In the eyes of her personal attendants, Nangong Xin was the anomaly among the daughters of the Nangong Family.
She was not the type to boast and treat human life as though it were nothing, but she was unlucky. She could like anyone, but she chose His Majesty. Despite all the years, she had no regrets.
The Nanchu King devoted his life to Princess Zhenmin; Nangong Xin devoted hers to the Nanchu King.
If possible, the people serving closely by her side thought that the Queen must have hoped that Princess Zhenmin wouldn’t have become wed to Dawei and could have lived. After all, every living person would one day be bored and discarded by His Majesty, while the death of a person would block all women’s access to His Majesty, making it impossible to forget for a lifetime.
Su Rong strolled slowly into the main hall. Upon arriving at the door, she leaned languidly against the door frame, looking at the Nanchu Queen sitting in front of a rhombic mirror. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶
In the past, in her mind, the Nanchu Queen was just a title - a very honorable title. She didn’t even know what her real name was. She only knew that she was a daughter of the Nangong Family, a living banner of the political power of the Nangong’s in-laws.
During the rebellion of the Nangong Family and Prince Liu’an, she had no time to seek revenge from her. If Nangong Xin also withdrew from the Nanchu Capital with the Nangong Family, she wouldn’t be dealing with her today.
After all, compared to preserving the Nanchu River and Mountains, seeking vengeance held less importance.
But unexpectedly, she did not leave.
Without turning her head, Nangong Xin carefully adorned her hair in front of the mirror, feeling Su Rong’s gaze on her. Neither of them said a word.
After a while, you could hear a pin drop both inside and outside the hall.
After a long while, Nangong Xin stopped, stared at herself in the mirror for a moment, slowly turned around, and looked emotionlessly at Su Rong at the door, "Princess, how do you plan to kill me? Or have you thought of a way to torment me?"
Su Rong looked at Nangong Xin and sincerely complimented, "The Queen is really beautiful. Why couldn’t such a beautiful face win my father’s heart? Especially having been childhood sweethearts. If you were ambitious, I wouldn’t have had to come to Nanchu and bear this burden."
She could have married into the Duke Residence, becoming the wife of Zhou Gu. Upstairs were her grandparents and mother, her brother and sister-in-law. She and Zhou Gu could have led their own little life. That ought to be a smooth and satisfactory life.
Nangong Xin’s face cooled, "Are you here to mock me?"
"No, I’m being truthful. Although my mother was also beautiful, she was gently beautiful, not like your outstanding beauty. Nangong Zheng is quite similar to you, both having stunning looks that impress at first sight." Su Rong was speaking from her heart.
Nangong Xin said coldly: "Perhaps I am not pleasant. Also, perhaps he was tired of seeing me since childhood, could not generate any affection when he grew up, and simply did not like me."
"If the Queen understands that you can’t force these things, why do you insist on trying? You’ve held onto an empty field for many years, was it worth it?" Su Rong didn’t understand. If a man didn’t like her, she wouldn’t be so clingy. She wouldn’t even give him a second glance. There are plenty of great men in the world, why cling to just one? "See, you’ve taken His Majesty’s sleeping palace but what’s the use? He abandons his own palace after returning to the Royal Palace. You did all this for him, but he doesn’t want to see your face and has handed you over to me."
"So what? I am naturally stubborn. I’ve been like this for decades and it’s not going to change overnight." Nangong Xin didn’t expect Su Rong to come to her so calmly one day and talk about such random things.
Su Rong nodded, "So, your plan is to die in this palace?"
"Is there a problem with that?" Nangong Xin asked.
"What if I say there is? I will be living here in the future, I don’t want to stain it with the blood of my enemies." Su Rong said, "I’ll throw you into Wild Grave Mound to be devoured by dogs, and my father will not interfere."
Nangong Xin regained her emotionless facade, "Since I have decided to stay, you will handle it as you wish."
Whether it’s the Wild Grave Mound or not, she lost all choices the day she did.
Su Rong smiled, "You’re quite open-minded."
Looking at Su Rong’s smile, Nangong Xin seemed to see Yan Ruzhen back in the day. They looked so alike, mother and daughter. The face she had seen in the portraits before was so vivid as if ripe peaches were blossoming.
If she were a man, she would also like such a young girl, right? Despite being a princess, she remained free and unrestrained, unfettered by formal rituals.
Seeing the unfocused look on Nangong Xin’s face, as if remembering something, Su Rong reined in her smile and asked, "Are you thinking of my mother?"
Nangong Xin snapped back to reality and nodded, "Hmm, you look like her."
Su Rong asked, "You hated my mother, didn’t you?"
"I used to hate her, but later, not so much. After all, she too was a poor creature." Nangong Xin said, "I don’t know which one of us is more pitiful. She was burdened by love and the kingdom of Daliang, forced into a political marriage, giving up two men she once loved, and finally left this world abandoning her daughter. When she left, she couldn’t let go, could she? I couldn’t win His Majesty’s heart, but I voluntarily entered the palace to become the queen. No one forced me, there were many other daughters in the Nangong family who could have become the queen. At the very least, I chose this path myself."
Su Rong nodded, "So, because you don’t hate my mother, the Queen has been hiding it from the Nangong Family for many years, secretly sending assassins against me, what were you thinking?"
"Naturally, I wanted to kill you quietly and erase your existence in the world. If I alarmed the Nangong Family wouldn’t it also alarmed His Majesty?" Nangong Xin said coldly, "I didn’t want His Majesty to know about your existence."
Su Rong shook her head, "No, if it was in the past, I would think the same way. However, not knowing the true strength of the Nangong Family might lead to underestimation. No one understands the Nangong Family’s influence in Nanchu better than you who were born into the Family. If you had informed the head of the Nangong Family from the start and let him send people to Jiangning County in Daliang to kill me, it might also have been accomplished without my father knowing. Perhaps, I would have been killed before reaching adulthood and you would have gotten your way."
Nangong Xin scoffed, "Are you saying that I have been protecting you? What a joke."
Su Rong didn’t want to make this joke. However, her mother gave birth to her with a bright mind, and Uncle Xie taught her not to be short-sighted," I didn’t dare to think about it before because I wasn’t sure if there was any reason for you to protect me. So that’s why I came to ask you now. You don’t hate my mother, nor my father, right? Why would you only send a few assassins each time? Although I have been assassinated constantly since my childhood, none of them could really take my life. It almost feels like they were sent to train me. If the head of the Nangong Family made the move, perhaps my five hundred hidden guards that my mother left for me in the small Jiangning County, wouldn’t necessarily protect me till I grew up. After all, I was able to grow for several years, let me see, for about eight years, close to 2900 days. This is so long, why am I still able to grow?"
Nangong Xin’s face hardened, "I am not that kind-hearted. I will kill you without wasting words!""
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