Chapter 1135: Admit Killing People
Chapter 1135: Chapter 1135: Admit Killing People
"Young Lady Bai, what nonsense are you spewing?! Did you just say you killed people?!" Imperial Secretary Qian Zemin stammered, entirely taken aback.
Bai Xifeng let out a small, bored yawn. Was this old man completely deaf, or was he just suffering from severe hearing loss? She had stated it clearly enough the first time. Why on earth did he need her to repeat herself?
"Hmm..." Bai Xifeng simply nodded in confirmation.
"You! You...!" The Emperor pointed a trembling finger at Bai Xifeng, completely lost for words as he struggled to process her audacious confession.
"Well, what else was I supposed to do in that situation? A group of thugs was trying to slaughter some innocent people, so I happened to stumble upon them and decided to help out the other side." Bai Xifeng explained with a careless shrug.
The ministers and officials stared at her in stunned silence. So Young Lady Bai had simply stepped in to defend someone in trouble. In other words, she really was acting like a good, righteous lady by coming to the rescue of those in danger! For a moment, no one in the hall knew whether they should burst out laughing or weep at the absurdity of it all.
Bai Xifeng had naturally assumed that taking a life would be viewed as a horrific crime in any world, even if the person killed was a despicable villain. In the modern world she originally came from, even a cold-blooded killer would be placed on trial and sentenced according to strict laws. She seemed to have temporarily forgotten that the rules of this brutal cultivation world were entirely different.
Here, killing was merely an everyday occurrence.
Who among the high officials standing in this grand hall did not have blood staining their hands?
Virtually every single person present had likely ordered a hit or personally executed a few enemies at some point in their lives. The crucial difference was that they always conducted their dirty work covertly behind closed doors, never openly bragging about their body count in polite company the way Bai Xifeng had just done.
Yet here was Bai Xifeng, casually admitting to taking multiple lives as if she had done nothing more remarkable than helping an elderly person cross the street!
That was the exact reason everyone was left completely speechbound.
She had not even attempted to mask her actions or offer a formal defense. Instead, she had proudly owned up to it in front of the ruler of the realm and his entire cabinet, offhandedly rationalising that she had only cut those people down because they were trying to murder someone else first.
In Bai Xifeng’s eyes, her reasoning was rock-solid and perfectly logical. After all, she had taken the side of the victims. Therefore, she was still a fundamentally good person at heart. At least, that was precisely how she rationalised it in her own mind.
"Young Lady Bai, you were merely coming to the aid of others, which naturally proves that you are indeed a fine, virtuous woman." Imperial Secretary Qian Zemin praised smoothly, trying to spin the situation in his favor. "In fact, you are uniquely suitable to become the companion of His Highness the Crown Prince."
The surrounding ministers in the hall immediately nodded along, voicing their agreement with Imperial Secretary Qian Zemin. They seemed to genuinely convince themselves that his flawed logic made perfect sense.
"No, thank you." Bai Xifeng shut down the proposal instantly, rejecting the idea without needing a single second to ponder it.
"Young Lady Bai, you really ought to think this matter through thoroughly." The Emperor interjected, his tone heavy with royal authority.
"I have already thought it through thoroughly. I have zero interest in becoming the Crown Princess." Bai Xifeng replied flatly.
"And why is that?" Imperial Secretary Qian Zemin pressed, clearly unwilling to give up his ambition so easily.
"I believe I have already clearly explained to His Majesty the reason why I refuse to become the Crown Princess." Bai Xifeng turned her head to look directly at the Emperor.
The Emperor blinked, taken aback. She did? He searched his memory frantically, but he could not recall her ever telling him any such thing.
Bai Xifeng could easily read the total bewilderment written across the Emperor’s face, realizing he had completely forgotten or ignored her previous stance.
"Well, allow me to state it for you one more time, then." Bai Xifeng said, her voice echoing clearly in the silent hall. "I demand that my husband have me, and only me, as his sole woman. I will never accept my husband taking another woman beside me. As far as I am aware, a Crown Prince is required to take multiple consorts and concubines simply to produce as many heirs as humanly possible."
"Well, of course! That is standard protocol and perfectly normal practice. Even ordinary men of status keep several concubines." Imperial Secretary Qian Zemin argued dismissively.
"That may be normal for you, but it is completely unacceptable to me. I will not tolerate it." Bai Xifeng declared it firmly. She paused for a moment, her sharp gaze sweeping across every single court official present before landing squarely on the Emperor. "If other women are willing to share their husbands with a backyard full of rivals, that is their business. But as for mine..."
She leaned forward slightly, her eyes blazing with an unmistakable, dangerous light. "...It is a freaking NO."
Her voice boomed with sudden intensity when she spat out those last two words, cutting through the vast hall like a whip. She then narrowed her eyes, locking her cold, predatory gaze onto the crowd. She wanted the official to remember this clearly.