Gifted Bride of the Sinned Prince

“Please wait here,” Gao Bing said, and he walked inside the King’s chamber.

She gazed at the palace maid next to her and saw the wound on her hand. It looked like she got a burn from the hot water. When Li Hua asked her about it, she hid her hand below her left hand and kept quiet. Li Hua found it weird when Gao Bing told her that she was allowed go in.

Li Hua nodded and stepped into the chamber. She found out that no one was present in the chamber. She was sure that the King would ask her about the truth. She had to tell a lie in a way that he would never ask her again.

“Greetings to Your Majesty,” she said as she entered the main chamber, pausing and lowering her head. She kowtowed before him and finally, looked at him.

“Take your seat, Li Hua,” Qiu Zedong said.

She sat down on one of the broad chairs on the left of the king to his front and then waited for him to speak.

“You must be wondering why I called you here,” Qiu Zedong initiated the conversation. “I want to know why you were asking Concubine Huan Bi about my late Concubine Yu Jun.” The King’s question made Li Hua gulp. She forgot that King’s eyes were all around the palace. There was a possibility that Tianjie’s mother told the King.

“I had gone to pay a visit to the prince’s late mother and then I encountered Lady Huan, Your Majesty. I was curious to know about my mother-in-law,” Li Hua answered wisely.

.....

“I think you do not know, but talking about my late concubine is prohibited. You are lucky that I am not punishing you because of my son,” Qiu Zedong said with a stern tone. Li Hua apologized to him and assured him that it would not happen again.

“Hmm.” Qiu Zedong cleared her throat and asked her if she had found out the truth. “I believe that Prince Lóng Wei must have opened up with you and he must have told you why he killed my concubine and his mother that night?” He waited for Li Hua’s response.

“Your Majesty, I asked His Highness about it. I had faith that he did not kill his mother, but I was wrong. He told me that he killed his mother because,” she paused and studied the facial expressions on the King’s face.

“Because? Why did you pause?” He asked her to continue.

“Because His Highness’s mother never considered him as her child. The prince was unable to handle the way she would mistreat him. That made Prince Lóng Wei kill her,” Li Hua answered with a confident tone. “I am upset for my husband that he could not get the love of a mother for no reason. He was treated badly by her. That was the main reason I ended up asking Lady Huan about my late mother-in-law.” She cleverly connected the points before presenting them to the King.

“Indeed, Prince Lóng Wei’s mother’s bad treatment has affected my child a lot. So, Concubine Yu’s bad treatment was the reason why my son decided to kill her,” Qiu Zedong asserted. Li Hua nodded at him.

“You may depart,” the King said, and she rose to her feet. She bowed and turned to leave when she heard Qiu Zedong say.

“If I find out that you lied to me, then you have to kill yourself,” Qiu Zedong said. Li Hua turned slightly to look at the King and was intimidated by him. It felt to her that he was warning her. Did he know more than that? She pondered. “I hate liars. Keep this in mind,” Qiu Zedong said with a grim look on his face.

“I cannot dare to lie in front of His Majesty,” Li Hua affirmed while gazing into his eyes. “I also hate liars, Your Majesty,” she said, and wore a tiny smile on her lips. Qiu Zedong flinched at her words. “Thank you for forgiving me,” she said and left the chamber.

She heaved a sigh of relief as she reached the doors and then stepped out. Gao Bing walked in while Li Hua stepped forward to leave. But the wound on the palace maid’s hand made her stop at her place. She asked her to get it treated in the royal infirmary. The palace maid kept her head low, giving no response to Li Hua.

She understood that servants were not allowed to even rest properly or look after themselves. She walked away but then she decided to send the medicine to her later. She was once a servant too, so she understood that pain.

As she reached the manor, she found Lóng Wei near the pillar with his arms crossed while his back leaned against the pillar.

“Where were you?” He asked as he jumped down the two stairs and approached her.

“His Majesty has called me,” Li Hua replied.

“Hmm.” Lóng Wei did not utter a word and took her to the chamber to talk with her in the private.

They both settled on the floor mattress, which was on the patio. Li Hua told Lóng Wei that she did not tell the King anything. “But His Majesty said something which made me dubious of him,” Li Hua affirmed.

“What did my father say to you?” He asked.

“He hates liars. If he finds out that I lied to him, then I will have to kill myself,” Li Hua narrated the same words to Lóng Wei as the King had said to her.

“What?” Lóng Wei was confused to find that his father had said something like that.