In the room, when she was sleeping, lines appeared on her forehead as she frowned while sleeping.
Her hands were trembling as her lips quivered in grief and sorrow.
She was having a dream which makes her whole body tremble in sorrow and pain.
Sweat beads appeared on her head and her throat went dry.
In her nightmare, she was in the center of the palace hall on the floor, crying and sobbing, denying that she didn"t do it.
She didn"t do anything immoral.
She looked around her at the people who were giving her looks filled with disgust.
Xiao Li who was standing by the side was smiling slyly when she saw Zhao Ming on the floor. n.o.body saw her expressions but Zhao Ming saw her expressions.
She remembered those expressions very well how she was laughing at her after making her life miserable.
Then she looked at the person whom she wanted him to believe her but all she saw was disgust and hatred in his eyes.
When she saw the coldness and uncertainty in his eyes, she started sobbing in reality.
Tears rolled down from her eyes to her cheeks.
Her body s.h.i.+vered when she remembered the humiliation she faced before in her past life.
Suddenly she sat up on the bed as she jerked up from her nightmare.
She panted while trying to breathe. She was drenched in cold sweat.
When she sat up, all bad memories from her past came running to her mind.
She wanted to forget everything as it was nothing good that she wants to remember them.
She remembered the time when she married into the palace, n.o.body wanted her to be there, but there was a person who was her guard and her closest friend who came with her after marriage.
The palace was cruel and lonely but her guard Ah Leng always heard her grievances and tried to protect her from the cruelties of the palace.
He treated her like his younger sister.
Whenever she faced people"s disgust, hatred, and their schemes, he was always there to comfort her and save her.
He was the only source of comfort in the palace. Even the man she followed to the palace does not pay attention to her.
After their marriage, Ji Cheng has to go onto the wars and other countries.
She lived alone in the palace after her marriage. It was the hardest time for the girl when she had to live in a strange place away from her home.
And the palace was strict and people have difficulty to adapt to its lifestyle.
But he worked hard to adjust there as she was the Empress.
This t.i.tle was too troublesome for her to handle but because the Old Emperor had enthroned her as the Empress, she has no choice but to follow his wishes.
After the old Emperor"s death, it was only Ah Leng who was her only friend in the palace after Lu s.h.i.+, who was her maid.
He always listens to her grief, worry and somehow she could manage to live in a place with the support of him.
Her relations.h.i.+p with him is pure like a jade.
But Xiao Li, the concubine of Ji Cheng and loving daughter in law of Empress Dowager, couldn"t see her happy even for a minute.
She plotted against her and started filling Ji Cheng "s mind with negative thoughts. She portrayed her in front of him as dishonest and a wh*re who keeps immoral relations.h.i.+ps with other men.
She plotted against her and make Ji Cheng witness some scenes which made him suspicious of her.
Not only that she made Empress Dowager believe that she was having an immoral relations.h.i.+p with the guard.
In the palace, Empress having an immoral relations.h.i.+p with some other men is a crime which deserved capital punishment, that is only death.
This incident hadn"t went out of the palace as it will ruin Ji Cheng"s image.
She wasn"t killed because Ji Cheng punished Ah Leng accusing him of rebel and killed him.
She doesn"t know why he did that but she knows that he didn"t believe her. If he believed her then he wouldn"t have done that.
He never talked to her after that incident and never even looked at her. She just wanted to talk to him and wanted to explain to him everything but he never gave her that chance.
She didn"t receive the death penalty but she faced the humiliation by the Empress Dowager, other concubines, and Xiao Li which was more torturous than the death.
Xiao Li never confronted her directly but always played tricks behind her back.
She thought that Xiao Li was an innocent and nice girl.
But later she realized that she was not the same as she looks. She has different personalities that she never shows to anyone.
It was her real personality which was selfish and greedy.
She can do anything to reach her goal.
She remembered all the insults and taunts Empress Dowager has given to he rand her family.
Because her family background was not royal and impressive like Xiao Li.
She was just the daughter of the soldier who was popular for his medicinal skills. Due to his close relations with the old Emperor, she was enthroned to Ji Cheng.
She fell in love with him when she saw him for the very first time. Her heart fluttered when she saw his handsome face for the first time.
While getting marrying to him the only she had was that she will give her all to this marriage. And she did that.
But in return, she only gets humiliation, pain and...death.
When she remembered her painful memories, she unconsciously started sobbing as tears kept flowing from her tears.
" If a man brings his concubine then it is normal but if women talk to any man their ego comes in between"
" If they want a woman to be loyal to one man for her whole life, then isn"t the man do the same?" she wondered about this question as her eyes were misty and swelled with tears.
" Why are you crying? Don"t you have self-respect?" she muttered when she touched her face and looked at the wet tears on her fingers.