V2C167

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

Zhu Yan instantly blushed and stomped her foot, “He… how can he go around speaking nonsense!”

“I’m your father, his future father-in-law, how is talking to me just speaking nonsense?” The Red King grunted, “Besides, Father doesn’t blame you – he’s happy that you’ve managed to handle the Crown Prince. Even a blind man can see that he is so much better than Bai Fenglin!”

Zhu Yan hearing these words, felt very uncomfortable in her heart, but had no idea where to start rebutting. After thinking and thinking, she whispered, “Then… that guy Bai Fenglin, he also accepted?”

“The expression on his face was quite reluctant. But what can he do if he doesn’t agree?” The Red King sneered and took a sip of wine, “The White King has already reached an agreement with the Crown Prince, what can a concubine’s eldest son do? Even if he is capable, once he loses his father’s favor, he will still be nullified as soon as he speaks against him.”

“…” Zhu Yan stopped talking and for the first time found that detestable guy to be a bit pitiful too.

“What about… Xue Ying?” Her mind was like a bolt of electricity, she was thinking about everyone involved and couldn’t help but worry for her best friend, “She has been withdrawn from the marriage again, what is the White King going to do?”

“How should I know?” The Red King obviously wasn’t very concerned, “Just find another good son-in-law.”

“But…” her lips moved, swallowing the words that reached her tongue again.

The fact that Xue Ying was carrying Shi Yu’s flesh and blood in her belly, was the White King aware of this by now? It was the second time that Xue Ying was losing her position as the Crown Prince’s Consort, she would be in a very awkward and dangerous situation – Shi Ying had promised to protect her, now he wouldn’t stand by and do nothing, would he?

“Anyway, the situation is now in our favor,” said the Red King, unaware of all the little calculations that were churning through his daughter’s mind, and took another sip from his glass of wine, revealing a satisfied and relieved expression, “Hey, you girl, you really do have some talent… You’ve really outdone yourself by taking over the Crown Prince in just one night. It’s not bad that I went through all the trouble to send you up to Jiuyi Mountain back then.”

“Huh?” In the midst of her confusion, on hearing this, she became suddenly flabbergasted.

“Back then, everyone said that Empress Bai had lost her power and her son would probably never be able to make a comeback in this life… but I was not convinced of that.” The Red King snorted lowly, “That boy is a dragon among men, even if he was thrown into the deep valley outside the world, sooner or later he was going to shine – by then, would that foolish boy born from Concubine Qing be a match for him?”

Zhu Yan couldn’t help but be a little shocked, “So… Father you’ve been so optimistic about him for such a long time?”

“Aye, always had my eyes on him, but not many opportunities to befriend him – that boy is protected by the Grand Master so tightly that no one can get close to him.” Speaking of this, he raised his head and glanced at his dumbfounded daughter, with a meaningful expression in his eyes, “Fortunately, thanks to the Gods, I also gave birth to such a wonderful daughter…”

“…” Zhu Yan didn’t know what to say for a moment, and her heart shivered.

“You should know that although adding flowers to the brocade is easy, sending charcoal in the snow is much more difficult. If you were able to make a friendship with the fallen prince back then, wouldn’t it be worth all the effort to bond with him again after he becomes the emperor today?” The King of the Red Clan couldn’t help but lament to his daughter, “Don’t you know that sending you there back then was actually very dangerous…? Not to mention the fact that the Grand Master was also monitoring the Green King’s faction, so who would dare to befriend this abolished prince? Fortunately, you were just a child too, they didn’t think too much of it…”

The Red King drank the last gulp of wine and couldn’t help but feel smug: “Heh, no one would have thought that between you and him, there would be such a chance!”

Zhu Yan stared at the Red King with widening eyes, as if she was getting to know her father for the first time in her life: yes, this middle-aged man who appeared to be sturdy and rugged in front of her was in fact thoughtful and far-sighted. This man was not only her own father, but also the King of the Red Clan – what he had in mind, apart from his wife and daughter, must have been a lot of disputes, contention and calculations, right?

It was the first time she became conscious of this in her entire life!

There was no doubt that her parents loved her, but this love was not unconditional.

Zhu Yan’s heart sank slightly, and only after a long time she was able to whisper, “So, Father, you brought me from the Western Wilderness to the Imperial Capital for the same purpose…?”

“It was also to take a gamble.” The Red King exhaled a long breath of wine from his chest, stroked his daughter’s head and spoke at length, “To strive for your luck and the luck of the Red Clan – I thought it would be enough for you to become the White King’s Consort. I didn’t expect that you would be so lucky as to become the Imperial Noble Consort who is above all others in Kongsang!”

