Chapter 38: A Seat Meant to Humiliate
Lin Xueyi had deliberately asked Mei Lu to keep her makeup light and avoid decorating her hair with too many accessories.
It was because she wanted the perfect "no-makeup" makeup look, one that would make her seem a little pale and sick while still looking neat and graceful in front of everyone.
Fortunately, they had brought several spare robes with them, so even after everything that had happened, she still looked elegant among the nobles attending the banquet.
"She’s still coming?" one of the nobles whispered.
"I thought she almost froze to death this afternoon."
"She did! I swear her lips were as blue as a corpse."
"Tsk, tsk. I still can’t believe her own brother pushed her. You never really know what goes on behind another family’s closed doors."
"Grand General Lin seemed more worried about his son going to prison than about his daughter, who almost drowned."
"Oh, that poor girl. She can barely walk in a straight line."
[Good. Good. Keep talking about me like that.] Lin Xueyi laughed like a cartoon villain in her head. [The more you pity me, the less chance Rong Mingze will have to convince everyone that Rong Shuyan should be removed from the line of succession.]
"Your table is this way, Your Highness," an Imperial servant said politely.
She led Rong Shuyan and Lin Xueyi to their banquet table, which had been placed in the far corner of the hall, right beside a side entrance.
[What the hell?!] Lin Xueyi cursed inwardly. [They actually put our table behind the ministers and other nobles instead of with the Imperial Family?!]
Even the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Princes, who had yet to receive their official titles, were seated with the rest of the Imperial Family.
"Have you brought me to the wrong table?" Rong Shuyan asked calmly.
The servant lowered her head a little more, but there wasn’t the slightest hint of respect on her face.
"His Majesty instructed us to prepare a seat that would make it easier for Your Highness to put your wheelchair," the servant replied. "It is also so the other guests may be seated more comfortably."
In other words, she was implying that his wheelchair was an eyesore to everyone else.
But that wasn’t even the worst part. They hadn’t even prepared a higher table for them!
[They just want to humiliate him!] Lin Xueyi shouted inwardly. [I thought they wouldn’t dare pull something like this after I nearly drowned! Damn it!]
If Rong Shuyan remained in his wheelchair, he would be sitting much higher than everyone else, making him look completely out of place.
["A suitable table for him," my ass! If he really has to sit on the floor, then why isn’t our table with the Imperial Family instead?!]
[Who the hell arranged these tables?!]
It wasn’t that Rong Shuyan couldn’t sit on the floor like everyone else, but it would be extremely uncomfortable for him.
Even with the small cushions prepared for the guests, the wooden floor would still be painfully cold for someone suffering from cold poison.
"Don’t you have a higher table?" Lin Xueyi asked without thinking. "We would truly appreciate it if you could provide one for His Highness."
Without giving it a second thought, the servant immediately shook her head. "I’m sorry, Your Highness. We don’t have any higher tables for the banquet."
Lin Xueyi wanted to argue further, but Rong Shuyan spoke first. "I see. You may leave."
She was completely flabbergasted that he had given up so quickly.
However, when Eunuch Shen helped him lower himself onto the floor, she began hearing even more sympathetic comments from the surrounding nobles.
"He should have been given a higher table, shouldn’t he?"
"I heard he’s suffering from cold poison. Wouldn’t sitting on the cold floor make it even worse?"
"The more I look at them, the more pitiful they seem."
"My servant told me that even while he was sick, he still prepared His Majesty’s gift entirely by himself. Prince Rui’s devotion as a son is truly beyond question."
Oh.
Lin Xueyi slowly sat down beside Rong Shuyan, finally realizing that he had accepted the humiliation on purpose, making himself look even more miserable so no one would have the heart to speak badly about him.
[But wouldn’t looking this pitiful only strengthen Rong Mingze’s argument that it would be difficult for Rong Shuyan to inherit the throne?]
Unless... their pitiful appearance was somehow making the nobles think more logically.
They were probably realizing that it wasn’t a problem for Rong Shuyan to remain in the line of succession since he was only the Sixth Prince. There were still five older princes ahead of him.
It would take nothing short of a miracle for all five of his older brothers to suddenly die or disappear.
And even if that impossible thing somehow happened, Rong Shuyan still had three younger brothers behind him.
So, if they thought about it logically, there was almost no chance he would ever inherit the throne as long as even one of his healthy brothers remained alive.
"Your Highness," Lin Xueyi asked softly, "is the floor too cold for you?"
Rong Shuyan lowered his gaze to the wooden floor beneath them before saying, "It’s nothing I can’t endure."
Lin Xueyi frowned. [Nothing I can’t endure, my foot.]
[If I touch his hands, they’re probably cold enough to be used as ice packs.]
She was just about to secretly reach for his hand beneath the table when a loud voice echoed throughout the grand hall. "His Majesty the Emperor has arrived!"
"The Empress has arrived!"
The lively conversations came to an abrupt stop.
Every noble, official, prince, and princess consort immediately rose to their feet. Those seated on the floor quickly stood, while Eunuch Shen hurried to help Rong Shuyan back into his wheelchair.
Moments later, the grand doors slowly opened.
The Emperor entered first, dressed in magnificent golden robes embroidered with nine soaring dragons. Every step he took carried the authority of someone who ruled the entire empire.
Beside him walked the Empress in a luxurious crimson phoenix robe, her golden phoenix crown glittering beneath the palace lanterns. Although no longer young, she still carried herself with unmatched grace and dignity.
The imperial couple slowly made their way toward the dragon throne.
Everyone lowered their heads. "This subject greets His Majesty the Emperor!"
"This subject greets Her Majesty the Empress!"