Chapter 58 You Want to Marry Chu Xi

Seeing Qi Huan drop to his knees once more, the Empress Dowager knew instantly that he had come to the palace today with a plea in mind.

She gently intervened, "Huan'er, whatever you wish to say, rise and speak from your seat."

Qi Huan, however, shook his head. "These are words I can only utter on my knees."

The Empress Dowager glanced toward the Left Chancellor. After the siblings exchanged a silent look, she relented, "Very well, do as you wish."

Kneeling before the Empress Dowager and his father, Qi Huan swallowed hard, his throat dry and tight, before beginning his slow and agonizing confession.

A full hour slipped away. Qi Huan remained kneeling the entire time, unburdening his soul of the past ten agonizing years in one breathless torrent.

The Empress Dowager listened in mounting horror, her blood running cold, while the Left Chancellor beside her trembled uncontrollably, utterly paralyzed by disbelief.

"Huan'er! You must not speak such reckless nonsense! She is not only your mother in name, but your own flesh and blood, your maternal aunt! Over all these years, she has done you no wrong, treating you as her very own flesh. How could you utter such vile slanders against her?"

"Father! Have you ever, with your own eyes, witnessed me abusing those unfortunate women forced into our estate? Have you ever seen me take a life? Every single time, was it not Auntie who waited until your return to report that I had harmed someone yet again? Did it never, not even once, occur to you to doubt her?"

Stunned by these words, the Left Chancellor stared at his son, completely at a loss for a reply.

The Empress Dowager fixed her gaze squarely on Qi Huan, her eyes sharp with scrutiny and probing doubt, before speaking in a measured tone, "Yet, Huan'er, is it true that you took pleasure in women's attire, that you actually enjoyed disguising yourself as a woman?"

At these words, Qi Huan's body gave a slight shudder. Slowly, he lowered his gaze, his long eyelashes casting delicate shadows beneath his eyes.

After a long moment, he answered in a low, muffled voice, "Reporting to the Empress Dowager... there was indeed a time when Huan'er lived thus. Whenever I slipped into those gossamer silk dresses, it felt as though I had stepped into an entirely different realm. Those flowing robes seemed imbued with some magical spell, and once I applied cosmetics and traced my brows, I felt transformed into someone else entirely. In that fleeting instant, the suffocating anguish and torment locked deep within my heart could be cast aside, as though all my miseries had been banished to another dimension. I grew intoxicated by this bizarre sensation, and gradually, I came to take comfort in that guise."

Listening to his confession, the Empress Dowager nodded gently, though a trace of lingering suspicion still clouded her eyes. She pressed on without pause, "And what of now?"

Qi Huan slowly raised his head, his deep eyes rimmed with a faint, ruddy flush.

His lips trembled slightly, as though he were fighting to suppress a turbulent wave of emotion. After a brief silence, he spoke in a deep, resolute voice, "Now, having endured so much, though the confusion and pain of the past have not completely faded, my heart has found a new direction. Huan'er wishes only to shatter these heavy shackles, to see the light of day once more, and to no longer be haunted by the shadows of the past. I wish to walk the righteous path and live as a proud, upright man standing tall between heaven and earth."

Hearing this reply, a wave of profound relief instantly washed over the Empress Dowager's face. As if a crushing weight had finally been lifted from her shoulders, she slapped her knee firmly and beamed with joy, "That is good! That is wonderful! All I have ever hoped for is that you would return to the righteous path, so that one day you might start a family and carry on the Qi family lineage."

Qi Huan pressed his forehead to the floor once more, pleading earnestly, "I humbly beg the Empress Dowager to grant your grace and release Chu Xi from the Dali Temple. Were it not for her, your nephew might never have attained enlightenment today, nor regained the courage to rebuild his life."

The Empress Dowager immediately shifted her gaze to the Left Chancellor, but he remained utterly dazed, still struggling to recover from the sheer shock of the horrifying revelations concerning the past decade.

With a sigh, the Empress Dowager turned her eyes back to Qi Huan and asked, "Huan'er, could it be that you intend to take Chu Xi as your wife?"