Zhu Yan was subconsciously stunned for a moment: “Imperial… Imperial Noble Consort?”

“Yes, an Imperial Noble Consort second only to the Empress!” The Red King slapped his thighs in triumph, “You know, it’s the first time in nearly two hundred years that the Red Clan has produced an Imperial Noble Consort!”

Zhu Yan froze for half a second and faltered, “Then… who is the Empress?”

“Naturally, some princess of the White Clan. Why?” Only then did the Red King noticed something different about his daughter and was stunned, “Could it be that you still fancy to become the Empress?”

“I…” her lips quivered, unable to speak.

Seeing his daughter’s expression, the Red King couldn’t help but sigh, “Don’t be silly… no matter how much the Crown Prince loves you, however, you are the princess of the Red Clan after all, how can you become the Empress? This would violate the Sovereign Law.”

“…” she murmured half-heartedly, “This… this is what he said?”

“This has been the official protocol of the Kongsang Royal family for thousands of years!” Seeing the expression on his daughter’s face, the Red King couldn’t help but become serious as well, “Ah-Yan, don’t be childish, you want to get ahead of yourself – be a good girl, don’t ask to be the Empress, eh?”

Zhu Yan only felt a congestion in her heart and murmured, “Then… who is he going to be appointed as the Empress?”

“Well, this is something I don’t know. Anyway, it won’t be Princess Xue Ying.” The Red King frowned, obviously a little unhappy about this as well, “The Crown Prince has been talking privately and confidentially with the White King for so long today, so I guess they’ve negotiated a deal to choose another one among the several other princesses – otherwise, that old guy, the White King, would he be willing to back out from the alliance with us? Wouldn’t he have already started a fight?”

“Is that so?” Zhu Yan murmured in a low voice, and her face turned pale.

“Ah-Yan!” The Red King hurriedly stood up and assisted his daughter, noticing that her whole body was shaking fiercely, he hastily held her in his arms and patted her vigorously, “Don’t be sad. This is just a way to cope with the ancestral rituals… If he didn’t do this, I’m afraid he wouldn’t be able to become the emperor.”

Zhu Yan lying in her father’s arms, while listening to such words, only felt a piercing pain in her heart.

Yes, she knew that everything her father was saying was true – as the Crown Prince of Kongsang, Shi Ying was now under great pressure to take care of the overall situation and protect the people from chaos. If he was to succeed to the throne, he would have to win the support of the Six Kings, and he would have to marry the daughter of the White King as his empress.

The first thing he had to do was to get the support of the Six Clans.

But… but…

“Even if another empress is appointed, the Crown Prince’s heart is with you. That is enough.” The Red King patted his daughter to comfort her, “Look, your mother was only a side consort when she married me, did I treat her poorly in any way over the years? When the empress will die one day, you can also become the head of the three palaces just like Consort Qing…”

“That’s enough!” Zhu Yan, however, shuddered and blurted out suddenly, “Say no more!”

The Red King lowered his head in astonishment to see his daughter’s face surprisingly full of tears – an expression of such sadness that it actually made his iron heart prickle for a moment.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry,” he busily patted his daughter’s back, “if you cry much longer Father will die of heartache.”

Zhu Yan sobbed loudly in his arms regardless, crying for a long time until it became completely dark outside, then she finally calmed down, choking in a soft voice.

“I, I’m going back to bed.” She murmured, disoriented.

When she returned to her room, the room was already lit up with layers of candles, and was as bright as daylight.

Zhu Yan was unusually silent, staring at the dancing flames – the fire was a deity worshipped by the Red Clan and the entire wilderness, and legend had it that every Red Clan member of the royal family had an inextinguishable flame in their soul. But how long could such a passionate and reckless blaze persist?

She pulled the Jade Bone from her hair. With a smooth movement, her hair fell down like a waterfall over her arms, making her face look even paler, and when she looked in the bronze mirror, she couldn’t help but feel alarmed.

In the past year or so, her life had undergone many dramatic changes. As the only young princess of the Red Clan, she had been surrounded by luxury, cheerfulness and laughter since she was a child, and had never known what sorrow was, but in this short period of time she had cried so much, almost all the tears she had spared in the previous eighteen years.

The tears that were shed carried away the bright and abundant radiance of her life within each drop. Gradually, she became what she is now: no longer so thoughtless, no longer so ignorant, no longer so self-righteous – for example, now, when she knew he was going to appoint another empress, she didn’t burst into a rage.

