Chapter 5
Chapter 5
“Father Emperor, I clearly asked for him to be made my Secondary Consort. Why did you grant Ziyou the title of prince instead?”
The emperor set down the memorial in his hands and lifted his eyes to study her.
“Zhen’er, your Principal Consort has yet to enter the palace, and you are already in such a hurry to confer a title on a Secondary Consort. What will people think of the Eastern Palace?”
Zhao Xizhen lowered her eyes and fell silent for a moment.
“It may be improper, but it is not impossible.”
She raised her head, her expression grave.
“Even if the matter of making him a Secondary Consort could not be done, how could you confer a princely title on him?”
The emperor’s reply came swift and decisive.
“It is only a title. Ziyou is the man who saved your life. Back then, when I wished to make him a prince, it was you who insisted the honor be reduced to Commandery Prince. I guessed what you were thinking, so I indulged you. Now five years have passed, and your marriage has already been settled. I do not wish to wrong him.”
Still kneeling where she was, Zhao Xizhen pressed her lips together slightly, then spoke with firm resolve.
“Father Emperor, Ziyou is in love with me. He certainly would not want to be some Prince Pingyuan. What you are doing now is what truly wrongs him.”
Behind the screen, my heart clenched at those words.
She had known all along, fully and completely, how many years I had loved her so foolishly. She simply had not cared. It simply had not mattered.
The emperor looked toward the screen and sighed deeply.
“He has already expressed his thanks for the grace bestowed.”
Disbelief surfaced in Zhao Xizhen’s eyes. She clenched her fists until the veins stood out faintly beneath her skin.
“How could he do that?”
The emperor had nothing to say to that. He could only advise her that since her marriage had been arranged, she should devote more thought to affairs of state.
Zhao Xizhen pondered for a long while. Following that thread, she suddenly brought up the matter of the marriage alliance.
“Father Emperor, I heard the Ministry of Rites is preparing for a marriage alliance. I would like to observe and learn a thing or two as well.”
My heart abruptly leapt into my throat.
Why did she want to meddle in the marriage alliance? Could it be that she had guessed something?
The emperor frowned, also deep in thought.
“This concerns diplomatic relations between two nations, yet your child still does not know which member of the imperial clan has been chosen.”
Zhao Xizhen stared fixedly at him, afraid of missing the slightest suspicious expression.
I understood then. She did not truly want to oversee the marriage alliance.
It was only that, at this very moment, there was a suspicion in her heart.
A suspicion that made her tense and afraid.
The emperor hesitated before saying, “It is Prince Pingyuan…”
Zhao Xizhen’s face instantly went deathly pale. In her panic, she even forgot all decorum and rose to her feet before he had finished speaking.
“Father Emperor, Ziyou absolutely cannot-”
“It is an attendant from Prince Pingyuan’s side.”
The emperor still remembered what he had promised me.
“Since you wish to oversee the marriage alliance, I will leave it to you.”
She let out a long breath of relief. Her doubts dispelled, she retreated two steps and murmured to herself, “That’s right. It should be an attendant. An attendant from the palace, of noble birth too-that is still far better than Ziyou.”
The emperor closed his eyes and waved a hand, dismissing her.
I stepped out from behind the screen.
“Your Majesty, why did you bring me up to test her?”
The emperor turned his head to look at me, his gaze filled with affection.
“Ziyou, I have been through such things myself, and I know your mind is made up. But as a father, I wanted to ask you to give her one more chance.”
The emperor and I made a wager.
Everyone in the palace who was involved in the marriage alliance would conceal my identity for me.
But if Zhao Xizhen discovered, while overseeing the preparations, that I was the one chosen for the alliance and tried to stop it, he would change the candidate at the last moment.
Even the person who would marry in my place had already been secretly prepared.
I tugged at the corners of my mouth, forcing out a helpless smile.
“Your Majesty is still on her side.”
After all, if Zhao Xizhen paid even the slightest attention to the marriage alliance, how could the wedding procession ever leave with me right under her nose?