RKDPMC 04

Chapter 4

Although she was not an ancient person herself, she knew that people in an era like this were especially wary of monsters and ghosts. She certainly did not want to be mistaken for a demon and hung on a stake to be roasted like a rabbit.

Yun Suyin hurriedly tilted her head as though she knew nothing at all, looking back and forth between the two men. Then, like an idiot, she rolled around on the ground, flapping her short legs helplessly.

If staying alive required her to endure this kind of humiliation, then so be it.

Man Jun stared wide-eyed at the sight of the rabbit rolling around.

Its snow-white fur was in complete disarray, while its pink paw pads trembled and fluttered incessantly. The heart of the sturdy twenty-year-old man suddenly sank with a heavy thump, as though something had struck it.

Good heavens, it’s so cute!

It was the first ball of fluff he had ever seen that was so adorable he wanted to bite it.

In an instant, all thoughts of roasted rabbit vanished from Man Jun’s mind. Instead, he slowly approached, wanting to touch its ears.

Yun Suyin sensed a cold gaze fixed upon her.

When she raised her head, she met Jun Guyan’s deep, dark eyes. There was a faint look of disgust on his face, and the atmosphere around him was so intimidating that it seemed as though if anyone else dared touch her, he might immediately have their head chopped off for contaminating her.

Realizing this, she quickly rolled to the side and then hopped over to Jun Guyan’s feet, rubbing herself against his ankles.

She was afraid that this man might suddenly turn violent.

Only after Jun Guyan saw the rabbit eagerly fawning at his feet did the murderous aura around him recede slightly.

He reached down, picked up the rabbit, stroked the tips of its ears, and gave a low chuckle.

“This little thing is surprisingly perceptive.”

Man Jun was disappointed.

The rabbit was so small and soft-looking, and it seemed like it would be wonderful to pet. Why had it run away?

Jun Guyan covered the rabbit’s head completely with one hand, shielding it from Man Jun’s covetous gaze. Holding its ears, he asked,

“How is the situation in the capital these past few days?”

“Much the same as before. The court is in an uproar over the matter of appointing the Crown Prince, and the princes are fiercely competing against one another. Shortly after Your Highness left the capital, His Majesty took people out for the winter hunt. During the hunt, the Second Prince encountered a snow deer. After returning to the palace, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau proclaimed it an auspicious omen and praised the Second Prince as a prince blessed by fortune.”

Man Jun continued slowly.

“The First Prince secretly attempted to manufacture firearms, but before they could be completed, people from the Fourth Prince’s faction interfered and the plan fell apart. The Fourth Prince has also been under considerable pressure from both the First and Second Princes over the things he did previously. The three sides are tearing into one another even more fiercely than they were before Your Highness left.”

The previous emperor had fathered many children, but the current emperor was no less prolific.

When the former emperor died after reigning for more than forty years, the current emperor was already in his mid-thirties and had three sons and two daughters.

After finally ascending the throne, he continued taking consorts one after another, making the imperial harem as lively and chaotic as a theatrical stage.

The current emperor had more than ten princes. Even excluding the infants still swaddled in their cradles and the young children who were too immature to participate in anything, there were still quite a few.

The grown princes were fighting desperately for the position of Crown Prince. Among them, the three with the greatest influence were the First Prince, the Second Prince, and the Fourth Prince.

The First Prince was the son of Consort Yu. His maternal family controlled military power, and he also had the advantage of being the emperor’s eldest son.

The Second Prince was the son of the Empress. Not only did he possess the status of being born to the principal wife, but his maternal uncle, the Minister of Personnel, also stood firmly behind him.

The Fourth Prince’s biological mother had died when he was young, making it seem as though he had no powerful support within the imperial palace. However, his maternal grandfather was the current Chancellor, giving him the full backing of the civil officials.

All three had powerful backgrounds, yet none possessed an overwhelming advantage.

