The Crown Prince's hand that was stroking the crying mother's back stilled. The Empress also stiffened and slowly turned to the Emperor. Everyone else was watching with dread infusing the atmosphere. The Empress took her time to let go of Jing Yiqiu and stand up, all the while looking at the Emperor. The Emperor, in turn, stared back at her with an increasingly unpleasant look.
"You... Are you even human?" The Empress asked with a shaky voice as she slowly lifted a trembling hand to point directly at the Emperor.
"What is that supposed to mean?!" The Emperor snapped at her. The physicians went to the Prince behind the Empress's back to escort him away from the soon to be war zone and treat his existing wounds.
