Chapter 460 - 330: Turning the Tables (Part 3)
Miaoyan wiped her tears, her voice hoarse like a broken bellows:
"Gu Lan, thank you for letting me know these things... truly, I’d rather live with clarity than be kept in the dark for a lifetime."
Gu Lan held Miaoyan’s hand and earnestly said, "In my heart, you will always be the best princess of Dayan."
Miaoyan tried to raise her red lips into a smile, her pale and delicate face blooming like a vibrant peony in summer, breathtakingly beautiful:
"Every decision I make is not just because I am the princess of Dayan, but because I am a person of Yan; from now on, I am only a person of Yan."
Gu Lan looked at Miaoyan’s exquisite and bright face, a strange thought arose in her heart, fleeting before she could grasp it...
Rong Miaoyan’s emotions fluctuated greatly throughout the night, but now she was completely calm.
Her gaze fell on the menstrual belt Meiduo brought for Gu Lan, her thoughts shifted, and she suddenly recalled Gu Lan’s comforting words earlier.
"You... you just said that neither Rong Heng nor Dingyuan Marquis Mansion would let Dayan fall into chaos, but the Emperor’s purpose is to force Dingyuan Marquis to rebel. How could Dingyuan Marquis stand by while you’re locked here?"
Maybe Gu Lan could ensure that Rong Heng, handling Wei Junzhuo and the war at the Southern Border, would prioritize the greater good, believing Gu Lan would be unharmed. But how could Gu Lan be certain Dingyuan Marquis would remain calm?
The world knew how fiercely protective Dingyuan Marquis was as a father, having returned to the capital with unparalleled battle merits, forcing the Empress Dowager to retract the imperial marriage decree. He would never sit by and watch Gu Lan be taken into the palace—
Gu Lan said, "As long as my being a woman is revealed to the world, my father will understand what I want to do, by then, he will choose to believe me."
Miaoyan frowned, "If the Emperor knew you were a woman, it’s impossible that there hasn’t been any movement these days. I heard the Emperor listened to Yuan Lu’s advice, intending to control you with poison, so I hurried to see you. He didn’t search you; you couldn’t possibly voluntarily expose your identity..."
Gu Lan’s heart moved, realizing the Heart-devouring Incense also involved Yuan Lu.
She really needed to "thank" him properly.
Gu Lan’s long eyelashes lowered slightly, gazing intently at Miaoyan, her eyes calm and gentle, as if ripples of starlight were within.
Miaoyan’s pupils constricted, a chill ran up her head, and the flush from crying drained from her face like the ebb of a tide.
She understood Gu Lan’s gaze,
also realizing,
what an incredibly foolish thing she had done.
"Gu Lan," Miaoyan’s voice once again tinged with sobs, "I’m sorry."
Gu Lan’s eyes held a gentle smile, calmly reassuring:
"Didn’t I tell you not to be afraid? Rong Jing can’t do anything to me, and this was the outcome I wanted all along. My identity was revealed willingly by myself, you could say, I used you."
Miaoyan suddenly retreated two steps; if Cheng Yu hadn’t stepped forward to support her, she might have collapsed to the ground.
"No, no, I was really too stupid. How could I, how could I not think of this..."
Tonight, Miaoyan shed too many tears, but thinking of the changes her arrival might bring to Gu Lan and Rong Jing’s relationship, her eyes reddened once more, bloodshot streaking through them.
Miaoyan’s heart was filled with guilt and self-reproach. With her final resolve, she steadied her nearly collapsing spirit, word by word, resolute:
"Gu Lan, you don’t know how important your existence is to me, even if you used me. It was my impulsiveness that plunged you into crisis. The Emperor, he is a madman. If he knew your identity... No matter what happens after tonight, I will never let you suffer here again."
Having been struck by Gu Lan’s true identity, she overlooked many things, and now she finally realized what she had done.
Tonight, she should not have been here!
Miaoyan sadly turned her head, glancing at Cheng Yu beside her.
The young man offered her a gentle flattering smile, his verdant eyes concealing a deep longing, and Miaoyan felt her pupil pricked by his smile. She abruptly clenched her fist.
"Let’s go."
Cheng Yu was about to take back the hand warmer from the table when Miaoyan stopped him: "Let Gu Lan use it, it’s too cold here."
"But—" Cheng Yu looked at Miaoyan’s frost-covered eyes and silently withdrew his words of persuasion.
Perhaps Young Master Gu had a place to hide the hand warmer without being discovered; it wasn’t his place to ask.
Gu Lan gave a slight smile to Miaoyan, holding the warm hand warmer to her chest: "Thank you."
The narrow wooden door opened, the "clatter" of the iron chain was especially crisp in the quiet night, yet it seemed no one heard it.
Because those four guards had been bribed by him, Cheng Yu thought.