" He asked innocently, but the arrogance laced in his voice said otherwise, and immediately the emperor's doting face turned into a frown.

"Crown prince if we remember correctly you should've been in the lesson with your second brother." Said the emperor with a cold voice, nothing like when he spoke to the second prince.

"Both the second prince and his imperial majesty worry too much. If you saw this prince playing then that means that this prince had finished his assigned work. Second brother should worry about himself since he never finishes work on time." Responded the prince with a similar cold voice not even bothering to call the emperor imperial father leaving everyone shocked including the emperor himself.

"Crown prince, you should call his Majesty imperial father. Your not his subject but his son." Said Imperial Concubine Shu.

"Oh really, I thought differently since his majesty didn't even bother to name this prince when he was born which is considered one of the most important rituals because of one concubine who caught a cold. If he could dismiss such an important ritual because one mere concubine caught a cold then that must mean that this prince isn't worth much." Responded with a calm and cold voice, and each point was said with reason leaving no room for argument. 

Imperial Concubine Shu immediately paled, while the empress snickered as she fed her children more food. The emperor's eyes tremble but his face remained stoic. 

Emperor's pov

I could not refute him, I was not even there to name him because Imperial concubine Shu caught a cold. No matter how worried I was, there were many imperial physicians that could take care of her, and because of my hate for the empress, I ignored the kids who did nothing wrong. I could see the hate in his eyes, the hatred was so deep that it's probably impossible to get rid of.