Ning Xueyan and Heng Yuqing took the left road, where the flower garden was. The road to the right led to the Princess’ courtyard while the middle road led to the Prince’s study.

Heng Yuwan’s forehead was sweating again.

She stared squarely at the middle road. For a moment, she couldn’t move her feet.

“Second Young Lady, let’s go. We don’t want to let my master and the First Young Lady wait for too long,” Lanning said politely, smiling.

“You all can go ahead. I need to take a break. My feet hurt.” Unexpectedly, Heng Yuwan shook her head and held onto a nearby tree to stand still.

“I’ll stay here and accompany you then, Young Lady.” Seeing that Heng Yuwan couldn’t walk anymore, it went without saying that her maid would stay with her.

“It’s all right. You can go first. I’ll join you after a short break.” Heng Yuwan shook her head, rejecting the maid’s offer. She didn’t want anyone to follow her.

After thinking about it, Lanning suggested, “Second Young Lady, why don’t I stay here with you? I don’t want you to become lost.” This was Prince Yi’s Manor. It wouldn’t be appropriate to just leave Heng Yuwan alone here.

“It’s fine. Go ahead. I don’t want Consort Ning and my sister to be unable to find you when they need you.” Heng Yuwan was smiling but her tone was firm.

Seeing that Heng Yuwan was determined not to let anyone stay with her, the three maids had no choice but to continue down the road by themselves. They took the road to the left, made a turn, and disappeared out of view. Once Heng Yuwan couldn’t see them anymore, she gritted her teeth and took the middle road.

She was much better than Heng Yuqing. Since Prince Yi treated his women well, she might as well claim this marriage for herself. She was one of the ladies of the Lord Guardian’s Manor, after all. They could just ask the Empress to change the bride’s name when bestowing the marriage order. She was superior to Heng Yuqing anyway. If Prince Yi was willing to marry Heng Yuqing, he would surely be willing to marry her.

It was said that Prince Yi took a second look at Heng Yuqing upon meeting her. She believed that it was because Prince Yi hadn’t met her yet. If they were to meet, Prince Yi would do more than just taking a second look at her.

Summoning her courage, Heng Yuwan walked down the middle road with firm determination.

It didn’t take long for her to arrive at Chuihua Gate. She stood not far away from the gate and saw two older female servants sitting under a flowering tree on the other side, watching the door from a distance. They were chatting and not paying attention to the door, allowing Heng Yuwan to sneak in. Fortunately, the servants were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn’t notice anyone walking out of Chuihua Gate.

There was only one road outside the gate. After walking a short distance, Heng Yuwan saw a courtyard with two young eunuchs standing on the other side. She immediately hid behind a tree.

“Hurry up with the Prince’s tea. He went to bed late last night, so he wants to take a nap in the right-most wing. You’ll be punished if you don’t move quickly,” a eunuch yelled at another eunuch in a high-pitched voice.

“Yes! Yes! I’ll get it ready right away. Eunuch Wang, why is His Highness resting in the right-most wing instead of the study?” the other eunuch asked curiously.

There was usually a room inside the study, allowing one to go in for a rest whenever one was tired from reading.

“That’s not something a little eunuch like you should ask about. There’ll be visitors at the study in a while. We can’t let them stay in the wing. Hurry up, won’t you? When you come in, use the side door on the right. Walk quietly so you don’t disturb the Prince’s rest,” the eunuch scolded.

“Yes! Yes! I’ll go right away!” the other eunuch replied, turning around and breaking into a run.

The first eunuch also turned around and entered the courtyard, likely going in to serve Prince Yi.

Prince Yi was right here, in the right-wing of this courtyard. Heng Yuwan’s heart was beating so hard that it threatened to jump out of her throat. She calmed down and turned right. She heard that there was a side door here, where it would lead her right to the first room in the right-wing. She must meet Prince Yi no matter what.

If Prince Yi were to look a few more times at her, that meant her plan was a success. That meant that she was at least more attractive to the prince than Heng Yuqing was.

If Prince Yi wouldn’t look at her, she could just say that she took the wrong road. She was sure that he wouldn’t make things difficult for her.

She began to calm down. No matter how she looked at it, she wouldn’t get into trouble.

With such a thought in mind, she turned around and found a door on the right. She gave it a slight push and found that it was indeed merely shut. What made her even happier was that the right-wing was quite far from the main building. Although a few eunuchs and guards were standing there, no one was looking in her direction.

A few steps later, she found herself in front of the door of the room on the far right. When she saw that a eunuch at the main building was about to look her way, she couldn’t afford to think twice before opening the door and slipping in.

She tried to regulate her breathing at the door before walking past the screen. As expected, she found a young man in his twenties sleeping on the couch behind the screen. The young man had a rather majestic look and she was certain that he was Prince Yi.

Everyone said that Prince Yi was a cold-blooded and terrifying man. Now that he was asleep, he looked just a little sterner than most people.

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Heng Yuwan slowly approached him, but she didn’t know what to do. Should she wake him up? But she wouldn’t dare. If she were to anger him, she was sure that her father wouldn’t be able to protect her.

