Reincarnated as the daughter of my mortal enemy, all I want is to ascend the throne.

Chaos reigned inside the Shou Kang Palace.

The Empress Dowager held her Buddhist prayer beads, turning them incessantly, her brow furrowed with anxiety. From the inner room, the agonizing wails of Consort Liu echoed continuously.

Whether a seven-month-old baby can survive after birth is a big question.

"What's going on with Consort Jing?" The Empress Dowager and Li Yan were like oil and water, so naturally she couldn't interfere in the affairs of the inner palace. For many years, the imperial seal of the inner palace had been in Consort Jing's hands.

With such a serious incident, the first responsibility would fall on Consort Jing. She hurriedly said, "Mother, this was an accident. Qingyan was also careless..."

Upon hearing Li Qingyan's name, the Empress Dowager immediately raised her hand to interrupt Consort Jing, staring intently at Li Qingyan standing not far away. Her face bore a striking resemblance to Li Yan in his childhood.

The more she looked at it, the more disgusted she became.

"As expected of a bastard, he has no manners whatsoever."

The Empress Dowager opened her mouth and didn't give anyone any face, immediately launching into a tirade.

Li Qingyan narrowed her eyes. This was a veiled attack; it seemed to be directed at her, but it was actually a way of insulting Li Yan through her. "A woman who could give birth to a madman like Li Yan is a madman herself."

He tried to kill Li Yan repeatedly for the sake of his other son, just as he had done in previous lives.

In an effort to win over Li Yan and increase his trust in her, she went to great lengths to mend the rift between the mother and son, only to discover in the end... to hell with it, the Empress Dowager is a complete lunatic.

Li Yan may be crazy, but at least he can understand human speech. The Empress Dowager, however, is completely absorbed in her own world and has gone down a dead-end path.

Animals don't understand human speech.

This was Li Qingyan's final assessment of her.

Just then, the imperial physician rushed out and knelt before the Empress Dowager. "Your Majesty, Consort Liu's life has been saved, but the child died as soon as it was born."

With a bang, the Empress Dowager swept the porcelain cup off the table.

Liu Cairen was helped out, and disregarding her own physical condition, she knelt on the ground and cried out, "My aunt killed my child! You must do justice for me!"

She pointed at Li Qingyan, crying loudly, demanding that Li Qingyan pay for her child's life.

Cuiping instinctively stood in front of Li Qingyan, but a guard suddenly appeared and pinned her down.

This situation is not good. Li Qingyan shouted, "Flying Fork, Flying Fork, where the hell are you? Your host is going to die."

"According to palace rules, what is the punishment for harming a concubine?" The Empress Dowager didn't care whether Li Qingyan was just a three-year-old child or not; she was determined to hold her accountable.

Harming a concubine was punishable by death by caning, but how could a three-year-old child have any grudge against a concubine? It would be a laughing stock if word got out; it was just an accident.

No one dared to speak in the room. The Empress Dowager snorted coldly and the palace maid beside her was about to grab Li Qingyan.

"Flying fork! Flying fork!"

After calling out several times without getting a response, Li Qingyan took off running, only to be blocked by a cabinet.

When faced with death, no one can be rational. Li Qingyan yanked open the cabinet and threw the contents out without even looking inside.

"Crackling"

After a flurry of smashing, the room fell into an eerie silence; you could hear a pin drop.

Li Qingyan slowly opened her eyes and could see clearly what was on the ground. It was a memorial tablet, the memorial tablet of the late Crown Prince.

"You beast! You are a beast just like Li Yan! Guards, kill her for me! Kill her!"

The Empress Dowager was already somewhat deranged. Today was the anniversary of the late Crown Prince's death, and then this happened. The late Crown Prince's memorial tablet was even destroyed. The Empress Dowager had completely lost her mind.

Completely abandoning her dignified image, she only wanted to kill Li Qingyan.

The palace maids dared not listen to her now, after all, serving a traitor to the late Crown Prince was a capital offense.

