Chapter 2
Chapter 2
The servants, their hands still stained with blood, immediately pushed open the door and entered.
Terror and despair flooded my heart.
When the Empress gave birth to the Crown Prince, the current Emperor had issued a decree: the future Crown Princess would undoubtedly be the legitimate daughter of Marquis Huo.
Huo Baozhu, the third child and the only legitimate daughter of the Marquis Manor, was naturally destined to be the future Crown Princess.
Because of this, my legitimate sister had been raised since childhood according to palace standards.
She learned how to master the arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting-to be a woman of unparalleled talent and beauty to please the heir to the throne.
She learned how to manage servants, handle the books, and oversee household affairs, preparing to eventually become the mother of the nation.
My legitimate sister did not disappoint. At a young age, she was already known as the capital’s premier noblewoman.
But who could have imagined that seven days before the Crown Prince’s wedding, she would vanish without a trace?
If she had truly left of her own accord, intentionally fleeing her marriage, it would be the crime of deceiving the Emperor-a sin punishable by the execution of the entire nine generations of the Huo family!
This was exactly why the Buddhist-devotee matriarch had acted with such ruthless cruelty tonight.
The matriarch’s words-“How dare you have the face to call me ‘mother'”-carried the underlying meaning that she no longer considered me a “daughter” of my father. If she truly decided this matter was connected to me, then my life and my concubine mother’s life would be forfeit even before the Emperor’s wrath could descend upon us.
I immediately crawled on my knees to the matriarch’s feet.
“Shu’er was wrong! I will never dare to call you ‘mother’ again!”
“But matriarch, Shu’er is innocent! Shu’er never instigated my legitimate sister! My legitimate sister is kind-hearted and benevolent; it is common knowledge that she has always been caring toward her younger sisters in the manor! This time, it was only because she heard my concubine mother was coughing so badly she couldn’t sleep at night, and that no medicine was working. Since the Great Buddha at Xiangguo Temple is famously efficacious, Shu’er had been looking for a chance to leave the manor to pray for my concubine mother. My legitimate sister took pity on me, so she arranged for Shu’er to accompany her on this pilgrimage with the matriarch. Tonight, it was only because she is about to marry into the inner palace and will rarely see her parents thereafter-and even if she does, there will be the distance between monarch and subject-that she felt sorrowful. She simply spoke a few more intimate words than usual and couldn’t help but shed some tears.”
“Shu’er never had, and would never dare to have, the intention of instigating my legitimate sister!”
The matriarch’s expression softened slightly, and she waved her hand to signal the two servants to withdraw.
She turned her back to me, hiding her expression.
A hand wearing a gold-filigree ruby ring gripped the mahogany armchair tightly, veins bulging. Yet her waist gradually slumped, as if she had suddenly aged and grown frail.
“Baozhu… did she mention anyone?”
I knew what the matriarch wanted to ask.
It was the answer slowly surfacing in her own heart, and the answer she feared and was most unwilling to believe.
The deep affection between the Emperor and the late Empress was a celebrated tale.
After the Empress passed away, the Emperor’s health had declined day by day.
Currently, the realm was suffering from a great drought. The Emperor’s heart was troubled, and his health had taken a further turn for the worse.
The Noble Consort and the ministers were frantic. Ultimately, they moved the Crown Prince’s wedding-originally scheduled for the following spring-to this month.
It was meant to be a marriage to cure illness for the Emperor and to pray for blessings for the realm!
Fortunately, preparations for my legitimate sister’s marriage had begun the moment she was born. After seventeen years of preparation, everything was ready, so the sudden change didn’t leave them unprepared.
This pilgrimage was also the last time my legitimate sister would accompany the matriarch as a daughter of the Huo family.
Who would have thought such a thing would happen?
Cuihong and Cuilv always attended to my legitimate sister’s baths, yet tonight she had found an excuse to deliberately send them both away.
Inside the room, fragrant mist rose from a large tub filled with rose petals.
There were no water stains on the floor.
A fresh change of clothes sat behind the screen, neatly folded and undisturbed.
The doors and windows were tightly shut, with no signs of forced entry.
Only a small, unbolted window on the shaded side of the room bore a scratch on the lattice, where a single silk thread from a handkerchief had been snagged.
It was the unique silk of Shu brocade, worth its weight in gold. In the entire manor, only she and the matriarch favored it particularly, using it for their personal handkerchiefs.
There were old nannies keeping watch at the door; it was impossible for an intruder to break in unnoticed.
The moment I saw the state of the room, my first thought was that my legitimate sister had climbed out the window herself.
A certain person’s name flashed through my mind.
I believed that at this moment, that same person was in the matriarch’s mind as well.
If that were the case, forget my legitimate sister’s status as the prospective Crown Princess-the entire Marquis Manor would be plunged into a situation from which there would be no return.
But as I gradually calmed down, I felt something was amiss…
I was just about to answer, “No…”
When an old nanny beside me suddenly blurted out before I could: “Could it be Young Master Xue?”
*Damn it.*
My heart skipped a beat.