The Devious First-Daughter

Although Consort Ning was fine, she had suffered some shock, so Prince Yi had gone to her place to comfort her. However, her mistress was his princess, so why wasn’t he visiting her instead?

“Where is His Highness?” Commandery Princess Xianyun directly asked, lowering her eyes.

“Princess, I heard that Consort Ning has fainted. Her health has always been poor and she also suffered a great shock today. His Highness is worried, so he has gone to check on her.” A sympathetic Qiuhuan reached out to massage her mistress’ legs. Her mistress had been sitting for so long that her legs and feet must have gone numb.

Commandery Princess Xianyun had kept her body very still from the moment she sat on the marital bed. It had been such a long time since. Moving her legs and feet now brought on a wave of numbness that nearly made her cry out in pain.

“She fainted? On the first day of her marriage?” A sneer appeared on Commandery Princess Xianyun’s face. Holding onto Qiuhuan’s hand, she stood up and moved her feet with difficulty. Her legs felt weak and uncomfortable, but she felt even worse on the inside. It was as if there was a fire burning in her heart. If she wasn’t so patient, she would have screamed by now.

“Princess, don’t worry. It doesn’t matter how charming she is. Don’t forget that His Highness nearly went to the Lord Protector’s Manor to break off their engagement. I’m sure she pulled this trick because she’s worried that he wouldn’t favor her even after marrying her. What kind of beautiful women hadn’t His Highness see? You’re his principal wife, the one and only.”

Xiangrong tried to persuade her mistress in a soft voice while helping her walk slowly.

“That’s right, Princess. Don’t take this to heart. His Highness will feel sorry for you if he sees you like this,” Qiuhuan added.

“Enough talking. I want to take a nap.” Commandery Princess Xianyun waved her hand and laid down on the bed. She flicked her long sleeve onto her face, covering the tears pooling in her eyes at that moment.

How could she not be angry? She was the Empress Dowager’s maternal niece and a relative of the Empress. Who would dare belittle someone of her status? Moreover, she believed that her beauty was unquestionable. Regardless of status or appearance, she was a great match for Prince Yi. She even felt that no other woman aside from her could match up to him.

Even so, he had never shown her any warmth. Never mind that, he even visited Ning Xueyan’s place on the first night of their marriage.

She had heard about Ning Xueyan’s poor health. Ning Xueyan didn’t have much status in the Lord Protector’s Manor in the past; everything she consumed and used there was worse than a maid’s. Her health had never been nursed well since young, and today’s incident seemed to have brought her a great deal of damage.

Still, no matter how weak Ning Xueyan was, she couldn’t have possibly fainted at the moment of the wedding ceremony and marital night. It was obvious that Ning Xueyan was trying to humiliate her. More outrageously, Prince Yi actually fell for it. How could Commandery Princess not be angry?

Whether it was talent, reputation, family background, status, or appearance, she believed that she was better than Ning Xueyan. So how could Prince Yi neglect her for Ning Xueyan?

How could a pale, weak, barely adult Ning Xueyan compare to her? She might even have a problem giving birth to an heir in the future.

She was a magnificent Commandery Princess with the support of the Empress and Lord Peace’s Manor. She was also close to the Emperor. Compared to Ning Xueyan who had nothing to her name, she was so much better. Anyone with a discerning eye could see her advantages. She had even endured the fact that Prince Yi had a favored concubine at his manor.

What more did he want from her? What did he want her to do…

Commandery Princess Xianyun had her face covered as she laid on the bed, her unhappiness apparent to everyone. She was so quiet that the sound of the maids’ feet was barely audible.

It was just as quiet in the Pear Flower Garden, if only because Ning Xueyan was sleeping. It was much simpler for her to enter Prince Yi’s manor, but since she was an officially mandated consort, she had to undergo a wedding ceremony in the side courtyard. After Ao Chenyi finished his ceremony with Commandery Princess Xianyun, he immediately went to Ning Xueyan’s courtyard for their wedding.

By now, everyone had realized that the consort’s kidnapping was a misunderstanding. No one knew which bride’s sedan was hijacked at the same auspicious hour. If it wasn’t for Consort Ning’s sudden delay, she might be the unfortunate one.

Everyone was intrigued. Those men in black had clearly come for Consort Ning, only to accidentally kidnap another bride. It seemed that she was quite lucky.

Still, Consort Ning was rumored to be frail and weak. It was said that she had missed the auspicious timing because of a sudden fainting spell. She had to force herself to go through the wedding rituals, only to suddenly faint again and sending Prince Yi’s manor into a state of chaos. Fortunately, Prince Yi had always kept a physician nearby and everyone was finally able to calm down. Later, they learned that Consort Ning didn’t faint because of her weak health but because someone had told her about the kidnapping incident.

It was only normal for a weak woman like her to faint after hearing that someone was targeting her.

That was how Consort Ning had to recuperate in the Pear Flower Garden shortly after entering Prince Yi’s Manor.

