The peerless and dark princess

That night, Chu Wange fell into a nightmare. The dream was filled with scenes of the original owner being whipped to death by Chen Yunfeng.

In her previous life, when Chu Wange was still Mu Wange, she feigned a chance encounter with the Second Prince, Chen Yunfeng, at the city gate and was subsequently flogged. At the time, Yihua, a servant, held little influence, and even when a doctor was called in, it was too late. Zuo Ci, however, had remained hidden in Wange's boudoir, undetected. Therefore, after the original owner's death from the flogging, Zuo Ci was the only one to pay tribute, aside from the Chu family members of the Prince of Yan's Mansion. Soon after, Haolin, the legitimate son of the Shangshu Mansion, died of a "cold," yet no one realized the death was due to poisoning.

However, after his legitimate son and daughter died under mysterious circumstances, Mu Heng, the father, immediately promoted Shen Xinyue, a member of the Shen family, to his principal wife. Mu Ruohan, known as the capital's most talented woman, joined the Crown Prince Chen Yunjie as a concubine, secretly colluding with the Second Prince, Chen Yunfeng. Chu Moxuan was framed by the Empress at the Hundred Flowers Banquet and forced to marry Chen Yunfeng. However, Chen Yunfeng fell in love with Mu Ruohan and ascended the throne with the support of Empress Meng Yujiao and the Meng family. The Chu family, embroiled in a bitter rivalry with the Second Prince's faction, was at odds with Chu Moxuan's suicide in her bridal chamber on the day of her wedding.

After ascending the throne, Chen Yunfeng executed all of Crown Prince Chen Yunjie's Eastern Palace. In reality, he had taken Muruohan into the imperial palace under a different identity and subsequently made her empress. He accused the Prince of Yan and the Chu family of treason and exiled them. Upon learning of this, King Chen Yu of Yue was enraged and recruited troops, raising the banner of rebellion. It took four years to dethrone Chen Yunfeng. Only then did the cause of Zuo Ci's parents' death become known.

Chu Wange was trapped in a nightmare, completely unaware that the people outside were as anxious as ants on a hot pot. She had been unconscious for no apparent reason, and no one could wake her, which made Zuo Ci and Chu Haolin extremely anxious.

"Your Highness, the princess hasn't woken up yet, you..." Shiqi looked at Zuo Ci, whose face was as pale as paper, and wanted to persuade him to go and have a rest, fearing that he might have another accident.

"Shiqi, I have to stay here with her." Zuo Ci stared at the sleeping Chu Wange, filled with worry. He couldn't understand why Wange suddenly couldn't wake up. If Yihua hadn't noticed something was wrong, none of them would have thought there was anything wrong with Wange sleeping like this. After all, she sometimes did that.

"Sister, I hope you will wake up." Chu Haolin's fingertips were trembling slightly at this time. His sister was the only relative he had, and his heart was filled with fear.

"Lin'er, your sister won't abandon us, she won't." Zuo Ci's eyes were slightly red, he would never allow such a thing to happen.

"But my sister is in a coma now, and I'm scared." Chu Haolin was just a teenager. Even though he was very smart, it was his first time experiencing such a thing.

"Lin'er, we have to believe in her, believe in Wange." Wasn't Zuo Ci trying to comfort himself? He really had no idea what to do about such a bizarre thing. Even the miracle doctor Su Linqing had been unable to revive Wange for three days.

At this moment, in another courtyard, Chu Moxuan was almost going crazy. That was her sister! If her brother Chu Lixiu hadn't comforted the elders at home, I'm afraid the Prince Heng's mansion would have been overturned by her parents and grandparents.

"Su Linqing, aren't you known as an expert in both medicine and poison? Why can't you let our Wange wake up?" Chu Moxuan yelled at Su Linqing in frustration.

"Ah Xuan... Junior Brother is also trying to find a solution."

"Yunxin, that's my sister." Chu Moxuan lost her temper with Zuo Yunxin for the first time. In her opinion, Zuo Yunxin couldn't understand her feelings. After all, the person lying on the bed was not her brother Zuo Ci, so how could Zuo Yunxin understand her?

"A Xuan, she's still my sister-in-law. If anything happens to her, my brother will probably..."

"Axuan, stop making trouble. Don't disturb Doctor Su from trying to find a way to save Wange. Go over there and watch over them. Lin'er is there." Chu Lixiao stopped Chu Moxuan. He knew that his sister was also anxious at the moment, but her presence would interfere with Su Linqing's judgment.

"Second brother!!"

"Um?!"

"Okay, I'll go right away. Where are Grandpa and Grandma?"

"Brother is here, don't worry."

In fact, the most anxious person was Emperor Chen Yu in the palace. As Wange's biological father, he couldn't come to ask about her in person. He was so worried that his hair turned white. But he could only come to visit secretly. However, whenever he came, Zuo Jiu would always send the palace's secret guards away. She knew Wange's life story over the years, but she never said anything, because after all, such things were not honorable. She pretended not to know.

Not to mention how anxious everyone outside the nightmare was, the Elegy in the dream met the original owner.

"Thank you for protecting everyone I wanted to protect." The original owner smiled gently, but for some reason there was a hint of bitterness in the smile.

"Have you always been there?"

"I guess so. Watching you walk step by step like this, I finally realized how stupid I really was. You lived two lives, yet you were still whipped to death by the same man."

"Then do you need me to kill him? He's in jail now."

"No need. I'm just too stupid. Even though God gave me a chance to start over, I still haven't seized it. If your soul hadn't entered my body, I would have died long ago, and I wouldn't have the chance to see everything now. Perhaps this is God's arrangement."

Chu Wange thought that the original owner would hate Chen Yunfeng very much. After all, if it weren't for him, how could the original owner die? But on second thought, Chen Yunfeng's perspective was not wrong. It was just that the original owner fell in love with someone she shouldn't have liked.

"So you want to return to this body now?" Chu Wange asked. Of course, she had lived for a few years, which was a bonus, but she suddenly thought of Zuo Ci and Chu Haolin, and a hint of reluctance rose in her heart.

"No." The original owner shook his head, "It's me who wants to leave. You will be the master of this body from now on. The person I feel most guilty towards is Lin'er. If it weren't for my incompetence, I wouldn't have let him suffer for several years. Now that I see that you have taught Lin'er very well, I feel relieved. As for my grandparents... Now that I see that they are all safe... I'll leave them to you from now on. Goodbye." After the original owner finished speaking, his figure gradually became blurred until he disappeared.

Chu Wange felt a surge of mixed emotions. She hadn't imagined the original owner had been living in this body all along, yet never considered reclaiming it. Ultimately, she was the outsider, and even if everything she had done before was merely to make herself feel better, knowing the original owner was gone still left her with a mixture of emotions.