Consort Wan and the Crown Prince

What ill intentions could a child possibly have?

She would just pretend she had heard nothing.

Consort Wan dried her tears.

Changing the subject, she said, "...The wind is so strong tonight. It's making my eyes hurt!"

Seeing that she had stopped crying, Xiao Yu's eyes flickered.

The sayings his master had given him really did work.

"Child, where are you heading?"

Consort Wan asked, "I know this area fairly well. If you don't mind, I can show you the way."

"That would be..." wonderful.

Xiao Yu's lips curved upward. "Sorry for the trouble, Your Highness. Please take me to the Eastern Palace..."

The Eastern Palace

The study

"Your Highness!"

"Your Highness-"

The young attendant Wei Yi hurried inside and addressed the boy at the desk. "Your Highness!"

"Word has come from the imperial study that we must prepare a guest room at once. The heir to the Prince of Zhennan's Residence will be staying with us tonight!"

The crown prince's brush paused in his hand, and he froze.

Coming to his senses, he immediately asked, "Is that true?"

He was the son of a disgraced empress.

He had always known that his Emperor Father had disliked him since childhood.

He did not want to approach him and incur his displeasure, either, so he stayed obediently in the Eastern Palace, not daring to overstep in the slightest.

He also knew that the Eastern Palace was merely a temporary place for him to live.

One day, his Emperor Father would take back even this last refuge.

He had long heard that the Prince of Zhennan's immense prestige had aroused his Emperor Father's suspicions...

Now his Emperor Father was sending the prince's heir to the Eastern Palace...

Had he finally grown so sick of him that he wanted to dispose of both him and the young heir?

"It's true, it's true!"

Wei Yi nodded repeatedly. "I hear the young heir is already on his way to the Eastern Palace!"

Clatter-

The crown prince hurried to his feet. "Wei Yi, come with me to prepare the guest room!"

Wei Yi answered, "Yes!"

An hour later

The crown prince waited outside the Eastern Palace with his young attendant.

They waited for their guest to arrive.

For some reason, he felt both anticipation and worry.

He did not know what sort of person the young heir was.

He hoped the boy would like him, rather than despise him as his Elder Imperial Brother and younger brothers did.

[Are those two children craning their necks over there the crown prince and his attendant?]

Hearing this, the crown prince looked up.

A boy around his own age had already arrived before him.

[These two are standing at the entrance... Are they waiting for me? How embarrassing~]

The crown prince stared straight at him.

The boy had never opened his mouth, yet his voice kept ringing out. The crown prince went still.

Could he be hearing his thoughts?

Xiao Yu was also studying the boy before him.

[That incompetent emperor really doesn't care about his own son.]

[Look at those clothes, washed until they're worn out. And that little body! He's in his teens, but he looks seven or eight. He's practically skin and bones.]

The crown prince's face flushed slightly, and he silently lowered his head.

This young heir was rather too blunt.

He even dared to call his Emperor Father an incompetent emperor... Fortunately, his Emperor Father could not hear him.

Looking at his worn clothes, he could not help lowering his head even further.

These were already his best clothes...

[If Consort Wan knew this pitiful child was the son she thought had died young, how heartbroken would she be?]

Consort Wan was here too?

The crown prince abruptly looked up.

Sure enough, an unfamiliar woman stood behind Xiao Yu, staring dazedly at... him?

[Tsk, is this what they mean by the bond between mother and son?]

[The moment Consort Wan and the crown prince met, it was as though only the two of them remained in this world, each a part of the other, with no room for anyone else.]

[I seem a little unnecessary here...]

[Should I leave, then?]

Hearing this, Consort Wan immediately felt a little embarrassed.

She looked at Xiao Yu, though her gaze strayed toward the crown prince. "Since you have arrived, young heir... I shall take my leave-"

"There's no hurry, no hurry."

The "helpful" Xiao Yu hastily urged her to stay. "You just helped me, Your Highness. I ought to offer you a cup of tea before you leave."

Turning to the crown prince, he said, "Your Highness, I shall be imposing on your hospitality."

[Ah, Consort Wan is so gentle. I'm starting to miss Mother...]

[If only Mother were here with me now... I'm so pitiful, all alone in the world.]

Thinking of how he had been forced to leave his parents at such a young age, Consort Wan felt an inexplicable ache in her heart.

[The crown prince is even more pitiful. His birth mother is standing right before him, and he doesn't know it.]

[He still thinks his mother is the disgraced empress who was deposed for poisoning that incompetent emperor. He feels unworthy of his title as crown prince, and when his brothers bully him, he doesn't even have the confidence to fight back.]

[People in the palace have always fawned on the powerful and trampled the weak. Seeing that the poor little crown prince has no one backing him, they either cut his allotments of food, clothing, and supplies or steal them outright.]

