I woke up as the Villainous Empress

96 Third-Wheel!

Yang Ning was surprised and pursed her lips in a thin line when she heard his question as she wasn’t expecting him to throw this question at her from nowhere.

However, seeing him asking this question again, she could see that he is aware of her condition at the Yang Household, otherwise, why would he bring up this topic with her?

There is no reason for him to do that.

She had already given an explanation about this matter at the Banquet, there was no need for him to ask her about it again.

It was obvious that he wanted to confirm the excuse that she gave the last time.

Moreover, Lady Yu Ling works in the Yang Household, and she sometimes comes to the palace to take care of the wedding preparations.

There is a high possibility that she must have reported everything to Zheng Liang already. Because he was the one who had sent her to the Yang Household. Knowing how loyal and devoted she is towards her work, there is no way that she would hide such important information from him.

She circled around the empty tea cup with her fingers and answered while playing with it, ” I am not sure why His Highness is suddenly curious about it but there were two reasons why I decided to wear that dress on the day of the Celebration Banquet.”

Zheng Liang raised his brows at her answer in surprise as he wasn’t expecting her to tell him about that. He straightened his posture and grew even more curious to know the reasons why she wanted to wear that dress.

.....

” Mrs. Yang had prepared a dress for me to wear to the Celebration Banquet and sent it to my chamber in the early morning. However, when I got the dress, it wasn’t in the condition to wear it. It was torn and damaged.” She answered.

The corner of his lips twitched when she addressed Chang Ah as Mrs. Yang and not Mother. The coldness in her tone while mentioning her mother was revealing the truth of their distant relationship.

“The dress was torn on the day of the Banquet? Who did that?” Zheng Liang’s expression darkened as he wasn’t expecting someone to ruin her dress on the day of the banquet. It was such a big and public event, how can they treat her like this?

Moreover, he had told Yang Luoyang that there was no need for Yang Ning to attend the Banquet because she was in pain and sick before the night of the Celebration Banquet. Yet they disregarded his orders and forced her to attend the event.

___

” Since the dress was already damaged, there was nothing I could do other than choose another dress.” Yang Ning answered while dodging his question.

She kept her face straight as she was lying. The dress was not torn or damaged. Instead, she refused to wear the dress that had been handed down to her and it was the dress that Chang Ah wanted to discard from her wardrobe.

How can she wear that overly-bright and flashy dress to the banquet? The dress was so distasteful that if she had worn it to the Banquet, she would have become a joke in front of everyone.

Because this is what happened to Yang Ning in the novel. In the novel, there was an instance where Yang Ning was recalling about the past and mentioned the incident of the Celebration Banquet in her monologue dialogue.

In the novel, she wore the dress given by Chang Ah to the Celebration Banquet and became a public joke of the banquet.

Princess Liu found a reason to argue with her and looked down at her during the whole event for dressing up embarrassingly. Not only her but all the people attending the event were laughing and mocking her dressing sense and were calling her too extravagant and unsuitable to become the wife of Zheng Liang.

The Celebration Banquet turned into the most humiliating and embarrassing moment in Yang Ning’s life. Because of this, she had trauma when attending the public banquets and was always cautious while choosing her dresses.

That’s why she chose to not repeat the same mistake of Yang Ning and trust the judgment of Chang Ah. Rather she decided to wear the most decent dress from her wardrobe and the yellow color dress was the most decent one among everyone.

The color was bright and would have complimented the white complexion of Yang Ning the best. So she decided to wear it to the Banquet.

___

Yang Ning looked at Zheng Liang and could see the complicated emotions on her face. He was feeling bad for her but at the same time, he was wondering if she lied about her intention to wear the dress to the Banquet.

Because it was such a serious matter. If she had lied about it, then he wasn’t sure who to trust anymore.

” Even though I was forced to change the dress, I chose the plain yellow color dress from my wardrobe because the yellow color symbolizes happiness and prosperity and I wanted to wish the same for the people who were suffering from the famine in the western region.” Yang Ning continued to explain.

” You were right as not many people were aware of this matter at that time. However, you’re forgetting that I am the daughter of the Head Finance Minister, who has all the information with him. I overheard my father’s conversation while he was working and discussing this matter with someone.” She pursed her lips and lied once again.

She didn’t know about this matter until she reached the banquet nor did she choose the dress because of it. She came into this world a night before the banquet and everything was so chaotic when she was pushed to attend the Banquet.

How could she have the time to overhear Yang Luoyang’s conversation with someone?

When she came to the palace and was looking around the main hall of the palace, she overheard the conversation of the two other ministers who were discussing this matter and were concerned about how badly it has affected the western region.

She felt bad for the people who were suffering from the famine, however, at that time, saving her life was her priority. When Princess Liu put her in a spot in front of everyone, she had no choice but to use this information to get out of the situation.

It worked and His Majesty was impressed by her thoughtfulness. He even praised her in front of everyone and changed her image in front of other people as well.

As long as she saved her neck, then what does it matter if it was true or not? It’s not like her wearing simple and yellow clothes could do anything for the people who were suffering from the famine.

The people who should have been more thoughtful and worried about their suffering were partying at that time.

“If my actions had offended you in any way, then I apologize to you for that. I only wanted to wish you congratulations on your birthday and wish for a long life and nothing else. ” She concluded her statement with a polite apology.

Best way to show one’s sincerity.

” You don’t need to apologize for anything. You didn’t do anything wrong. It should be the people who put you in that situation by ruining your dress.” He said as he was still furious about her dress being ruined on the day of the banquet and her being forced to dress up like that in public.

How can someone treat her like this? What wrong did she do to others?

‘It’s alright. Sometimes lying is better than being truthful. You’re good. Don’t feel guilty about it. Moreover, your whole existence in this world is a lie itself. Why are you embarrassed?’ Yang Ning pursed her lips and nodded. She was feeling guilty in her heart for lying but she kept on repeating it in her head and tried to be cool about the whole question-and-answer session.

” Lady Yang Ning, since you came to the palace, why don’t you stay for lunch?” Zheng Liang asked her.

” Ah, There is no need. I apologize for disturbing you when you must be busy with your work. I should take a leave now.” Yang Ning was surprised when he asked her to stay for lunch and waved her hands as she was embarrassed to stay longer.

She stayed for tea only and he asked her never-ending questions. She was scared that if she stayed for lunch, he will take her to the interrogation room and will start interrogating her officially.

” Who said that you are troubling me? I am not busy, not at all. I was about to take a stroll in the garden when you arrived.” He shook his head and assured her that her visit didn’t disturb him in his work at all.

“I don’t have any work the whole day. I already completed it in the morning. If you want, I can show you around the palace.” He suggested.

Yang Ning laughed embarrassingly and could see from the way he was dressed, that he was going to the royal court.

Who is he trying to fool here?

While he was trying to convince Yang Ning to stay for lunch, Gu Lan appeared and interrupted their conversation, ” Your Highness!”