Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

190. Conspiracy

Translator: Bryan

After hearing him mention such a frivolous matter, Yuxing Tianrui reached out his hand to give Du Chuxuan a hard pinch on the waist and said, “Sometimes it strikes me that I’m being unduly nice to you. Why else have you never guarded your tongue?” The words were supposed to be reproachful, but when he uttered them, they had an adorable quality.

Du Chuxuan smiled resignedly, “I’m just looking out for your best interests, Your Highness. It’s inconvenient for you to talk to your subordinate about this. If by any chance he let the cat out of the bag, things would get really tricky.”

Yuxing Tianrui looked up at him and snorted, “Luo Qing’s medicine never disappointed me. He left me a pouch containing some instructions and said that when the time came, I should just follow the instructions and the problem would be solved.”

The mention of the pouch piqued Du Chuxuan’s curiosity, but having noticed that Yuxing Tianrui was getting sleepy, he felt it inappropriate to have Yuxing Tianrui stand up. Having no alternative, he fell to having a nap with him.

It was almost an hour later that the two of them woke up. If it weren’t for the afternoon ceremony, they would probably sleep a little while longer.

“Your Highnesses, many people have arrived at the front gate waiting to enter to bear witness to the ceremony. I think they’ll get here in a few minutes,” Ada said deferentially outside the door. Dongxiang on the side was bustling around. The two masters were resting inside, but he did not dare to stop working for an instant.

None of the lords was to be trifled with. He must make sure all the fruit bowls were in the right places, and re-check the list of guests. There was a large number of people who had been invited, for many families were involved in the marriage. Moreover, the third prince’s guests were coming as well. Although the third prince’s wedding was to be held in a different location, his guests had to come here to give witness to the ceremony first.

It was after helping Yuxing Tianrui handle his hair that Du Chuxuan heaved a sigh of relief. “Fortunately, only the legal wife is allowed to accompany you through the ceremony, otherwise my feelings would be deeply hurt.”

“If it really bothers you, I can have Ada do it in your stead,” Yuxing Tianrui smiled, seeming rather indifferent about it. Checks and balances were all about the balance, but for him, the balance was limited to the court, and his family should be left out of it. If someday he had to resort to that kind of method to keep the one at his back in check, he would be a pathetically failed ruler.

“Well, you just reduced me to a total disgrace, Your Highness,” Du Chuxuan said with a wave of his hand, hurriedly making himself presentable. “Later I’ll be sitting there doing nothing, which means I’ll be able to find out which of the two families the Emperor prefers.”

Yuxing Tianrui nodded, not caring about any of that. The two of them were just about to go out when suddenly a guard burst into the house and reported, “We got a big problem, Your Highness. His Majesty requests your immediate presence in the third prince’s dwelling. Your brother was attacked by an assassin and is now in a coma.”

Both of them were momentarily stunned, and then they exchanged a resigned glance. Well, they did want to stay out of the matter in the afternoon, but unexpectedly, someone had just handed an opportunity to them.

In order to display their concern for Yuxing Wei, the two of them hurriedly departed, leaving Ada and Dongxiang staying in the palace to entertain the guests.

Everybody in Yuxing Wei’s dwelling had their hands full. The imperial couple were standing in the front yard, their brows knitted. Noble Lady Xiao, who hadn’t shown her face for quite some time, had also been invited over. After all, Yuxing Wei was her son, so she naturally had to come here to watch over him.

“Father, Mother.” After the two of them greeted the imperial couple, Yuxing Tianrui took a step forward and said, “Although there are a lot of outsiders here today, the security of the palace is always very tight. We must ascertain who the mastermind is.”

The Emperor had an ugly look on his face as well. This was the day for an imperial wedding. The assassination was tantamount to a slap across his face. He inclined his head and agreed, “We must get to the bottom of it! I want the assassin found! Tianrui, see it done. Ascertain the truth and tell your brother so that he’ll have peace of mind.”

Yuxing Tianrui accepted the order with hands folded in front. The two of them had waited in the room for a while when they finally came to find out how badly Yuxing Wei was wounded. If it weren’t for the men Du Chuxuan had planted in this palace, he would have suspected that this whole thing might be a scheme of Yuxing Wei’s.

“Your Majesty, His Highness’s injury is grievous. He took a stab wound to the left side of his heart and is in a critical condition. You need to assign three experienced physicians to assist me, or else your son might not survive,” Luo Qing said, hurrying out of the inner chamber, his robes covered in blood, making a scary sight.

“You have my consent,” the Emperor said with a wave of his hand, and with that a man immediately hastened towards the Imperial Hospital to look for physicians. Seeing as how the third prince was wounded, the wedding scheduled for this afternoon, naturally, had to be called off. Eunuch Desheng went to pacify those courtiers.

Before long, all experienced physicians arrived from the Imperial Hospital. Apart from anything else, a prince’s life was at stake, and none of them dared trifle with it. Luo Qing, after a glance at those physicians, picked three of them and brought them inside. Those outside the chamber fell silent again. Noble Lady Xiao had fainted from the crying some time ago and thus was unable to make any noise.

Du Chuxuan, who had no love for Yuxing Wei, had been observing something else. He looked at the yard, but there were no signs of fighting, but given that Luo Qing was treating the prince inside the house, there shouldn’t be many signs of fighting in there either.

“I’m positive Yuxing Wei is faking it, but his scheme is not flawless,” Du Chuxuan could not help but whisper to Yuxing Tianrui. Having noticed the confusion in Yuxing Tianrui’s eyes, he explained, “Do you still remember those assassins in the East Palace the other day?”

“Think of how many men those people sent to make sure they could kill the target with one blow,” Du Chuxuan slowly added. “That day, there were a lot of signs of struggle not only inside the house but also outside it. They needed to cover their tracks, and they had to do something to make that happen.”

After hearing Du Chuxuan’s words, Yuxing Tianrui caught on to it. He was just about to say something when Du Chuxuan continued, “There were a lot of guests here earlier this day, so even the security of the palace is tighter than usual, let alone that of the East Palace and that of Yuxing Wei’s dwelling. It’s very unlikely an assassin could have gained entry into this place without anybody noticing.”

“Or it’s very unlikely anybody dared send an assassin here,” Yuxing Tianrui said in an undertone, having latched on to what Du Chuxuan meant.

Du Chuxuan nodded. That was exactly what he meant. He involuntarily tossed a glance at the Emperor. Having noticed that the Emperor, though appearing nervous, did not have much apprehension in his eyes, Du Chuxuan felt that he had omitted something and became vigilant in spite of himself.

“It strikes me that this time around, I’m the one in their cross hairs.”