“Lord Protector’s Manor, it seems you won’t be able to give my dear consort justice seeing as you’ve wronged her in the first place. Follow me to the palace, then. I need to give my dear consort an explanation.” Ao Chenyi’s sinisterly cold voice sounded like the whisper of a ghost from hell amidst Ning Yuling’s screams.

Enter the palace and meet the Emperor?

Ning Zu’an’s expression changed. Speaking about the cause and effect, this was no longer about Ning Yuling framing Ning Xueyan. It was also about Ning Ziying. Now that situation had deteriorated to this state, both manors had practically mucked up their relationship. Ning Xueyan wouldn’t conceal the matter from the Emperor. And if the truth about Ning Ziying was revealed, he didn’t know how far things would go out of his control.

They could have forcibly killed Ning Xueyan earlier, but they couldn’t do anything anymore with Prince Yi protecting her.

He hated Ning Yuling to death. If she wasn’t good at conspiracies, she shouldn’t have attempted them. Not only did she fail to put Ning Xueyan to death, but she even forced Ning Xueyan into showing them no mercy. Her failure had put the Lord Protector’s Manor at a disadvantage.

Left without a choice, Ning Zu’an forced himself to step forward and pleaded, “Your Highness, please forgive my crimes of failing to educate my children and giving birth to such an evil daughter. I never thought she’d be so wicked that she wouldn’t even spare her mother. Rest assured that we’ll give you an explanation, Your Highness. We wouldn’t let Yan’er suffer.”

Ao Chenyi knocked on the hand rest of the chair while looking at Ning Zu’an with a languid expression. He hadn’t expressed his stance yet.

When Ning Zu’an didn’t get any response from Ao Chenyi, he turned toward Ning Xueyan. “Yan’er, this is my fault. I apologize to you and I swear I’ll give you an explanation. I won’t let you be wronged. This is a private family matter after all. It wouldn’t be nice if rumors spread.”

This was his guarantee, as well as a promise that he must make. Ao Chenyi was here and the truth was laid open for everyone to see. He wouldn’t benefit even if he was in front of the Emperor and he might even lose his reputation for it. Right now, all he felt for Ning Yuling was hatred. He dared not breathe a word about Ning Yuling’s accusation of Ning Xueyan.

Of course, he wouldn’t dare to admit that at the moment Ning Yuling accused Ning Xueyan, he was ready to punish Ning Xueyan without caring for the facts. That way, he could at least protect his son and his two daughters would be able to become first wives as well. Compared to Ning Huaiyuan and Ning Ziyan, Ning Xueyan was significantly less important to him.

Still, he couldn’t have seen this coming. Prince Yi had shown up much earlier than expected and Ning Yuling had also failed far too quickly, completely catching him off guard. Having witnessed how cruel Prince Yi was, he knew there was no hope for his son anymore. His son would never be the heir again.

Ning Xueyan and the enmity between Madam Ming and Madam Ling had made it impossible.

“Father, I’d like to get some rest. You can summon me at the Bright Frost Garden when the people from Xia Manor arrive.” A hint of coldness flashed in Ning Xueyan’s eyes as she watched Ning Zu’an go from wanting to tear her apart in rage to wanting to patch things up. She knew very well what he was thinking earlier.

He wanted to call her a madwoman and make her die unjustly. It wouldn’t even take long before they would deliver a letter to Prince Yi, claiming that she had “taken her life out of fear of punishment”.

With her dead, there would be no one to tell the truth. And there was Ning Yuling as the sole witness of her pushing Madam Ling into the well. Even if Ao Chenyi tried to speak up for her, the facts were indisputable.

She was disappointed in Ning Zu’an and Lord Protector’s Manor but fortunately, that was the extent of her feelings. Since her rebirth, she had few expectations for this place.

But there was no need to rush things now.

“Okay. Go and rest. I’ll invite people from Xia Manor later. We can’t let you feel wronged. You’re the first wife’s daughter of the Lord Protector’s Manor. We can let everyone feel wronged, but you.”

What intentional words. Ning Zu’an was implying what he had repeatedly said before: the family was harmonious and all was well.

“I’ll be resting at Yan’er’s courtyard as well.” Ao Chenyi stood up lazily and looked at a dying Ning Yuling who couldn’t even find the strength to roll on the ground anymore. “Lord Protector’s Manor, you have to watch over the criminal. I don’t want a dead witness.”

“Yes, of course. We’ll definitely keep an eye on her and won’t let anything happen to her.” Ning Zu’an nodded vigorously. He truly hated Ning Yuling and wanted nothing more than for her to die on the spot. However, if she really died, they wouldn’t be able to explain this anymore and would even anger Prince Yi into bringing up the matter to the Emperor.

His gaze went from Ning Yuling to Madam Ling’s face. He felt no sorrow anymore. He simply thought that Madam Ling was a useless and troublesome person.

Everyone abruptly dispersed, leaving only a few servants behind to clean up the scene. Madam Dowager had long been aided by the servants to leave the place. Ning Xueyan and Ao Chenyi walked along the path leading to the Bright Frost Garden, with the eunuchs and guards trailing behind at a distance of ten steps away.