But if she didn’t wake him, how would he know that she was here? How would she know if he would become interested in her?

She was still weighing her options when she squatted beside the bed and put her hands on it. To her surprise, a pair of powerful hands immediately grabbed hers and violently pulled her forward. She found herself being flung forward…

Commandery Princess Xianyun had just gotten back to her courtyard when she heard that Prince Yi was summoning her. Not knowing what was going on, she immediately went to the study with her maid.

Ao Chenyi’s study wasn’t located in the Moon-embracing Tower, but in the outer courtyard near the second gate. It was, in actuality, a place for him to rest. Whenever he didn’t want to rest in the Moon-embracing Tower, he would stay in the study instead. He would spend most of the day there.

Not being in the inner courtyard was incredibly convenient for him.

While following the little eunuch into the study, she realized that quite a few people had come to the manor today. Not only did she see the Third and Fourth Princes at the outer courtyard, but she noticed a few Princely Heirs as well. Surprisingly, they were standing outside the courtyard instead of waiting in the study itself. Several eunuchs were guarding a building next to the study with their heads lowered, pretending that they didn’t know anything.

Ao Chenyi was sitting on a large chair made out of Phoebe Zhennan wood. There were fruits and light refreshments on the long table beside him. He looked languid and his handsome face carried no trace of anger as he lazily picked up a nearby cup of tea. He took a sip, making his red lips look all that more enchanting.

His eyes, however, were as cold and fierce as ever. The light in his eyes made his emotion difficult to grasp.

No matter how one looked at it, it was a bad situation.

“Did something happen, Your Highness?” Commandery Princess Xianyun carefully asked.

“Go in and see for yourself!” Ao Chenyi said casually, pointing at the right-wing.

What had just happened? The Princess looked around and saw the Princely Heirs turning their heads, pretending that they hadn’t heard their conversation. Princely Heir of Commandery Prince Min, Wen Xueran, was knocking his fan on his hand and chatting breezily with the Fourth Prince. The Third Prince, on the other hand, looked gloomy and his eyebrows were tightly knitted.

The reaction of everyone here was proof that something had happened here.

The Princess thought about it briefly before walking to the right-wing with Xiangrong. Since the Prince had told her to look, this must have something to do with her. She was completely in the dark now, so she didn’t know what had happened inside.

The eunuchs stepped back and gave way when they saw her. When Xiangrong opened the door for her, the first thing that entered their ears was loud crying. She walked past the screen and saw a disheveled woman hugging her head and sobbing on the floor next to the bed.

The woman looked up when she heard the door open and met the Princess’ eyes.

“Second Young Lady Heng!” The Princess was taken aback. She was shocked when she recognized the woman to be Second Young Lady Heng. Wasn’t Heng Yuwan supposed to be keeping an eye on Ning Xueyan and Heng Yuqing? Why did she come to the outer courtyard all by herself and appear inside Ao Chenyi’s study with such an appearance?

“Princess, Princess, please save me.” Heng Yuwan immediately threw herself at the Princess upon seeing her. She burst into tears as she hugged the Princess’ leg.

She didn’t know how things ended up like this. That man suddenly woke up and tried to do the unspeakable to her, so she subconsciously fought back. Even though she had intended to seduce him, she didn’t want it to happen while he was half-awake. Her mother had warned her that she shouldn’t trust a man’s words at a time like this. She must earn Prince Yi’s support if she wanted to enter his manor as his consort.

If she allowed Prince Yi to sleep with her so casually, she would eventually be escorted into the manor in a small sedan as one of his many concubines. This was not her plan.

Fortunately, it seemed that Prince Yi didn’t expect such fierce resistance from her. They fell from the bed to the ground, knocking down a nearby stool. Soon, the door flung open and a bunch of people rushed in. The two of them, still holding to each other, immediately froze.

When Heng Yuwan saw a handsome, grim-looking man standing among the people, she became dumbstruck.

That ink-black robe covered in embroidered red spider lilies, that cold and blood-thirsty nobleman… That was undoubtedly Prince Yi… Then, who was the man who was still hugging her?

A few men came and dragged the man away. Then, they shut her here and paid her no attention. She was terrified and panicking. So many people had rushed in and saw her hugging another man in a disheveled state. Her reputation was completely ruined.

She thought she would be able to use this incident to make Prince Yi feel guilty. She would threaten to kill herself to preserve her chastity, forcing him to make her his consort. But look at the situation now! Why wasn’t the man on the bed Prince Yi?

“Why are you here?” Commandery Princess Xianyun asked anxiously. Her mind was a complete mess at the moment.

She must ask about this. Concubine Yun was determined to befriend the Lord Protector’s Manor, and even said that once she became the mistress of the family, the Lord Guardian’s Manor would follow the Lord Peace’s Manor’s lead.

“I… I don’t know. I don’t know anything. I couldn’t find Elder Sister and Consort Ning, so I chose one of the roads and came here. The door was open, so I came in. I didn’t know the man would pounce at me…” Heng Yuwan wailed. Right now, all she could do was insist that everything was a misunderstanding.

She must blame it all on a misunderstanding so that she would appear faultless in this matter.