When the empress personally arrived, she found only Xuan Di’s cold corpse. With one body and two lives lost, her husband and child gone, one can only wonder what the ambitious empress felt at that moment.
The King of Yue, upon receiving the news in Wen Ze Yi, immediately raised an army and attacked the capital, capturing the empress’s followers with almost no effort. The empress committed suicide on the night of the King of Yue’s arrival. The King of Yue, being the female emperor’s biological and legitimate brother, was supported by the ministers and succeeded to the throne, becoming the current Emperor Hong of Nan Rui.
“If the lady is indeed the Grand Princess, then everything makes sense. You and the Fifth Princess are cousins, so it’s naturally possible to look alike.”
Xia Zhiyuan turned back to me, pointing at the blood-stained handkerchief. “The yahua pattern on this handkerchief comes from a phoenix black gold token, the symbol of the Southern Rui imperial power, and is also said to be an important sacrificial object of the Southern Rui nation. Before the Proclamation Emperor’s death, to prevent the black gold token from falling into the empress’s hands, he ordered a nursemaid to leave with the black gold token and the princess. The Hongdi once drew the pattern of the black gold token from memory, so I have seen this pattern.”
I suddenly recalled the strange expression on An Jin’s face when I gave him this silk handkerchief.
“Do not embroider anymore.”
Could it be… this is what he meant? The secret he was hiding about me?
Xia Zhiyuan curved his lips. “According to the Ninth Princess, she once saw such a phoenix black gold token at the Third Prince Xia Zhichun’s place. As for how Xia Zhichun obtained this black gold token, the lady only needs to ask her parents to know the full story.”
In any case, the nursemaid who passed away back then entrusted the lady, who was still an infant, to your parents.
“Fine, even if Your Highness is telling the truth, and I’m a child brought home by my parents, a princess or whatever. Why are you telling me all this now? Are you planning to send me back to Southern Rui for a reward?”
