Xiao Luan gazed into his daughter's eyes, as still and deep as an abyss, and suddenly remembered her as a child-back then, she would cry over a butterfly with a broken wing, her brows and eyes curved as she tugged at his sleeve and pleaded in her soft, sweet voice for him to save it. Now those eyes held not a ripple when she faced him, yet he saw his own reflection in them.
"Have you really thought this through? Weren't you hoping to use the Eastern Palace to counterbalance me? If you refuse the Xu Family's marriage proposal, how will you explain yourself to the Eastern Palace?" Xiao Luan's voice remained steady.
Baoyue was equally steady:
"Your daughter has never thought of counterbalancing her father. I simply do not wish to follow in Mother's footsteps-"
She deliberately paused, hoping to glimpse something on her father's face, but she saw nothing.
Baoyue drew a breath, her voice as steady as before:
"As for the Eastern Palace, I will give them an explanation myself."
Xiao Luan said coldly:
"What explanation could you possibly give? The Prince of Badong has rebelled. All the evidence of his crimes you gathered is useless now. What will you explain?"
Baoyue fell silent.
There was no denying that the Prince of Badong's uprising had changed many things. She had exhausted every stratagem to verify the evidence of his dealings with the barbarians in weapons. This should have been a bargaining chip of tremendous weight, yet almost overnight, it had become utterly worthless!
Once a prince had already rebelled, what did it matter whether he had colluded with the barbarians?
Xiao Luan shook his head and laughed:
"You haven't even sorted out your own affairs, yet you still have the mind to meddle in someone else's. You