Chapter 551: Affair Exposed

Chapter 551: The Affair Exposed

Nanny An stepped forward and took the photo herself, preparing to present it to Empress Dowager Yuan.

When her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the image on the photo, she was so startled that she quickly lowered her head, hardly daring to breathe.

What had she seen?!!!

Empress Dowager Yuan and the National Preceptor were tightly embracing each other and kissing, while the National Preceptor's hand had slipped inside Empress Dowager Yuan's clothing, engaged in acts too scandalous to describe.

Nanny An was also very familiar with this light yellow palace robe woven with gold thread, because it was she who had chosen this very garment for Empress Dowager Yuan.

Two days ago, when Empress Dowager Yuan went to Baohua Hall to find the National Preceptor, she had been wearing this very outfit.

A cold sweat soaked Nanny An's back. She remembered very clearly that after Empress Dowager Yuan and the National Preceptor had gone inside, she had been told to keep watch at the door.

She had only dozed off for a moment, and somehow, someone else had caught a glimpse of their intimate moment.

Nanny An walked up to Empress Dowager Yuan, her hands trembling. She was afraid that after seeing the photo, Empress Dowager Yuan would blame her for not guarding the door properly and letting her and the National Preceptor's secret slip out.

Although they had been mistress and servant for nearly thirty years, Nanny An knew very well what kind of person Empress Dowager Yuan was.

When she turned ruthless, she wouldn't even spare her own flesh and blood.

Once her secret was exposed, servants like them would only meet death.

Empress Dowager Yuan naturally caught Nanny An's expression. Normally, she never let her emotions show on her face.

But now, her entire body was trembling.

Empress Dowager Yuan's heart lurched. She quickly snatched the photo from Nanny An's hand.

When she saw the contents clearly, her head spun, and she stumbled back two steps in shock, the photo in her hand dropping to the ground.

"Where did this come from? Where did this come from?"

Before she even realized it, a scream tore from her throat, and her eyes were filled with terror.

Empress Dowager Yuan couldn't fathom how someone could have seen and painted her secret affair with the National Preceptor.

It had already spread among the ministers without her even knowing.

By now, probably everyone inside and outside the palace knew.

And she and the National Preceptor were the last to find out, without even a chance to stop it from spreading.

Only then did Empress Dowager Yuan realize why the ministers had been giving her such strange looks earlier.

At first, she hadn't thought much of it. But now, looking at the photo, what was there left for her to understand?

Now that she knew the truth, recalling the earlier scene, she felt like a fool.

The National Preceptor also saw the photo on the ground. His whole body froze, his face as pale as paper.

He had never imagined that after carrying on a secret affair with Empress Dowager Yuan for eighteen years, always escaping by the skin of their teeth, they would actually be exposed now?

Before, he had found it thrilling—partly the thrill of defying morality, partly the fact that she was the Empress Dowager, a woman of supreme status.

He relished the feeling of Empress Dowager Yuan submitting beneath him.

It was as if, in those moments, he could taste what it felt like to be the Grand Emperor.

Just as his dream of becoming the Grand Emperor was about to come true, reality slapped him hard across the face and woke him up completely.

The National Preceptor recovered quickly. After a brief moment of shock, he stepped forward and picked up the photo from the ground.

He noticed that this photo was nothing like the portraits he'd seen from court painters. The paper was stiff, palm-sized, and the images were startlingly clear.

Painters' portraits, by contrast, were on softer paper with rough quality, nowhere near as small or finely detailed.

This one, however, was an exact replica of the real people.

Though the National Preceptor didn't know how it was done, an idea quickly took shape in his mind.

He held up the photo, put on an angry face, pointed at it, and said urgently: "Fake! This is fake! Someone is deliberately trying to ruin the reputation of Her Majesty and me!"

"I've met plenty of court painters from the Xishu Kingdom, and I've never seen a portrait like this. Isn't this obviously a deliberate forgery?"

"Everyone, don't be fooled by those with ulterior motives. Who doesn't know I'm the direct disciple of the Abbot of Taibai Mountain? Since childhood, I've cultivated the Emotionless Path, sealing my heart and severing all attachments. How could I possibly commit such a scandalous act with the Empress Dowager?"

The National Preceptor's voice snapped Empress Dowager Yuan out of her terror.

She knew her only option was to follow the National Preceptor's lead and deny the photo's contents, hoping to salvage some dignity.

With that in mind, Empress Dowager Yuan quickly chimed in: "The National Preceptor is right. Someone is deliberately trying to ruin the reputation of the National Preceptor and me. The two of us are completely innocent, without a single transgression. How could we possibly have done such a thing?"

"The National Preceptor is someone I personally invited down from Taibai Mountain myself. Everyone here surely knows what kind of person Perfected Person Lingxi is. He came to the Xishu Kingdom and helped me a great deal, but only because the Crown Prince had gone missing and there was no one to manage state affairs. Nothing more."

At this, Empress Dowager Yuan's face flushed red, and she said indignantly: "You are all pillars of the Xishu Kingdom. Yet you let a single portrait sow suspicion and doubt about my relationship with the National Preceptor."

"You've all spent years in the court and seen so much. Do you really lack this much judgment?"

"Am I really so worthless and unseemly in your eyes?"

The ministers exchanged glances, lowered their heads in shame, and didn't dare utter a word.

The heads of the four great families, in particular, looked especially awkward.

It wasn't that they lacked judgment—it was that they had never seen such photos before.

When they first saw them, their instinct was to believe they were real.

But on reflection, wasn't what Empress Dowager Yuan said also reasonable?

Such clear portraits—they had truly never seen or heard of anything like them.

Moreover, there was no trace of ink bleeding or brushwork on the portraits, and every single one looked identical, down to the smallest detail.

Could it really be a coincidence?

Even they couldn't deny that someone was deliberately framing Empress Dowager Yuan and the National Preceptor.

Yuanchao stared at the photo in the National Preceptor's hand, his eyes darkening, but he said nothing.

He knew better than anyone that the photo was genuine.

Empress Dowager Yuan and the National Preceptor had been together for ages, and he even called them father and mother.

But the absurd part was that he had never known who they really were.

It was only today that he realized he was nothing but the illegitimate child born of their affair.

Yuanchao's eyes dimmed, tinged with self-mockery. He felt a tightness in his chest, so suffocating it was hard to bear, but he said nothing to Empress Dowager Yuan.

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