Chapter 649 --649

Chapter 649: Chapter-649

"Your Majesty," the Minister of Rites, an arrogant, heavy-set man who had been sweating profusely since Heena walked in, suddenly stepped forward. He couldn’t take the psychological pressure anymore. "Since the Madam brought it up, the Ministry of Rites officially protests the Vanguard adoption! It is a complete mockery of imperial law!"

"A mockery?" Heena gasped, placing a hand over her heart in mock offense. "How dare you! I followed the Emperor’s Edict to the exact letter!"

"You adopted a thirty-year-old man!" the Minister of Rites shrieked, his voice cracking violently. "He is older than you! He has a full beard! He took the imperial exams five years ago! How can he legally be considered a child of the Vanguard house?!"

The Emperor closed his eyes and vigorously massaged the bridge of his nose. He was experiencing the most profound, agonizing headache of his entire reign. He had practically handed her the loaded gun with the Five Pardons, and she was currently holding the entire court hostage with it.

"Your Majesty," Heena turned to the throne, her expression a picture of pure, absolute innocence. "The Five Imperial Pardons specifically granted me the right to adopt ’an heir’ from outside the main bloodline to protect the Vanguard lineage. Did the Edict specify an age limit?"

The Emperor opened one eye, glaring at her. "No. It did not."

"Did the Edict state that the adopted heir could not possess facial hair?" Heena asked brightly.

"No," the Emperor gritted his teeth, the taste of copper returning to his mouth.

"Then it is entirely legal!" Heena declared triumphantly, spinning around to face the furious civil officials. "My husband and I felt a deep, profound, spiritual connection to Saura Chijen. We simply could not resist bringing him into our loving home. If the Ministry of Rites is discriminating against my son just because he went through puberty a little early, then you are actively defying the Emperor’s holy decree!"

The old Marquis, standing in the front row of the military faction, threw his head back and roared with laughter, aggressively slapping his thigh. "Exactly! The boy is a late bloomer! Get over it, you fragile old bats!"

The civil officials looked like they were going to collectively vomit blood. The absolute, unhinged shamelessness of the Vanguard family was entirely impenetrable. They had legally shielded themselves with the Emperor’s own words, and there was absolutely nothing the civil court could do about it without committing treason.

"Fine!" the Minister of Rites spat, pointing a shaking finger at Heena. "If he is your legal son, then he is subject to the rules of the aristocracy! But mark my words, Vanguard Madam, a peasant scholar cannot survive in the high-noble circles! He will embarrass you!"

Heena’s innocent, cheerful smile completely vanished.

The temperature in the Grand Hall plummeted instantly. The chaotic, comedic atmosphere was abruptly suffocated by the heavy, terrifying killing intent of a Vanguard warlord who had just drawn her sword.

"I am so glad you mentioned peasant scholars and embarrassment, Minister of Rites," Heena whispered, her voice dropping into a dark, lethal frequency that made the hair on the back of the officials’ necks stand up.

She turned slightly and snapped her fingers.

The heavy doors of the hall opened again. Kael and two massive Vanguard shadow guards walked in. Between them, they carried a heavy, locked iron chest. With a loud THUD, they dropped the chest directly in the center of the Imperial Court.

The Minister of Rites looked at the chest. The blood entirely drained from his face, leaving him looking like a reanimated corpse. He recognized the iron lock. It was the chest from the Chief Examiner’s private office.

"Your Majesty," Heena announced, her voice echoing with cold, absolute authority. "The civil court loves to preach about merit, morality, and the flawless nature of the imperial exams. But last night, while my wedding was being attacked, my intelligence network stumbled upon a massive, empire-shaking conspiracy."

Heena stepped forward and kicked the lid of the chest open. Hundreds of yellow silk scrolls spilled out onto the pristine marble floor.

"What is the meaning of this?" the Emperor demanded, sitting up straight, the headache instantly forgotten as his imperial instincts kicked in.

"These, Your Majesty, are the original essays from the last three years of the Imperial Examinations," Heena stated loudly, bending down to pick up a scroll. She unrolled it and held it up for the entire court to see. "Essays written by brilliant, hardworking commoner scholars. Men who studied by candlelight for a decade to serve this empire."

She turned, locking her dark, terrifying eyes directly onto the trembling Minister of Rites.

"But you will notice something highly peculiar, Your Majesty," Heena continued softly, walking toward the Minister like an apex predator stalking a wounded deer. "The names of the commoners at the top of these scrolls have been forcefully scraped off. And written over them, in fresh ink... are the names of the nephews, cousins, and sons of the civil court officials."

Absolute, deathly silence gripped the Grand Hall.

The Prime Minister’s angelic smile completely shattered. For the first time in his life, Gu Chen looked genuinely, profoundly horrified. If this was true, it wasn’t just corruption. It was the complete destruction of the empire’s foundational meritocracy. It was a scandal that would cause a full-scale peasant rebellion.

"You didn’t just accept bribes," Heena roared, her voice echoing like thunder across the hall. "You systematically stole the physical exams of geniuses and slapped the names of your useless, illiterate noble children on them! You have been packing the imperial court with absolute frauds!"

"Slander!" the Minister of Rites screamed hysterically, falling to his knees and slamming his forehead against the floor. "Your Majesty, it is forged! The military faction planted this to destroy me!"

"The grading ledgers are in the chest, completely matching the original ink," Heena shot back ruthlessly. "And Kael found this chest hidden beneath the floorboards of your private office, Minister."

The Emperor stood up from the golden throne. The sheer, overwhelming aura of the Son of Heaven flared out, suffocating the entire room.

"Guards," the Emperor commanded, his voice shaking with apocalyptic rage. "Strip the Minister of Rites of his robes. Throw him in the deepest level of the Imperial Prison. Arrest his entire extended family. If a single page of this ledger is true, I will execute his entire bloodline up to the ninth generation!"

Imperial guards swarmed the hall, violently dragging the screaming, weeping Minister of Rites away. The civil officials were completely paralyzed, terrified that their own families’ names were written in that chest. They realized, with absolute, terrifying clarity, that the Vanguard Madam hadn’t just come to court to make a joke about her new son.

She had come to slaughter them.

Heena stood in the center of the silent, terrified court, the yellow scrolls at her feet. She looked up at the Emperor, casually smoothed out the sleeves of her military robes, and offered a perfectly polite, flawless bow.

"I believe my business here is concluded for the day, Your Majesty," Heena smiled warmly, turning her back on the ruined civil court. "If you will excuse me, I really must get home. I have to check if my husband managed to pack my son’s lunch properly."