231 Hello from the "Other side"

The Emperor's words brought Lei Xing's mind back to reality. He lightly squeezed her hands and continued on, "Whenever she and my father would have a falling out...She would poison and use my illness as an excuse to mend the broken bridge..." 

The Emperor sighed as he remembered what life with his parents was like, "My mother, the Empress dowager is and has always been a complicated person, a troubled one...A pitiful one...and my father was a..." He knit his brows as he struggled for words to describe his father and finally settled, "...a calculated person."

Lei Xing knit her brows, unsure how to respond to the new sensitive topic. She thought for a bit, and then lightly squeezed his hands and asked, "Did your father know?..."

The Emperor was quiet for a bit before responding with a frown, "He knew...He should have known. But perhaps, he didn't care to know..."