The Mask Empress and Her Beloved Emperor

Li Na felt a weight on her chest and opened her eyes. Her eyes were dim, and her head hurt. It took some time for her sight to adjust to the light. Li Na's eyes became apparent, and she saw a strange man laying above her.

"Who are you?" Li Na cried.

Li Na could not remember how she got into this room or what happened to her the entire day.

"My identity does not matter. When the aphrodisiac takes effect, you would not think about who I am, but you will be begging me to please you in bed." The man said with a creepy smile.

'Have I been drugged? But who drugged me and how? Why can't I recall anything?' Li Na thought in fear.

The man ripped Li Na's blouse, exposing her breasts in the open. Li Na tried to cover them, but he forcefully removed her hand and creepily gazed at her bosom.

"These two are beautiful! I will have so much pleasure playing with them." He said in a gross tone.

"Please let me go. I am Chen Li Na. The first daughter to the prime minister and my mother is his first wife. My grandpa is the Unit Commander of the Sui Dynasty army. If you let me go, I will exceedingly reward you." Li Na pleaded.

"Hahaha! Don't try to fool me. I know that your mother has fallen out of grace with your father and that his favorite concubine Wang Yan and her children are the ones the prime minister favors. If I abuse you, no want will care to investigate the case." The man replied.

He pressed Li Na to the bed and licked her on her neck. Li Na could feel his cold saliva on her skin as he kissed several parts of her body.

Li Na could not stand his assault on her, but she could not resist his action. Her delicate body was too fragile to fight him off her. Li Na could not use her family name to bargain with him. Since what he said about her and her mother was correct.

Her mother could not give her father another child after she had Li Na. People said she was bad luck for the Chen family and a cursed child. After Wang Yan gave the prime minister a son, Li Na and her mother were treated drastically, even the maids did not respect them.

The man started touching the places on Li Na's body that made her feel very uncomfortable.

"Wait! I know that my family does not care about what happens to me. But I am engaged to the third prince, and Li Jie won't spare your life if you defiled his future wife."

"Do you think the prince will care about a woman who is in the brothel in bed with another man?"

A few seconds pass, and Li Na's body starts to tremble. Sweat dribbled from her forehand, and she felt hot.

"Oh, the fun has begun." The man said, seeing the discomfort in Li Na's eyes and how flirtatious her face appeared.

"Help me!" Li Na screamed in tears. She was the last of her energy and self-consciousness to call for help.

Li Na's voice got loud as she pleaded for help, and it scared the man. He squeezes his hand tightly over her mouth.

Li Na continuously shook her head until he released his hand a bit from around her mouth. When she felt her lips become free, Li Na opened her mouth and bit into his palm. She could taste his blood slipping on her tongue.

"Slap!" The man hit Li Na on the cheek with his free hand, leaving a cut under her eyes. The pain sinks into her soul, and Li Na releases her teeth from his flesh.

Li Na's tears flowed from her eye and mixed with blood from her cut as they ran down her chin.

"Ahhh!" The man screams in rage when he looks at his hand and sees the deep wound in his palm.

"You bit me, slut!" He angrily said as he repeatedly slapped Li Na across her face, leaving various cuts on her skin.

The pain from his constant hitting and the sexual tension for that drug made Li Na beg Shangti for relief from all the ache and dishonor.

"Bang" The room door opened, and a group of people walked in. The man jumped off Li Na unto the ground and got on both his knees.

Li Na barely opened her bruised eyes and gazed at the faces of the people in the room. The prime minister was the first person she recognized, and Li Na immediately wrapped herself up in the bedsheet.

"Father, this is not what it looks like!" Li Na cried in shame.

"Do I not take care of you and your mother for you to sell yourself as a prostitute. I allow a good for nothing child like you to sleep under my roof, and this is how you repay me by dragging the Chen family name into the mud?"

Li Na knew her father would not believe her no matter how much she tried to explain. He would never have taken her side in this matter. Even when Li Na was little and concubine Wang Yan's daughter "Xiu Yin" pushed her into the pool and almost drowned her, the prime minister did nothing. Instead, he killed the maid who reported the incident and told his entire household never to speak of the event again.

Li Na looked at Wang Li with anguish in her eyes and cried. "Mom, help me. I did not do this. I was set up. Please, mom."

"I don't have a slut as a daughter." Wang Li coldly said. Li Na's mother did not show any remorse to her, and she gazed the other way.

Wang Li did not show Li Na any concern after the prime abandoned them. She was among the people who believed that Li Na was nothing, but a doomed child. Wang had so much hate for her daughter since she felt that Li Na was the reason the prime minister stopped loving her.

