“She won’t.” Xuan Yanyu said with certainty.

The Xuanwang raised an eyebrow. The way Yanyu said it with such certainty made it sound as though his Crown Princess would not dare make trouble for him.

But the Yan girl had already dared to strike Yanyu — he found it hard to believe she would not dare confront him over this.

Unless the Yan girl did not care about the Chancellor’s wife.

Not caring about the Chancellor’s wife was, he supposed, understandable. He had investigated the Yan girl — the Chancellor’s wife did not favor her, and instead showed exceptional partiality toward Shiyao.

The Xuanwang’s eyes flickered slightly. She favored Shiyao.

She did not favor the little Yan girl.

“My son, while you were staying at the Chancellor’s household, did you notice that the Chancellor’s wife treated Shiyao with exceptional partiality? It seems to me there may yet be something irregular about Shiyao’s identity.”

Though he had looked into it once more, he still felt that something was not quite right.

It was a good question, but unfortunately the Xuanwang had asked the wrong person.

The man lounging in the sandalwood chair replied languidly, “Not particularly. Father, you may as well investigate how foolish Yan Shiyao was back in Qilan. The Chancellor’s wife deliberately raised Yan Shiyao to be ignorant of the world — does that truly count as exceptional partiality?”

“Is that so?” The Xuanwang sipped his ginseng tea.

Xuan Yanyu let out a low laugh. “Father may have someone look into it and judge for himself whether what this son says is true — see just how foolish the woman you have now conferred the title of Princess Youle upon originally was.”

The Xuanwang blew on his tea and gave a huff. “Regardless of what Youle was like before, the word ‘foolish’ is still not something you should be saying. That is unbecoming of you as the Crown Prince of Xuanzhao.”

Xuan Yanyu clicked his tongue. “She is foolish, yet this son is not allowed to say so?”

He had spent so much time at her side cleaning up her messes!

He owed her nothing!

How many times had he saved her already.

Every time she stirred up trouble, was he not always the one to resolve it!

“You may not say it.” The Xuanwang gave Xuan Yanyu a sidelong look.

“Ha.” Xuan Yanyu stood up with impatience, not so much as bidding the Xuanwang farewell, and walked straight out of the imperial study.

“This insolent son! He is angry again!” The Xuanwang’s chest heaved with indignation. “Utterly spoiled!”

“Your Majesty, if you were to consider things from His Highness’s perspective — he was inexplicably sent to Qilan without being told the reason, and then Princess Youle turned out to be, as His Highness put it, not particularly bright. It is only natural that His Highness would be vexed.” Eunuch Feng carefully soothed the Xuanwang.

The Xuanwang looked at Eunuch Feng with a measured gaze.

Eunuch Feng’s heart lurched. “Your Majesty, this servant has overstepped.”

The Xuanwang rapped his fingers on the gilded imperial desk, his eyes cold. “Convey this sovereign’s oral decree: if Lady Wu bears a prince, once Yanyu ascends the throne, he shall be conferred the title of Imperial Prince-Brother Heir.”

Eunuch Feng’s eyes widened. Imperial Prince-Brother Heir?!

“I pay respects to Your Majesty, may Your Majesty be blessed with ten thousand blessings.” The doors of the hall were pushed open, and a maidservant entered carrying a potted plant. On closer inspection, it was identical to the one that had been sent to the Crown Prince’s bedchamber.

“Still standing there?” The Xuanwang said with displeasure, glancing at Eunuch Feng.

“This servant obeys the decree.” Eunuch Feng suppressed the shock surging within him and, following the Xuanwang’s instructions, went to the main hall to summon the ministers and relay the Xuanwang’s oral decree to them.

——

The moment the Xuanwang’s oral decree was issued, the Empress of Xuanzhao became visibly unsettled.

Yan Yunning, for her part, did not feel particularly alarmed — though she was somewhat worried about how Xuan Yanyu might feel inside, because an Imperial Prince-Brother Heir effectively meant that after Xuan Yanyu ascended the throne, the next Xuanwang would be the child in Lady Wu’s womb.

By that logic, was the Xuanwang not handing away his throne?

“Your Highness the Crown Prince.” Yan Yunning took the initiative to move behind the man and began kneading his shoulders.

Xuan Yanyu was mildly surprised, and leaned back against the chair, tilting his head up with a smile to look at her. “What is it?”

