"Xue'er, don't worry, I will find someone to cultivate the Beauty Gu for you again. You will be the most beautiful bride. However, even if your face does not recover its former appearance, this King will not dislike Xue'er."
Prince Ning spoke very nicely.
"Really? Your Highness, you won't lie to Xue'er, will you? In this world, are there any men who don't care about a woman's appearance?"
As she spoke, Qin Xixue playfully chided him again.
"This King is not that kind of superficial man. This King likes women with inner beauty the most," Prince Ning said deliberately, looking at Qin Xixue.
This made Qin Xixue's face, hidden beneath her veil, blush again.
But Qin Xixue never dreamed that the woman with inner beauty that Prince Ning spoke of was actually Leng Ruo Li, whom she hated the most.
Leng Ruo Li was the perfect woman in Prince Ning's heart. It was just a pity that she had already become the woman of the Cold King. He could only suppress his admiration for her in his heart, waiting until he ascended the throne as the supreme ruler in the future to snatch her away from the Cold King.
Prince Ning pondered for a moment, then looked at Qin Xixue and said, "Xue'er, this is your first time visiting this King's manor. This King will take you to stroll in the manor's garden."
Upon hearing this, Qin Xixue nodded slightly, "Okay!"
Afterward, Prince Ning extended a long arm around Qin Xixue's slender waist. The two of them, with ambiguous gestures, lifted their legs and walked to the study door, opened it, and walked out.
Princess An Le, who was hiding in the secret compartment, only opened the bookshelf and walked out of the secret compartment after seeing Prince Ning and Qin Xixue leave. She then departed Prince Ning's study.
As Princess An Le walked, she muttered, "Oh my heavens!"
"Tonight was truly disgusting. Fortunately, the two of them didn't do that kind of thing in the study, otherwise, I, Jun Ya Nan, would have gone crazy from listening.
I never imagined my imperial brother had this kind of taste.
At this moment, Prince Ning had no idea that his words to Qin Xixue would make his imperial sister despise him so much.
However, when Princess An Le reached a corner of the corridor in Prince Ning's manor, Prince Ning's personal guard immediately stopped her.
"Princess, His Highness has ordered his subordinate to escort you back to the palace first." The guard bowed and said respectfully, raising his hand.
"No need, this Princess will return on her own! You should stay by your imperial brother's side and keep a close eye on whether he has 'eaten' that spider spirit, Qin Xixue." Princess An Le said to the guard playfully.
The guard felt speechless upon hearing Princess An Le's words. Was the princess worried that the Prince would take advantage of Miss Qin, or that Miss Qin would bully the Prince?
However, he still had to follow the Prince's orders and escort Princess An Le back to the palace.
"Princess, this subordinate must escort you back to the palace personally, otherwise, His Highness will severely punish this subordinate," the guard said with some distress.
Hearing this, Princess An Le directly pushed the guard's hand away and replied angrily, "Whatever, you can follow this Princess if you want."
With that, Princess An Le ran towards the main gate of Prince Ning's manor, got into the carriage that Prince Ning had prepared for her beforehand. The aforementioned guard also stepped onto the carriage behind her and became Princess An Le's coachman.
...
In the imperial palace, after the Emperor and the Empress Dowager finished their evening meal, he came out of Longevity Palace.
To aid digestion, the Emperor did not ride the sedan chair prepared by Eunuch Li back to his sleeping quarters. Instead, he led Eunuch Li and a group of palace attendants back to his sleeping quarters on foot.
As he passed by a small path in the Imperial Garden, a young girl running with her head down suddenly rushed out from a blind spot, almost bumping into the Emperor's chest. Eunuch Li was instantly so angered that he wanted to kick the girl away.
"Old Li, wait! That's Princess An Le." But the Emperor quickly stopped his action.
Eunuch Li looked up at the woman and hurriedly said, "Princess An Le, so it's you?"
At this moment, Princess An Le also realized that the person she almost bumped into was the Emperor. She trembled slightly and immediately offered a proper deep bow to the Emperor.
"An Le greets Father Emperor!"
"Hmm, where are you going dressed as a eunuch today?"
Seeing Princess An Le bow to him, the Emperor did not immediately tell her to rise but instead asked.
"Your... Your Highness usually sees the little eunuchs wearing this palace attire and finds it quite amusing, so I had someone find a set for me to wear and play in the Imperial Garden." Princess An Le lied.
"Is that really so?"
How could the Emperor believe Princess An Le's nonsense?
"Yes, yes, Father Emperor, Your Highness is telling the truth." Princess An Le could only brace herself and nod repeatedly.
"This is preposterous! You are a princess of a kingdom, yet you wander around the Imperial Garden dressed as a eunuch. Aren't you afraid it will spread and become a laughingstock?"
The Emperor immediately reprimanded Princess An Le.
In fact, he had known for a long time that this Princess An Le had been wearing the attire of a young eunuch recently and sneaking out of the palace to run to Prince Ning's manor.
However, seeing that she had just lost her imperial mother and was feeling distressed, he indulged her behavior.
Moreover, this Princess An Le was one of the few surviving princesses he had.
His eldest, second, and third princesses had all died before the age of fifteen. This fourth princess was the only one who had reached fifteen years of age. As for the remaining two princesses, although they were now twelve and eleven years old, whether they could live past fifteen was still unknown, so the Emperor indulged Princess An Le to some extent.
At this moment, seeing the Emperor angry, Princess An Le trembled all over. She had been outside for several years and had never encountered the Emperor before. She did not expect that the Emperor's temper now was even more volatile than when she was a child and her Father Emperor was angry.
"Father Emperor, Your Highness will never dare to do so again." Princess An Le knelt on the ground and promised aggrievedly.
"As a princess of the imperial family, you should learn from your second imperial sister-in-law and learn useful things. Don't jump around like a wild monkey all day."
The Emperor lowered his gaze, looked at the kneeling, aggrieved Princess An Le, and patiently taught her.
"Yes, Father Emperor! Your Highness will definitely learn diligently from Second Imperial Sister-in-law." Princess An Le replied feigning obedience.
But when she heard the Emperor use Leng Ruo Li as a role model for her, her hatred for Leng Ruo Li intensified.
Leng Ruo Li and Jun Mo Han were the murderers of her imperial mother. What was there for her to learn from them? She hated the Cold King and his wife intensely, but when facing the Emperor, she could only lower her head and respond obediently.
"Hmm, that's more like it. Go back, and remember to change out of this attire immediately."
With that, the Emperor skirted past Princess An Le with Eunuch Li and the others and returned to his sleeping quarters.
On the way, Eunuch Li curiously asked, "Your Majesty, you clearly knew that Princess An Le put on the attire of a young servant to sneak out of the palace, why didn't you expose her?"
"Old Li, how many imperial sons and princesses do I have?" The Emperor asked him abruptly.
"Your Majesty, you have six imperial sons and three princesses." Eunuch Li counted on his palm with his fingers.
"That's it then! I have a premonition that among these imperial sons and princesses, there will still be..."
The Emperor did not finish his words, but Eunuch Li already understood the meaning of the Emperor's words.
Thus, he sighed, "Alas..."