Lei Xing looked at him in confusion and responded, "No, nothing else...?"
The Emperor narrowed his eyes at her, "You have quite the peculiar friend."
Lei Xing knit her brows, still confused.
{...Peculiar friend? I don't have any fr-...Well. I guess Li Ru's a friend, but she's not strange...right?...}
"Do you mean Li Ru?" Lei Xing asked with a raised eyebrow.
The Emperor frowned and flatly said, "No, the Doctor."
Lei Xing pursed her lips, "Oh, ah I wouldn't exactly call us-"
"He says you are friends." The Emperor informed.
Lei Xing gave a half-smile and mumbled, "I guess he would assume so..."
{...This stupid old man skipped town after throwing me under the bus...He better fly back to face his music...I'm not going to jail for anyone! I'm just a victim in all this T_T)...}
"So has he been able to help you recover your memories?" The Emperor asked.
"Um, not yet. We are still in the treatment process."
The Emperor narrowed his eyes, "From my understanding, his specialty is in childbearing matters. What made you think he would be to help you recover your memories?"
Lei Xing looked at him with a guarded expression and vaguely replied, "It was a random stroke of luck."
{...Ah, I knew I couldn't walk out of that one scot-free. Look I don't know the old man that well - Actually I don't even know him at all, so no clue what he did to your crazy mother...Frankly, I want to strangle him for it now too so -_-)...}
"So he told you he has the power to help you with that?" The Emperor asked with a raised eyebrow.
Lei Xing slightly knit her brows.
{...Power? That's an odd choice of words...}
"Um, well, not exactly. It seems there is a bit of a misunderstanding. I did not exactly go to him with my memory loss problem, as you know it's quite...strange. My general health has not been very good since the accident...I get headaches at random and am quite weak as well. No other doctors have been able to even see that there was a problem, and so could not offer me any relief or treatment at all, until I met him. Not only could he see my health issues, but he also was able to help me with relief..."
She looked at the Emperor, who was looking at her with a somewhat dubious expression.
Then she sighed and continued, "Well...Ideally, I thought that if my health condition improves, then my memories would also return given time. Now that he's gone, I don-" She stopped with a defeated sigh and lowered her eyes for dramatic effect.
The Emperor looked at her saddened state with sympathetic eyes and then frowned, "How do you know he's gone?"
Lei Xing blinked and inwardly groaned.
{...Shit! I screwed up! I got too into the story T_T)...}
"You haven't left the palace in the last few days, neither have your maids. So how do you know about that?"
Lei Xing sighed and honestly admitted, "He told my maid to inform me as he exited the palace that day."
"He told you he was running away?" The Emperor asked with a frown.
"Not that! Just that he will be going away...for a while." Lei Xing quickly corrected.
{...Definitely do not want to be charged with aiding and abetting a fugitive -_-)'...}
"...He was just letting me know so I don't waste a trip." Lei Xing then added.
"I see...So do you know where he went?" The Emperor asked, narrowing his eyes at her again.
"No, not at all! I barely even know him. I have only seen him three times if you count the occasion in the palace." Lei Xing said with an earnest expression.
{...All true, I barely know him! Not associated with him or his potential crimes at all!...}
The Emperor scrutinized her face for a bit and then sighed, "I believe you."
Lei Xing let out a slight sigh of relief.
{...You should. This has been a tiring episode...Can I go now? -_-)...}
The Emperor then walked towards the side, and Lei Xing reluctantly followed. He stopped in front of the hanging embroidery piece and looked at it, while Lei Xing glanced at it and then at her neglected boxy petal on the embroidery rack and frowned.
The Emperor then asked, "Would you like to take it?"
Lei Xing's lips twitched, and she inwardly rolled her eyes.
{...Why? So it can give me nightmares? -_-)...}
Lei Xing put on a strained smile and lightly bowed her head, "I think it would serve better elsewhere. Thank you Your majesty for your grace."
{...And for wasting my time. Instead of playing catch a bandit, you should have just asked whether I made the stupid embroidery piece or not in the first place. Instead, you made me waste hours of my precious time and energy making that piece of crap! You better not toss it out! Better go hang it in your bedroom and stare at it every morning!... Actually don't do that, that'd be weird. Still! Better not toss it -_-)...}
The Emperor looked at her face and frowned. Before he could respond, Eunuch Li entered and came up to them, glanced at Lei Xing, smiled then informed, "Your majesty, dinner is ready."
"En." The Emperor simply responded, and Eunuch Li called for the servants to enter, as they were setting up the dinner table.
The Emperor smiled at Lei Xing, "You must be hungry." Then went to hold her hand, but before he could grasp it, Lei Xing brought her hands up in a bow, "I'm not feeling well at the moment, so I would rather go rest."
Then she glanced up at him and then added, "...I wouldn't want to disturb your meal, so I beg to take my leave now."
The Emperor frowned but did not say anything, and as usual, Lei Xing took his silence for assent, bowed again, and left.
After the servants were done setting up the table and left, Eunuch Li walked up to the Emperor, who was still frowning at the doors and asked, "What happened?"
"She seems upset." The Emperor simply stated.
"Did something go wrong?" Eunuch Li asked, stroking his chin.
"I acknowledged her wrongs and forgave her for it...and then asked a few questions for clarification." The Emperor said with a frown.
This morning before he left for court, he spent some time scrutinizing the peony on the handkerchief and comparing it to the ones on the embroidery piece. It really did seem too similar, as he thought.
To verify his suspicions, he sent for an embroidery master to appraise both works, and the verdict was that they were done by the same hand. So it was either she had lied to him last night or that she had deceived the late Empress, publicly too.
Since he had seen her embroidery piece before, he concluded it must be the latter. He did not personally care about it and was going to leave it alone.
But Eunuch Li thought it would be a good opportunity for them to draw closer. Acknowledge her wrongs, and then forgive her for it. This way, she would feel grateful to the Emperor, and it would be a great way to ingratiate himself with her. Destroy to build stronger, he said.
Eunuch Li furrowed his brow, "Hmm...I knew going through the process of having her embroider it was not a good idea. Trying to catch her in the act was not an ideal move. Even if you wanted to spend some time with her, it would have been bette-"
Eunuch Li stopped and sighed when he saw the Emperor's deepening frown.
The Emperor then turned and went back to sit on the throne chair and picked up a memorial.
"Your majesty, aren't you going to eat? The food will get cold." Eunuch Li said.
"I'm not hungry." The Emperor responded without looking up from the memorial, still with a frown on his face
Eunuch Li looked at him, shook his head, and sighed.
{...Your life is definitely not easy...}
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NOTE: The NEXT chapter is an 🐜 side STORY, so SKIP if you will~ Thank you...
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