Yan Yunning swallowed. The man’s nape curved slightly upward, his throat rising and falling in a slow, unhurried rhythm, his prominent throat apple moving in a way that was oddly captivating. Yan Yunning gave a soft cough, and her fingertip pressed against it without thinking.

Xuan Yanyu’s throat tightened. Yan Yunning licked her lips. “Ahem, that is… Your Highness the Crown Prince, you should not… not be so… so troubled.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “Is Ningjing referring to Father’s oral decree?”

“Mm.”

Xuan Yanyu reached up and lightly pinched her cheek, laughing in a low rumble. “No need to worry. It will not affect our child. When the time comes, this Highness will simply have him deposed.”

Yan Yunning blinked wide. “He can be deposed?! You can nullify a decree issued by Royal Father?!”

“This Highness can nullify even an imperial edict.” The man said with total indifference.

Yan Yunning pursed her lips, abandoned kneading his shoulders, and sat beside him, resting her chin in her palm as she studied him. “Your Highness the Crown Prince — tsk tsk — are you not afraid Royal Father will be angered to the point of illness?”

Xuan Yanyu curved his lips into a smile. “He won’t be. Father is not so easily brought to illness by anger. He himself once nullified an edict issued by our Royal Grandfather.”

“Also an Imperial Prince-Brother Heir?”

“No. Father, on the very day the decree naming the heir apparent was to be announced, secretly altered Royal Grandfather’s imperial edict.” The man draped his long arm across the back of Yan Yunning’s sandalwood chair. A perceptive maidservant brought over an embroidered stool. Xuan Yanyu stretched out his long legs and propped them up on it, leaning sideways and drawing close to Yan Yunning’s ear, his voice low and slightly raspy. “Do you want to hear more?”

Without waiting for the man to demand anything in return, Yan Yunning proactively kissed the side of his face, then looked up at him with an eager gaze, her voice soft and coaxing. “Your Highness the Crown Prince, I do want to hear.”

Xuan Yanyu smiled with evident delight. “Then the very next day, when the imperial edict was read aloud in the morning court, Royal Grandfather was so enraged by Father that he coughed up blood — and Father, having anticipated this, was the first to reach for his handkerchief and help wipe the bloodstains from the corner of Royal Grandfather’s mouth…”

“Wait — was he wiping the blood from the corner of Royal Grandfather’s mouth, or was he covering Royal Grandfather’s mouth to stop him from speaking?”

The man gave a languid nod. “Naturally, Royal Grandfather could not be allowed to speak. Father once said that of all the things he studied from childhood, the one thing he applied himself to most diligently was learning to imitate Royal Grandfather’s handwriting — precisely so that, on the off chance Royal Grandfather ever failed to designate him as heir, he could alter the imperial edict himself.”

“Father said that of everything he ever learned, nothing received as much of his earnest effort as mastering Royal Grandfather’s script.”

“So you see — Father has done all of this himself. How could he possibly be angered to illness by this Highness? At most, he will simply feel that history is repeating itself. He will likely only feel a sense of familiarity.”

Yan Yunning shook her head and clapped her hands with a laugh. “Your Highness the Crown Prince, you have truly learned well.”

“Your Highness, Crown Princess, this subordinate believes it may not necessarily come to that.” Ye’an poured two cups of tea and handed them to Yan Yunning and Xuan Yanyu, then said earnestly, “Crown Princess, if your child with His Highness takes after His Highness in appearance, His Majesty may very likely change his mind.”

After all, the Xuanwang cherished His Highness so deeply. Would he not cherish the little prince even more upon seeing him?

Ye Chen said solemnly, “This subordinate does not share that view. A grandchild could never be more important than one’s own child. Your Highness, this subordinate supports you — have the Second Prince deposed.”

It was not as though just anyone was entitled to compete with their little prince for the throne.

Their Highness was already such a handful — if His Majesty saw the little prince and was even more vexed by him rather than more fond, that would be the more likely outcome. Hardly anyone could be more devoted to His Highness than he was.

He, for one, genuinely looked forward to the arrival of the little prince. When that day came, the Crown Prince’s estate would grow lively at last.

Xuan Yanyu toyed with the jade thumb ring on his finger, a mischievous smile curling at the corner of his lips. “This Highness rather suspects Father is not so magnanimous as to hand Xuanzhao over to someone outside our line.”

“But Father has already issued the oral decree, and in front of all the ministers too. If it were not genuine, what would Father even be trying to do? And now that the decree has been given, how is it to be walked back?” No matter how Yan Yunning thought about it, she could not make sense of it.