Chapter 339: Happy, So Very Happy...

"Long live Your Majesty! Long, long live Your Majesty!"

It wasn’t just the courtiers; the nearby guards and palace maids all knelt, one after another.

The Empress’s declaration was unprecedented, a thunderous revelation that shook everyone to the core.

Though it challenged everything they knew, it was impossible not to be won over by the sheer vision behind her words.

Her Majesty had truly cast aside personal desire to put the people first and forge a new world.

This was no empty promise, no castle in the sky; she always followed through on her word.

At the entrance, Lou Yan stood frozen, momentarily forgetting why he had come here in the first place.

In the end, he sank to his knees with the rest.

He was struck once more by the clear realization that the woman he loved was not merely a woman, but a powerful and sagacious Emperor.

At moments like this, his own possessive desires seemed so petty and unbecoming.

Jealousy, envy, resentment?

It was one thing to bicker with Her Majesty in private, but to air such grievances in public would be taking the low road.

He remained unseen, and Song Junzhan could only ever be the Prime Minister. Her Majesty was still Her Majesty—unchanged from the very beginning.

Inside Jinluan Hall, seeing her courtiers looking at her with such adoration, Xiao Li quite enjoyed the feeling.

It was just like her becoming the Emperor. Though her original intention was simply to stir up trouble, she had actually become a good Emperor.

And the matter of an heir was no different.

Her initial motive was simply that she didn’t want to have children. She felt no sense of belonging in this world; her goal, even now, was to leave. Plus, the moment she thought about that scourge Xu Nianqing, and where his wretched spirit might be drifting, any thought of giving birth died instantly.

’If that scourge ended up in my womb, heh... A wise ruler? I’d drag the whole world down with me!’

’So, you see, how it starts doesn’t matter. It’s the results that count.’

’I’ve opened up the right of succession. We’ll set new rules, a system of meritocracy where the most capable will rule.’

’Isn’t that a good thing?’

’Of course, this can’t all be settled in a day or two. But for now... Heh heh.’

The Empress flashed a wicked, malicious smile. "My dearest ministers, come. Let’s discuss the matter of your punishment."

All the officials, their blood still pumping with fervor: "..."

It was as if a basin of ice-cold water had been dumped over their heads. Everyone snapped to their senses, a chill running down their spines.

’We’re doomed. We were so caught up in being moved by the Empress’s wisdom and righteousness that we forgot her true nature is perverse and her methods are vicious. We’re doomed, we’re so doomed...’

One courtier tried to escape punishment through flattery. "Your Majesty is as kind-hearted as you are beautiful, and ever so magnanimous! We beg Your Majesty’s forgiveness! Please, spare us just this once."

Though they didn’t know what the punishment would be, past experience told them it would be completely unexpected and make them wish they were dead.

’But they also knew in their hearts that when it came to trivial matters like this—things that had nothing to do with her principles—the Empress would never back down. She simply loved to torment people.’

’Waaah...’

’Your Majesty, have mercy!’

The great she-devil of an Empress watched the terror and despair bloom on her courtiers’ faces with great satisfaction before issuing an utterly inhuman command.

"To the winners go the spoils, naturally. Therefore, I grant you the privilege of bathing in the Dragon Pool."

The Dragon Pool was the Emperor’s personal bathing pool—of course, there was more than one.

Xiao Li had no intention of letting a bunch of smelly men use her personal pool.

One clueless official, thinking this was actually a good thing, was about to cheerfully express his gratitude before the man next to him grabbed him and held him back.

The next moment, the Empress let out a wicked laugh, as if amused by her own idea.

"Haha! And as for the losers... you’ll be responsible for bathing the winners. Remember, you are to wash them until they are sparkling clean. Understand?"

One hour later, all the winning officials were soaking, stark naked, in the pool, while the losing officials held washcloths and scrubbed them down.

Ordinarily, since they were all men, this wouldn’t have been particularly humiliating.

But the Empress had also prepared a group of elderly and rather formidable-looking old matrons to supervise.

They were there to personally instruct the losing officials on how to properly attend to someone.

Anytime a losing official made the slightest mistake, he was harshly reprimanded. Meanwhile, the winning officials lay there, stark naked, as the group of old matrons looked them up and down before tutting and shaking their heads.

’Wait, why are they shaking their heads? You’re old matrons, you’re looking at our youthful bodies, so why are you shaking your heads in disapproval?’

’Waaah... This is pure psychological torture! It’s soul-crushing!’

