Displeased and Uneasy

After a moment of silence, Evan Xiao said, "Mother, I like her. Please let her stay by my side!"

Grace turned to glance at Evan Xiao, then lowered her head like a guilty party.

The Celestial Empress was silent for a while, then threw another teacup.

This time, it hit Evan Xiao directly.

"Your father liked the Phoenix! You like the Phoenix! So you all like the Phoenix, huh? Fine! Why don't you just have her move into the Celestial Palace? Make her your Crown Princess, how about that? I’m leaving!" She stood up, ready to storm off.

"Mother!" Evan Xiao hurried over to stop her.

"Mother, please don’t be like this." Vivian Xiao also tried to hold her back.

"Let go of me!" The Celestial Empress tried to push her son and daughter away.

"Celestial Empress." At that moment, Grace spoke up.

With Evan Xiao and Vivian Xiao each holding one of her arms, the Celestial Empress stopped in her tracks. Her gaze finally landed on Grace. No one knew what she was thinking, but she sat back down regally, looking down at Grace with utmost dignity.

"Celestial Empress, I've heard the whole story from the Crown Prince. I understand why you’re upset," Grace said. "But please don’t be angry with anyone else. They kept things from you only because they wanted you to focus on getting better."

"I am not sick! I don’t need your treatment!" the Celestial Empress snapped. "Since you know everything, then just leave! I will never accept Eva Qi’s descendant as my daughter-in-law!"

"Celestial Empress!" Grace pressed on. "If the princess removes your Storm Core, it gets more dangerous the further she goes. If anything goes wrong, it could even cost her life!"

Although I’ve explained the procedure to Young Master Drake, his medical skills are nowhere near mine. Please let me help restore your Spirit Roots, and then I’ll leave!"

The Celestial Empress glanced at Vivian Xiao, then suddenly slammed the table. "Yuan’er is in danger? Why didn’t you say so earlier!"

"We didn’t want you to worry," Grace replied. "Plus, I was confident that if I handled it, nothing would go wrong, so I didn’t mention it."

"Then don’t remove it!" the Celestial Empress said. "I’d rather never recover than owe you a favor!"

"If you don’t remove it, not only will your cultivation never improve, but if the princess doesn’t take out your Storm Core, the next time she faces a breakthrough, it will be her death sentence!" Grace said. "For the princess’s sake, please don’t act out of spite."

"You..." The Celestial Empress was furious. "Why didn’t you say all this sooner? You’re just a liar!"

Grace looked at her and said, "I’ve said all I can. The choice is yours. If you want me to leave, I’ll go right now. If you want me to stay, I’ll do everything I can to nurse both you and the princess back to health."

The Celestial Empress grew even angrier.

She’s really letting me decide?

Is she just trying to make things difficult for me, to embarrass me?

But... while she could ignore her own wellbeing, she couldn’t risk Yuan’er’s safety...

Last time Yuan’er faced her breakthrough, she attracted too much tribulation lightning.

Maybe she’s telling the truth...

The Celestial Empress took a deep breath and said, "Don’t think that just because you heal us, I’ll let you stay! Let me be clear: no matter what you do, you can never remain in the Celestial Palace!"

"Don’t worry, Celestial Empress. I didn’t come to Drake Abyss to stay anyway," Grace replied.

Evan Xiao glanced at her.

Grace pretended not to notice.

The Celestial Empress looked at Grace’s beautiful face. The more she looked, the more she thought Grace resembled Eva Qi. Truly, she found her both displeasing to the eye and unsettling to the heart.