The maid's road to success

"You were originally your father's favorite prince. Your brother has always regarded you as an enemy and wanted to bring you down. He wanted you to no longer be eligible to compete for the throne. But your father has always sent people to protect you. Even when you went to the battlefield, he asked the dragon guards to protect you. But by chance, when I was visiting my mother in the harem, I saw something. Your father and your aunt, the former Princess Evergreen, were hugging each other. At that time, your aunt was very resistant, and your father forced her into his arms."

When Prince Li heard this, his eyes widened. He never expected that his aunt and his father had such a relationship.

"I was very scared at the time, afraid that my father would know that I had discovered this, so I didn't tell anyone. I was terrified for a long time. Later, I realized that no one had noticed that I was behind the rockery that day, so I felt relieved. After all, I was the prince's consort, and your brother had not yet left the palace to build a mansion. We were not favored, and no one paid attention to us. There were even few people serving us. Who would have known that I went to the rockery alone to relax that day."

"Later, you and Brother Li became more and more competitive, and we could never beat you. Your brother went crazy when you got married and were directly named a prince. At that time, your brother was so scary that I was afraid he would beat me to death, so I told him about it. He sent people to keep an eye on me for about half a year. Suddenly one day, your brother was very happy, hugged me and said that he knew a big secret. It would allow him to successfully sit on the throne and make me the queen. I thought your brother was crazy."

"But later, the Huaiyuan Marquisate suddenly changed sides and began to help your brother and several other people who were on good terms with you. I realized something was wrong at the time. Let alone others, the old marquis of the Huaiyuan Marquisate has been friends with you since childhood, like brothers. Why would he defect to your brother? I suspected that he deliberately sided with your brother so that he could get information for you in private. But your brother told me not to worry, saying that the Huaiyuan Marquisate would never help you again. I didn't understand why, and I kept asking, and he finally told me."

The Empress Dowager looked at Prince Li's aging face, gave a sinister smile, and continued.

"You are not the child of the deceased Jade Concubine. You are the child of the Grand Princess Changrong and your father. You are the illegitimate child of brother and sister. You are the root of evil. Your father has always had desires for the Grand Princess Changrong. After he succeeded to the throne and gained a firm foothold, he raped the Grand Princess Changrong. No, it was your biological mother."

Prince Li was almost stunned, and the Empress Dowager continued talking without considering whether he could accept it or not.

"My father loved your mother terribly, but their identities as siblings meant they couldn't be together. Even so, he wanted your mother to be his. Do you think Princess Changrong was really destined to be unable to get married? It's obvious that your father couldn't stand having other men around her. The women in the harem all had some similarities to your mother, so they were able to enter the palace. Princess Changrong gave birth to you, and your father wanted you to inherit the throne, so he sent you to Concubine Yu, who was about to give birth. Her child didn't even have a chance to be born, and both mother and child had to risk their lives to pave the way for your appearance."

"Later, you grew up, and Princess Changrong also had feelings for a guard in the palace. When your father found out, he killed the man, cut him into pieces, and fed him to the dogs in front of Princess Changrong. Your mother couldn't stand it at the time, and she hit her head against the wall and died. Your father regretted it very much, so he made amends through you, and he wanted to pass the throne to you directly, but at that time you were determined to expand the territory, and you hid in the northwest and refused to come back."

"It was because your brother told the Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion about this that he abandoned you and helped your brother take the throne."

Prince Li could hardly sit still. He leaned his arms on the table to support his body. He relaxed for a long time. Prince Li's wife was worried about her husband's health, so she quickly called Eunuch Cheng to bring tea and fed it to Prince Li. Only when she saw his relaxed expression did she relax.

"The old Marquis of Huaiyuan Mansion knew my background and felt that I was unworthy of inheriting the throne, so he surrendered to my eldest brother?"

The Empress Dowager looked at Prince Li and his wife, and she suddenly felt relieved. She had kept it deep in her heart for so many years, and had not dared to reveal a single word of it. She had even forgotten about it when Prince Li stopped mentioning it. She didn't expect that she would feel so relieved when she said it all.

"You underestimate the old Marquis of Huaiyuan Marquis's Mansion. He doesn't look down on your background. He is using the future of Huaiyuan Marquis's Mansion to protect you. Your royal brother threatened him with this matter. If you don't help him, he will announce your affairs to the world. Even if your father insists on his own way, the royal family will not let you, the bastard of brother and sister, be the emperor. People in the world will laugh at you. Your biological mother will be your lifelong pain. You may even be abandoned by the royal family and die quietly. Your royal brother didn't expect that Huaiyuan Marquis would do this for you. Even if you misunderstood, he would protect your safety and even exchange all his military merits for your safety. This is why you are still the most honorable prince after your royal brother succeeded to the throne. One is your father's arrangement, and the other is Huaiyuan Marquis's exchange."

