This Is What a Villain Is Like

Emperor Xia was a bit stumped by the question. She wasn’t actually very familiar with Jiang Lan; they had only met a few times and perhaps spoken a little more than most...

’Could it be because I revealed her whereabouts to Jiang Lan, making her suspect that he and I are on good terms?’

’Or does she suspect I might join forces with the Prime Minister’s Mansion to deal with her and eliminate a factor detrimental to Great Xia?’

Numerous thoughts flashed through her mind.

Emperor Xia seemed to have thought of something, and the smile playing on her lips grew wider.

She looked at Jiang Ruxian and said frankly, "I admire him very much. He and Prime Minister Jiang Lintian are not cut from the same cloth."

"Besides, we have a good personal relationship. Otherwise, why would I have taken the risk of sending someone to reveal your whereabouts to him?"

"Wouldn’t it be better for me to just watch you and the Prime Minister’s Mansion fight to the death?"

Jiang Ruxian’s eyes remained cold and indifferent, but they clearly grew colder upon hearing this.

"Liar."

She raised her hand and reached out, and the Void before her seemed to suddenly freeze.

A torrential and vast power suddenly swept forth like a raging tide. The Void blurred. Then, to Emperor Xia’s utterly astonished and shaken gaze, it shot down toward her.

"You..."

Emperor Xia didn’t even see Jiang Ruxian move before a slender, pale hand appeared before her neck.

Then, she was lifted up uncontrollably, her feet dangling in the air. She didn’t have even a shred of strength to resist.

Her eyes widened in utter disbelief and incredulity.

’Why couldn’t I sense any sign of Jiang Ruxian’s attack? I didn’t even detect the slightest fluctuation of Spiritual Energy.’

"Your Majesty..."

Spring Orchid, Xia Zhu, and the others stared at the sudden scene, their faces pale and their eyes wide with terror, wanting to rush to the rescue.

But with just a single glance from Jiang Ruxian, they were suppressed, unable to move a muscle.

"Lying in front of me will do you no good," Jiang Ruxian said, her voice still calm.

’The practice for Great Xia’s Southern Hunting is imminent. Emperor Xia doesn’t want to see me clash with the Prime Minister’s Mansion and disrupt the overall situation.’

’That’s the real reason she revealed my whereabouts to Jiang Lan.’

’All that talk about her relationship with Jiang Lan was just an excuse to fool me.’

"COUGH... COUGH..."

Emperor Xia coughed a few times. A jade-like light began to glow and pulse between her eyebrows.

A faint, blurry True Dragon Divine Form could be seen flashing for an instant, but under Jiang Ruxian’s suppression, it appeared for only a moment before vanishing.

’As the ruler of Great Xia, protected by the Emperor’s Qi here in the Imperial Capital, I can’t even get a chance to summon the Dragon Fortune against Jiang Ruxian?’

’This is definitely something no ordinary Eighth Realm expert could do.’

’The Ninth Realm?’

Emperor Xia was shaken to her core. ’What kind of monstrous prodigy is this?’

’At such a close distance, if Jiang Ruxian wanted to kill me, could she actually do it?’

In the past, she had never worried about her own safety within the Imperial Capital, but now... the matter had finally become pressing.

"If you have the guts, then kill me. Let’s see if Jiang Lan can remain unscathed and safe when the world falls into chaos."

"If anything happens to me, do you think you’ll be able to leave the Imperial Capital in one piece?" Emperor Xia said calmly, looking directly at Jiang Ruxian.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ruxian was silent for a moment before finally letting go.

She had indeed attacked out of a surge of anger. It wasn’t because Emperor Xia had lied to deceive her, but because the empress’s words, which sounded so considerate of Jiang Lan, had left her feeling annoyed and deeply unsettled.

"What my relationship is with Jiang Lan has nothing to do with you."

"Since you no longer have any ties or grudges with him, why meddle in his affairs? You need only know that I will not harm him," Emperor Xia said again, her tone cold.

She finally understood the source of the coldness she had sensed earlier.

’A woman’s intuition told her that Jiang Ruxian had intercepted her not because she was the ruler of Great Xia, but because she was a woman, and also because Jiang Ruxian didn’t know what kind of relationship she had with Jiang Lan.’

’She really, truly cares about this.’

’Emperor Xia also didn’t know how Jiang Ruxian had discovered her secret—that she was a woman.’

Having figured this out, Emperor Xia felt inexplicably annoyed. ’Surely this woman doesn’t think there’s something going on between Jiang Lan and me?’

’How ridiculous.’

’With such terrifying talent and power, why is she so concerned with such trivial matters?’

"..."

In response to Emperor Xia’s words, Jiang Ruxian’s eyes grew even colder and more indifferent, and the chill in the air intensified.

’In the few days since arriving in the Imperial Capital, she had already figured out Jiang Lan’s recent habits, whereabouts, and activities.’

’She didn’t expect to easily resolve Jiang Lan’s loathing for her, but she at least needed to know what he wanted to do and what he needed. Only then would she have a chance to atone for the harm she had caused him.’

’Perhaps one day, he might be able to let it go...’

’This could be considered a form of atonement for the obsessive things she had done in her past life. As for reconciling, she didn’t really expect it, nor did she feel there was any hope.’

Thus, she had been observing all the recent happenings in the Imperial Capital.

In fact, Jiang Ruxian had noticed Emperor Xia the moment she left the Imperial Palace in disguise.

Others might not have been able to discern Emperor Xia’s identity, but in her eyes, the dense Emperor’s Qi clinging to her was as bright as a great sun in the darkness—dazzling and resplendent, impossible to ignore.

Coincidentally, because Emperor Xia had sent people to spy on her outside that ruined temple, she had been planning to teach the empress a lesson anyway and warn her not to meddle in others’ affairs.