Naturally, Prince Yi had to entertain the guests. Regardless of everything that happened, today was his day of celebration and he even married two brides at once. This indeed earned the admiration of many. As a prince, he didn’t have to toast anyone but that didn’t stop people from toasting him. So, as Commandery Princess Xianyun had guessed, he was currently succumbing to Ning Xueyan’s charms at the moment.

Ning Xueyan had been sleeping for a while. It wasn’t that she didn’t sleep well last night; it didn’t take more than a few tosses in bed for her to drift to dreamland. Moreover, she had slept surprisingly well and woke up at dawn. It was a little early, but it wasn’t unbearable. She ended up completing the wedding ceremony at Prince Yi’s Manor and did as Ao Chenyi had ordered: pretending to faint and lie down to sleep.

She had already taken off her extravagantly ornate and heavy headdress, so she felt light all over.

After sleeping for so long, however, she couldn’t bring herself to sleep any longer. She stood up and looked out the window, where the sky had darkened. It must be nighttime now.

“Get someone to tidy up and send some food over. You guys eat too. Once we’re done, we can rest,” Ning Xueyan said, waving her hand with an exhausted look on her face. Since this was a dual wedding ceremony, it was only fair for Prince Yi to visit Commandery Princess Xianyun’s courtyard first.

“What about His Highness?” Qingyu asked hesitantly. Prince Yi had ordered her to carefully serve Ning Xueyan, saying that he would come over soon. Now that the doors were closed, how could he enter?

“It’s fine. His Highness will visit the Great Wisdom Garden first.” Ning Xueyan shook her head and looked out of the window. She lowered her head and felt lost.

Suddenly, she didn’t know how to interact with Ao Chenyi anymore. She had only agreed to this marriage because she didn’t care about anything. Back then, her sole objective was revenge. To avenge herself and repay her debt of gratitude, she had agreed to his proposal. It didn’t matter to her whom she married.

She had been badly hurt by love in her past life; in this life, she dared not to harbor any hope or expectation.

She bit her lower lip and suppressed the sense of confusion that she was feeling. She was in Prince Yi’s Manor, not the Lord Protector’s Manor anymore. There were some things that she could do, and some that she couldn’t. She was well-aware that she didn’t come here to battle Commandery Princess Xianyun for Prince Yi’s affection.

Last night, she had received a letter from Ao Chenyi warning her that someone would ambush her on her way to the manor. Thus, she pretended to faint so that she would miss the auspicious timing. The auspicious timing had been chosen by the imperial astronomers specifically for her; few people knew about this.

She didn’t know why Ao Chenyi told her to pretend to faint earlier, but she did as he had ordered. It allowed her to rest and relax as well. It was better than sitting still on the bed and wait like a fool.

There were maids from Prince Yi’s Manor waiting outside her room, so once they heard that she wanted to dine, they immediately served dishes that they had prepared in advance. They had long heard about Consort Ning’s weak health and her fainting spells today. If she ended up fainting because she didn’t have any dinner, it would be their burden to bear.

Since they still didn’t know Prince Yi’s opinion about Consort Ning, they could only serve her faithfully.

The dishes were hot when they were served. There were six dishes and a soup, with four flavorful and two bland dishes making a tasty combination. Although flavorful, the dishes were made much lighter-tasting. Ning Xueyan didn’t like greasy food and all of these dishes happened to her favorites.

The color of the soup was pale, but that didn’t affect its strong fragrance. The soup would have to be boiled for several hours to produce such a fragrance.

Seeing these dishes made Ning Xueyan hungry. She took the bowl that Lanning handed her and started digging in. She even added more rice after emptying her bowl, eating more than her usual amount. This put Lanning and the other maids at ease at long last.

After Ning Xueyan finished her dinner, the maids ate some as well before asking the servants to take away the plates.

The servants hadn’t gone far before they heard someone shout outside the courtyard, “His Highness is here!”

Ao Chenyi had arrived before Ning Xueyan could close the doors. She stood up and walked to the door with her maids, too late to put on her pearl headdress.

Ao Chenyi lifted the curtain and strode into the room. His ornate wedding robe was a brilliant red that made him look even more handsome. The red spider lily pattern on his usual black robe had always given Ning Xueyan a sinister feeling, so he appeared like a proper gentleman to her in these clothes.

There was a slight smile on his delicate face as he stepped into the room and looked at her. An emotion that could even be described as gentleness could be seen in his eyes.

“Have you finished dinner? Is it to your taste?” Ao Chenyi waved his hand when he entered the room, indicating for the others to leave. Ning Xueyan’s personal maids hesitated for a moment and looked at her. Ao Chenyi had also turned his body towards Ning Xueyan with a slight smile, forcing her to wave her hand at her maids. They had no choice but to retreat and wait outside the room.

They knew that their mistress shared some secrets with Prince Yi, so they waited outside to guard against the manor’s servants.

“Yan’er, do you know who’s targeting you?” Ao Chenyi reached out and pulled Ning Xueyan into his arms matter-of-factly before plunging towards the bed. Caught off guard by his action, she fell on him on the bed. She could hear his playful laughter in her ears.

Feeling a fit of sudden anger, she pushed him in vain, only to have him pin down her hands. She looked up at him, frustration and resentment coloring her bright eyes.