I woke up as the Villainous Empress

She wasn’t expecting that one of the most respected and power-holding ministers at the royal court would treat his daughter and the future Crown Princess in such a shabby manner.

Everyone believes that it was Yang Ning, who throws tantrums and acts stubbornly because of being overly cared for by Yang Luoyang and even contemns Chang Ah, who is her stepmother and married Yang Luoyang after her mother passed away.

Just like everyone else, she also had similar prejudices regarding Yang Ning. However, after seeing her shabby chamber, and cheap and low-grade wardrobe collection, she was sure that things aren’t the same way in the Yang Household as they seem to be from the outside.

Looks like the argument that was happening between the two before she interfered must not be a small argument, otherwise, why would Yang Luoyang involve the guards in it?

That’s why she went to the palace early in the morning before everyone woke up at the Yang Household and informed Zheng Liang about what she had seen at Yang Household. Before following Yang Ning to the Yang Household, Zheng Liang had asked her to inform him about everything that she sees there and keep him updated about the things related to Lady Yang Ning.

“Your Highness, Just as you have suspected, Lady Yang Ning is being abused by her father and I believe her stepmother, Chang Ah as well.” Yu Ling reported to Zheng Liang her suspicions.

“Despite being the young lady of the household, she is not only living in poor conditions but also doesn’t have any wearable dresses according to her status as well. Not only that, but I also noticed a few scars on her legs and back as well.” Yu Ling said.

Last night, when she was helping Yang Ning to change out of her dress and wear the night clothes, she found a few more scars on her legs and back that seemed to be old and looked as if some time had passed since she acquired those wounds.

.....

The scars seem to be fading but they’re still there and not only one or two but there seem to be plenty of scars on her body.

Zheng Liang takes a sharp breath at Yu Ling’s words as he was hoping for it to not be true. However, it was just as he had expected.

It was sad that Yang Ning had to go through so many difficulties while growing up. But at the same time, he was glad that she has nothing to do with Yang Luoyang and isn’t the same greedy and vicious person as her father.

Thankfully, he didn’t believe in the rumors and trusted his own opinion rather than believing in other people’s biased opinions. Otherwise, he would have been despising the girl who was being abused by her father and was a victim herself.

He pursed his lips and turned to Yu Ling, “Court Lady Yu Ling, there is something I need you to do.”

Yu Ling smiled and said, ” I am all ears, Your Highness. Please tell me what I can do to help you.”

“Since you’re at the Yang Household, I want you to take care of Lady Yang Ning and take charge of the Yang Household until the royal wedding. Because I am afraid that Yang Luoyang would go wild and treat Lady Yang Ning roughly after you return to the palace.”

He cannot let Yang Ning stay alone in that household anymore because he is afraid that Yang Luoyang will do something to Yang Ning and will give her even more scars than before as soon as Yu Ling will come back to the Palace.

Since only two months are remaining from the royal wedding, it will be better for Yu Ling to stay in the Yang Household and stay close to Yang Ning to protect her and also take care of her in his stead.

Yu Ling saw through the concern in his eyes and nodded, ” That’s what I was planning to do. Lady Yang Ning seems to have a strong personality and a healthy mindset, but I also believe that someone needs to be by her side to assist her to stand against Minister Yang and his wife.”

“Alright. You can leave. I will process the new authorization letter and will send it to you with Gu Lan in a while.” Zheng Liang said.

“But what about His Majesty? Someone needs to look after the palace responsibilities as well.” Yu Ling was worried because she is holding such an important position in the palace yet she is not available in the palace to look after the work.

” I will discuss this matter with His Majesty. He seems to be quite impressed with Lady Yang Ning after yesterday’s meeting, so I believe he will agree to this request for now. About the palace duties, you can hand over them to the most trusted court lady in your opinion and come here once in a while to check on the preparations of the wedding.” Zheng Liang suggested.

