The Empress dowager frowned deeply. Her eyes went from the Emperor to Lei Xing, and then back to the Emperor. Then she suddenly burst into laughter. 

The Emperor frowned, while Lei Xing knit her brows.

...She's laughing. Why is she laughing?... I don't like it when she laughs T_T)...

The Empress dowager continued laughing, seemingly amused by something which escaped the others in the room.

Then she sighed and narrowed her eyes at Lei Xing with a smile and said, "I will be expecting good news soon." Then she glanced at the Emperor, snorted and walked out of the room. 

Lei Xing stared at the Empress dowager departing back and frowned.

...Good news? I don't think you'd want that...My idea of good news involves you disappearing -_-)...

"Are you feeling better?" The Emperor asked turning to Lei Xing. Lei Xing looked at him and gave a half-smile, "Much better...thank you."

...I'd feel better if you just didn't provoke the mad hatter but...yeah. I'm great...

Lei Xing then tried to pull her arm away, and the Emperor held on tighter, she looked down and frowned, then looked up with a smile, "You can let go now."

The Emperor blinked, "You should sit." And then pulled her to the table setting on the side.

...Rather not...but okay...

Lei Xing knit her brows as she was pulled along, inwardly sighing. 

The two sat down in silence with the awkward level increasing the longer the silence stretched. The Emperor was sitting down staring directly at Lei Xing with his eyebrows knit, seemingly in thought. While Lei Xing was looking off to the side trying to pretend she was unaware.

...What do you want?...This is very, very awkward you know...Stop it -_-)...

After a while, the Emperor finally asked, "Have you eaten?"

Lei Xing cast him a quick glance with a half-smile, "I'm good."

Then the silence stretched out again for another long while, then the Emperor asked, "Has the Imperial doctor come to check on you?"

Lei Xing cast him another quick glance with another half-smile, "I'll see to that later."

Another long stretch of silence. 

Then the Emperor spoke up again, "It's better if it's done now...", then he looked towards Ah Jin and Xiao Ruo on the side, and Xiao Ruo smiled and quickly bowed, "Yes, your majesty." and flew out of the doors to go summon an Imperial doctor.

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Lei Xing narrowed her eyes at her departing back.

...You're always so quick, aren't you? -_-)...

Then the room returned to its silent state. 

After a while, Lei Xing randomly glanced at the Emperor, he then blinked and seemed to jump a bit, so Lei Xing raised her eyebrows at him, and he gave a weird awkward frowning smile. Lei Xing returned an equally awkward smile and looked away.

The two sat in silence again until the Imperial doctor arrived to check on her. When he said he would bring her medication over, Lei Xing said, "Oh, just have it sent to my own palace." 

The Imperial doctor glanced at the Emperor and flinched, Lei Xing followed his line of sight to see the Emperor with a deep frown on his face.

...Hey, I understand you feel bad about what happened but...You can't expect anyone to want to stay in this very awkward, tense atmosphere...It's quite nerve-racking...

The Emperor did not say anything, so the Imperial doctor quickly left to follow Lei Xing's directives.

Lei Xing glanced at the Emperor who seemed to be deep in thought still with a deep frown on his face.

...It seems he really feels bad about it...If you really wanted to make it up to me, you could- No, he wouldn't...but he might...Isn't this kind of like blackmail though? No, it's not. There's no threat...It could backfire though...but he's in an "apologetic" state of mind...So at worst I push some buttons but he's not going to punish the victim, right? ...Right, that would be irrational so it'll work out...

Lei Xing glanced at the Emperor, and then turned to Ah Jin and Xiao Ruo, "You both wait outside."

The Emperor blinked and looked to her with raised eyebrows. Lei Xing smiled at him and once the doors closed behind Ah Jin and Xiao Ruo, she started, "Um, I was wondering...I just have an inquiry..." Then she gave a nervous laugh and hesitated a bit.

The Emperor was a bit amused and smiled, "Go ahead."

Lei Xing scratched her head a bit and then went ahead, "Remember when you said that you would consider my request to lea-"

"No." The Emperor flatly said, cutting her off and his smile was replaced with a scowl. Lei Xing pursed her lips and looked off to the side.

...Well, that was straightforward, didn't even let me finish...

 "Why do you want to leave the palace?" The Emperor asked a bit annoyed. At first, he had thought she had some ulterior motives that he had to keep in check, but that theory has been discredited and he is just left with her as an individual wanting to leave.

...Why do you want to leave so badly?...

 "As I said, I am not a good fi-" Lei Xing glanced at the Emperor's disbelieving expression and felt at her wit's end and just honestly blurted out, "I don't like it here."

...There! That's the truth! I don't like it here...don't like being in a harem, don't like being confined to this place, especially don't like dealing with your mother...There's no profound, deep reason behind it, just don't like it! >_<)...

The Emperor was a bit taken aback by that answer and took a while to respond and when he did, all he managed was, "Why?"

Lei Xing blinked and was not sure how to respond to that question.

...Why? There's a whole host of reasons why but I don't think I can say any of them in front of you so...

Before she could muster up an answer, the Emperor realized he could sort of understand the reason why and asked a follow-up question, "What would you even do if you leave the palace?"

"Live well." Lei Xing swiftly responded without thinking.

"And you can't do that here?" The Emperor also swiftly responded without thinking.

...Is that a rhetorical question? It has to be...Because we both know that I almost died yesterday and my attacker is still walking around free sooo -_-)'...

 Lei Xing looked at him with knit eyebrows and subconsciously touched her bandaged neck. 

The Emperor also seemed to realize after asking that given the current situation that was a stupid question and his frown deepened when he saw her touch her neck. 

He stared at her neck for a bit, then faced forward and said, "Return to your palace."

...Fine then...

Lei Xing pursed her lips, got up, bowed and left. The Emperor watched her as she left and then sighed heavily.

...This did not go as planned...