[Look at the little crown prince. His clothes are worn, and his toes are poking through his shoes. If no one told you, who would believe this little beggar was the current crown prince?]

After hearing this, the crown prince was too ashamed to raise his head. He discreetly tucked his toes inward and tugged uncomfortably at his hem.

He hurriedly said to Xiao Yu, "Y-young heir, I have prepared a guest room for you. Please follow me!"

Then his eyes involuntarily darted toward Consort Wan behind him.

He could not be certain whether the young heir's words were true, but looking at the woman before him, he felt an enduring sense of closeness.

He asked cautiously, "Would you... like to come inside for a while?"

Consort Wan had not expected him to ask her and froze.

Glistening tears instantly rolled down her cheeks. Coming to her senses, she hurriedly wiped them away with her sleeve.

"I... It's too late tonight. I'll come another time." Would that be all right?

Hearing the unspoken question in her words, the crown prince answered softly, "All right..."

"You're always welcome."

Consort Wan smiled.

She silently watched his retreating figure until he turned a corner and vanished from sight. Only then did she turn away.

She could not linger here. What if that man discovered her and hid her son away again?

How wonderful.

Her son was still alive and well.

Consort Wan gripped her hem tightly, her gaze resolute.

This time, she would protect her son.

Not even that man would be allowed to harm him in the slightest.

"Where is Consort Wan?"

Xiao Yu looked behind the crown prince. Seeing that she had not followed them, he could not help asking.

The crown prince answered, "She said it was too late and that she would come tomorrow..."

Early the next morning

Consort Wan arrived as promised.

"These are... for me?"

The crown prince stared at the new clothes in his hands. He froze, his hands trembling involuntarily, scarcely able to believe it.

He had forgotten how many years it had been since he had worn new clothes.

Though he still held the title of crown prince, no one in the imperial palace took it seriously. He was no different from those living in the cold palace.

"Go and try them on. See whether they fit. If not, I'll take them back and alter them," Consort Wan told him with a smile.

She had always firmly believed that her child was still alive, so every year she made several sets of clothes and kept them ready.

Today, they had finally found their use.

Still, she had made them based on her estimate of his size at each age, so there were bound to be discrepancies.

Clutching the clothes, the crown prince pressed his lips together and abruptly lowered his head, his eyes dimming.

"Why... are you so kind to me? I have nothing to give you..."

"Silly child."

Consort Wan stroked his head. "Since when do elders expect something in return when they give children gifts?"

The crown prince raised his head and stared at her.

After a moment, he asked, "Even if... I'm not your son?"

Could he still accept them?

Consort Wan paused, then answered with a smile, "Yes, even if you aren't my child."

Her son was so well-behaved... it broke her heart.

Changing the subject, she asked, "Where is the young heir?"

She had made an outfit for him as well.

After all, without him, she would never have known where her son was.

"His Emperor Father's men called him away between five and seven this morning," the crown prince said in a muffled voice.

Wei Yi had told him.

His Emperor Father had taken the boy to court.

It was an honor that neither he, the crown prince, nor any of the other imperial princes had ever received.

Consort Wan paused. Seeing the disappointment in his eyes, she hesitated to speak.

Then she suddenly said, "Your Emperor Father, although he's an unprincipled scoundrel, he..."

Consort Wan thought it over carefully. That incompetent emperor did not seem to have any good qualities. She had no idea how to make excuses for him...

"I know. I'm used to it," the crown prince answered with a smile, a barely perceptible trace of loneliness passing through his eyes.

Seeing that he was feeling low, Consort Wan brought over a food box and changed the subject. "I made some soup. Would you like to try it, Your Highness?"

Looking at the large bowl of soup before him, the crown prince asked incredulously, "This is all for me?"

A flicker of heartache passed through Consort Wan's eyes. She smiled. "I made it especially for you, Your Highness. Drink it while it's hot."

It's all right.

From now on, Mother will make up for it with twice the love.

We don't need that incompetent emperor's paltry bit of affection.

In the Hall of Golden Chimes

Xiao Yu sat below Emperor Jinyuan on his right. Listening to the ministers whisper among themselves, he yawned endlessly while inwardly cursing the man on the dragon throne.

[That damned incompetent emperor!]

[Keeping me confined isn't enough. He actually sent someone to wake me before dawn!]

[What sort of person does that?]

[Can't he let me live? Do hostages have no rights anymore?]

[Damn him! I'd love to smack that incompetent emperor right on the crown of his head!]

"Insolence!"

Emperor Jinyuan slapped the dragon throne.

Thinking he was addressing them, the ministers all fell to their knees-

"Please quell your anger, Your Majesty!"