The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

As soon as Princess Yi Yang finished her words, she collapsed in the wheelchair, bleeding profusely, and even her cries of pain became almost non-existent.

Dragging his two weak legs, Prince Gong was crawling on the ground. When the guards who came over wanted to help him up, he shook them off: "How could my brother die?!"

"How could he die?!!!"

Everyone knew that Prince Yi Yang was in much better health than Prince Gong, and Prince Gong had always believed this - he had the most genuine hatred for the emperor, and had been brooding over the fact that the emperor had easily abandoned them for many years. The reason why he was determined to seize the position was just to make the emperor regret abandoning his brothers.

He knew he wouldn't live long.

Therefore, she placed all her hopes of fulfilling her regret on her brother.

Prince Gong's words about wanting to seize the throne for his brother were genuine and he showed no reluctance at all. However, he had never imagined that Prince Yiyang, who lived more like a normal person than he did, would actually... leave before him.

"......Judging from the Princess's appearance, Rong Le probably didn't give her a strong poison, but a slow-acting poison. Such poisons often have a characteristic." Princess Fuchang ordered the guards to carry the Princess into the nearest yard, and then sent people out to find a midwife and a doctor.

Xie Yi picked up Prince Gong, who was unwilling to believe that Prince Yiyang was dead, from the ground: "...That means it needs to be repeated, multiple times of poisoning."

Prince Gong was frozen all over, mumbling, "My brother and sister-in-law have always...eaten and lived together...even when my sister-in-law was pregnant, they only had separate beds, not separate rooms..."

Prince Gong and others knew that the Hongyang Sect made good use of magic incense.

The negotiations with the cultists were all undertaken by Prince Gong alone, and no new people had been admitted to Prince Yiyang's mansion since he started the rebellion. Those who served the prince's family were all old men with clean backgrounds who had served for many years... They took all kinds of precautions against the Hongyang Cult, but could not guard against the ruthless harm from Princess Rong Le, their aunt who had even deeper roots.

"It's all my fault." A trace of black blood slowly flowed down the corner of Prince Gong's mouth. His whole body instantly lost color. He raised his thin palm with great effort and grabbed Xie Yi's arm like an eagle's claw. "Tan Nu, Tan Nu, please save my sister-in-law... It's my fault, I shouldn't have insisted on my own way... It was me... who harmed... them..."

"Please... please..."

The residual sound flowed quietly along with the dried blood. Prince Gong's eyes were wide open, refusing to close, but his hands no longer had the strength to grasp, and fell down dejectedly.

Along with this, a woman's sharp cry suddenly exploded amid the sounds of fighting between the guards of various families and the Jinwu Guards.

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The outer courtyard of the princess's mansion has become a battlefield.

The inner courtyard was also tense.

Princess Rong Le came running over with her hair disheveled. Every servant she met looked at her expectantly and anxiously. So every time she passed someone, she shouted to them to leave the princess's mansion immediately and make a living on their own.

Some people fled obediently, but more people, even though they were uneasy, still chose to stay and chased after the crazy-looking Princess Rong Le, trying to make her stop.

Princess Rong Le angrily pulled out the only remaining hairpin from her hair and said, "I told you to get out of here! Do you not understand what I say, or do you have your own ideas? You dare to disobey me!"

She pointed the hairpin at her throat, and the sharp hairpin immediately cut her neck: "Get out! Otherwise, you will force me to death today!"

A few older maids looked at each other, gritted their teeth, and led the reluctant maids behind them to kneel down and pay their respects to Princess Rong Le. Then, as before, they took the maids away as if they were driving a flock of sheep.

Princess Rong Le rushed to the innermost part of the inner courtyard.

She drove away the servants along the way, but she refused to let this man go no matter what.

In their shared bedroom, Qin Ruying, dressed in men's clothes and dressed as her dead brother, sat in front of the room.

"Did you see the dragon, Your Highness?" Qin Ruying looked up at the disheveled woman at the door, the smile on his lips was brighter than ever before.

Princess Rong Le looked at her "prince consort" coldly with a wooden face: "Even if he saw it, so what?"

Qin Ruying took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. In this small courtyard, the dragon's scales and claws could not be seen in the sky. The sunlight that was not blocked by the huge body fell on her. "When I heard that His Highness Yuyi flew into the sky on a dragon, I was looking forward to their arrival. Today, they are here as expected."

"You believe this?" Princess Rong Le sneered, not sure whether she was mocking Qin Ruying's naivety of believing in "auspicious signs" or mocking her own foolishness of not believing in "auspicious blessings" when this auspicious sign had indeed come to the world.

Qin Ruying lowered his head and looked at his "wife": "People who have reached a dead end are willing to believe in anything."

"Besides, I am a person who is too credulous."

"I trusted the Su family's disguised affection and was sent to your golden cage, from which I could never escape. I trusted the Red Sun Cult's promises, but they abandoned me after I personally sent them to you... Fortunately, my last act of trust did not bring me failure again."

She looked at Princess Rong Le like a captive bird looking at a golden cage. In the past, this golden cage was indestructible, but now, the cage was dilapidated and rusty.

However, for a bird that is powerless to resist, no matter how magnificent the cage is or how broken and rusty it is, its shriveled wings cannot break through it.

Qin Ruying understood.

The same is true for Princess Rong Le.

She dragged her heavy body and walked slowly to Qin Ruying step by step: "I didn't touch the people you care about."

"Well, thank you for your kindness, Your Highness."

Qin Ruying nodded indifferently. Princess Rong Le clutched the hairpin in her hand and watched the person opposite her slowly close his eyes for a long, long time: "...You - leave."

The captive bird opened her eyes, and the broken golden cage clicked, opening the lock she had longed for day and night.

When the sun sets, there are no more shadows.

The fire that burned the golden cage also took the lives of most of the clan members.

When the fire in the Lu clan ancestral hall in the imperial city was finally extinguished, Qin Ruying stood in the crowd. As a princess consort, she was under guard by everyone, but she seemed to have completely forgotten the situation around her. She looked at the still burning princess mansion and then sat down on the spot.

It's like... he has to witness the cage that has trapped him for so many years completely reduced to ashes before he is willing to give in. It's also like the look back of a domestic bird when it leaves the cage.