"Is Li Yan a beast?" Li Qingyan narrowed her eyes, walked over from the palace maid, stepped on the late crown prince's memorial tablet and even jumped on it a few times.

"If Li Yan is a beast, then you shouldn't be here; you should die."

When Li Qingyan was reborn for the third time, she was born as this woman's daughter, and she was practically raised like an animal. This woman only cared about her eldest son and completely disregarded the lives of her other children.

She was fortunate that Li Yan always secretly fed her back then, otherwise she would have starved to death long ago.

Although she was eventually killed by that madman Li Yan.

"Your Majesty should consider what crime it would be to support a traitor."

As she spoke, she stomped on the memorial tablet a few more times.

"Li Yan is your own son, and you call him a beast? Then what are you?"

The little bundle wasn't even as tall as the people in the room. Grandma's voice was now full of anger. Regardless of the consequences, she pointed at the Empress Dowager and started yelling.

Everyone in the room was stunned; even Consort Liu stopped crying. They wondered if Li Qingyan had gone mad, not only calling the emperor by his name but also provoking the Empress Dowager.

"Kill her! Kill her for me!"

The Empress Dowager roared like an angry lioness.

How could the palace maids dare to move?

Upon seeing this, the guards reached out to grab Li Qingyan.

After her anger subsided, reason slowly returned to Li Qingyan. She truly felt that she had brought this upon herself. She had finally managed to survive until now, only to have another madman come along because of Li Yan, the madman who had killed her three times.

Li Qingyan was cornered against the wall.

Just then, the palace door was kicked open by two guards, one on each side.

With a loud bang, the palace gate lurched precariously.

Li Yan narrowed his eyes. "Let's see who dares!"

The two guards surrounding Li Qingyan had their throats slit on the spot. Before the others in the room could even scream, the body was dragged out.

"Little brat? Little brat?"

Li Yan rarely spoke to Li Qingyan in such a gentle voice. He looked at the small, trembling figure huddled in the corner, clearly terrified. He quickly wrapped the person in his cloak and held them in his arms.

"Little brat?"

It called out again.

Li Qingyan finally came to her senses, hugged his neck and cried out, "Li Yan, they're going to kill me."

"Li Yan and his men are going to kill me."

Fear surged forth like a burst dam, assaulting Li Qingyan's nerves.

She didn't care about her image and started wailing while hugging Li Yan.

"Don't cry, with Father Emperor here, no one can kill you."

Li Yan gently patted Li Qingyan. Even when he was so angry with Li Qingyan that he was jumping up and down, he never said anything about scaring the child like this.

It took Li Qingyan a while to calm down after crying her heart out, but she still clung tightly to Li Yan's neck.

"I never expected to find a group of people here judging a three-year-old child, claiming that a child unrelated to you killed another child?" Li Yan's lips curled into a cold smile. "Was it she who harmed you, or was it a group of you with ulterior motives who wanted to kill her?"

Everyone inside the room knelt down and hurriedly said that they dared not.

Li Yan's gaze swept over the faces in the room, then fell upon the memorial tablet the Empress Dowager was holding in her arms.

"Bring the person in."

A woman was thrown into the room, bound hand and foot. As soon as she entered, she kowtowed and cried, "Your Majesty, spare my life! Spare this servant's life! It was the Empress Dowager who ordered all of this!"

Everyone recognized this woman; she was a long-time servant of the Empress Dowager, an expert in pharmacology, and had been helping the Empress Dowager maintain her health.

However, it was said some time ago that he was old and his health had deteriorated, so he was released from the palace by the grace of the Empress Dowager.

Upon hearing this, the Empress Dowager glared fiercely at Li Yan, as if she wanted to devour him whole.

"explain."

Li Yan uttered only one word, yet it was filled with murderous intent.

"It was the Empress Dowager who said that His Majesty favors Consort Liu, so she wanted her child to die, so that His Majesty would know how painful it is to lose a child."

"No matter when Liu Cairen's child is born, it will not survive."