” Okay. If that’s the case, I will come tomorrow again to put someone else in charge of the wedding ceremony in my stead. For now, I have to go back and report myself to Minister Yang.”

Zheng Liang nodded and was pleased that he made the right decision to send Yu Ling to the palace. This way, even if he is at the palace, he will not need to worry about Yang Ning.

“Your Highness, it’s too early for you to be awake. You should sleep some more.” Yu Ling said as she was worried to see the dark circles under his eyes and it was obvious that he didn’t sleep well last night.

How can he sleep well when many things happened yesterday?

“I...I am fine. I will rest some more after you go.” He said and waved at her to not worry about him and go.

Yesterday, he went to bed early but couldn’t sleep even for a while.

He kept thinking about Yang Ning and how the blankets smelt like her. That’s why he got up early to do his morning training but before he could go to the field, Yu Lady came to look for him.

____

Yang Luoyang was dumbfounded when he heard Yu Ling’s words. He was planning to talk to her and explain to her about yesterday’s matter, however, he didn’t expect that she would go out of her way and go to the palace early in the morning to report to His Majesty.

” Yes? Lady Yu Ling, You’re the Head of the Court Ladies at the Royal Palace. How can you be so immature and act on impulse like this?” He was baffled and couldn’t control his temper anymore.

” How can you go and report nonsense to His Majesty without finding out the truth? Don’t you think you were too rash with your actions?”

Yu Ling raised her brows to see Yang Luoyang calling her actions rashly. ” Nonsense report? Rash actions? Minister Yang, you don’t even know what I reported to His Majesty yet and you’re already calling my actions rash and my report nonsense. Don’t you think you’re thinking too lowly of me?”

Yang Luoyang was surprised by Yu Ling’s confident counterattack and took a deep breath before controlling his temper, ” I didn’t mean to say that. Pardon me if I said anything inappropriate. However, Lady Yu Ling, I indeed feel that what you did wasn’t nice and understanding of you. The least you could do was to come to me and discuss this matter before tattletaling to His Majesty.”

” It was just a misunderstanding and you made it into a big issue now.” He gritted his teeth and wanted to kick Yu Ling from the Household. However, he couldn’t do anything since it was an order from His majesty.

” Minister Yang, If I had known that you were going to react this way, then I would have reported everything to his Majesty. Now I am regretting my actions a bit.” Yu Ling said meaningfully.

“Yes? You didn’t tell His Majesty everything? Then why did you report to him that he allowed you to stay here for so long?” He looked at her seriously and waited for her answer.

Yu Ling wanted to chortle to see his tone become polite. However, she maintained her polite smile and said, ” For now I asked His Majesty to extend my period of stay at the Yang Household so that I could teach a few royal lessons before she weds to His Highness and become the Crown Princess.”

It wasn’t a lie. Although she didn’t meet His Majesty herself, Gu Lan had informed her that it was this excuse that Zheng Liang gave to His Majesty for now to extend her period of stay at the Yang Household.

Because telling His Majesty about all of this is not gonna help them anyway, so they decided to keep things better this way.

” His Majesty also believes that it will be the best option and agreed to my request. So I will be staying at the Yang Household until Lady Yang Ning gets married to the Crown Prince.” She said,

Yang Luoyang’s face lit up when he heard Yu Ling’s words. ” Is that so? However, there is no need for you to stay here for so long. I will take care of everything.”

” Yang Ning has learned all the palace etiquettes and manners already. She is even aware of the royal protocols as well.” Yang Luoyang insisted so that Yu Ling could change her mind and go back to the palace before the royal wedding.

“Minister Yang Luoyang, I think you did not get the point I am trying to put here. I wanted to report something else to His Majesty but thinking about your position and reputation, I suppressed myself and am simply buying some time for you to amend your mistakes.”

Yang Luoyang’s expression turned gloomy at her words as he asked coldly, ” What do you mean by....amending my mistakes? What did I do wrong?

“Are you prepared to listen to my requests now?” Yu Ling asked with a slight smirk on her face.