I woke up as the Villainous Empress

-The Zheng Capital-

Within the grandeur of a spacious, luxurious private chamber in the capital city's premier tea house, Yang Luoyang was engaging in a tea ceremony with high-ranking ministers from the royal court. His voice rang with unmistakable pride as he detailed his close relations with His Majesty and the Crown Prince, his words emphasizing his distinguished position as a member of their royal family.

Even though Yang Ning continued to dismiss their relationship and kept ignoring him after her marriage to Zheng Liang, it couldn't change the fact that he was her father. Thus, he still had a connection to the royal family as their in-law.

Even if Yang Ning attempted to sever their ties, it would be fruitless. There was simply no way for her to escape from his shadow, not in this lifetime at least.

Just being known as an in-law to the royal family was enough for people in the royal court to cast envious glances his way. This connection also guaranteed that they would show him respect whenever they crossed paths.

As Yang Luoyang was boasting about his close ties with His Majesty and the ministers showered him with flattering comments, the room buzzed with cheerful chatter and laughter. Suddenly, the door creaked open, and a guard appeared. He bowed in greeting to Yang Luoyang. Seeing the guard, Yang Luoyang's face broke into a knowing smile.

With a friendly wave, Yang Luoyang asked his guests to leave, promising them, "We will catch up at the palace later."

Once the ministers had departed, the guard quietly shut the door and positioned himself before Yang Luoyang, eyes cast down.

Yang Luoyang had been expecting good news. But instead of a victorious grin, the man's face bore an expression of guilt, and he seemed to be evading his gaze.

A frown creased Yang Luoyang's forehead. "What's the matter?" he asked, his voice icy. "Did you carry out my orders?" He raised his cup to his lips, savoring the warmth and scent of his tea despite the brewing tension.

The guard's face turned a shade paler before he lifted his gaze to meet Yang Luoyang's. "Please forgive me, Milord. We failed to complete your task and caused quite a lot of damage in the process," he confessed, a tremble in his voice.

Yang Luoyang's expression clouded over as he listened to the guard's report. He learned of the attack on Zheng Liang and how he, along with his royal guards, had battled their bandits and evaded their trap without a scratch.

"How could this be?" Yang Luoyang murmured the question, his voice laden with disbelief. "We sent almost 30 bandits for the task. How did his handful of royal guards manage to stand against them all?"

The guard had no words to defend the situation, and fell silent, his gaze firmly anchored to the floor.

Witnessing the guard's silent and defeated demeanor, Yang Luoyang's frustration boiled over. He slapped the table with a resonating smack, flinging his filled tea cup at the man as he bellowed, "Useless! How could you employ such a hopeless group to combat the royal guards and Zheng Liang?" His gaze turned icy as he glared at the guard, the orchestrator of the failed plot carried out on his command.

After learning about Zheng Liang's trip to Xinling City with Yang Ning, Yang Luoyang had carefully plotted this attack. He intended to eliminate the hurdle named Zheng Liang from his path once and for all.

Since the Empress failed to harm His Majesty and was banished before their scheme could play out, Yang Luoyang was forced into a corner. That's why he decided to directly target Zheng Liang instead of the Emperor.

With Zheng Liang out of the picture, dealing with the elderly and frail Emperor, especially after the loss of his eldest son, would be significantly easier.

Yet, his men, seemingly incapable of even such a basic assignment, had returned empty-handed and unsuccessful.

The man crumbled to his knees, pleading, "My Lord, I beg your pardon for my failure. I had engaged the most capable assassins for this mission. Their skill was such that they could have easily eliminated him and his guards during this outing. We outnumbered the royal guards with our team of seasoned assassins."

"But from the information that I have gathered, there was unexpected interference. One of our bandits who managed to escape told us that we almost succeeded in assassinating Zheng Liang from behind."

"At that moment, all the royal guards were busy battling our men, so they couldn't possibly rush to Zheng Liang's aid. But just then, an anonymous figure shot an arrow at our assassin, thwarting our plans. If it wasn't for that, we could have finished Zheng Liang cleanly and nobody would have suspected anything about this attack," the guard said, looking down and sounding sad because of his failure.

"There was another person involved? Who?" Yang Luoyang's eyes darkened with intrigue, but the guard could only shake his head in response. "The individual who managed to escape was unable to discern the identity of the attacker. The situation was too chaotic at the moment, thus preventing him from identifying this individual, Milord."

Rage surged within Yang Luoyang as he clenched his teeth and barked at the guard, "Get out! I can't stand to look at your pathetic face. Worthless!"

"I am surrounded by worthless brutes who boast strength and power, yet they consistently fail in executing their duties. Get out!" He yelled at the guard, who hurriedly collected the scattered shards of the broken teacup from the floor before scampering out of the room.

Left alone, Yang Luoyang slammed his clenched fist down on the table, seething, "Damn it! I'm sure Zheng Liang won't let this opportunity slip to probe into the matter and implicate me. Damn, incompetents!"

Yang Luoyang intended to use this situation to eliminate Zheng Liang as an obstacle, allowing him to grow closer to His Majesty as a trusted advisor. Gradually, he planned to assume more power in the royal court. His path to ultimate power within the Empire would only become clear with Zheng Liang out of the way.

However, with this nearly successful attempt ending in a miserable failure, he didn't know when he would get such a golden opportunity again in the future.