Waaaa!

The baby's cry was particularly abrupt in the howling cold wind. Lin Yan's head was covered in a cold sweat, and her grimace finally relaxed for a moment.

She was giving birth today, but there was no one around her, not even a midwife. She had to rely on her instinct to give birth to the baby.

Fortunately, everything went well.

As soon as she let out a breath of relief, the bedroom door was pushed open.

She was immediately on guard. "Who is it?"

A slender figure slowly walked out from behind the screen.

It was none other than Lin Qi, Lin Yan's second cousin, as well as the descendant of the Lin family.

"Why are you here?" Lin Yan immediately became even more alert.

She and Lin Qi entered the imperial palace in the same year to be the Emperor's wives. Lin Yan was the Empress, while Lin Qi was just a concubine, but the Emperor had never taken Lin Yan seriously. He fell head over heels in love with Lin Qi.

Lin Yan was so unfavored that she did not have a midwife with her even when she was giving birth!

Thankfully, she was backed by Duke Rong, her maternal grandfather. As long as the power and influence of her maternal grandfather's family did not dwindle, even the Emperor would not be able to undermine her position as the Empress.

Because of this, Lin Qi was jealous of her. Since they entered the palace, they had not liked each other. At this moment, Lin Qi was definitely up to no good.

Sure enough, Lin Qi slowly showed a proud smile and jeered, "Well, I'm here to see you off."

Lin Yan frowned. "See me off?"

Lin Qi's smile became more and more brilliant. "You have labor complications, and you and your baby die. As your sister, how can I not come to bury the dead?"

It dawned upon Lin Yan. She gnashed her teeth and hissed, "If you hurt my baby and me, the emperor and my grandfather will not let you go!"

Lin Qi couldn't help laughing out loud. "It seems that you have no idea that the Emperor is not the father of the child you're pregnant with. The man who spent the night with you that day and impregnated you was not His Majesty."

"What?!" Lin Yan could not believe it. "That's impossible!"

Lin Qi said, "How is it impossible? Lin Yan, didn't you realize that His Majesty has never touched you since you entered the palace? Because he thinks you are dirty!

His Majesty married you for the sake of Duke Rong's military power. He is heaven's favored son. How could he fall in love with you, the filthy slut?"

Lin Yan felt like she was in an ice cave, and her heart immediately became cold.

She thought that he didn't dislike her.

But actually...

Lin Yan was in a trance, but Lin Qi laughed wildly. "But now Duke Rong rebelled, and he and his entire family have been executed by His Majesty. The military power that His Majesty once lost has now returned to his hands again, so for the Emperor, you are useless now."

With this, Lin Qi shifted her gaze to the newborn baby. "But he can offer his blood to save my son in my belly. My son will be the true Prince. This is the last good thing you have done for the royal family."

Before Lin Yan could recover from the grief of the death of her maternal grandfather's whole family, she heard that Lin Qi had set her eyes on her child, so she immediately protected her child in her arms.

The baby was her only family in this world. She could not let anything happen to him!

However, no matter how tightly she embraced him, she was too weak to protect the baby as she had just given birth. She was no match to Lin Qi's brute force. Lin Qi pushed her to the ground and snatched the baby away.

She aimed the dagger, shining with cold light, on the baby boy's head.

The smile on Lin Qi's face gradually became sinister and scary. "Lin Yan, do you know that I actually met the Emperor earlier than you did? I was pregnant with his child five years ago, but in order to marry you, the Emperor personally fed me an abortion medicine and killed our child. He has always felt guilty about it.

Now, I'm blessed by the heavens and am pregnant with a prince. I told the Emperor that I was weak and needed the blood of a newborn baby as a medicinal ingredient, and he agreed without hesitation. Look, he loves me so much!"

Lin Yan felt as if thousands of needles were pricking her heart.

The man she loved had never loved her, and he even wanted to use her child to make up for his crime. Why?

"Bullshit!" Lin Yan roared, "No matter how weak you are, you don't have to use blood as your medicine! This is just an excuse for you to kill my child!"

Lin Qi was not anxious at all although her plot had been exposed. "Well, you're not that stupid, after all.

Yes, this is an excuse, but so what? Do you think His Majesty can't tell that this is an excuse? He agreed nevertheless!

Because in his heart, you and this bastard are not important at all. Today, I will kill him to pay my respects to my dead child!"

Lin Qi's face was as ferocious as a female ghost's. She raised her dagger and mercilessly swung it toward the newborn baby's chest!

Bright red blood spurted out and splashed on Lin Yan's face.

"No!" Lin Yan wanted to rush over and grab the baby back, but the maids who came with Lin Qi pressed her to the ground.

She struggled but failed. She could only witness in despair as Lin Qi, who was grinning all along, cut open the baby's chest and dug out the palm-sized heart...

Lin Yan felt as if her heart was about to split open. She cried out in a blood-curdling voice, "Lin Qi! You're so dead!"