She wasn’t angry, she just felt miserable.

Zhu Yan held the Jade Bone tightly in her hand and couldn’t help but raise her head to glance at the top of the Jialan White Tower, where the lights were shining brightly – what was he doing now? Probably being surrounded by thousands of people and not even having a moment to rest. Would he have time to think about her?

Although they were in the same Imperial Capital, she felt that the distance between them had never been so big.

In the past, when the two were alone in the deep valley, she was the only person in his world. She only had to turn around and she would meet him face to face. But now that he has become the emperor, with countless harem concubines and countless subjects, his world will become so vast and crowded that she will have to walk through a sea of people to get a glimpse of him.

His world was getting bigger and bigger… At the end of the day, will one day she be unable to find him?

How wonderful it would be if he didn’t become the Emperor of Kongsang.

However, as soon as this thought surfaced, she squashed it to death. Zhu Yan even felt ashamed: it was too selfish to think like that, wasn’t it? She only wanted to possess him for herself, but forgot that he was an heir with the blood of an emperor – even when he was alone in the deep valley, his heart was still filled with concern for the fate of Yunhuang.

Zhu Yan was gazing at the white pagoda in the night cupping her cheeks in the palms of her hands, staring blankly at the White Tower, thinking aimlessly, and her heart became more and more troubled and restless. When she glanced out from the corner of her eye, she suddenly noticed a moth flying in through the open window, rustling into the light of the room and fluttering straight into the flame.

She subconsciously raised her hand to block it, trying to drive the moth away.

But in the next instant, she was suddenly struck dumb – No, that was not a moth! It was… rather…

Not minding that it was hot, Zhu Yan quickly cupped the small object that was nearly scorched by the flames and found that it was actually a paper crane: tattered and twisted, missing half of its wings, bloodstained and wretched, uncertain of how many twists and turns it had taken to fly over to this place.

“Aah!” She jumped out of the bed, suddenly awaken, “Sumo!”

This, obviously, was the paper crane she had sent out to scout for information about Sumo last month!

The tattered paper crane had flown for an unknown number of miles, and the faint light on its wings flickered as it gathered a feeble amount of numinous energy, which was nearing exhaustion. Zhu Yan held the paper crane in her palm and quickly performed a retracing spell. There were vaguely broken rays of light darting out from the paper crane, transforming into various images…

In that moment, she caught short images soaring into the light.

It was a deep well, black as a bottomless hole, with countless glowing charms on its platform, surrounding it in a succession of golden circles. And in the deepest recesses of that golden eye, curled up like a baby trapped in its mother’s womb, was the child. Sumo sank beneath the water, his eyes tightly closed and his lips motionless.

However, she clearly heard a few short cries, “Sister… Sister!”

It was heart-wrenching, as if reaching from under the earth.

However, when Zhu Yan wanted to take a closer look further, a circle of golden light suddenly surged out, like an iron wall being tightly closed, instantly cutting off that illusion!

“Sumo!” She couldn’t help but squirm out, turning completely white.

Although it was only a fleeting glimpse of lightning, she felt the anguish and struggle coming from far away – something terrible was happening to the child! Did that little brat run into a disaster? What happened to Sumo after all the unrest in Yecheng? Who in the world would give such a young child a hard time?

The well which was trapping him, where exactly was it?

Countless questions instantly swept through her mind, and Zhu Yan was so shocked and angry that she couldn’t even think twice before pulling off her Jade Bone, pierced a drop of blood on her fingertip, and without hesitation, she poured the blood onto the paper crane in her palm.

The blood seeped into the tattered paper, and the paper crane suddenly stood up with a raised head!

“Quickly,” Zhu Yan put her fingertips together to form a charm, “take me to him!”

When the paper crane received the command, the wings swiftly lifted up and flew out of the window. Without hesitation, Zhu Yan jumped out and raced towards Yecheng – it was as if time had been turned backwards: the shark child was once again in danger, and she did not bother to inform anyone, leaving from the Red King’s residence in the middle of the night, just as she had done the previous time.

It was a strange sense of foreboding in her heart that urged her to leave. She even felt that if she did not hurry to find Sumo at this moment, she might never see the child again in this lifetime.

If you loved my translations, help me to keep up with the good work!

Your contribution is highly appreciated, Thank you!

NOTE: This translation belongs to me. It is prohibited to copy / Re-translate / Re-distribute my translations without my prior permission. Thank you.

Like this:Like Loading...

Related