The Prince Consort's Beloved

This morning, Li Chun had been carried away by the palace sedan chair. Everything was a foregone conclusion. Just as Li Yuanqi had said, he could not say that Li Yuanqi was his son, and Li Yuanqi knew that he would not say it.

If this matter were to leak out, regardless of what the consequences would be for him and Li Yuanqi, the entire Dai Viet would probably be thrown into chaos. The people of Beiluo would then take advantage of the situation and the consequences would be disastrous.

Based on his understanding of Li Chun, when the imperial edict was delivered to Li Chun, the matter was irreversible. He came here today just to vent his anger.

Li Yuanqi stared at King Yun's departing back. His eyes were as sinister as a bottomless abyss that swallowed up all the light. The cold hatred solidified around him, making people shudder.

Fu Lai spoke tremblingly: "Your Majesty..."

Li Yuanqi raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth. The coldness on his face grew more and more, but there was an evil smile at the corner of his mouth, making him look a little distorted.

Prince Yun was walking on the palace road when he suddenly stopped and looked up at the sky.

There are blue sky and white clouds, and birds are flying freely, but they have no wings and are trapped within these high walls.

He murmured to himself: "I am doomed to fail."

He suddenly laughed out loud, and the laughter became louder and louder, with a hint of madness.

At the court session the next morning, evidence of Prince Yun's guilt was presented. The court officials were furious, with Prince Yun's faction and the emperor's faction arguing fiercely.

The two factions were at loggerheads, and tensions were high. All of King Yun's crimes were eloquently exonerated by his faction, and finally a heated debate ensued over the plague that occurred at the beginning of last year.

That year, due to war, natural disasters and plague, King Yun ordered the sealing of the two cities where the plague was spreading, trapping the people of the two cities to death in the cities.

The emperors said that King Yun regarded human life as worthless, and that the floods in the south and droughts in the north in the past two years were all punishment from heaven because King Yun disregarded human life and caused the wrath of heaven.

The Yun Wang faction questioned the Emperor's faction, saying that they had not yet developed a medicine to cure the plague. If they had not closed off the two cities and allowed the plague to spread to other towns, how would they have solved the problem?

The emperor's faction hesitated and could not give an answer. They just kept saying that Prince Yun was cruel and cold-blooded, and took human life lightly.

Upon seeing this, Li Yuanqi directed the question to the failure of Prince Yun in strangling Xiao Luobai. Prince Yun insisted that Xiao Luobai was rescued by the Beiluo people who suddenly appeared, and his life or death was unknown.

None of the people sent by Li Yuanqi survived, so he could not deny King Yun's words which seemed full of loopholes but could not be refuted.

The two factions engaged in another verbal battle that lasted until noon, and everyone was exhausted.

Prince Yun signaled with his eyes to his subordinates to give in. The Emperor's faction kept chattering, and then Prince Yun's faction stopped talking. The Emperor's faction was overjoyed.

In this way, the imperial faction finally "won" after great efforts. Li Yuanqi temporarily deprived Prince Yun of his rights and announced that Prince Yun would no longer have to attend court while the truth was being found out.

Prince Yun disagreed with this result. His power had never been something that Li Yuanqi could control. Although he was not in the court, he had his people in the court. Even if he was idle at home, he could still know everything that was going on in the court.

Unless he himself intends to give up power, Li Yuanqi cannot touch him with his current power.

He has been a little tired recently, so he took this opportunity to take a break.

…………

In the green plum garden.

Li Yuanrou had dinner early and sat on a stone bench, staring at the broken swing in a daze.

Daya asked in a low voice: "I'll have someone fix this swing."

Li Yuanrou replied softly: "No need, just leave it like this."

Daya looked at the listless Li Yuanrou and sighed in her heart. She and Erya took turns to keep watch day and night because of worry these two days. The princess had not slept for two days.

After the prince consort left, the princess did not cry or make a fuss. Although she did not eat much, she ate on time. However, she tossed and turned at night.

Today is already the third day. If I don’t sleep, I will be tortured to the point of collapse.

Daya advised: "Princess, if you want to cry, just cry. You will feel better after crying."

Li Yuanrou pretended to be puzzled and smiled: "Why should this princess cry?"

Daya looked distressed and said with difficulty: "Princess, you haven't slept well for two days."

Li Yuanrou didn't care about her insomnia at all. Instead, she comforted Daya: "It's okay, don't worry, it's just that you're not used to it. You'll get used to it in a couple of days."

Daya cried out in pain: "Princess..."

Li Yuanrou had a smile on her face, but it didn't reach her eyes: "It's really okay. Look, I'm fine now. I'm the princess of the Great Yue Kingdom. I'm luckier than 99% of the women in this world. I was born to lie down and have everything I want. What else can this princess not be satisfied with? And even though Xiao Luobai is gone..."

Her smiling expression suddenly paused, and in the blink of an eye she returned to her previous smile.

She said in a casual tone, with a nonchalant look on her face: "He just left, he's not dead. He has me in his heart. When things over there are over, he will definitely come back to find me."

Daya's eyes darkened slightly, and she said softly, "Why don't I accompany you to the back garden? You used to love strolling around the mansion when you were bored."

Li Yuanrou recalled that when she first came here, she didn't dare to go out because she was short of money, so she wandered around the mansion all day to kill time.

As she thought about it, she couldn't help but chuckled and shook her head gently to Daya to refuse: "Next time, I really didn't get enough rest these two days, and I feel a little tired."

After she finished speaking, she stood up and went back to the house. When she reached the door, she suddenly turned back and said, "By the way, the prince consort has left. We should be out of money. Tomorrow you can discuss with the housekeeper and dismiss the servants who are no longer needed."

She had long planned to dismiss the servants in the mansion, but because she was supported by Xiao Luobai, the god of wealth, she had put the matter on hold. Now that Xiao Luobai is gone, it is time to dismiss the servants.

She continued, "Also, the guards in the mansion, all of them, leave no one behind. I don't want anyone who is not loyal to me."

There was chaos and fighting that day, and all the soldiers in the palace deserted. She got angry whenever she thought about it.

She thought for a moment and said, "Also, let Xiaotian go tomorrow as well. Let him go find He Lin. We have one court doctor in our house and that's enough for him. When he leaves, let him take Xiaoya and Wangcai with him. The fewer people there are in the princess's house in the future, the better."

After she finished speaking, she went into the house and closed the door.

Li Yuanrou lay quietly on the bed, the empty and lonely feeling silently drowned the night, the coldness spread to every corner of her heart and penetrated into her lungs.

She tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. She sighed softly. Habits were terrible things. Over the past year, she had become accustomed to Xiao Luobai sleeping beside her.

In the past, Xiao Luobai had come home late many times due to handling affairs, and sometimes he even did not come back all night, but she still slept well. Why can't she sleep now?