Chapter 458 The Secret
In the end, Su Leyan couldn't bring herself to leave Wen Kehao.
She couldn't bear to leave Wen Kehao alone to face all of this.
If I can't be Wen Kehao's only woman, then I'll be an irreplaceable queen in Wen Kehao's heart.
Su Leyan had no choice but to continue buying people from the slave market. By the time she married Wen Kehao, the number of people in the mansion specifically to satisfy Wen Kehao's needs had reached double digits.
Now, that number has reached an astonishing one hundred.
Su Leyan went through a very difficult and painful psychological journey from initial hesitation and pain to finally making up her mind to marry Wen Kehao.
But after getting married, she completely understood.
Since it cannot be avoided, we should do our best to face it and minimize all risks.
Su Leyan completely isolated the backyard from the frontyard of the Prince Zhong's mansion. The girls she bought were all kept in the backyard. In the past three years, the Prince Zhong's mansion has never had any overnight guests, and the servants in the frontyard are not allowed to step into the backyard.
Most of the girls who were bought were desperate people. Before they came, Su Leyan had told them the purpose of their entry into the mansion. In addition, apart from the lack of freedom and the difficulty in speaking of serving Prince Zhong, they were not mistreated in terms of food, clothing and housing in Prince Zhong's mansion.
Therefore, most of the girls were well-behaved and obedient. Occasionally, a few girls with ulterior motives would try to get away with it, but they could not succeed because of Wen Kehao's indifference and Su Leyan's vigilance.
Wen Kehao knew that Su Leyan had sacrificed too much for him, and his body could not be loyal to Su Leyan, which made him feel even more guilty and heartbroken for Su Leyan. He could only try his best to make up for it in other ways.
Su Leyan was in charge of all matters, big and small, in the manor. Apart from the few hours each day when the poison took effect and normal official duties, Wen Kehao spent the rest of his time by Su Leyan's side.
Thus, the couple maintained this tacit understanding, and the secrets of the Prince Zhong's mansion were kept within the inner quarters. The outside world believed that Prince Zhong, like the Emperor, was devoted to his wife and could not tolerate any other woman in his eyes or heart.
No one knows how much psychological pressure Su Leyan is under.
The laws of the Golden Moon Kingdom do not explicitly stipulate how many women a prince can have.
However, in principle, one must never surpass the emperor, otherwise one will be accused of usurping authority and violating etiquette.
Because the current emperor insists on having only one principal wife, the court officials will turn a blind eye if Wen Kehao takes in one or two more women. However, if he has ten women, it will definitely provoke a condemnation from the court officials.
Not to mention the astonishing number that has now reached a hundred.
After all, since Wen Zhiming came to power, court officials were afraid of overstepping the emperor's bounds in this matter, and very few of them took concubines. Even if they were truly lustful, they would never dare to go too far in public.
If Wen Kehao's secret is discovered, he will immediately become the target of public criticism.
The secret had to be kept, and Su Leyan couldn't bear to mistreat the girls too much. So, maintaining the food, clothing, and shelter of more than a hundred girls was destined to be no easy task.
She was overwhelmed by this and worried about the bills countless times. A person who had never handled accounts before forced herself to create an account book that no one could discover the secrets of the Prince's mansion by looking at it.
But that's all there is to it.
If these girls were to have more children, she would definitely be unable to cope. However, she couldn't show favoritism, so Su Leyan had no choice but to give all the girls contraceptive medication.
The medication she used was mild enough, but long-term use would inevitably have some impact on a woman's body.
Su Leyan never imagined that the medical skills she had practiced since childhood would one day be used for this kind of thing, and it was not a pleasant experience for her.
And what will become of these girls in the future? Can the Prince Zhong's mansion support them for the rest of their lives?
Su Leyan had no answer in her heart either.
She guarded this unspeakable secret, like an oyster shell containing a grain of sand, knowing the pain but never giving up, using all her strength to wrap it up, hoping to reap a relatively better result, just as an oyster eventually nurtures a pearl.
But things didn't go as planned. To this day, none of the things she was worried about have been resolved, and her guilt has only grown stronger. In addition, Wen Zhiming is a good ruler, and there are fewer and fewer girls who need to be sold into slavery, so it has become very difficult for her to find a suitable woman to bring into the household.
Despite being afflicted by the Gu King, Wen Kehao's sexual needs remained terrifyingly strong. The girls in the manor would need to rest for several days after serving him for a day, and sometimes even the current hundred or so girls were not enough to keep up with his shifts.
With the monthly deadline for buying girls to bring into the mansion fast approaching, Su Leyan still hadn't found out where she could buy any girls.
That's why she went up the mountain early in the morning to pray for blessings, asking heaven to forgive her sins and help her overcome her current difficulties.
Upon arriving at the palace gate, they heard the devastating news that Prince Zhong was to be stationed in the northern frontier.
Only in the capital, within the gentle haven she had created for him, could Wen Kehao be the normal Prince Zhong. Once he left the capital, whether on the road or in the northern frontier, his true colors would be revealed.
If he doesn't take these girls with him, Wen Kehao is highly likely to harm innocent women when his poison takes effect, leading to public condemnation and imprisonment. If he does take the girls with him and the truth is discovered, he will immediately be arrested for overstepping his bounds and become an enemy of the court.
Thinking of this, Su Leyan's eyes turned red, and she clenched her hands tightly around the hem of her dress, tears streaming down her face.
"Looks like I guessed right."
Meng Lingge took Su Leyan's hand and gently wiped the corner of Su Leyan's eye.
"No wonder your wedding date was postponed again and again back then. Sometimes when I saw you weren't in a good mood, I wanted to keep you company and talk to you, but you always made excuses to decline. These past few years, you've been keeping this secret all by yourself. It must have been very tiring. Now that the Emperor and Prince Zhong are not here, if you don't mind, you can lean on my shoulder."
After she finished speaking, she moved a little closer to Su Leyan, put her shoulder in front of Su Leyan's face, and gently patted her.
Su Leyan stared at Meng Lingge with wide eyes, and after a few seconds of stunned silence, she could no longer hold back and burst into tears, leaning on Meng Lingge's shoulder.
She cried terribly, her voice shrill and mournful, as if she were venting all the grievances, guilt, sadness, and heartache she had endured over the past three years.
Even the palace maids outside heard the commotion, but because they hadn't received any orders from inside, they dared not enter without permission.
Su Leyan was indeed very tired.
It's not physical exhaustion, it's mental exhaustion.
Although Wen Kehao and she were of one mind and shared weal and woe, she could not tell Wen Kehao about her exhaustion and difficulties. Her guilt was already heavy enough, and she could not let Wen Kehao feel guilty for it.
If Wen Kehao cannot bear all of this and has thoughts of suicide and escape, then everything she has done will be meaningless.
So no matter how tired, broken, or unbearable it was, she could only bear it all alone and face Wen Kehao and everyone else with her best self and the most genuine smile.
But she really wanted to cry her heart out.
I really want a shoulder to lean on.
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