Prince Li's eyes were red, and tears dripped onto the prince's robe on his legs. The princess of Prince Li also had red eyes and wiped her tears with her sleeves. She said that the two families were so good in the past, and even her sister married two people successively, how could they suddenly become separated? Her sister asked her brother-in-law so many times but he refused to say anything, and just told her sister not to ask. She only knew that the Huaiyuan Marquis's Mansion betrayed the Prince Li's Mansion.

It turns out that they did not betray Prince Li's Mansion, but had been protecting Prince Li. They had misunderstood the old marquis of Huaiyuan Mansion for so many years and had been unwilling to have much contact with him. Even when Yongan insisted on marrying Chen Luoyuan, he only interacted with his sister and Chen Luoyuan. Even later, when Huaiyuan Mansion got into trouble and he wanted to help, the prince was unwilling to do so and only saved Yongan and Zong Ge. What did they do?

"Your Highness, we were wrong. We made so many mistakes. We harmed Marquis Huaiyuan, my sister and her husband!"

Prince Li clenched his fists, almost fainting. It turned out that the truth was like this. He was angry that his good brother betrayed him and joined his eldest brother. He had always wanted to find him to ask him clearly, but he refused to say anything and even went to the battlefield for many years to avoid him. Unexpectedly, it was all for his own safety. That old dog even abandoned the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion for his own safety. If he had not been forced to help his brother because of his life experience, there wouldn't have been so many things later. No wonder he had always thought that the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion had betrayed him to support his brother, but why did he start to fear the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion after the late emperor ascended the throne, without caring at all that the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion had made great efforts for their succession to the throne. It turned out that he knew that the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion did not really support them.

Although Lao Gou's son, Marquis Huaiyuan, did not know the truth later on, his elder brother, the late emperor, and the current emperor were extremely suspicious and feared that the Marquis Huaiyuan's Mansion would know what happened and collude with Prince Li's Mansion to seize the throne.

No wonder he was the uncle who helped the late emperor to succeed to the throne, but he was always guarded against, even worse than the Grand Princess. If he hadn't noticed it, even if he had retired and refused to interfere too much, he would probably have been feared and suspected like the Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion.

"If you make a mistake, you must correct it. I have made mistakes for so many years, and I cannot make any more mistakes. From now on, I will make up for the mistakes I made. I will save those people, I will protect those people. No one in this world can hurt his family again."

Prince Li finished speaking word for word, dropped the book in his hand, stood up and walked out with the support of Princess Li. Both of them were shaking, and Princess Li was almost out of breath from crying.

Eunuch Cheng had already prepared everything. The imperial physician who was waiting outside handed the Princess of Prince Li some pills to calm her mind and purify her spirit before he slowly walked into the inner room to treat the Empress Dowager.

"You two should take a break. I'm afraid you can't leave the palace at will today. You two should rest for a while in the side hall. When the emperor is better, I will ask someone to call you two."

Prince Li knew that Eunuch Cheng was right, so he suppressed his anxiety and called out to Eunuch Cheng.

"Please tell him that I will do my best to clear the name of Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion. Please tell him that I owe Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion too much. If the old ancestor cannot forgive me, I will commit suicide to apologize after the incident of Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion is over."

Prince Li's expression of regret and pain reassured Eunuch Cheng, and he told him what the young master had said.

"Your Highness, the young master told you not to worry and that things have to be done step by step. The Grand Empress Dowager can neither move nor speak from today onwards. However, there are still many enemies of the Marquisate in the previous dynasty. If they knew, the remaining people would be in trouble. So, Your Highness, please pretend that you don't know and just reach out in secret."

Prince Li nodded. He knew what An Zizhong meant. Duke Cheng'en, the Queen Mother, the Emperor, the Fourth Prince, the Sixth Prince, and the Grand Princess had all been involved in Marquis Huaiyuan's affairs and had even divided up the power and financial security of Marquis Huaiyuan's Mansion. Naturally, they would not watch Marquis Huaiyuan's Mansion make a comeback. So once An Zizhong's identity was exposed, everything would be over. After being targeted this time, there would be no chance of making a comeback.

He has let down too many old friends and he is a sinner, but the Huaiyuan Marquisate cannot disappear. Those who are still alive must all return to Kyoto in glory. Those who died unjustly must be admired by the world and gain the respect of the people of the world with their loyalty. These executioners must pay the price for what they have done.