"It is all right, you may speak freely." Sensing Shen Lianxin’s hesitation, the Empress smiled to lighten the mood. "Princess Yunzhao is here today as well; she is open-minded and magnanimous, so she certainly will not hold it against you."
With matters pushed to this point, only Shen Lianxin could still be fixated on her own vanity.
Ignoring the Empress's partiality, she replied immediately, "Your Majesty, pray look clearly: my husband and I are in perfect harmony, and I truly cannot bear the trust of the Princess. To welcome a handmaiden into the Yongan Marquis Manor would surely ruin her life."
Chapter 124