[Holy crap, that scared the life out of me.]
[Don't you have wives to stare at? There are plenty of pretty flower buds in your harem. Why are you staring at me when you've got nothing better to do?]
[You're not cooking up another nasty scheme, are you?]
For the first time in a long while, Chu Wenzong felt his brow twitch twice.
Still, he patiently voiced the questions weighing on his mind. "As soon as Mother returned, she changed her clothes and went into the Ancestral Hall carrying a wooden box. What was in that box? What did you two do in Jiangnan?"
[Oh, so you're worried about your mother. At least you've got a little filial piety in you.]
Chu Youning had no intention of beating around the bush. "Oh, it's nothing serious. The box held the court robes Chu Zhaohua left behind."
"Court robes? Why would she leave those behind for no reason? And surely Mother didn't need to take them into the Ancestral Hall?"
Chu Wenzong could not help furrowing his brow.
He already knew much of what had happened in Jiangnan, but when it came to the Grand Princess, he had only received word of the arrangements she had made for the Yu Kingdom. As for everything else... he was lost in a fog.
Chu Youning considered her wording, then said slowly, "She... no longer wants her status as Grand Princess."
[Now... with what little strength she has, she's finished everything she wanted to do and could do, and cast aside both the imperial family and her status as Grand Princess.]
[Mother is probably grieving and blaming herself for everything she owes her.]
*[Chu Zhaohua probably won't ever return to the Capital in this lifetime. All Mother can do is take those court robes to