What was even more vicious was that everyone who finished had to face a soul-crushing interrogation from the servant waiting at the door. "By order of Her Majesty: ’Ask the lords if they enjoyed their bath.’"

The men practically floated out of the room, their voices hollow. "Happy. We were so, so happy..."

That day, the officials below the third-rank watched as all their superiors emerged with ashen faces, looking as if life had lost all meaning.

They were technically still alive, but their spirits had clearly died a while ago.

After this nightmarish bath, everyone understood one thing about the Empress’s love life: when she allowed gossip, you could gossip to your heart’s content. But when she didn’t... heh, the consequences were dire.

"BWAHAHAHA..."

"Bwahahaha..."

Hearing the reports from the Palace Attendants, the Empress collapsed on the dragon bed, howling with laughter. It had been ages since she’d heard such amusing news.

Lou Yan and Song Junzhan stood on either side of the dragon bed, looking on helplessly as the Empress laughed without a shred of decorum.

Lou Yan caught the Empress as she nearly rolled off the bed. "Your Majesty, please stop laughing. You’ll give yourself a stomachache."

But Xiao Li was just too amused. ’How dare they gawk at who I sleep with and even place bets on it? See if I don’t teach them a lesson.’

Song Junzhan sighed with a helpless smile. "Aren’t you afraid they’ll resent you, Your Majesty? I heard they didn’t look too well."

Hearing the reports, Song Junzhan had to admit it was a bit harsh. Putting himself in their shoes, he’d probably want to die.

Then again, he thought, those men really had gone too far, betting on his affair with Her Majesty. They deserved to be punished.

But his main concern was for the Empress; he was worried she might actually hurt herself from laughing so hard.

"Resent me?"

Xiao Li sat up from Lou Yan’s embrace. A smile still lingered on her lips, but her eyes had turned chillingly cold as an aura of authority emanated from her.

"In this world, the problem isn’t scarcity, but inequality. They all made the bet as a group, so I punished them all to be shamed as a group."

"I am perfectly fair and impartial. They will only remember that they were shamed for their transgression, and thus, they will learn their lesson."

She climbed off the bed. Lou Yan and Song Junzhan moved almost simultaneously to fetch her shoes, each man kneeling on one side to slip them onto her feet.

Xiao Li accepted their service as if it were the most natural thing in the world, then slowly stepped onto the floor.

"They are the pillars of my court, and they are brilliant. I would never harm my own ministers out of fear that their accomplishments might outshine my own. However, they must maintain a sense of reverence and fear towards me."

"I don’t particularly care if the world gossips about my love affairs, but my courtiers must know their place. They crossed a line."

"For such an offense, a beating would be too severe, and killing them is out of the question. But a mere scolding wouldn’t teach them a lasting lesson."

"Physical wounds heal. The pain is forgotten. But humiliation... a person remembers that for a lifetime."

And Xiao Li had calibrated the level of humiliation perfectly.

The old matrons had looked, but they hadn’t touched or even gotten close. Furthermore, those matrons would be sent away, their silence guaranteed.

No word of this would ever get out, but they would all know. It would be their shared, secret shame.

The next time any of them even thought about discussing the Emperor’s private affairs, they would remember this humiliation.

Disrespect the Empress, overstep your bounds, gossip about her affairs—there are no winners.

The Empress’s punishments inflicted no physical wounds and shed no blood, but they were absolutely terrifying.

The Empress didn’t deliberately put on imperial airs. On the contrary, she often spoke in a very down-to-earth manner, her authority tempered with affability.

But just when you thought you had closed the distance between you, you would suddenly realize, in a flash, that you had never truly understood the Empress at all.

She was perpetually shrouded in a cool, hazy mist that made her impossible to see clearly—mysterious and powerful.

It wasn’t just others; even Song Junzhan and Lou Yan, the two men closest to her, could not cross that barrier.

A courtier requested an audience, and the Empress went to her study. Song Junzhan and Lou Yan both stopped on the outer corridor.

Song Junzhan straightened a crease in his sleeve. "Are you looking for another fight with me?"

Lou Yan’s calm demeanor today was abnormal.

"I want to kill you."

Lou Yan made no effort to hide his hostility toward Song Junzhan.

"But there’s no point."

He and Song Junzhan were the same in the Empress’s eyes.

Killing Song Junzhan would only lead to his own destruction.

The Empress could never belong to either of them. Their struggles, even to the death, would decide nothing.