……

Third Prince’s Estate.

Qi Qingchen stared at Jiang Jin, who was kneeling on the floor, his complexion iron-dark. “What exactly did you do to provoke Yan Shiyao?”

What a ruthless approach — turning a simple-minded Yan Shiyao into someone who had gone completely unhinged.

“Your Highness, it was First Miss Yan who brought your jade pendant before the Noble Consort, weeping and wailing and asking the Noble Consort to take good care of Your Highness.” Zhu Qing’s forehead struck the floor with a heavy thud.

It was Yan Shiyao who had shown up with His Highness’s jade pendant for no reason, provoking the Noble Consort. It was the Noble Consort who, in her anger, had ordered the servants to give Yan Shiyao a lesson. But who could have expected that she would strike her forehead and be unable to get up from the floor for a good long while?

The Noble Consort, fearing the Prime Minister would not let the matter rest, had intended to claim she had fallen and frame Yan Shiyao for it — but then Yan Shiyao suddenly came to.

She had taunted her with a few snide remarks, and Yan Shiyao had slapped her across the face, smashed His Highness’s jade pendant to the ground, and then stabbed herself.

Qi Qingchen delivered a kick squarely into Zhu Qing, clearly disbelieving her account.

Zhu Qing bit her lip, sobbing in pain.

“Your Highness, this concubine did not provoke First Miss Yan — she was the one who came to this concubine first and…”

“Silence.” Qi Qingchen let out a cold snort. “Do you have any idea that all of this Prince’s rivals are laughing at him right now? His Majesty went to the trouble of hosting a banquet on this Prince’s behalf, and you ruined the whole thing!”

“Why were you foolish enough to harm her at the banquet?” Qi Qingchen lifted Jiang Jin’s chin, his gaze frigid.

“Your High— Your Highness, this concubine didn’t — it was First Miss Yan who stabbed herself; it wasn’t this concubine.” Jiang Jin’s tears fell one by one.

She was with child, and yet Yan Shiyao had come with His Highness’s personal jade pendant and told her to return it and take good care of His Highness — this was plainly a provocation. In her anger, she had ordered the servants to teach Yan Shiyao a lesson.

“Why did she stab herself? Your maidservant said you had a fall, and that Yan Shiyao caused you to fall — you weren’t deliberately framing her? Pushing her to the point of madness?!” Qi Qingchen said through clenched teeth.

Jiang Jin held her aggrieved tears in her eyes. “Your Highness.”

Qi Qingchen’s eyes narrowed. He patted her on the face. “She is the legitimate daughter of the Prime Minister’s household. Regardless of whether or not it was you who wounded her, the incident occurred in your chambers. If it weren’t for the fact that you carry this Prince’s child, His Majesty would have had you delivered to the Prime Minister’s residence without a moment’s delay to let the Prime Minister deal with you.”

Jiang Jin’s eyes wavered. “Does Your Highness not care about this concubine?”

Qi Qingchen hooked his lips. “Why should this Prince offend the Prime Minister and the Minister of Rites? Are you worth that?”

The Prime Minister’s residence had also formed a marriage alliance with the Marquis’s household — only a fool would offend all of them over one woman.

Jiang Jin crumpled to the floor, her hands clutching her sleeves tightly.

Indeed. Yan Shiyao was the legitimate daughter of the Prime Minister’s household. She should never have ordered the servants to lay hands on her. If she hadn’t let the servants deal with Yan Shiyao, the banquet for her child would have proceeded without a hitch. She wouldn’t be under house arrest, and His Majesty wouldn’t have bestowed gifts on Yan Shiyao to appease the Prime Minister’s fury.

She had simply assumed the girl was soft and weak, which was why she’d been bold enough to have the servants deal with her — she had never imagined Yan Shiyao would suddenly transform.

Qi Qingchen rubbed his temples irritably.

Yan Yunning had been betrothed to Xuan Yanyu by Yan Ruijing. Yan Shiyao had turned into this insufferable version of herself. The seat of his primary consort was now vacant — who could compete with the legitimate daughter of the Prime Minister’s household?

Unless — aside from Xuan Yanyu?

After all, she had been picked up and brought back to the Prime Minister’s residence. With or without him, no one would give it any thought.

“Your Highness.” A maidservant peeled open a lychee and held it up to Qi Qingchen’s lips.

Qi Qingchen’s gaze landed on the lychee. His voice turned cold as ice. “Get out.”

The maidservant’s body gave a jolt. She picked up the lychees from the table and retreated from the hall, trembling.

