Olivia felt her chest sink upon hearing this hoodlum demand that she exposes the things she did to Lily.
If she did that, then she would surely lose her status and everything. It would be no different than leaking what was in that ethereal recording.
"Since you are the empress, I won't make things difficult for you. Just say Yes or No to the questions I am going to ask. But remember, if you lie to any one of them, then that recording might slip out of my hands."
Olivia swallowed her saliva, wondering what kind of questions he was going to ask.
She was already feeling mortified by continuing to kneel here.
"So my first question...You hate Lily, and you are jealous of her, right?" The hooded man asked as everyone looked at Olivia to hear her answer, though most of them believed that the hooded man was spouting nonsense.
Olivia was taking short breaths, feeling tense. She obviously wanted to deny it, but it felt like this hooded man knew the truth and probably was close to Lily, considering the way he was calling her and how he was trying to get her to apologize.
But then again, it could also be the case of a madman obsessed with Lily in a one-sided love and trying to do favors for her or die trying.
As for how he seemed to know things about her, she felt that Tristen was involved, making her wonder if all this was the Gale Emperor's doing.
"Y-Yes…" Olivia weakly answered, much to the shock of the people around her, some of them still wondering if they heard her right.
"Speak up! I can't hear you!"
"Yes!" Olivia shouted with gritted teeth.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"Good. My next question. Is it true that you are trying to sell off Lily through marriage for your own benefits?"
Olivia felt a trickle of sweat cross down her back. But then again, this was nothing new. Most of all, noble families did this where they used their scions to form alliances and make their families stronger.
Still, the way he mentioned it was for her own benefits just didn't sit right with her.
But admitting it was better than not doing so, and so she said, "Yes!"
"Is it true that you harass Lily whenever you get the chance?" The hooded man asked firmly while Lily looked at Olivia with a sharp gaze.
Olivia could feel Lily's gaze on her, and she was finding her throat getting heavier each time she admitted to the things the hooded man was asking. But this one was too much, and the society might not look at her in the same way, including the public, since Lily was a precious gem in their eyes that never should deserve any ill-treatment.
She felt her nerves getting jittery and her breath quickening. She was wishing this hooded man would just die on the spot, but unfortunately for her, nobody could fulfill that wish for her right now.
"Yes!" Olivia answered with a heavy voice.
"What a kind stepmother. Every mother should learn from you, haha," The hooded man laughed aloud, making Olivia feel like her face was burning, and she could feel gazes of contempt from the people around her.
By now, the people could see that the Celestial Princess and the Rong Empress were not sharing a cordial relationship as they thought. But instead, their relationship was one-sided toxic, and abusive.
Some of them felt their hearts clench, imagining such a pure goddess like her going through all this.
It seemed that within just minutes, people lost almost all opinion of her, and Olivia was seething with anger, feeling that her years of planning and hard work were crumbling down so quickly.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Now...my final question. Were you unfair to your late husband, the previous emperor of the Rong Empire? Isn't it true that you were unworthy to be his wife?*
Lily's eyes began to turn misty while the others focused their gaze on Olivia with a look of disbelief.
By now, they felt that whatever the hooded man was saying was the truth since Olivia admitted to every other question of his.
And so, they unconsciously considered this to be true as well, even without hearing Olivia's answer.
But if this was true, then did she really deserve the throne she was sitting on.
For a woman, their husband was supposed to be their god in this world and even more so if their husband was an emperor!
Olivia obviously knew this, and even if the word 'unfair' was ambiguous, it could also mean a lot of things at the same time, which she didn't know if it was worse or not..
But even if admitting to this might mean she would lose the respect of her people, she could still remain on her throne, which was better than letting the hooded man leak that recording.
And so, with a taut and heavy voice, she answered,"Yes…"
The people sucked in a breath of cold air, not really expecting her to admit to that while most of them were forming conspiracy theories in their minds on how exactly she was unfair to her late husband.
"Are you satisfied now? Now give her back to me," Olivia still wanted to save whatever face she had left by trying to act as if she was still trying her best to save Lily.
"Shut up, you slut. You don't have any power or right to ask her back. Now stay kneeling there since I am not done yet," The hooded man said firmly while others wondered what more he was about to do.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Was he really on a suicide mission since everybody knew that this was a dead man standing?
The hooded man turned his gaze towards the front as he said, "Dog Emperor of the Gale Empire, would you be kind enough to step forward and kneel before my respected self?" The hooded man asked with a sarcastic chuckle.
