“Are you certain?”,the emperor asked the head eunuch with a amused expression
“Yes,your majesty.”,the eunuch bowed slightly before the royalty
The emperor chuckled as he put aside a scroll with a smug expression.
He expected Yaozu to follow his example and put on a silly show,however he didn’t expect concubine Xiao to fall into the obvious trap.
“This isn’t all,your majesty..”,the head eunuch said hesitantly,
The emperor raised his eyebrows expecting the eunuch to continue his report,
“His highness the noble consort..-“
***************
“Did Qingge suspect anything?”,Yazou asked in a calm,uninterested voice,
The head lady who was giving the report smiled slightly,”It didn’t seem so and it doesn’t really matter.”
Yaozu smirked,understanding Meihui’s words and having fun in putting his cousin in a hard situation.
“I hope Hailan will report soon,”,Yaozu started,”Speaking of which,did you send maids to the palace of great benevolence?”,the noble consort suggested Meihui to sit in the empty seat beside him.
The gugu complies as she replies,”Yes,your highness I did and Lady Roulan seemed very delighted.”,Meihui smile gently
Yaozu smile warmly as he offers the head lady a cup of green tea,
“I really hope she is,as for now this is pretty much all I can do.”
Yazou has been trying to help his long lost cousin as best as he can,however he can’t do much even as noble consort
“Peace may be with your majesty.”,greetings were heard outside the noble consort’s chambers and the two friends shared a look,knowing no good will come,
Soon,the emperor dressed in a red attire entered his noble consort’s palace,walking slowly with the head eunuch behind him,
“Greetings,your majesty.”,the master and servant duo knelt before the royalty with expressionless faces.
“I heard you’ve met princess Roulan,”,the emperor spoke in a calm voice.
Yaozu wasn’t surprised the emperor had that acknowledgement,however he hoped he didn’t know more than that,”Yes,your majesty,that’s right.”
The emperor helped the noble consort get up from the kneeling and guided him towards a seat while he took the seat beside him,the gugu leaving at the emperor’s gesture together with the eunuch,
“It seems you misinterpreted the reason the princess was hidden in the palace,”
Yaozu frowned slightly,anxiety slowly rising inside of him,as he watched emperor’s every move cautiously.
“The war that between our kingdom and the Yu kingdom didn’t happened as people know it..”,the emperor began in a soft voice
The noble consort’s black eyes started looking through the emperor,as if he wasn’t there.Slowly dazing,the emperor’s explanation ringing into Yaozu’s mind.
After the emperor finished explaining Yaozu started laughing sonorously,making the emperor look uneasy at his consort.
“It was a very a heartwarming story indeed,however you should know that this doesn’t make me indebted to you,”,The noble consort answered with a wide smile.
The emperor seemed surprised at first, but he stopped making eye contact with his male wife for a short moment and that was enough for Yaozu to know he was right.
The room fell into a thick silence that could be cut with a knife until Yaozu broke it,
“This is the reason behind those heroic actions, isn’t it?”, The noble consort spoke in a calm but serious voice.
The emperor looked at his noble consort for a moment before answering in a soft voice,
“Indeed. Our kingdom lacks loyal subjects and my father wanted to ensure that at least one family would stay loyal until the end…”
Yaozu looked carefully at the emperor’s expressions and gestures and after seeing how his eyes held a tint of disappointment the noble consort knew that the emperor told the truth.
As much as Yaozu appreciated Yongzheng’s honesty, his heart wasn’t melted by it.
“Why would the late emperor go to such lengths?”
Yaozu knew it wasn’t simple when it came to politics.
The Emperor smiled slightly at the male consort,
“I assume you know how politics work, Yaozu.”, Yongzheng said in a soft voice before standing up from the chair.
The noble consort stood up as well to send off the emperor with a strange sad tint in his eyes.
Memories made his chest hurt and it became slightly hard to breathe, not the memories in the palace from his past life but the ones from his childhood.
As his father was a prime minister, Yaozu became the study partner of the crown prince, his now husband.
The memories of the good times were haunting Yaozu now but they were giving him hope in his past life. You could say he had a hate-love relationship with those memories
However, his family was more important than the emperor or their relationship, and so anxiety started to overwhelm Yaozu.
The realization hit him hard. Even as the prime minister’s son and the emperor’s study partner as crown prince, he didn’t know too much.
He was quite clueless about the royal family and that was concerning.
The noble consort sat at his desk and wrote a coded letter to his father, knowing the prime minister would act after their last conversation.
When Meihui entered to serve her master once again after she was ordered to stand outside by the emperor, Yaozu gave her the respective letter to deliver to his family.
                 *******
After Meihui delivered the letter, secretively she noticed someone unexpected in the palace.
He was dressed in simple but expensive clothes with a pale complexion, short, black hair, and sharp, light brown eyes
He was the emperor’s younger half-brother, Duke of the first rank Wuxian. He was the second son of the emperor born by Noble Consort Hua of the Gao family.
Prince Wuxian seemed to be no more than 20 years old at most, tall, and had royal vibes all around him. The resemblance between the emperor and the duke is quite obvious.
The gugu bowed as she passed the duke on her way to Jiniang palace.
The Duke glanced at the maid,who was going on a familiar path.Too familiar path.
As flashbacks of the past unfolded before his eyes,the rumours of a certain consort appeared in his brain,like a ballad.
The duke looked carefully on the maintained path of his past with a frown before making his way to the emperor’s hall.
A strange feeling was setting in his heart as he became curious about the male consort of his older brother.
Is really the male noble consort as the rumours say?He would like to find out.
The prince smiled to himself before entering the hall,where he was welcomed and guided to the emperor’s office by the servants.
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