The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

After that incident, the emperor took back the "magic object" that he had originally bestowed on the Duke of Ying's Mansion, so that the children in the mansion could no longer gain the recognition of the magic object and acquire strange abilities, and he also neglected Concubine Deng.

The newly appointed Duke of England decisively disobeyed the old Duke's last instructions and concealed the fact that his fourth daughter had been recognized by the divine object. He also deliberately let several younger sisters of similar age live and eat together to confuse people.

In the hope that the emperor would be cautious and give his family some leeway.

As it turned out, the emperor was indeed very wary of the things on Miss Deng's body.

He might be conceited, arrogant, and adventurous, but based on the basic qualities of a monarch, he was also the one who least wanted to cause turmoil in the country. So he took a step back and did not pursue the matter further after the death of the old Duke and the Lady of the Duke of England. He even treated the Duke of England's Mansion with great respect on the surface, and even gave his eldest daughter, whom he loved very much, to Concubine Deng against his will.

However, no one knows how much hatred he has in his heart.

However, she was, after all, the concubine who had accompanied the emperor in his youth. After learning the ins and outs of the matter, Concubine Deng knew very well that if her family could not become a royal family and her son could not become the next emperor... then the fate of having her entire family executed was already doomed.

"...I must become the biological mother, or adoptive mother, of the next emperor," Concubine Deng wrote. "My father disagrees with me. He believes that the Duke of Ying is a noble who founded the country. As long as our family holds on to our fourth sister as a bargaining chip, then His Majesty will never rashly deal with our family."

Unlike Concubine Deng, the Duke of Ying believed that it was indeed their family that was at fault in this matter. They blamed the Duke of Ying for having the courage to threaten the Emperor. They believed that it was extremely unwise and short-sighted of a woman for her to use the sacred object in order to win custody of a princess for Concubine Deng.

They could have used the emperor's trust to become the most powerful and enduring wealthy family in Dasheng.

But the Duchess of England's wife's actions destroyed this future and pushed the entire mansion into a very dangerous situation. While the Duke of England resented his wife, he even faintly revealed some resentment towards his daughter - if she, as a concubine, had not wanted to compete for favor and the royal heir, how could the Duchess of England have done such a thing?

"...He blames us for being girls with long hair and short knowledge, and not understanding the political art of men. But in fact, he simply does not understand what kind of person the emperor is. Even if the Duke of Ying has always maintained a submissive attitude, the emperor will still doubt whether we have any ulterior motives, especially since so many people in our family have already paid the price of loyalty."

"Closeness and trust will fade away over time. Suspicion is inevitable for an emperor. Only by holding power firmly in one's own hands can one have a glimmer of hope."

Concubine Deng wanted to find a chance to survive, but the Duke of Ying thought that he and the emperor had enough "political tacit understanding" and that as long as his family showed enough loyalty, they could slowly make up for their mistakes. The emperor, out of fear of the fourth lady, would eventually reach a reconciliation with his family - for example, making Concubine Deng the queen and the second prince the crown prince.

By then, his whole family would be safe, and he could offer up the fourth daughter as well, in exchange for the wealth and glory of the Duke of England's mansion.

Concubine Deng just felt that her father was too stupid.

He wanted the glory and power of the future emperor's mother's family, but did not want to fall out with the current emperor and get the bad reputation of forcing the emperor with his own power. The old duke valued loyalty, but he, as his own son, only inherited half of it. He cared about his reputation for loyalty, and thought he was very smart in secretly wrestling with the imperial power. He was also very confident that he was far-sighted and would definitely get the best result in this tug of war.

Thus began the disagreement between father and daughter.

In the letter, Concubine Deng explained that the teahouses, taverns, and pawnshops she operated in various places, as well as some officials with whom she had private dealings, had nothing to do with the Duke of Ying's Mansion and were forces under her control. If the person who received the letter had the ability, means, and ambition, he could take over her inheritance with confidence.

Once this letter was sent, it meant that her road to power had failed. She did not expect the person who received the letter to pick up her old ways and seek power for the Second Prince or the Duke of England in exchange for her inheritance. She only wanted to ask the person who received the letter to protect her sisters who had been raised as ignorant tools if possible.

As for the others...it doesn't matter if they all die.

Turning over a page of letter paper, Xie Yuzhen discovered that there was an obvious change in Concubine Deng's handwriting between the two pages of letter paper. The veins of the ink characters showed that they were written by the same person, but the characters became more and more crazy as they went to the back.

She wrote about her many arguments with her father, and about how she often dreamed of her mother and the pottery jars containing tiny bones hidden under the Buddhist shrine deep in the house.

Inside the pottery jars, some contained a handful of ashes, and some contained childish, thin, white bones; outside the pottery jars, some were sealed with talisman papers with names written on them, and some were just randomly marked.

But she could always hear the overlapping voices of many teenagers and young children, asking her: "What does it feel like when the granddaughter and daughter of a murderer also start to have their hands stained with the blood of others?"

"It feels so good." Concubine Deng wrote heavily, "It turns out that it feels so good to control life and death. No wonder that for tens of millions of years, both men and women have used all their strength and means to climb over others and step on other people's lives to gain the power in their hands. It feels so good!"

The last few words are almost cursive.

Xie Yuzhen could tell that Concubine Deng had no regrets and no guilt. Even when she wrote this page of letter, she still had great confidence in her future. The reason why she took this step was simply because of her cautious nature.

But on the next piece of letter paper, Concubine Deng's handwriting returned to its original state.

Her cautiousness is revealed between the lines.

Behind the moss, she finally gave birth to a magical plant.

At this time, there were only three princes in the palace. The eldest prince was as weak as the third prince, but the fourth prince, born to Concubine Chen Guipin, who entered the palace later, was healthy.

Just in case, Concubine Deng decided to get rid of him.

After reading this, Xie Yuzhen couldn't help but frown. Although Concubine Deng had regained her composure, there seemed to be a dark abyss surging beneath this visible calm.

She felt that Concubine Deng seemed to want to destroy something, destroy the Fourth Prince who might seize the throne?

No.

more than.

She wants to destroy the Duke of England.

Perhaps she did not mean so. Perhaps her original intention was just as she thought, just to eliminate potential opponents for the Second Prince on his path to the throne. But... Xie Yu really felt that this woman who was accustomed to plotting lives behind people's backs and stirring up troubles, perhaps when she witnessed her relatives dying because of her grandfather's loyalty, this hatred for her family had already been hidden in her heart.

The lack of understanding and blame from her family, the long-accumulated conflicts and resentments, will probably dig out the hatred in her heart and make her lose her mind step by step. The sense of accomplishment from killing people repeatedly without being noticed will only fuel her pride and complacency that she is in control of everything.

The interaction of various factors led Concubine Deng to decisively kill the Fourth Prince after he was born and grew stronger. However, because she forgot her past caution, she exposed herself and lost her "sacred object". In order to appease the Emperor's anger, she also destroyed the life of her closest sister.