"You have changed".

My heart almost stopped when I heard her say that.

I thought that she might have found out that I was not the original Lei.

But of course, my body was as calm as it could be.

[Ding! Using Improvise]

"How so?"

"You are looking directly at me without averting your eyes. You don't look scared anymore".

'Phew, so she was referring to my behavior', I think in relief.

The original Lei was very scared of her emotionless personality as he could never understand what she was thinking. So he never made eye contact or looked directly at her face.

I, on the other hand, feel nothing but a strong attraction to her appearance and beauty. I want to look at that gorgeous face for as long as I can.

"It's been 6 years, mother. That is enough time for a person to grow and change."

"...I see".

She looks at me in silence for a few seconds and then asks,

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

This time improvise did not trigger as my body and mind were calm and I had multiple ideas on how to start this conversation.

I compose my thoughts, so as to not say anything stupid, and start speaking.

"Mother, do you know why I left your place to stay away?"

"..."

"I am guessing you don't know, or rather you never bothered to find out.

You assigned some people to watch over me from the shadows and that's it, you thought your job was done.

Did you have any intention of visiting me?"

"Is this why you stopped the meeting? to ask about me not visiting you", she asked while ignoring my question.

"Did you have any plans to visit me?", I do the same and repeat.

"No, I had no intention of coming to see you," she replied without emotion.

I chuckle and say, "Haha, I knew it".

'She really is cold', I think to myself.

Maybe she really never cared about Lei but I needed to be hundred percent sure.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

I look into her eyes, as to not miss any reactions, and say,

"I know the secret that you have been keeping from me".

Although she seemed calm and collected, that slight trembling of her eyes did not escape me.

"I accidentally heard you talking about it in your room with your Shadow Demon."

She kept staring at me in silence.

"Who is 'Lady Jiayi?", I ask her.

She still didn't answer, but her grip on the throne's armrest tightened.

"Since you are not going to answer, then I will keep talking.

At first, I was a little confused by your words but everything became clear when I made Lifen look for information about this 'Jiayi' woman in the first-floor Library.

she was just staring at me in silence.

"I am not your child, right"

...

Yang Jiayi was the previous leader of the Shadow Demon sect and was Lei's birth mother. This secret was revealed much later in the story when everyone from the sect was dead.

Although finding this secret did not matter to the readers, it did matter to the King of the 6th hell as he was Lei's father.

"I am not your child, right".

The empress closes her eyes and sighs,

"Yes, you are not my child"

"Was this 'Jiayi' my mother?"

"Yes"

"What happened to her?"

"I killed her" she replied with an emotionless face.

"Why did you kill her?" I ask calmly.

"There was no special reason, I challenged her, she accepted, and I won"

"Who are you then? There was no record of you being a disciple."

"You don't need to know about that"

"Why did you become this sect's leader?"

"Your mother asked me to become the leader as a final request and I accepted."

"What were you doing before?"

"you don't need to know that"

"What made you spare my life and take care of me instead?"

"Also your mother's request"

"Why did you not kill me and leave after she was dead? she would never know"

"I may be a killer but I am also a warrior. I would not break a promise made to a respectable warrior like her"

"So you became the leader of a demonic sect and adopted a child because of a request?"

"That's right"

'hmm, she is not reacting much' I think to myself.

I want her to show me some signs like sadness or guilt but she is just calmly answering while avoiding anything related to herself.

The problem is that there was nothing about her past in the novel so I really am clueless as to why she challenged Jiayi.

My plan was to somehow make her react to emotional stuff so she could tell me about herself and maybe we could connect but I dont think that's going to work.

Even if I get angry and demand an answer to my questions, I think she would still remain calm and refuse to answer.

And I have a feeling that I can't threaten her with the 'me leaving the sect' thing also because she would just let me do what I want while assigning some guards.

'Now what do I do.

Should I just take the direct approach?

I tell her that there are traitors and she would take care of the rest.

No, what if she gets suspicious of me and asks how I know that? she would probably think that I am somehow colluding with those traitors and that's how I know about them.'

I was thinking these things and was wondering when improvise was going to trigger when she says,

"So, what are you going to do now?"

I look at her in confusion when I hear her question.

"I killed your birth mother. Don't you feel angry, don't you hate me, don't you want revenge".

"Revenge?"

"Surely now that you know the truth, you must be thinking about your mother. If Jiayi was alive, you could have had a great childhood.

She would have shown you love and care that I never did.

She would be very different from an emotionless and heartless person who does not care for you right."

'What is she getting at?'

'Why would Lei hate her for killing a woman who he never saw or knew'

'Sure Jiayi was Lei's biological mother but I dont think he would care about a woman he never saw before

And even if he wanted to do something, I dont think he would have had the guts to do so'

'wait a minute'

When I focused on the words she just spoke and remembered her actions after Lei's death, I had an epiphany.

(A/N: Sorry for not postings for the past 2 weeks as I was busy with my finals. But now that I am done with them and have more free time, I will try to write and upload more)