I woke up as the Villainous Empress

He is her Father after all.

From other people’s points of view, it could be strange for her to reject her father’s request like this. However, unlike many other people, he didn’t ask her any questions and simply sat in front of her and enjoyed his tea while looking at the blue lake water.

“What? Do you have something to ask?” Zheng Liang asked when he noticed Yang Ning’s fixed gaze on him.

“Aha, was I too obvious?” She chuckled when she realized that she was staring at him for a long time.

She was lost in her thoughts that’s why she habitually stared at him in a daze.

She cleared her throat and asked cautiously, ” I was just wondering why aren’t you asking me any questions. You saw everything and even helped me to come up with an excuse. Aren’t you curious about me?”

It’s been three months since they got married and have been living together as husband and wife.

Despite living in the same chamber, these days they seldomly get the opportunity to see each other’s faces because rather than coming to the chamber, he sleeps in the study room instead while working.

.....

The workload at the royal court seems to have increased after His Majesty has fallen ill and needed rest to recuperate his health.

As the Crown Prince of the Empire, all the responsibilities have fallen on his shoulders and he has been working hard to carry out all the duties of the Crown Prince after he became the de facto ruler of the empire who needs a monarch to run the nation.

” I am sure you must have a reasonable reason for you to avoid your father like this.” He said as he put down his teacup and gracefully wiped the corner of his mouth.

Even though he was busy with work and didn’t get any chance to spend time with Yang Ning, he had heard from Gu Lan that she had been avoiding meeting with Yang Luoyang.

He could see that Yang Luoyang has been trying hard to keep an eye on him and control his actions since His Majesty has also fallen ill and it is the best timing to pull him down by scheming against him.

Something must be going on in his mind that’s why he has been approaching Yang Ning more frequently in the last few days. However, seeing the way she has been avoiding him, it looks like she doesn’t want to follow her father’s lead.

He married her thinking that as long as she doesn’t betray him, he does not mind her background as Yang Luoyang’s daughter and will accept her as His Crown Princess.

Seeing her actions in the last three months, he could say that even though she is Yang Luoyang’s daughter, she is different from him, and seeing her ignoring Yang Luoyang like this by making random excuses, she must be aware of his plans as well.

Looks like he didn’t make a mistake in marrying her and entering into this marriage alliance, which was set up by Yang Luoyang.

Because he might be scheming but Yang Ning doesn’t seem like a scheming person like him and has a different mindset than him.

Glad he didn’t judge her because of the rumors and got to know about the real side of hers.

___

Yang Ning didn’t say anything to Zheng Liang in exchange for his response to her question. Instead, she changed the topic of the conversation and asked, ” How is the condition of His Majesty these days? I heard from the court ladies that he has been getting better these days.”

” Did the Imperial Head Physician say anything about Majesty’s health? How long will it take for him to recuperate and return to the royal court?”

Zheng Liang’s expression turned solemn at her question. He took a deep breath and looked around cautiously before saying, ” Master Jiang Tai has said that his condition is deteriorating day by day. He has not only lost so much weight and has become weak, but his vision has gotten blurry as well.”

” After he lost consciousness the other day during the royal court session, he has been bedridden since then. Even Master Jiang Tai cannot understand what is wrong with His Majesty.” The energy in his voice dimmed when he said this.

He has always blamed his father for his mother’s death and ill health. However, seeing him falling ill like this and lying on the bed all day long, this situation feels strange and he feels guilty for not treating him right when he was healthy and fine.

“I couldn’t tell you about it earlier because this news hasn’t been revealed to anyone. It would be chaotic if people found out about His Majesty’s condition. So…..I hope you could keep this news a secret.” He said.

Yang Ning nodded seriously and pursed her lips, feeling guilty about the whole situation. She wasn’t aware that his condition was this severe and was only aware that he was sick and was receiving treatment from Master Jiang Tai.

However, upon hearing about the condition of His Majesty from Zheng Liang, she realized that his condition was graver than she had expected.

No doubt Zheng Liang wasn’t coming to their chamber for days. Because he has been dealing with so many things he doesn’t have the time and privilege to think about anything else.

If she had known that His Majesty’s condition was this bad and rather than recuperating, his health was deteriorating day by day, she wouldn’t have been enjoying her free time like this.

She is Zheng Liang’s wife after all. Rather than supporting him in any way, she was enjoying her free time as if she was a guest here and not the Crown Princess of the Empire.

Although she does treat herself as a guest in this world, it is not fair for her to sit without doing anything when the Emperor is in such a grave condition. The Emperor was cold but he was never mean to her and always treated her well.

If she was not remembering it around, in the novel it was around this time when His Majesty fell gravely ill and after some time, he passed away because the physicians couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him and why his organs were failing one by one.

There wasn’t much information in the novel about this time, but it was mentioned that when His Majesty passed away, there was so much refusal from the Council of Ministers about Zheng Liang becoming the successor of His Majesty and becoming the Next Emperor of the Empire.

Half of the Ministers were in favor of Zheng Liang becoming the next Emperor because he is the eldest son of the Emperor and was born from his first wife, the Queen, and was destined to become the Emperor in the future.

Meanwhile, many of the ministers wanted Empress Dowager’s son to become the next Emperor.

Even though Empress Dowager’s son grew up outside the palace to avoid the struggle for the Crown, they wanted him to take over the position of Emperor since Yang Lingxin will become the Empress Dowager.

After Zheng Liang became the Emperor of the Zheng Empire, Yang Luoyang assured the Empress that even though he became the Emperor, his position will not be permanent in exchange for support from her.

In reality, he wasn’t planning to pull down Zheng Liang from the position of Emperor as long as he listened to his words. That is why he arranged Yang Ning’s marriage to him.

He was simply using the Empress to achieve his goals. However, his plan started to falter when Zheng Liang started to go against Yang Luoyang’s suggested policies and all of his ideas.

That’s why Yang Luoyang started to go against Zheng Liang openly and even dared to kill his new lover to secure Yang Ning and his position in the palace.

That’s how the novel came to a satisfying end.

‘It means His Majesty’s sudden death was the start of the power struggle at the palace. If this sudden death of His Majesty could be prevented, then…does that mean the tragic end of Yang Ning could be prevented as well?’ Yang Ning looked at Zheng Liang who looked worn out and wondered what can be done to prevent the worst scenario.