For the past several years, they had fought tooth and nail at court for the position of Crown Prince. Intrigue was rampant, and the imperial court had hardly known a moment of peace.

As Man Jun thought about the princes’ circumstances, he pursed his lips. Suddenly, he remembered something and said to Jun Guyan,

“Oh, right, Your Highness. Do you remember that the Fourth Prince once proposed marriage to the Second Miss of the Mu’en Marquis’s Residence?”

Jun Guyan gave a brief reply.

“Mm.”

Man Jun continued,

“It was originally an arranged marriage, but apparently the bride was changed a few days ago. I heard that the Second Miss of the Yun family, who had been engaged to the Fourth Prince, suddenly fell seriously ill. After taking her pulse, the physician said that her condition was extremely severe and that she was unlikely to recover. However, the Mu’en Marquis’s Residence could not afford to refuse His Majesty’s imperial favor, so they changed the betrothed bride to their eldest daughter, Yun Shuyue. The Fourth Prince’s side apparently agreed as well.”

Yun Suyin had been lazily listening to the conversation, but the moment she heard the latter part, her head snapped up.

The Mu’en Marquis’s Residence?

Yun Shuyue?

She had never imagined that she would hear something related to the Mu’en Marquis’s Residence here.

Moreover, wasn’t the original owner of this body precisely the Second Miss of the Mu’en Marquis’s Residence whose condition had supposedly become so severe that she had no hope of recovery—and whose engagement had consequently been taken away?

Jun Guyan had little interest in the affairs of his nephews.

He idly played with the soft paw the rabbit held out from his arms, showing only a slight interest when it came to the circumstances of the Mu’en Marquis’s Residence.

“Can an engagement really be changed that easily?”

Man Jun pursed his lips.

“The Mu’en Marquis’s Residence was never a family that cared much about rules and propriety. Besides, when His Majesty originally bestowed the marriage, the decree only specified that the bride was to be the legitimate daughter of the Yun family. Since the Second Miss had fallen seriously ill and could no longer uphold the engagement, the Fourth Prince probably couldn’t bear to lose the support of the Mu’en Marquis’s Residence, so he had no choice but to change the bride. Still, in my opinion, it’s rather suspicious that the Fourth Prince’s side agreed so readily. And the fact that the Second Miss of the Yun family suddenly fell ill is suspicious too.”

The circumstances surrounding the Mu’en Marquis’s Residence were rather complicated.

The current Marchioness of the Mu’en Marquis’s Residence was not the marquis’s first wife but his second wife. Meanwhile, Yun Shuyue, the eldest daughter who had replaced the original bride in the engagement with the Fourth Prince, was not the biological daughter of the Mu’en Marquis at all. She was the stepdaughter whom his current wife had brought into the marriage.

Ordinarily, even if such a stepdaughter were entered into the family genealogy, she should still rank below the legitimate daughter of the first wife. At most, she would be treated as a daughter of secondary status.

Yet the Mu’en Marquis’s Residence treated Yun Shuyue as their legitimate eldest daughter and instead demoted Yun Suyin, the daughter of the first wife, to the position of Second Miss.

Now that Yun Shuyue’s status had been elevated to be equal to Yun Suyin’s, taking away the engagement that had originally belonged to Yun Suyin was merely the natural next step.

After hearing this, Jun Guyan spoke lazily as though there were nothing strange about it.

“It’s merely the secret struggle within the inner residence. That Second Miss of the Yun family was almost certainly harmed. If an obituary notice appears a few days from now, whether she is alive or dead—and even how she died—will all be determined by what they choose to tell the world.”

A cold glint flashed through the rabbit’s eyes.

Jun Guyan’s guess was correct.

The original owner had indeed been harmed.

However, the person who had harmed her was not merely another woman’s jealousy.

It was the entire Mu’en Marquis’s Residence.

Yun Suyin was the daughter of the Mu’en Marquis’s first wife, Madam Lin.

