Inside the private room, two people with white-flecked hair lay on the bed. Despite the commotion outside, they remained undisturbed!
Nan Shiying started to walk in, but Ji Jinmo pulled her back.
It was one thing for Princess Hui'an, but Nan Yujin was now completely undressed. How could she enter? Wouldn't it soil her eyes if she saw something unsightly?
Ji Jinmo, his face grim, pulled Nan Shiying out.
"Your Highness, inside..."
The crowd squeezed into the corridor, craning their necks to peek into the room. However, Nan Shiying had already closed the door, blocking everyone's view.
Nan Shiying walked over to Nan Yuan'er, grabbed her hair, and yanked her up from the ground.
"Ah..."
A searing pain shot through her scalp as Nan Yuan'er cried out.
"Your Highness, what are you doing?" Nan Chaoyin questioned.
Nan Shiying looked up, her gaze sharp as a blade. "What do I want to do? I should be asking what your Nan family wants to do! If I recall correctly, wasn't it your daughter who was accompanying Princess Hui'an all this time? And now the Princess is like this..." Nan Shiying deliberately trailed off, piqued by the crowd's curiosity but unwilling to elaborate. She then turned her questioning gaze to Nan Yuan'er. "I must ask, Miss Nan, what exactly did you do to the Princess!"
"Your Highness, I swear, I, I didn't do anything!"
"So, you're saying that despite being by the Princess's side, this happened?"
"No, no!"
Nan Yuan'er clutched Nan Shiying's hand, bending her knees and trying to place her feet on the ground to alleviate the pain from her scalp. Nan Shiying, noticing this small movement, sneered and kicked Nan Yuan'er's knee. Nan Yuan'er cried out and collapsed to the ground, the renewed pain in her scalp contorting her face, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Guards! Nan Yuan'er has harmed the Grand Li Princess. Take her to the Ministry of Justice!"
Harmed?
Did that mean the Princess was dead?
The crowd erupted in shock. The Grand Li Emperor had sent the Seventh Prince after the death of an envoy. Now, if the Grand Li Princess also died in Lin Yuan, this matter would be difficult to resolve. Any misstep could even trigger a war between the two nations.
What was to be done?
"What do you mean harmed? What has happened to my Imperial Sister?" Yu Chengxuan's face darkened, his usually gentle smile replaced by a somber expression that seemed capable of dripping water.
"Seventh Prince, please calm yourself. The Princess... her life is not in danger. It's just that the scene inside... is truly not something you should witness. This matter concerns the Princess's chastity... As for why I call it harming, it's because with all this commotion, and with me and the Prince having just rushed into the room, the people inside are still unconscious. This... is rather unusual!"
With her words, if anyone still didn't understand what had happened inside, they would be utterly foolish. However, upon hearing the nature of the event, the crowd's anxieties eased.
Today was a matchmaking banquet for the political alliance between the two nations. As long as the person who had intercourse with Princess Hui'an was not of too low a status, the incident would likely be spun into a tale of mutual affection, much like the past case of Zou Yunming and Qin Xiaorong.
The onlookers scanned the surroundings. The only ones not present were Zhang Silang, Mu Baiyu, and Nan Yujin. Mu Xiaoxiao, not seeing her brother, felt a flutter of panic.
Could the person inside be her brother, Mu Baiyu?
Since the incident occurred in the Nan manor, Prime Minister Nan would unlikely disown his own kin, narrowing the suspects to either Zhang Silang or Mu Baiyu!
Seeing the pallor on Mu Xiaoxiao's face, Shen Man gently tugged at her, whispering, "Don't worry. If it were your brother, the Princess Consort would have signaled you by now."
"Think about it, did the Princess Consort look at you just now?"
Mu Xiaoxiao thought for a moment, then shook her head hesitantly. "N-no, I don't think so!"
She couldn't be certain if her Princess Consort sister had looked at her.
"Don't panic!"
Shen Man comforted her again.
Whether it was her imagination or not, she felt that Liu Cheng and Liu Ling'er's expressions were somewhat strange.
"I understand the Princess Consort's intentions!"
Yu Chengxuan nodded, then suddenly turned to Nan Chaoyin, laughing in his fury. "Good, very good! You Lin Yuan people are treating our Grand Li like fools. If you cannot give our Grand Li a satisfactory explanation for today's events, then this marriage alliance is off."
"Where are the accompanying imperial physicians? Go, go inside and examine her!"
Yu Chengxuan dispatched the Grand Li accompanying imperial physicians into the room, along with their attending maids.
Yu Chengxuan then turned back, his gaze fixed chillingly on Ji Jinmo and Nan Shiying, and sneered, "Princess Consort, there's no need to put on such an act. Do you truly know nothing about this matter? And why must you insist on framing a young lady with the crime of harm!"
Nan Shiying smiled, thinking that this Grand Li Prince still had the leisure to concern himself with Nan Yuan'er's fate, showing no concern for Hui'an at all.
But then again, for royal children, what true familial affection could there be?
"Your Highness's words are quite amusing. Are you perhaps blaming me for meddling? Indeed, Hui'an is your Grand Li's Princess. Since you, a Grand Li Prince, are indifferent to her safety and well-being, why should I care?"
As Nan Shiying finished speaking, she turned to the Grand Li envoys and said, "Elders of Grand Li, have you all heard? It is not that we Lin Yuan do not give Grand Li an explanation, but rather that your Grand Li Prince does not require one. If you continue to make trouble over this matter, then you are deliberately provoking conflict between the two nations, attempting to plunge the people of Lin Yuan and Grand Li into a purgatory of suffering."
"Very well, having said all this, I believe the envoys have understood. I shall now release this young lady from the Nan manor."
"No, Your Highness, you must not!"
The Grand Li envoys heard her words. If they let the young lady from the Nan manor go, it would be an implicit acceptance of her statement, and they would be abandoning their pursuit of Lin Yuan's alleged harm to their Princess.
Although the political alliance was the Grand Li's fulfillment of a promise, the Princess was their most honored Princess Hui'an. To marry her to any ordinary noble son would not be considered a step down, let alone marrying her to their own Lin Yuan Emperor. But what was this now? Lin Yuan had been stalling on the marriage alliance, and there wasn't a single suitable young man in the entire capital for their Princess? It was utterly ridiculous. And now, they had resorted to such tactics?
Lin Yuan was truly going too far!
And the Seventh Prince, even if not close to Princess Hui'an, they were siblings by blood. How could he be so blinded by lust that, before even confirming the Princess's safety, he was already worrying about this young lady from Lin Yuan? Truly... At this moment, the Grand Li entourage harbored some grievances against Yu Chengxuan.