Reborn as the Crippled King's Beloved-Chapter 546: He Doesn’t Like Interacting with Her

Wang Yingluo was locked in the Ministry of Punishment’s prison.

The ground was cold and damp, covered with straw that countless people had lain on before, hard and darkened, emitting a strong musty smell and stained with many bloodstains.

Rats gnawed on something in the dark corners, unafraid of humans.

Once Wang Yingluo was thrown in, she was shackled at her hands and feet, the chains seemingly made of fine iron and weighing tens of pounds, restraining her from making any significant movements, even standing was difficult.

It was nothing short of falling from heaven into hell.

Before the Empress Dowager slapped her, she had already become the renowned Queen Wang. Respected and admired by all, mother of five children, her eldest son the Crown Prince, the future ruler of Great Yan, she had indeed become the most revered woman in Great Yan, unparalleled by anyone.

But it seemed in just half an hour, a sudden calamity struck, and sitting in the cold dungeon, she still felt an unreal sense of daze.

Suddenly, she got up, started beating the bars, and screamed loudly,

"Let me out! I want to see Your Majesty!"

"Is everyone dead? I want to see the Emperor!"

However, even if she tore her throat out, not a single jailer came to attend to her.

Instead, the other prisoners in the dungeon, disturbed by the noise, looked over with cold eyes.

Most of these men were extremely vicious, a single glance from them felt like being targeted by a venomous snake.

At that moment, Wang Yingluo truly felt some fear.

After all, she was a woman of the 21st century, an elite who had left countless others behind, the standout in any crowd. In ordinary societies, she was the prideful one, let alone in this backward ancient dynasty?

Throughout the three years since her transmigration, she had always felt a sense of superiority, looking down upon others as if they were mere insects.

She had even belittled Murong Jiu, underestimated her.

Later, she truly began to see her as a rival.

But she had still underestimated her opponent. Murong Jiu must have helped Jun Yuyan recover his memories, otherwise, despite her alterations to Jun Yuyan’s memories, he wouldn’t have been so cold towards her.

She didn’t even know when she fell into Murong Jiu’s trap that exposed her biggest secret of her transmigration, she didn’t know what else she had revealed.

She tried to calm herself, but it was too difficult. She herself specialized in psychology and was acutely aware of the intense feelings of resentment, anger, and regret filling her mind, these negative emotions enveloping her and making her desperate to escape her current plight as a condemned prisoner.

It felt as though freedom might allow her to turn danger into safety, to turn the situation around as if against the wind.

Of course the jailers were not going to let her out.

Moreover, no one brought her any food or water.

Just two days passed like this, but it felt to Wang Yingluo as though a long time had elapsed.

The dungeon saw no sunlight, gloomy and dim, echoing intermittently with the sounds of torture during interrogations, the clanging of instruments against human bodies, and the agonized howls of prisoners.

During these two days and nights, Wang Yingluo’s nerves were stretched tight; she did not sleep for a moment nor did she dare to sleep.

Her heart grew more and more panicked.

She would rather have someone come to interrogate her, to press her for answers, than to be left in this place, neglected, left to her own self-destruction.

Not until the third day, when Wang Yingluo’s thirst had grown so severe that she was hoarse, screaming for someone to bring her water, was a bowl of water finally placed inside her cell.

People can survive a few days without food but will quickly die of dehydration without water.

She didn’t want to die; she still wanted to live a life of glitz and glamour.

Upon seeing water, Wang Yingluo forgot everything else and crawled over to pick up the bowl and drank it down greedily like an ox.

After drinking the water, it seemed as if she had come back to life.

However, when she looked up, she was stunned, incredulous and said, "Fu, Fu Rong?"

Fu Rong looked at her expressionlessly, "Miss Wang, we haven’t seen each other for a few days. Are you well?"

Well? How could she possibly be well!

Her manner of drinking water just now was probably worse than a beggar’s, and here her foot-washing maid was, decked in a jailer’s uniform, looking down on her from above.

How could she endure this!

She was a strong, modern-spirited woman who had received over a decade of education. Why should a lowly foot-washing maid look at her this way?

"You betrayed me! You said you were loyal to me, which was all fake! What benefits did Murong Jiu offer you that I couldn’t?"

Fu Rong, no longer feigning sycophancy or ingratiating herself, wore a black jailer’s uniform like a man, but she seemed even more capable. Her innate bold and vigorous temperament now somewhat resembled Hong Yi’s. It was no surprise considering both came from the same school.

She looked at Wang Yingluo indifferently and said, "You are wrong. From the beginning to the end, I’ve been the person of His Majesty and the Empress, sent to monitor you. Everything you did after entering the palace was under the watchful eyes of His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress."

Wang Yingluo sneered disdainfully:

"I’m not an ignorant fool. Murong Jiu wants to create the false illusion that she and the Emperor have always been in love, which is laughable. Indeed, for my sake, the Emperor had Queen Wang’s Kai Xuan sent out of the palace, and for me, he executed Chun Tao, the palace maid beside Her Majesty. These are all traceable, does Murong Jiu really think she can deceive herself and others?"

Over the last couple of days, she had thought it through and no longer pretended to be innocent. The Emperor had not visited her even once and didn’t allow others to provide her with food or water, clearly not intending to save her.

It might be because he had regained his memory and felt guilty towards Murong Jiu, so he thought of torturing her to please Murong Jiu.

But why should she be the hub of their emotions?

Yu Yan was clearly disgusted by Murong Jiu because of her, and executing Chun Tao was the biggest and best proof of that.

She would make Murong Jiu forever remember this incident, making it an unresolved issue in her heart, tarnishing their relationship!

But to her surprise, Fu Rong laughed.

"Chun Tao was pregnant but in an unstable condition. To allow her to go back and take care of the pregnancy and to lower your guard without suspicion, we staged the execution. In fact, only a dozen or so of the palace people knew about this, all of them are of His Majesty and the Empress. While externally, almost everyone knows that Her Majesty the Empress’s personal attendant went back to take care of her pregnancy."

"No! Impossible! You’re lying to me!"

How could it be that, at that time, Yu Yan had already been cooperating with Murong Jiu?

"In fact, from the moment the Emperor entered the palace and arranged us by your side, he had already planned everything and explained the truth to the Empress."

So, from the beginning to the end, Yu Yan had never believed a word she said.

The so-called "favor" was just what she thought it was.

She also realized, albeit rather belatedly, that Yu Yan had never let her touch his hands. Whenever she tried to touch him, he would inadvertently avoid it, but at the time, she merely thought he had a phobia and disliked close physical contact with others.

But that day, Yu Yan held hands tightly with Murong Jiu!

He wasn’t averse to physical contact with others, he just didn’t with anyone other than Murong Jiu!