Shen Xihe silently gazed at him without responding.
However, Xiao Huayong smiled and said, “Let me answer for Youyou. If we were married and she deliberately harmed me, you would certainly discipline her on my behalf. The severity of the punishment would depend on how deeply she hurt me. But if we weren’t yet married and she harmed me, you would simply ignore it. Of course, Youyou wouldn’t discipline her for my sake, nor would she interfere if I sought revenge.”
Shen Xihe blinked, a fleeting smile passing through her eyes. She had remained silent for quite some time.
What Xiao Huayong said was exactly what she had been thinking.
“Youyou would act this way because her heart distinguishes between those close and distant,” Xiao Huayong said softly. “I am the same. Youyou will only view me as a family after our marriage. However, for me, Youyou already surpasses everything and everyone else in this world.
Anyone who harms you, I can slay with my own hands!”
I am neither cold-blooded, nor bloodthirsty, nor am I someone devoid of familial feelings.
I simply regard you as the person I value most.
If one day my closest kin were to become irreconcilable with you, I would choose only you.
“Your Highness, Zhaoning is an extremely difficult person to move emotionally. Your Highness would do better to take care of yourself,” Shen Xihe sighed lightly.
She felt Xiao Huayong’s sincerity and was deeply shocked that he could go to such lengths for her today, but she remained frustratingly level-headed. She even felt it wasn’t worth it for Xiao Huayong to give his heart to someone like her, yet she simply wouldn’t easily fall in love.
A man could withdraw from love at any time, remaining untouched and departing gracefully.
But a woman was different. Women were too devoted and sensitive; once they fell into love, it became a gamble between life and death, with only one chance of survival out of ten.
“I don’t wish to take care of myself. I deeply believe that someday, someone will take the utmost care of me,” Xiao Huayong gazed at Shen Xihe with burning eyes.
Xiao Huayong was always so assured; it was unclear whether he was trying to convince himself or if he was truly that confident.
Shen Xihe gently shook her head, performed a graceful courtesy, and then boarded the carriage with Zhenzhu and the others. After lowering the curtain, she turned to ask Biyu, “Are you alright?”
“Princess need not worry. I took the cold-preventing medicine before we came, this servant is fine,” Biyu’s eyes were bright, showing no signs of weakness.
“This servant will look after Biyu.” Zhenzhu’s martial skills were somewhat better, but her scalding wounds hadn’t fully healed, and Moyu’s arrow wound hadn’t recovered either, otherwise, they wouldn’t have needed Biyu to endure this ordeal. She was more concerned about another matter, “Princess, will they take the bait?”
If they hadn’t taken the bait, Biyu’s plunge into the water would have been for nothing.
“They will, they definitely will.” Shen Xihe’s smile was profound.
They needed each other too desperately. Munuha was an extremely proud person. Shen Xihe had discovered that he had never been defeated. Last time, Xiao Huayong’s strike against him had been severe, destroying his careful arrangements and killing his confidant right in front of him. He harbored an intense hatred for Xiao Huayong.
Xiao Huayong was the Crown Prince of the Heavenly Dynasty. It wouldn’t be easy to make a move against him in the future, especially seeing that no one knew Xiao Huayong’s true face, which made him even more resentful. During this time, he must have been frustrated by his inability to expose Xiao Huayong, and unable to strike through those close to Xiao Huayong, he had to find another path.
Shen Xihe, the only person Xiao Huayong truly cared about, was this shortcut. Most wonderfully, Shen Xihe was also connected to Shen Yueshan. In one move, he could enrage Xiao Huayong, tear off his mask, and effortlessly remove Shen Yueshan, the shield of the northwest. He absolutely wouldn’t let this opportunity slip by.
Now he only lacked an inside connection. Shen Xihe’s move today wasn’t just to let Munuha see the Yangling Princess, but also to ensure the Yangling Princess couldn’t refuse Munuha’s plan.
She had pushed the Yangling Princess into the deep winter pond, yet no one believed the princess’s words, letting her see just how many eyes Shen Xihe had in the palace, making her deeply feel the palace’s insecurity. At the same time, she had Biyu hint to the Yangling Princess that she had killed Concubine Liang.
The Yangling Princess would become even more frightened. Concubine Liang’s death had always been a mystery. Concubine Liang’s roots in the palace were far deeper than this princess’s, yet she couldn’t escape Shen Xihe’s poisonous hands – how much more so for herself?
There was another point: because Shen Xihe rarely left the Princess’s Manor, they didn’t have many opportunities, so they would inevitably have to choose the Duke’s wife’s birthday celebration in two days. Concubine Liang was the Duke’s birth mother; the Yangling Princess would certainly stir up trouble before the Duke.
The Duke might not believe it, but when it involved his birth mother, he couldn’t help but take it seriously. Regarding the Yangling Princess’s actions, even if he didn’t help, he would turn a blind eye, just as he did in court, maintaining an appearance of indifference to everything.
What Shen Xihe wanted was for the Duke to know that Yangling would deal with her, to ignore everything at the Duke’s manor in two days, so that she could in turn deal with Yangling and Munuha, preventing the Duke from spoiling her plans.
In terms of deep scheming, Shen Xihe never felt she was inferior to Xiao Huayong.
On her way back to the Princess’s Manor, Munuha had already received news from a palace eunuch he had bribed at the Bureau of Hospitality. Shen Xihe had made quite a scene, and the matter of the Yangling Princess’s accusations against Shen Xihe was no secret – almost everyone inside and outside the palace knew about it.
“Prince, please think carefully,” Munuha’s subordinate advised.
He felt that taking action in the capital was too risky. They didn’t have many people here, and if they caused a major incident, it would only make it difficult for them to escape.
“The one taking action is His Majesty’s princess; we are also victims,” Munuha smiled, his deep blue eyes flickering with an unusual light. “I hear this princess is the one His Majesty wants to marry to the Crown Prince. This Crown Prince is cunning and treacherous, hiding in the depths waiting to strike. If he learns his woman has become someone else’s woman, I don’t believe he can remain hidden!”
“Prince, we are in the capital. If we anger the Crown Prince, we will be in danger,” the subordinate still felt uneasy.
“His Majesty will protect us. As long as I marry Shen Yueshan’s daughter, Shen Yueshan cannot guard the northwest – this is something His Majesty would be pleased to see happen,” Munuha had considered everything thoroughly. “As for retreating, with this princess accompanying us, the Crown Prince won’t dare to pursue and kill us extensively.”
“Prince…”
“Enough, I’ll go meet this princess who deeply hates Princess Zhaoning first.” Munuha needed to see this princess’s capabilities before deciding whether to join forces with her.
The Yangling Princess’s fear of Shen Xihe had now reached the point where she would have nightmares whenever she closed her eyes. In her dreams, countless grotesque faces of Shen Xihe intertwined into a net, binding her so tightly she could barely breathe.
She knew Shen Xihe had informed her about Concubine Liang’s death – she truly wouldn’t let her go now, even if she revealed the mastermind behind it. She and Shen Xihe had reached a point where one of them had to die.
When she received a message containing only a location and one sentence: that they could solve her current predicament.
She grabbed onto it like a drowning person clutching at straws. Now at this life-or-death moment, no matter who it was, as long as they could help her escape from Shen Xihe, she had to take the risk to meet them!