Song Tang had never seen anything like this before.
The Crown Princess's coma and poisoning were pre-arranged, but the Prince's fainting was completely unexpected.
She was pulled back two steps by the eldest princess, watching blankly as the imperial physician rushed over from beside the crown princess. After the previous examination was completed, the imperial physician released the prince, letting him lie on the ground on his own.
Seeing the imperial physician breathe a sigh of relief, the princess asked, "What's wrong with him?"
The imperial physician wiped his sweat: "It seems that His Highness... was too frightened, so he suddenly fainted." After replying to the princess, he lowered his head to treat the unconscious prince.
He pinched the prince's philtrum hard. His rounded fingernail left a red dent there.
It was unclear whether he was awakened by the pain or by having his philtrum pinched. The prince slowly opened his clear eyes and looked blankly at the imperial physician.
He was about to speak when he saw the mugwort again. His eyes rolled back, his lips trembled, and he looked as if he was about to faint again.
The imperial physician quickly continued to pinch the philtrum.
The prince opened his mouth, barely managed to push away the imperial physician's hand, and said, "It's alright."
He slowly stood up. He dared not look in the direction of the princess again, and looked down at the tips of his shoes, afraid that he would see Ai Cao with short hair again.
The prince said, "I have other matters to attend to, so I will be leaving now."
Princess Chang wrote: "Uncle is getting old, please take good care of your health."
The prince, who was walking out, slipped and fell on a tray that hadn't been cleared away. His guards rushed to help him up, but he shoved them away while cursing.
Ai Cao asked the system, "Was the male lead's luck this bad before too?"
The system was silent for a moment before saying, "...Things got this bad after meeting the female lead."
Ai Cao was quite pleased: "It seems that Song Tang doesn't want to date the male lead."
The system remained silent. If the female lead simply didn't want to date the male lead, then his luck wouldn't have deteriorated to this point.
But since both the mugwort and the female protagonist were happy, there was no need for it to say anything more.
Ai Cao watched the male protagonist's desolate figure as he left. The guard supporting him also glanced at her out of the corner of his eye—the guard's appearance was somewhat similar to the male protagonist's, but his facial features were softer.
She remembered seeing this guard before.
Ai Cao asked the system, "Who are the bodyguards beside the male protagonist?"
The system exclaimed "Huh?" and muttered as it flipped through the book: "He's the male lead's younger brother."
"The male lead... his younger brother?" Ai Cao frowned imperceptibly. "But now there's only one prince."
"There is only one prince right now. But he is indeed the male lead's younger brother," the system said. "The male lead's younger brother is a supporting male character in the story. He helped the male lead raise his own private army. When he brought back the injured male lead, he fell in love with Song Tang at first sight and secretly sent people to protect her as she came to the capital."
“If Song Tang hadn’t chosen the male lead, this male supporting character would actually have had a chance to be by the female lead’s side.” The system’s tone was somewhat regretful. “In order to pacify the border, he went to war with another male supporting character I mentioned before, Song Tang’s cousin, and then died in battle.”
Artemisia contemplates.
"You mean, he's the one helping the male lead raise his own private army?" Ai Cao asked slowly.
The system said, "Yes, what's wrong?"
Ai Cao continued, "Does the male lead know about this?"
The system gasped: "How could I not know... I really don't know my code."
Artemisia smiled.
If the male protagonist knew that his guard was keeping a private army in the prince's mansion, then his attitude towards the princess would be a bit too lenient. Furthermore, according to the system, the male protagonist's guard is actually his younger brother—this is quite intriguing.
She made a bold guess. In the original timeline, the guard didn't actually die in battle; the male protagonist killed him to silence him.
It now appears that the relationship between the two was entirely the guard's wishful thinking.
The male protagonist only sees the guard as a guard, but the guard sees the male protagonist as an older brother.
Artemisia smiled and said, "That's really good."
The system felt its hairs stand on end, as if it didn't exist. It hesitated, then sighed and offered the male protagonist a quick and painless death.
The Crown Princess was carried into a sedan chair by her maids. The group, accompanied by the imperial physician, hurriedly departed.
The other maids were also busy leading people to various halls.
The main hall suddenly became empty.
Song Tang, who had been silent until now, finally asked the Princess in a low voice, "That is... the Prince?"
The eldest princess nodded: "My uncle."
Song Tang cautiously looked around. Everyone around them had already left before she continued in a low voice, "Has he disappeared or been injured?"
The princess blinked. Her expression faded, and she asked softly, "What does this mean?"
“I’ve seen him before,” Songtang said softly. “That day he was dressed in black and covered in blood, and he suddenly broke into my house.”
The eldest princess smiled and said, "He was really lucky back then."
Seeing that she didn't have any particular expression, Song Tang continued, "If Ai Cao hadn't come to my house that day, I probably would have forgotten about it."
The eldest princess asked with a smile, "What was the mugwort's reaction at the time?"
Songtang laughed and said, "Aicao threw him out."
The eldest princess nodded: "Well done."
Song Tang smiled with her lips pursed.
The eldest princess asked, "He didn't cause you any trouble after that?"
Songtang shook his head.
The princess glanced at the mugwort, her smile deepening: "It's good that you haven't encountered any trouble. After that, no one dared to bother you anymore."
Ai Cao blinked, pretending not to feel the princess's gaze.
She had always kept the short sword belonging to the male lead's bodyguard at her waist, so the truth was certainly not that there was "no trouble" as Song Tang claimed. But since Ai Cao was now on the Crown Princess's side, the Eldest Princess naturally wouldn't ask Ai Cao why she had kept it from Song Tang.
She was just helping to cover it up; if it really got exposed, she would just push Ai Cao out to take the blame.
The eldest princess sat back down in her seat and picked up her jade chopsticks to eat.
She invited Ai Cao and Song Tang to sit down and eat together.
Ai Cao politely declined her suggestion and stood guard beside them; Song Tang hesitated for a moment, then sat down and took another pair of jade chopsticks to eat.
While eating, Song Tang said, "I didn't expect Master Song to identify me."
The eldest princess said, "After all, he's stupid." She tapped her jade chopsticks on her plate with a smile, "But it's good that he's stupid, otherwise how would you have taken the Song family's fortune?"
Song Tang pursed her lips.
Although she was reluctant to admit it, she did indeed feel a lingering attachment to Mr. and Mrs. Song. She longed for everyone to return to the relationships she had when she was a child, where everyone was happy and loving towards each other like a family.
She knew it was impossible, which made her yearn for it even more.
Song Tang was a little confused about herself.
Does she like her parents or hate them?
They ate a little, and then the maids returned to the main hall to clean up the leftovers. This wasn't the place to talk, so the princess, along with Songtang Aicao, went to her usual palace.
The group rested in the palace for one night.
The next day, news spread that the Crown Princess had awakened and that Master Song had been sentenced to immediate execution by the Emperor.
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