NCCnovel Chapter 434
Chapter 434
Princess Fuan's words actually caused a faint, almost imperceptible smile to touch the corners of Lanhua's lips.So what if this princess knew she was faking it?
Prince Lanhuai completely fell for her act.
Otherwise, it would have been impossible for her to win Prince Lanhuai's deep affection in such a short amount of time.
Thinking that her own sister might have died at the hands of someone like this, Lanhua felt a surge of hatred in her heart.
However, she also knew clearly that while Princess Fuan was a suspect, there was someone else in this manor with even greater suspicion: Princess Consort Lanhuai.
"Your Highness, this concubine should head back first, lest the princess feels displeased seeing me and it harms the bond between father and daughter," Lanhua quickly said, bowing aggrievedly to Prince Lanhuai as she prepared to take her leave.
"Lan'er, you go back first. I will come find you once I am done," Prince Lanhuai said, not asking Lanhua to stay. After all, he still had to take Princess Fuan to meet the Third Prince of the Qinling Kingdom.
It was not appropriate for him to bring a concubine along for this matter. Besides, he currently doted on Lanhua very much. If the Third Prince happened to overlook his daughter and take a fancy to his concubine instead, he could not afford to lose such face.
"This concubine takes her leave." Lanhua obediently withdrew.
As she left, she even gave a polite bow to Princess Fuan, who was standing to the side.
"Hmph! So fake!" Princess Fuan had never thought highly of such seductive women.
"Alright, go freshen up. You are coming out with me," Prince Lanhuai said, somewhat dissatisfied with his daughter's behavior. However, the most urgent matter at hand was to hurry and meet the Third Prince.
After all, the priority was to quickly secure a powerful backer.
"Where to?" Princess Fuan asked with a look of impatience.
She was still angry. Since her father had not coaxed her properly, she was not about to just go out with him.
Princess Fuan thought about how, in the past, whenever she was angry, Prince Lanhuai would send all sorts of good things straight to her courtyard. But ever since those little sluts entered the manor, it had been a long time since she received any nice gifts from her father.
Prince Lanhuai, however, glared in displeasure at his daughter, who now seemed to have forgotten her place.
If it were not for the fact that he needed to rely on her to curry favor with the Third Prince, he would have loved to teach her a good lesson right then and there.
"You will know once you come with me," Prince Lanhuai said, reining in his temper a bit.
Meanwhile, Shangguan Mu had no idea that a certain Prince Lanhuai in the capital was in a rush to bring his daughter to meet him. Instead, he had gone straight into the imperial palace.
After all, since his whereabouts had already been exposed, acting like a coward hiding in a shell was not in his nature.
As for whether the Emperor of the Lannuo Kingdom would misunderstand him, that was completely outside of Shangguan Mu's consideration.
After all, he had an important mission in coming to the Lannuo Kingdom.
Presumably, the Lannuo Kingdom did not want to live in constant fear every day either.
Who could blame them when the Qinling Kingdom was so powerful?
Thinking of this, Shangguan Mu stood arrogantly in the lower hall and said to Zhu Jingchen, "Emperor of Lannuo, I have come to your Lannuo Kingdom by the special decree of our Emperor of Qinling. I am here primarily for two matters."
In Shangguan Mu's tone, there was not the slightest bit of respect for Zhu Jingchen.
Instead, it was full of perfunctoriness.
Zhu Jingchen's expression was somewhat displeased.
After all, the feeling of only knowing an enemy had invaded when they were already standing right in front of him was truly terrible.
He had no idea what those border officials were doing, to actually let such a person slip into the Lannuo Kingdom without sending the slightest word.
Thinking of this, Zhu Jingchen radiated a dark, oppressive aura.
"I wonder what matter brings the Third Prince to the Lannuo Kingdom in such a hurry?" Zhu Jingchen asked, his tone laced with dissatisfaction.
His tone further condemned Shangguan Mu's rudeness.
To actually just show up directly, rather than sending an envoy first.
The conceited Shangguan Mu, however, did not catch the sarcasm in Zhu Jingchen's words. Instead, looking as if he were bestowing charity, he said, "To show our sincerity for a century of good relations between our two nations, our Emperor of Qinling has specially ordered me to come this time to sign a new century-long peace treaty with you."
"Oh? What century-long peace treaty? How come I am unaware that our Lannuo Kingdom is to sign this hundred-year agreement?" Zhu Jingchen said, feigning ignorance.
In his heart, however, he knew clearly that they would come for this matter sooner or later. He just had not expected them to disrespect the Lannuo Kingdom so much as to just quietly send a prince over.
"To show our sincerity, our Qinling Kingdom has specially sent a princess for a marriage alliance. To show yours, you should also send a princess to marry me," Shangguan Mu said on his own, ignoring whatever reaction Zhu Jingchen might have.
"Then the Third Prince might have to wait a few more years. The princesses I have are all still young. You will have to wait until they grow up a bit more before they can marry," Zhu Jingchen said deliberately.
In fact, saying this was his way of rejecting Shangguan Mu. After all, if there was a genuine intention for a marriage alliance, even without a princess of marriageable age, they would just choose a minister's daughter and bestow the title of princess upon her.
"There is no need for such trouble. I have already picked out the candidate for you. You just need to prepare a generous dowry for my future princess consort later!"
Shangguan Mu said, not treating himself as an outsider at all.
He was even thinking gleefully in his heart that by marrying Li Zhiwei, not only would he possess the Li family's wealth, but he would also make the Emperor of Lannuo provide a generous dowry. This trip would definitely not be in vain.
"I wonder which family's young lady the Third Prince has taken a fancy to?" Now Zhu Jingchen was truly curious. After all, he knew that this Third Prince had not been in the capital for very long, right?
Which family's young lady was so unlucky to have been targeted by this man?
For some reason, Xu Heming, who was standing to the side, had a bad premonition.
After all, this person's behavior of going to the Li family was already abnormal. At this moment, Xu Heming's face was extremely dark and gloomy.
He thought to himself that if this man dared to say he wanted to marry Li Zhiwei, he would definitely find a way to trample the Qinling Kingdom flat.
Damn bastard, daring to covet his woman?
However, before the man said it out loud, he still held onto a final sliver of hope.
If it were anyone else, he would not interfere. As long as that person agreed, it would be a matter of mutual consent between them.
"The young lady of the Li family, the daughter of your Minister of Revenue, Lord Li," Shangguan Mu said with a smug look.
Damn it!
Without a second thought, Xu Heming stepped right in front of Shangguan Mu.
This bastard actually dared to covet Li Zhiwei?
How dare he?
"Are the courtiers of your Lannuo Kingdom all this lacking in manners?" Shangguan Mu was badly startled by Xu Heming's sudden appearance.
Zhu Jingchen rolled his eyes.
Manners?
You're trying to snatch the man's future wife, what manners do you expect him to show you?
"Third Prince, is it?" Xu Heming looked at Shangguan Mu, his tone icy cold and his eyes filled with murderous intent.
If he were not considering the bigger picture right now, he would have long since drawn the sword at his waist and finished this man off.
What the hell was this guy?
How could someone like him be worthy of coveting his Weiwei?
"You... what do you want to do?" At this moment, the Third Prince felt a bit of fear in his heart. How could this small Lannuo Kingdom have such a terrifying person?