Desideria gleaned a lot of information from the memories of her new body, which were filled with an intense resentment and grievance.
Lei Junnan had lived most of her life in the shackles of manipulation, and she'd died that way too. It was truly suffocating just to see it from the perspective of a bystander. As the new occupant of her body, Desideria was almost angered back into the afterlife.
Others might not have been able to tell, but she was a big boss in her world of origin, and was also familiar with the tactic of setting others up for her own purposes. If she couldn't even list out the cause and effect of all that manipulation off the top of her head, she would've wasted all of her years in power.
The rumours about Lei Junnan, her cultivation, and her stellar reputation, was nothing more than killing someone with kindness to pit the Lei family against the Yue family, or rather, to use them as a shield against the Yue family.
And the most likely suspect for this, who had the most to gain and the least to lose from the humble Lei family going against the Left Prime Minister, was none other than the current Emperor himself.
The Yue family was the current Empress Dowager's maternal family, and Yue Cefei, now Yue guifei, was his cousin. The Yue family had been in power for a long time and had produced five empresses and countless Consorts. Sending a woman into the Emperor's harem was like second nature to them.
Some might say, they were too powerful. A simple Lei family, no matter how exalted they were, wasn't enough to go against them, even if they were sponsored by His Majesty himself.
And yet, that was exactly what happened. The Lei family was set up for a suicide mission.
Desideria sneered inwardly. The current Emperor was really patient, wasn't he? He'd devised such a scheme when she was still a baby, so it could be seen what kind of mind he'd had since he was a child.
As for why he went through so much trouble, Desideria wasn't sure, nor was she interested to know. Her predecessor was a foolish little girl from a harmonious family, but she wasn't.
Someone as self-interested as the current Emperor would only move for influence and power, not hesitating to use the most vicious tactics to ensure results.
Even against a little child.
And when it came to self-interest, Desideria wouldn't have been the Donna of a notorious mafia if she didn't qualify as a selfish person. Only the most vile individuals could make it to the top of the criminal food chain.
She was literally a supervillain in her world of origin, so while she did think that the current Emperor was despicable, she wasn't looking at it through the eyes of a do-gooder.
The disdain she felt was more like 'I could've done it better' rather than 'I would never do something like that.'
In fact, not just the Emperor, but his entire household was the same. Each of his consorts were one more ruthless than the other, it was just a question of who was more vicious.
No wonder her predecessor hadn't lived long. She was poisoned to death only a few weeks after being sent to the Cold Palace.
From the moment the first rumour of her talent had broken out, she had been doomed to an early death.
Desideria turned her eyes on the middle aged woman who had force fed her the medicine and was looking pleased with herself, scoffing down at the maids on the ground with disgusting superiority. It was clear that despite her appearance, her cultivation was not low.
And it was just as well. Before receiving this old witch, Lei Junnan had seen her in Noble Consort Yue's entourage, and her ranking was not low.
It was said that she was Yue guifei's wet nurse's cousin sister, which was probably why she had been throwing her weight around the moment she entered Kunning Palace. Most people wouldn't dare to offend her.
Lei Junnan was such a person, but Desideria Barese was not.
She wasn't Chinese to begin with, so she didn't have the constraints of their hierarchy and moral shackles. If she liked something, she liked it, and if she didn't, it would be destroyed.
That smug look was the biggest eyesore, in Desideria's opinion. She remembered this old hag was sent as a plant by her side when her predecessor had first fallen ill in Kunning Palace. Yue guifei had sent her to 'help her recuperate.' However, after her arrival, Lei Junnan's illness only worsened at alarming speed.
In her entire life, nobody had ever roughhoused her in any way, shape or form. Even when her mafia family was still alive, with a staunch objectification and prejudice against them daughters, no one had ever been physically abusive to her.
Those who tried met swift ends, and those who wanted to could not afford to do so.
Having someone grip her chin so harshly and nearly drown her with pungent, bitter medicine laced with poison was the biggest offence Desideria had ever endured.
Discounting the times when people tried to take her life, of course.
Her chin was throbbing and aching, and everything hurt. It was unacceptable.
Was she, Desideria Barese, someone others could hurt at will?
Her arm shot out, and despite her weakness, she grabbed the old hag by the neck when the latter was caught off guard. "Maldetta strega, you've sure got guts, daring to lay those filthy hands on me. Not even the devil has enough of a spine to be your backing against me, so what's that viper, Yue, worth?"
Due to the scalding, her voice was hoarse and broken, possessing an eerie quality that made her sound like a malevolent spirit. In fact, with her rage at the moment, even if her throat hadn't been damaged, she would have still sounded like a ghost.
The effort it took to even rasp out those words made a trail of crimson trickle down the corner of her mouth. Desideria coughed up spots of blood, and the more she coughed, the more came out. It hurt so much!
Furious, she couldn't help but tighten her grip until her knuckles turned white. "You old witch, you really take kindness for granted…"
The woman's eyes bulged, and her face quickly turned red. Her nails dug into Desideria's wrist deep enough to make her bleed again, but no matter how much she struggled, it was impossible to escape that hand.
She tried to use her spiritual power, which was strong enough to take out a tiger, to no avail.
Her expression changed. Looking into the black, bottomless eyes of the Empress who was supposed to be on the brink of death, she felt terrified. Maybe…
Maybe Her Majesty had been taken over by an evil spirit…
If she had known how right she was, she would've directly keeled over and given up the ghost.
It would have been preferable, actually, for Lei Junnan's body to have been possessed by any other evil spirit than by Desideria Barese.
The little maids who were previously pressured to the ground by the woman's cultivator aura were so dumbfounded by the sudden twist that their anxious expression froze on their faces.
No matter how they looked at it, they couldn't make heads or tails of the situation in front of their eyes.
Her Majesty had just been on the verge of death mere minutes ago, with a breath so weak it was almost not there. Even before that, when she was wronged so much, she didn't have the temper to settle the scores with those who deserved it.
So why was it that now, when she was about to die, she suddenly had the strength to grab Li momo's neck?
No matter what, Li momo was a Spiritual Practitioner. Hadn't Her Majesty's dantian collapsed? Even a Spiritual Novice could dispose of her at will, so what was this?
Everyone was frightened, but it couldn't compare to Li momo's fear. She was dumbfounded!
What had just happened? Wasn't she being domineering, just like always? This weak Empress was about to die, wasn't she? So what was this?
Stunned and confused, Li momo couldn't even breathe. When she looked into the eyes of the softest persimmon in the entire imperial harem and saw the black irises turn grey, she felt so afraid that she lost control of her retention immediately.
A hot, sour smell spread in the room, irritating Desideria to the point that her strength soared. A loud crack resounded in the silent room, and following that, a gust of light engulfed Li momo, who didn't even have the chance to make a sound before she disappeared.
Not even her ashes remained. The puddle that had formed under her feet vanished like it had never been there.
"Good riddance."
If she hadn't killed her, Desideria would not have been able to sleep for the rest of her life.