Chapter 467 The Truth Revealed (Third Update)

Princess Xinyang said in an icy tone, "How can it not be your fault? If it weren't for that woman you brought back who attracted the assassins, how could my son have been poisoned?"

Marquis Xuanping frowned even more deeply: "You think the group of assassins who poisoned her were after her?"

“Isn’t that so?” Princess Xinyang retorted.

Marquis Xuanping remained silent.

Princess Xinyang gave a mocking smile: "Are you afraid to speak? Don't you always hate taking the blame? Tell me, how have I wronged you?"

Marquis Xuanping looked at her with a complicated expression: "Qin Fengwan, will this matter affect your relationship with Xiao Heng?"

"What do you mean?" Princess Xinyang asked, puzzled.

Marquis Xuanping's gaze was deep: "Do you think that group of assassins was after his mother, and that it makes you feel even a little resentment towards him?"

Marquis Xuanping, without waiting for Princess Xinyang's reply, said, "I was never a good person to begin with. I finally managed to be a decent human being, but I've been wronged. Qin Fengwan, you asked this yourself. No matter what the outcome is, don't blame me."

An ominous premonition rose in Princess Xinyang's heart.

Marquis Xuanping stared at her intently, his gaze solemn and icy: "Qin Fengwan, we agreed that you wouldn't fall in love with me, and I'd better not fall in love with you either. On our wedding night, you personally told me not to touch you, that we would always be husband and wife in name only, and not interfere with each other. But then, by some twist of fate… I touched you, and you became pregnant. I asked you, do you want this child? If you do, he will be my, Xiao Ji's, legitimate son. I, Xiao Ji, will only have one legitimate son in my life, and that will be your child, Qin Fengwan's! If you don't want him, I won't say a word. The belly is yours; whether you give birth to it or not is up to you."

You know perfectly well whether I wanted this child or not. The Princess's residence and the Marquis of Xuanping's residence were heavily guarded back then—more impregnable than the imperial palace; not even a fly could get in! I'll just ask you one question: how did the assassin manage to poison the child?!

Princess Xinyang's eyes flickered: "You..."

Marquis Xuanping nodded with a cold smile: "That's right, that's exactly what I mean, there's a traitor among you! There's a traitor among your own people!"

Princess Xinyang's expression changed: "Impossible! I have the Dragon Shadow Guards watching over my two children day and night. How could anyone have the opportunity to poison them?"

Marquis Xuanping's sneer froze on his lips, his eyes turning icy: "Yes, with your Dragon Shadow Guards protecting the children, who could possibly poison them! Think about it yourself!"

A thunderbolt struck Princess Xinyang's mind!

Dragon Shadow Guard!

No, it won't happen.

Why would the Dragon Shadow Guard poison her child?

This guess was so bold, it could even be described as absurd, that she herself laughed.

However, her smile soon froze on her face.

Marquis Xuanping was right. At that time, the Marquis Xuanping’s residence and the princess’s residence were indeed heavily guarded. Not only could outsiders not get in, but even the emperor’s Dragon Shadow Guards might not be able to sneak in without alerting anyone.

Because she also has Dragon Shadow Guards.

In that situation, no one except the Dragon Shadow Guard had a chance to make a move.

But she trusted the Dragon Shadow Guards too much, so she never considered this flaw.

Princess Xinyang suppressed her trembling, desperately trying to grasp at the last glimmer of possibility: "Why...it wasn't that group? Didn't they have any suspicion of being involved?"

Marquis Xuanping said, "I really don't know when they arrived or when they started targeting Xiao Heng."

Because Xiao Heng was rarely around him, he wasn't present when that group of people were staring at Xiao Heng, and thus failed to notice for a long time.

He said solemnly, "But I can tell you clearly that when the two children had the accident, that group of people had not yet arrived in Zhao Kingdom."

Princess Xinyang looked into his eyes: "Why are you so sure?"

Marquis Xuanping met her scrutinizing gaze without flinching: "She said it herself. She said that if she didn't die, she would attract those people here."

He said this without a trace of emotion in his eyes.

Princess Xinyang looked away: "Her last words?"

"Yes," said Marquis Xuanping.

"Then is she really dead?" Princess Xinyang asked.

Marquis Xuanping sighed, "Anyway, I buried it myself."

Princess Xinyang smiled wryly: "You even buried it yourself, that's quite rare."

Marquis Xuanping pursed his lips, not arguing with her. He gave her a deep look: "She didn't implicate Xiao Qing, and Xiao Qing didn't die because of her and Xiao Heng."