"What a filthy and ungrateful daughter you are. You are engaged to the third prince. Yet we find you in the arms of another man. I am ashamed to call you my daughter or look at the disgrace of a child you are." The prime minister said in a harsh tone.

Li Na felt hopeless and alone as she stood in the presence of people who did not care about her and hypocritically judged her instead of punishing the wrongdoer.

The room door opened for the second time, and a man walked inside with a lady behind him.

"The third prince and the second lady are here." A maid announces.

Li Na clutches onto the quilt tightly and bites her lower lip until blood spits out. She did not desire Li Jie to see her in this state. Although their marriage was arranged by the emperor, Li Jie had always treated Li Na well, and she had fallen in love with him, with the hope to be his faithful wife someday.

"My prince, why are you here? You don't have to hurt your eyes with such a disguising scene." The prime minister nervously said.

"I was told that my future bride was having an affair with another man in the brothel and needed to see it for myself. I guess it was true. Li Na had made me the laughingstock among my brother by sleeping with a vulgar man."

" Li Jie! It's not true. Please believe me. Someone drugged me and brought me here. I swear to you that nothing happened between us. I am still a virgin." Li Na cried. She was in so much physical pain and discomfort, but the agony in her heart was intense.

"Even if you are a virgin, you are still a filthy one. I don't want a woman that another man has molested. You are not pure anymore, and I despise rotten things. I want to cancel our engagement."

"Li Jie, I know that this looks bad, but I did not mean for this to happen. Someone set up all of this and framed me. Please don't cancel the engagement. We can still make this work. I love you."

"Shut up, Li Na. You have never been good enough for the third prince. The prince was generous to stay with you for this long, and you double-crossed him. My prince, you can have my second daughter, Xiu Yin. Since Li Na is not suitable to be with you."

"Father! The third prince was said to be married to your first daughter, but Li Na is your first daughter, not me. If we get engaged, wouldn't that disrespect my grandfather and the former emperor's request?" Xiu Yin stated.

"I don't have a first daughter named "Li Na" anymore. From today onward, my first girl child will be Xiu Yin, and Li Na will no longer be part of the Chen family lineage." The prime minister declares.

"Since Li Na is not her first daughter anymore and Xiu Yin is, I want to ask for your blessing to marry her."

"Of course, you have my full blessing, my prince."

After all the people that should have defended Li Na, betrayed her, she felt like her heart had been stabbed with a thousand swords. Li Na finally understood what was going on. She was not deluded by a stranger, but by her own family members.

Everyone left the room, leaving Li Na alone in tears. She was suffocating from the ache that she felt inside. Her family did not even care to persecute the man that tried to attack her. They just let him go free. Li Na felt truly miserable that nobody bothered to find out if she was all right.

Once Li Na's first tear broke free, the rest continuously followed. Her breath stuttered, and she gasped for air as she sat on the bed alone with no one to lean on for support.

The room door suddenly flew open. Li Na beloved maid "Chunhua" ran toward her and flew to the ground on both her knees.

"Forgive me, my lady! It was your sister Xiu Yin and the third prince who had paid me to dose your food and bring you here. The third prince had threatened to kill my father if I didn't follow his orders. They also made me drug you with benzodiazepines to make you have amnesia, so you wouldn't be about to defend yourself when you are caught."

Li Na was in shock. She had lost faith in everyone in her life except Chunhua, and now hearing that her maid had betrayed her too, just broke Li Na's heart.

"Why are you telling me now? Wouldn't they kill you when they find out that you disclosed their secrets to me?"

"I am already dying. The second lady made me drink poison. But I don't want to die without telling you the truth because you have been so kind to me."

Now everything truly makes sense to Li Na. The third prince had never loved her. He had used her for her grandfather's military power and her title as the first daughter of the prime minister. And when her status degraded, he found the next most important person in her family to take her place. Then together, they frame Li Na to get her out of the picture.

Within a few seconds, the aphrodisiac had made its full impact inside Li Na's body, and she desperately craved sex. Li Na was not able to control her sexual appetite, and she wished for everything to stop.

"Chunhua! I forgive you, and if an afterlife exists, I hope to meet you there."

After her statement, Li Na stepped down from the bed and searched for a blouse to wear. She found an old one in the closet and wore it. With tears rushing down her eyes and her heart skipping beats, Li Na ran towards the wall and banged her head into it.

Her body fell to the floor into the pool of blood that her injury had caused. Li Na bitterly smiled as she was about to lose consciousness.

"If I ever get reborn, I will have my revenge and make sure that everyone who has hurt me, will pay twice the price of betraying me." Li Na thought before becoming unconscious.