Forensic Imperial Concubine by Erika Black

"Aunt," Lilian mumbled, feeling a little embarrassed. "His Majesty doesn't like to be disturbed when he is dealing with business."
"Alright, alright. I'm just kidding. Don't worry. It was just a group of rabbles. Your man is safe and sound."
Hearing that, Lilian looked less worried. "Didn't you say you just wanted to have a walk around the palace today? Why did you
two go out?"
"I don't know, either. Rolando told me that he didn't want to show me around the palace because I could do that on my own, so
he wanted to take me to walk around the capital. He even didn't take a guard! We were targeted and ambushed as soon as we
went out of the palace." While Harper was speaking, it suddenly occurred to her that Rolando had done all this on purpose. The
reason why he had taken herself out of the palace for fun was because he wanted to lure the assassins to show up. "Your man
was really using me to his heart's desire, huh," she said, sounding annoyed.
Lilian was struck dumb by Harper's sudden change in tone. But then she figured it out very soon. Rolando had gone out of the
palace with Harper in an attempt to bait his enemies so that he could get rid of them all in one net. She knew that Rolando must
be dealing with the follow-up matter at the moment.
With this, the load on Lilian's mind vanished in an instant. She had thought that Rolando treated Harper too specially, but now
she knew that he was just doing that as a tactic to get rid of threats against him. "Don't be angry, Aunt. For His Majesty to have
done that, he must have been sure of your safety. He won't put you in danger."
"I'm not angry because he used me to lure his enemies out. I'm angry only because it seemed like he didn't care about his own
life. What if I knew nothing about martial arts and became a burden? What would he do?" Harper said angrily.
"Aunt, how could you be a burden to His Majesty? He must have been familiar with the full extent of your skills," Lilian said,
holding Harper's hand. "By the way, when will Uncle Matthew arrive?" Harper thought for a while. "Now that you mentioned, I feel
like something strange is going on with him. He left the imperial capital of the Bright Dynasty several days earlier than me, but
he's still not here. Even though I took a shortcut, I shouldn't have arrived so much earlier than him. I wonder if something has
happened to him on the way." Harper was worried about Matthew. Also, Patrick was with Diana. She forgot to take it with her

because she had been too hasty to come to the palace. "Don't worry, Aunt. Uncle is an extremely capable man. Only a very
select few people in the world can hurt him. He must have been delayed because of something else. I'm sure he'll arrive very
soon," Lilian said without hesitation. "Besides, the day of my coronation ceremony is only a few days away. I'm sure Uncle is
working to arrive here before that."
"You're going to be granted the title of empress of the Great Jade Kingdom. Rolando even sent a special invitation letter to the
Bright Dynasty about that. His Majesty really cares about this event very much, so don't worry. He hasn't forgotten about you,"
Harper said in a soft tone. "I know Rolando is very outstanding, but you're not inferior to him. After becoming the empress, don't
worry about yourself too much. You should be confident and own the role of being the hostess of the palace. You used to be free
and easy when you were in the Bright Dynasty, but now I think you are restraining yourself too hard." Lilian slightly frowned at
Harper's words. The fact was not that she restrained herself too much—it was that she hadn't had a
chance to be domineering here. Rolando was very considerate, and there was no other lady in the palace, and all the maids and
eunuchs were very obedient. The only thing that made her dissatisfied was that Rolando had never stayed for the night in her
palace.
"Aunt, I think His Majesty loves someone else." Lilian finally expressed her main concern. "Although he treats me very well, I
don't think I will ever own his heart. Someone else already has that honor."
"Silly girl, whether Rolando loves someone else or not, you are the empress of the Great Jade Kingdom and no one else.
Besides, you are about to give birth to his first child! Rolando is not a heartless and unfaithful man. Otherwise, you would not
have pursued him for five years and refused to give up on him, right?" Now, it was Harper's turn to hold Lilian's hands. "You have
to strive for your happiness yourself. You shouldn't rely on Rolando solely for it," she said. "I... Can I do that?" Lilian asked, fear
becoming apparent in her voice. "You have gone this far. Why don't you think you can make it?" Harper asked, finding Lilian's
statement absurd. "You once so stubbornly insisted on following your heart. Have you forgotten that? When you heard that
Rolando was once again living a

secular life and became the emperor of the Great Jade Kingdom, you pursued him here without any hesitation. Aren't your
courage and sincerity enough to make him treat you well?"
Lilian didn't respond. What she wanted was not Rolando's good treatment but his love in return. But she just couldn't say it out
loud. Besides, Rolando was so perfect that she couldn't find any flaw in him. He was gentle and considerate, and he granted her
whatever she required. Her palace was equipped with all the best suppliers and the most careful staff. Even though she was a
princess from a foreign country who married Rolando for the purpose of fostering peace between her place of origin and
Rolando's country, nobody dared look down on her.
Even so, however, she still felt that there was a great gap between her and Rolando. She felt like she could never touch him.
Worse was that she didn't know what Rolando wanted or what he was thinking. The only thing she could do was to be obedient
and not to cause him any trouble.
"Aunt, can an emperor really love someone sincerely?"
"Yes!" Harper answered firmly. "Everyone can love sincerely, and emperors are no exception to that."
"But Father couldn't!" Lilian said with a bitter smile. "The person he loved the most in his lifetime was himself. Not everyone can
be sincere in terms of love."
"You are wrong. Your father also had the capacity to treat someone sincerely. It all went to his favorite son, unfortunately," Harper
said slowly. The former emperor of the Bright Dynasty was neither a good emperor nor a good father, but he had indeed fulfilled
his responsibilities as the father of Lucas. In order to protect Lucas, he had used all his other sons as shields and disguised
Lucas as a playboy. In actuality, he had secretly cultivated and trained him as the heir to the throne. No matter how cold-blooded
a person was, he or she could be sincere. The only difference lied in whom he or she treated sincerely.