Princess Xinyang's focus, however, was on that name: "Do you still remember his name?"

Marquis Xuanping paused with a complicated expression, then sighed, "How could you not remember? I chose the name, have you forgotten?"

Princess Xinyang glanced at him sideways: "Is that because you only recognize that one character?"

Marquis Xuanping: "..."

After being married for so many years, can't you at least save some face?

Marquis Xuanping's feelings for Xiao Heng actually came very slowly, or more precisely, very complicated. He initially recognized Xiao Qing as his legitimate son, and when Princess Xinyang wanted to bring Xiao Heng to his side to raise, he was reluctant in his heart.

Princess Xinyang had just experienced the pain of losing her son, and he could not deprive her of her right to be a mother at that critical juncture.

He used to really neglect Xiao Heng.

He was not a good father, but Princess Xinyang was an excellent mother.

She taught Xiao Heng very well, except that he didn't practice martial arts and was always pedantic, which went against his wish to train a powerful and invincible young Xiao Ji.

This kid is nothing to kill, he wouldn't even kill a chicken!

"I've said everything I need to say. You can figure out the rest yourself." After saying this, Marquis Xuanping lifted the curtain and told Chang Jing to stop the carriage. He then got into the carriage behind and drove away.

"Are we going to the princess's residence?" Chang Jing asked.

Princess Xinyang was so engrossed in the storm-like chaos that she did not hear Chang Jing's words.

“Yes, alright.” Chang Jing said to himself, and drove the carriage to the princess’s residence.

The princess's residence has been preserved in its original state, including the two former maternity wards.

She treated Marquis Xuanping with utmost respect, and they did not interfere with each other's lives; this was an agreement made before their marriage.

Marquis Xuanping said he touched her, which was his way of taking all the blame, but in reality, it wasn't his fault. She had drunk too much and had taken the wrong medicine.

Marquis Xuanping looked at her, his gaze fixed on her, and asked, "Qin Fengwan, do you know what you're doing?"

He reacted, but he remained calm and composed.

Reaction is instinct; restraint is choice.

She said, "I know, Xiao Ji, I know."

...

Marquis Xuanping did not actually bring the Yan female slave to her; the female slave came on her own.

She clearly remembers the first thing she said to herself: "I heard you are a princess. May I stay in your princess's palace?"

She was a woman exuding wild power, reminiscent of a wild horse on the grassland. She had wheat-colored skin, deep-set features, and rough skin honed by wind and sand, yet her eyes and brows were exceptionally delicate and profound.

In the Zhao Kingdom, fair skin was considered beautiful. It was only when Princess Xinyang saw her that she realized for the first time that beauty and ugliness had nothing to do with skin color.

Her Zhao language wasn't very good, and it took Princess Xinyang a while to understand what she meant. It turned out that when Madam Xiao learned that she was pregnant, she was overjoyed and, fearing that something might go wrong, sent seventeen or eighteen maids and servants to take care of her.

She was very annoyed.

“I am the wife of Marquis Xuanping.”

“I know, but you don’t love him.”

So you're going to move into my princess's residence with your pregnant belly all by yourself?

Princess Xinyang didn't know whether to call her ungrateful or incredibly audacious.

Princess Xinyang eventually allowed her to move in.

The reason was simple: she was a female slave from the Yan Kingdom, and she knew a lot about the Yan Kingdom. Princess Xinyang was eager to learn.

They got along very well. Unlike the women of Zhao, she had a unique kind of freedom and boldness, and she wasn't scheming.

Therefore, Princess Xinyang never expected that she would kill someone else's son in order to save her own son's life.

But then I thought, isn't this exactly the kind of thing she would do?

She is truly a ruthless and decisive woman.

No wonder Marquis Xuanping brought him back.

Marquis Xuanping may be a womanizer and unruly outside, but he is very disciplined in the mansion and will not easily touch the maids. His two illegitimate sons were forced upon him by Old Madam Xiao through crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide, and he never brings any women back with him.

Xiao Heng's mother was the only one.

He would never allow another woman to offend her. Once, a courtesan who didn't know her place blocked her carriage and said she was willing to go home with her and serve her like a slave, only asking to be able to serve her and Marquis Xuanping.

The courtesan disappeared from the capital the next day.

After thinking about so many things, Princess Xinyang finally calmed down.

She began to seriously consider the possibility that the Dragon Shadow Guards might have betrayed her.

The answer is almost certainly no.

If the Dragon Shadow Guards can betray their master, then they are no longer the Dragon Shadow Guards.