The handful of maids and older female servants that they met along the way kept their distance. They waited until Ning Xueyan and Ao Chenyi were far away before leaving tremblingly. This gave Ning Xueyan a deep sense of irony. In the past, she was the trembling one. If she didn’t hide when she saw Ning Yuling, she would definitely be humiliated and beaten.

She would be punished for even the most insignificant matters. Sometimes, it was because the stalk of grass that she accidentally stepped on was an exotic plant that Ning Yuling had “carefully cultivated.” Sometimes, it was because a particular tree that she knocked into was a special tree that Ning Yuling had brought from outside the manor. Sometimes, it was because she ran into a maid, and the maid’s clothes were a treasure that Ning Yuling had personally bestowed.

Ning Yuling would find every reason possible as “evidence” to humiliate Ning Xueyan. The kinder ones of her so-called siblings would watch her like a joke and not act personally. The ones with a better relationship with Ning Yuling would even join the bullying.

The first wife’s daughter of the Lord Protector’s Manor? Ning Zu’an even used this title to euphemistically remind her that she was the first wife’s daughter of the manor and shouldn’t ostracize the manor. But she had never cared for this title. Back then, Madam Ming threw away the title of the first wife without hesitation, and similarly, she wouldn’t care less about removing the Lord Protector’s Manor from her life.

This manor looked glorious on the surface and its ladies appeared gentle, but they were all rotten to the bones. The entire manor was a vacated nest. With very little effort, it would fall apart. There was no need for a place like this to exist.

“What’s wrong? Are you unhappy?” Ao Chenyi looked at Ning Xueyan from the corner of his eye and noticed the faint unhappiness in her pupils. He quietly reached out his hand from inside of his sleeve and grabbed her cold hand. Her hand was especially cold today, exuding no warmth even in such weather. Her health had always been poor. Feeling distressed, a cold look soon appeared on his face.

“Should I spread rumors and destroy the legacy of the Lord Protector’s Manor?”

“It’s fine. Now isn’t the time.” Ning Xueyan shook her head. She could feel a trace of warmth in her fingers that seemed to reach deep into her heart. It made her feel like her cold heart wasn’t so cold anymore.

She raised her head and exhaled deeply, feeling an inexplicable urge to confide in him. She stopped walking and pointed to a pavilion nearby. “When I was young, it was fun enough for me to come here to play and look around. Even if my mother refused to let me out, I would still sneak out. But, I’d meet Ning Yuling every time. Every time, she would either beat or scold me. Back then, I wondered why she would treat me that way when we were sisters and ladies of the Lord Protector’s Manor.”

“Sometimes, I’d see the Marquis from a distance. I’d always hope that he would see me as well. I was fine with even a glance from him. But whenever he saw me from afar, he would always turn around and take another road, pretending that he didn’t see Ning Yuling humiliating me. Did he even have so-called fatherly love for me?”

Ning Xueyan sneered. In her memory, little Ning Xueyan had always been bullied. Apart from Madam Ming who had showered her with love, no one in the manor saw her as family.

Ao Chenyi stopped walking as well. He looked at her slender body and suddenly reached out to pull her into his arms. He patted her thin shoulders and said with rare gentleness, “Don’t be sad. You have me.”

In his embrace, Ning Xueyan could feel the powerful beating of his heart. She closed her eyes and asked sulkily, “What if I wasn’t a lady from the Lord Protector’s Manor?”

“I didn’t marry you because of the Lord Protector’s Manor. Ao Mingyu and the others fought desperately just for the little power the Marquis had, but I couldn’t care less. I married you because you’re you.” Ao Chenyi’s words carried his usual coldness yet they inexplicably softened her heart.

“I married you because you’re you!”

It wasn’t for other external factors or conditions. It was simply because she was the one he wanted to marry.

His answer was short, but his meaning was enough to make Ning Xueyan want to cry. In her past life, Xia Yuhang had married her because of their childhood engagement. Of course, she discovered later on that there were many secrets and conspiracies behind it, enough to prove that his purpose in marrying her wasn’t pure.

Xia Yuhang had searched her things and even dealt with her only after bringing her dowry to the manor. It seemed that he was looking for something.

“What… What if I’m involved with the previous dynasty?” she accidentally blurted out in the midst of his gentle breath. Her long lashes fluttered twice and her beautiful eyes appeared to be shrouded in mist. She opened them slightly and sneaked a glance at him expectantly.

She held tightly onto his sleeve with inadvertent tension and fear in her eyes.

She was a princess from the previous dynasty. Even if that was her previous life, everything that happened told her that the past was repeating itself. She was still connected to the previous dynasty as her current self.

The same butterfly birthmark, the inexplicable birth, and the close relationship between Madam Ming and the Empress of the former dynasty. And that carriage that appeared at the palace that day… Put together, everything seemed to be telling her that her origin wasn’t so simple.

She didn’t know her origin in her past life, but Xia Yuhang did. Everything that happened after their engagement was nothing more than a show, a web of lies to steal something from her dowry. She was afraid of being caught in such a scene again.

Her heart subconsciously trembled and two crystal clear tears fell down from her beautiful eyes. She wanted to hear Ao Chenyi’s answer but was also afraid of it. If she was truly right in the mind, she wouldn’t have asked such a question. But in his warm embrace, those words just naturally left her mouth…