……

Prime Minister’s Residence.

After recuperating for more than half a month, Yan Shiyao had mostly recovered from her injuries. The wound had not been deep to begin with, and with the Imperial Physician dispatched by His Majesty attending to her, she had healed quickly.

“Where is Ningning?” Yan Shiyao lazily stretched her arms.

Chun Yi smiled. “First Miss, Second Miss said she would come to Yaozhi Courtyard a little later.”

“Has she gone to find Yu-gege?”

Chun Yi pressed her lips together. “First Miss, Second Miss didn’t say.”

Yan Shiyao massaged her temples. “Go look for her.”

Chun Yi: “Yes.”

Yan Shiyao closed her eyes and leaned back against the headboard.

She still hadn’t worked out how Xuan Yanyu had come to treat Ningning so well again. He was supposed to be the one coaxing her — so why had it shifted to him coaxing Ningning?

That day when she had struck her forehead on the floor, flashes of what had happened ten years later had crossed her mind. She had seen the outcomes for both herself and Ningning, and in the moment she witnessed Qi Qingchen using her, something in her mind had suddenly cleared greatly.

At this point in time, Xuan Yanyu should have been coaxing her into marrying him.

Because she was infatuated with Qi Qingchen and had refused to marry Xuan Yanyu, Xuan Yanyu had without hesitation killed her Ningning.

So how was it that he was now coaxing Ningning instead?

Where had things gone wrong? Could it be that this time he had changed his approach to coaxing Ningning, getting Ningning to marry him, and then leaving Ningning to languish in his Xuanzhao Palace?

Just as she had been left to languish for a full ten years — or was everything she had seen merely an illusion?

No. Thinking it through carefully, Xuan Yanyu being picked up and brought back to stay at the Prime Minister’s residence aligned with what she had seen.

She could not recall the memories of those ten years very clearly — it was as though someone had flipped past the pages in a rush. She had only seen Qi Qingchen using her, and A’Ci telling her of his plan to avenge Ningning. She had agreed to it on the spot.

She was the Queen of Xuanzhao, and because of the former Prince Xuan, Xuan Yanyu would give her at least some degree of face. She would go to the Royal Study each time he returned from court.

At first, Xuan Yanyu would avoid her when handling state documents. Later, he simply stopped bothering to manage her.

Over time, she came to know a great deal about Xuanzhao’s affairs and had A’Ci pass the information along to Qi Qingchen. It was because of this that Qilan also suffered heavy losses.

Because in order to bring her to Xuanzhao, Xuan Yanyu had attacked Qilan’s city gates and seized several of Qilan’s cities.

In the end, the Emperor of Qilan had swallowed his humiliation and sought terms of peace. Xuan Yanyu’s condition was that the entire Prime Minister’s household must settle permanently in Xuanzhao. The Emperor of Qilan had not even hesitated — he handed their whole family over to Xuanzhao just like that!

Qilan’s strength had always been inferior to Xuanzhao’s, and after Xuan Yanyu’s assault on the city, it had needed several more years to recover. As a result, even with her intelligence, Qilan’s campaign against Xuanzhao had cost it greatly.

Now she could not recall at all what secrets about Xuanzhao she had passed through A’Ci to Qi Qingchen.

The fragments she had witnessed were scattered and disjointed. She only remembered that Qi Qingchen had personally led his troops against Xuanzhao, been run through with several sword strikes by Xuan Yanyu, and suffered not only serious injuries but a permanent limp in one leg.

At the time she had felt grateful — that for the sake of avenging Ningning, he had been willing to go to such lengths. Qi Qingchen had held her and said it was what he should do — Ningning had been his sister too.

Afterward, for his achievements in the campaign against Xuanzhao, Qi Qingchen was granted the throne by the Emperor of Qilan.

Once Qi Qingchen ascended the throne, his face changed entirely. He blamed her — said her intelligence had been inaccurate, that it had gotten him injured and left him with a crippled leg. He mocked and tormented her day after day.

It was only then that she understood — he had never been doing it to avenge Ningning. He had been using her to take Xuanzhao, to secure the throne for himself.

How bitterly ironic — that she had harmed Ningning for the sake of someone like Qi Qingchen.

Xuan Yanyu, too, wore two faces. He had clearly been pretending to treat her well in Qilan, putting on a show of tenderness, and had brought her to Xuanzhao — but simply because she refused to marry him, he had…killed Ningning.

And after she had married him, he paid her no mind whatsoever — he found her presence an annoyance.