The Dragon Shadow Guards were given to her by the late emperor, and they only obeyed her and the late emperor's orders. However, the late emperor had already passed away before she became engaged to the Marquis of Xuanping.

Did he issue the order to the Dragon Shadow Guard to poison the two children from underground?

How did you download it?

A dream message?

Wait, there's one person who isn't the late emperor's Dragon Shadow Guard.

Long Yi.

The thought had barely crossed Princess Xinyang's mind when she dismissed it. Long Yi had been sent by her to quell the rebellion at Fengdu Mountain, and he only returned when Xiao Heng was almost a month old.

He simply didn't have the opportunity to commit the crime.

So, was it really the other four Dragon Shadow Guards who did it?

But she couldn't understand it. She had never given them an order to poison the two children, and the late emperor certainly wouldn't... Either there was a third person in the world who could give them orders, or the late emperor had really crawled out of his coffin.

It couldn't have been that the late emperor ordered them to murder her and the Marquis of Xuanping's son before his death, since the late emperor clearly knew that she and the Marquis of Xuanping couldn't have a child.

My thoughts came to an abrupt halt!

Princess Xinyang was stunned.

She seemed to have figured something out without even realizing it.

Marquis Xuanping was still young at that time, but the late emperor saw his potential. He was the youngest Marquis of Wu in Zhao, and was personally appointed by the late emperor. The late emperor valued him as his right and left hands.

However, the late emperor's high regard for Marquis Xuanping was tempered by a strong sense of vigilance.

The late emperor secretly arranged her marriage to the Marquis of Xuanping. The reason it was done secretly was that if the late emperor lived a long time, he planned to kill the Marquis of Xuanping himself. If he passed away early, then she would kill the Marquis of Xuanping.

However, the late emperor also understood that the Zhao Kingdom was in grave danger and that the Marquis of Xuanping could not be left behind for the time being.

Therefore, the late emperor decided to make the most of Marquis Xuanping. As long as he did not rebel, he would be allowed to live. Once he harbored rebellious intentions, he would be executed immediately!

However, Marquis Xuanping was extremely vigilant, and ordinary assassins could not get close to him. The late emperor then came up with a plan to use a beautiful woman as a weapon.

Why did the late emperor choose her out of so many princesses? It was simply because he knew she could never fall for Marquis Xuanping.

Only someone who wouldn't be tempted by Marquis Xuanping would be able to ruthlessly kill him at any juncture.

However, the late emperor was born into an imperial family and reigned for so many years, how could he not understand the unpredictability of life?

What if she falls for him?

The late emperor forbade her from giving birth to the child of the Marquis of Xuanping, and forbade her from having any complicated or unbreakable ties with the Marquis of Xuanping.

Killing Marquis Xuanping directly is not an option either, as the country needs him. The only prerequisite for killing Marquis Xuanping is that he harbors rebellious intentions.

As long as he doesn't rebel, he can live.

But her child cannot live.

The Dragon Shadow Guards' initial target was Xiao Qing. Unfortunately, even though Xiao Qing was born half a month earlier and was about the same size as the newborn Xiao Heng, the Dragon Shadow Guards must have made a mistake the first time. They only managed to feed the poison to Xiao Heng accurately the second time.

Princess Xinyang did not know why poison was used instead of anything else.

These were all considerations of the late emperor.

Perhaps to avoid tracing back to the Dragon Shadow Guards, or perhaps the late emperor left his grandson with a final act of mercy—to give him a dignified and complete burial.

Princess Xinyang felt all her strength drain away, and her legs gave way, causing her to collapse to the ground.

"Princess!" Yu Jin rushed in.

She waited in Bishui Hutong but Princess Xinyang did not return. Instead, someone from the princess's residence sent a message saying that the princess had returned, but something seemed amiss.

She rushed over.

"Princess, Princess, what's wrong?" Yu Jin knelt in front of her and asked, supporting her slightly trembling shoulders.

Princess Xinyang's face was deathly pale, her eyes were empty, as if filled with endless sorrow, yet she could not shed a single tear.

Princess Xinyang said blankly, "I thought that when Father Emperor entrusted the Dragon Shadow Guard to me, it was at least because he trusted me and believed that only I could shoulder this heavy responsibility."

Yu Jin supported her with heartache: "Princess..."

Princess Xinyang gave a self-deprecating laugh: "But in the end, he still doesn't trust me... He's wary of Marquis Xuanping... and he's wary of me too..."

(End of this chapter)