Chapter 816 : “Secret Intricacies of the Imperial Harem (2)”
The Emperor thinks that Lei Fan is his biological child and he had been displeased about naming Lei Chen as the Crown Prince all this time as he had selfishly wanted the child he had with his most beloved to be gifted with the position of Crown Prince which the Empress was only too glad to see happen. Only she was aware that Lei Chen was merely a bastard love child between the illicit affair between a palace maid and a guard while Lei Fan whom the Emperor favoured was the child of her and her lover. As the hatred from the many years of cold indifference she had suffered from the Emperor grew, the Empress only wished to make the Emperor suffer the consequences of his own actions.
And in the midst of the secret plotting and scheming between the two people, Lei Chen was turned into the resulting sacrifice from their secret conflict and intrigue.
With Lei Fan slowing growing up, and the Empress’ silent consent, the Emperor had begun to move against Lei Chen. Placing the entire hosting of the Spirit Battle Tournament in Lei Chen’s hands to organize this year, was merely the first step the Emperor had taken to overturn Lei Chen from his position.
Once Lei Chen made a mistake in the Spirit Battle Tournament in that year’s Spirit Battle Tournament, the Emperor would have a good and valid reason to use against him, and before Lei Fan came of age, Lei Chen would definitely be pulled off from his position of the Yan Country’s Crown Prince!
“This letter, was left behind by my biological mother before she died. She had remained by the Empress to serve her all that time but I had not been aware of it. In the countless times I have gone to the Empress’ Palace, I have not seen her once, not knowing that I have been acknowledging a murderer as my mother.” Lei Chen’s voice had turned somewhat raspy as he shook his head in bitter laughter at himself.
The Empress had been worried that the secret would be exposed and had pegged a non existent crime onto Lei Chen’s biological mother and beaten her to death several years ago. Till the point that his mother died, Lei Chen had still not known that that person was his biological mother. Lei Chen had still been staying within the Imperial Palace at that time and he would often go stay over at the Empress’ Palace. It was during one of those short stays at the Empress’ Palace that he discovered this letter hidden within his jade pillow and understood everything. He finally knew why after Lei Fan was born, the Empress was suddenly not so affable towards him…..
Hua Yao and the others all read the contents of the letter written in blood fully and they were saddened by the tragedy behind all the palace intrigue. They had not thought that there were be so much insidious scheming within the Imperial Harem and at that moment, they finally understood that Jun Wu Xie’s analysis of the situation had not been plucked out of nothing.
It was precisely because she had gone through the incident when Mo Qian Yuan had been victimised and she no longer saw such incidents as strange.
“Fighting to claim supreme power within the Imperial Harem has always been filled with nefarious plots and intrigue, but I find it so laughable, as I am not even a legitimate member of the Imperial Family, but because of the selfish desires of the Empress alone, I am dragged to be stuck in the middle of this muck.” After Lei Chen came to know the truth, he had begun to distance himself from the Empress and had made an excuse to move out from the Imperial Palace, to reside in the Crown Prince’s Residence outside of the palace’s walls.
“You seek to gain the throne?” Jun Wu Xie asked calmly, her tone without a ripple of shock.
“No! I do not care for any power or authourity! Even if it is given to me, I do not care for it! But I seek for the Emperor, the Empress, and Lei Fan to pay the price! I absolutely refuse to play a hapless puppet that can be manipulated and used by them!” Lei Chen’s eyes were overflowing with burning hatred.
“I will need help from all of you. The Emperor is now becoming more blatant with the way he is trying to discredit me. If I wait and do not move, there is only death in the future ahead for me. I refuse to give in! I plead for all of you to lend me your strength to resist them!” Lei Chen was starting right at Jun Wu Xie, he had shown his hand completely, hiding nothing today, to enlist the help from the youths before him.
“Alright.” Jun Wu Xie nodded.
Lei Chen suddenly heaved a huge sigh of relief, and a relieved smile came onto his face.
After having seen the powers from the disciples from the Zephyr Academy, he knew for sure. As long as he was able to win these people over to his side, the Spirit Battle Tournament would no longer pose a problem for him. These youths possessed power that could overwhelm all others within the Spirit Battle Tournament and even if the Emperor wanted to use the tournament against him, he would no longer stand a chance to succeed.