The Lin family, Madam Lin’s clan, was a prestigious and upright aristocratic family. Her maternal grandfather was a great Confucian scholar of the era, with disciples scattered throughout the empire and considerable influence at court.

Madam Lin was the youngest daughter of the Lin family.

At the time, she had fallen in love with Yun Li’an, who was merely a sixth-rank military officer. Despite her family’s opposition, she insisted on marrying into the Yun family.

After their marriage, Yun Li’an’s career flourished.

Not only did fortune seem to favor him, but he also seemed to receive one opportunity after another as though someone were secretly helping him from behind the scenes. In just a few years, he received a series of extraordinary promotions and eventually rose to the position of a second-rank military official.

Later, after accidentally saving the emperor, he was even granted the title of Mu’en Marquis.

However, the people of the Lin family never thought highly of Yun Li’an.

When Madam Lin married him, she had defied her family so completely that she had nearly severed ties with the Lin clan. After entering the Mu’en Marquis’s Residence, her contact with her family gradually ceased almost entirely.

While Madam Lin was alive, Yun Suyin’s situation was still fairly tolerable.

Because of her mother’s protection, the members of the Yun family did not dare openly mistreat her.

Unfortunately, eleven years ago, Madam Lin became pregnant again.

During childbirth, she suffered a massive hemorrhage. Although she barely managed to give birth to a young son, she died shortly afterward.

After Madam Lin died from complications during childbirth, Yun Li’an observed mourning for three years.

During that time, he gained a reputation throughout society for being a deeply devoted and faithful husband.

Only after those three years had passed did he use the excuse that his children were still young and needed someone to care for them to bring the current Madam Wang into the household, supposedly as though he had no other choice.

Wang was of humble birth, but she possessed extraordinary beauty.

Not long after entering the marquis’s residence, she gave birth to a son and soon became almost like a treasured jewel to Yun Li’an.

Yun Li’an doted on his youngest son and grew increasingly close to Wang. He even treated the stepdaughter Wang had brought with her as though she were his own biological daughter.

Not only did he change her surname and enter her into the family genealogy, but he also elevated her status within the household until it was equal to Yun Suyin’s.

On the surface, Wang and Yun Shuyue pretended to treat Yun Suyin with great affection and devotion.

Behind her back, however, they resorted to all kinds of schemes to make Yun Li’an grow to hate her.

Even Yun Suyin’s own younger brother had become close to the mother and daughter and treated Yun Suyin viciously.

The original Yun Suyin had been timid, weak, and sheltered. Because she had grown up so naively, she had simply believed that she was a child who was not loved.

But the current Yun Suyin immediately realized that something was wrong.

For one thing, even Madam Lin’s death from a massive postpartum hemorrhage was suspicious.

Yun Li’an could not possibly be an idiot. After all, he had managed to rise all the way to his current position.

No matter how much he loved Wang, given his selfish nature and the fact that he always put his own interests first, even if he did not love his own daughter Yun Suyin, there was no way he would treat someone else’s child better than his own flesh and blood.

Furthermore, the original owner had been harmed this time because she had fallen into Yun Shuyue’s trap.

Yun Shuyue had lured her out under the pretext of going outside the capital to pray at a temple. She then had Yun Suyin kidnapped, bribed the soldiers, and arranged for Yun Suyin to be mixed in with a group of exiled criminals so that she could be sold to a brothel.

During the process, the original owner had even lost her life.

Yun Shuyue’s arrangements could hardly have been flawless.

So how could Yun Li’an, after learning that his daughter had disappeared, have failed to discover what had really happened?

And yet Yun Li’an had publicly announced that Yun Suyin was seriously ill, covering up Yun Shuyue’s wrongdoing.

His own biological daughter had been harmed by his stepdaughter, and he did not care in the slightest.

He was even willing to hand over his daughter’s engagement to the Fourth Prince to someone else’s child?

Yun Suyin instinctively knew that this was impossible.