"My son, for every gain, there is a loss. You are not a child, do you not understand this truth?" Empress Lu's face darkened. "What good does sentimentality do for you? Besides making you lose yourself and neglect your ambitions, what benefit does it bring? If that Su Qingyue were a good woman, knowing your current predicament, she should have made her own decision."
The Second Prince's lips trembled. "Mother, your son is willing to have no desires."
Empress Lu's eyes snapped open, her gaze sharp as knives as she fixed on the Second Prince. He instinctively flinched.
"My son, I hope this is the first and last time you say such a thing," Empress Lu's voice dripped with coldness, each word deliberate. "Whether Su Qingyue lives, and how she lives, depends on you. If you are sensible, Su Qingyue will naturally not suffer too much."
The Second Prince drooped his head, the words he had just uttered with all his might having drained his courage.
"Mother, your son is very tired. Can you let me rest properly?" the Second Prince asked.
Empress Lu sighed. "My son, one day you will understand that all of this is for your own good. You are my only son; if not for you, for whom else would I do this? Go back now and think carefully about what I have said."
The Second Prince let out a low hum and stumbled out.
A palace maid beside Empress Lu hesitated to speak. Empress Lu glanced at her. "What, are you going to plead for them?"
"Your Highness, the Second Prince is your only son. You can discuss matters calmly. Once the mother-son bond is broken, it is very difficult to mend."
"My son's disposition is too indecisive, and his heart is full of affection for Su Qingyue. I have no choice. I have suffered hardships, and I do not wish for Ruoyun to suffer them again. I am also helpless. If my son were more capable, why would I have to tie him and the Lu family together? While I wish for my maternal family's prosperity, I wish even more for my son's well-being. I only hope that one day, my son will understand the complexities of all this," Empress Lu sighed.
"The Second Prince is very intelligent; he will surely understand," the maid said.
"My head hurts a little. Please rub it for me," Empress Lu said in a low voice.
The Second Prince left the palace in a daze. He did not get into his carriage, instead wandering back to his residence on foot.
How was he to tell Qingyue?
Unbeknownst to him, Su Qingyue, with the help of her maidservants, had fled the Second Prince's manor in a sorry state.
The two wet nurses who usually served her in her courtyard had intended to harm the child in her womb. They claimed to be acting on the Empress's orders and asked her not to blame them. The child had arrived at an inopportune time, as the Second Prince was to marry Lu Ruoyun. The Empress, out of past affection, intended to make her the Second Prince's concubine.
Su Qingyue could not believe that the prince who had always doted on her was going to marry someone else.
She desperately wanted to ask, but she could not remain in the prince's manor.
Su Qingyue hurried through quiet alleyways, her hand protectively cradling the child in her womb. No matter what, she would protect her child with her life.
As the Second Prince reached the main gate, the gatekeeper rushed to inform him that the Second Prince's Consort was missing.
"Missing? What do you mean missing? Speak clearly, how can a person simply disappear?" The Second Prince grabbed the gatekeeper's clothes, his eyes turning red.
"This servant does not know," the gatekeeper replied tremblingly.
The Second Prince let go of the gatekeeper, throwing him to the ground, and hurried towards the inner courtyard.
With so many people serving Qingyue, how could she have gone missing?