“Are you crazy?” The Pure Consort was shocked as she immediately lifted her head to glare at the man next to her with rage.
The man turned to look at the Pure Consort with deep feelings hidden in his eyes. When he turned back to look at Lu Liangwei, his expression was left with a look of determination. His head hit the ground heavily again. “Your Highness, please do not give the Pure Consort a guilty sentence on account that she has been in the imperial harem for so many years. Even if she did not contribute any major merits, she had still labored here. I am willing to bear the responsibility for everything.”
Lu Liangwei sized him up.
When she saw him dressed in the imperial guard uniform, she guessed he must be from the imperial guards.
Moreover, from the looks of it, this imperial guard had deep feelings for the Pure Consort. They must not have gotten together recently, but have been together for quite a while.
He had the opportunity to escape just now, but chose to return because he did not want the Pure Consort to bear the crime alone.
She pursed her lower lip.
She had never thought she would bump into them having a secret affair.
“You do know that meeting a concubine of the imperial harem privately would mean a death sentence for you. Moreover, you have done something unspeakable. According to the Palace rules, you should be executed.”
The last trace of blood on the Pure Consort’s face disappeared completely.
She moved two steps forward while on her knees and tugged Lu Liangwei’s skirt. Her eyes were filled with tears. “Your Highness, this has nothing to do with Zhan Lu. I was the one who had seduced him. Please give his matter a thorough investigation, Your Highness, and do not sentence him to any crime, I beg of you…”
It was the first time Lu Liangwei saw the Pure Consort behave this way.
She had lost her display of beauty and attention-grabbing demeanor, and now looked completely dejected in defeat.
Lu Liangwei paused a moment before asking, “When did this start?”
The Pure Consort’s lips trembled. It took her a while before replying in a low voice, “Last year during the Tenth Lunar Month…”
Lu Liangwei was slightly astonished.
She had never imagined the Pure Consort to be daring enough to be in consorting with this imperial guard for more than three months.
If she had not coincidentally bumped into them, she wondered how long would these two plan to keep it a secret.
“How brazen of you two! Do you think you are free to do anything you want because His Majesty and I aren’t in the Palace?” Lu Liangwei frowned.
She and Long Yang had returned quietly and did not make a big show out of it, which was why the Pure Consort had thought Lu Liangwei and Long Yang were not in the Palace. That was when she and the imperial guard had a daring tryst in the imperial garden.
The Pure Consort did not reply but instead laughed pitifully. “It doesn’t matter to His Majesty if someone like me existed in the imperial harem. My existence is no different from a palace maid. I stay here every day waiting in such a huge bedroom, but His Majesty has never once stepped into it. Have you any idea how many years I have been staying in the Palace, Your Highness?”
Lu Liangwei knew that the Pure Consort had entered the Palace at sixteen. She was twenty-six this year and ten years had passed since then.
The Pure Consort laughed as tears flowed down her face. “It has been ten years! I didn’t know better back then when I was blinded by His Majesty’s charm and magnetism. I came barreling into the Palace, thinking that His Majesty would one day take pity on me, but days passed and the only thing that greeted me was endless loneliness. His Majesty had never looked at me. I even pretended to fall into the pond one winter just to get him to take a look at me, but do you know how did His Majesty reacted?”
Lu Liangwei did not say anything. All she did was look at the Pure Consort quietly.
She knew how His Majesty acted extremely cold toward outsiders.
He did not like the Pure Consort at all. How was it possible for him to show concern for her?
Moreover, it had never been his intention to marry the Four Chief Consorts into the Palace. The Four Chief Consorts were no different than palace maids to him, and they probably could not even compare to palace maids.
At the very least, palace maids were there to do work, but all the Four Chief Consorts did were dress luxuriously and eat well, and they even required people to serve them.
