Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

192. Reunion

Translator: Bryan

Before his thought had passed through his mind, Du Chuxuan heard the taps of finger on the tiles coming from the rooftop, three at short intervals, two at a longer one. Feeling a sense of relief, Du Chuxuan was just about to tell the one on the rooftop to get down when the door was pushed open. “Why are you still awake at this late hour?” With that, Yuxing Tianrui lifted his eyes and saw the uncharacteristic expression on the face of Luo Yi standing on the main beam.

“You’ve brought them back?” Yuxing Tianrui asked, his mind working very fast. Nothing serious had happened on this day, so he naturally recalled what Du Chuxuan had told him about at the sight of Luo Yi.

“Master, Your Highness, I’ve brought them back. Our men has secured the nearby areas. Would you like to see them right away?” Luo Yi’s facial expression was somewhat weird, and it piqued Du Chuxuan’s curiosity. What had Du Chuyue done exactly? Why was Luo Yi, always a poised man, having that look on his face?

“Well, since you’ve got them back already, bring them here.” Of course, he was not asking Luo Yi to bring them in through the front door. Soon, two guards from Sect Luo leaped inside through the window, each carrying a person. If it weren’t for the two guards’ kung fu skills, they would probably have been mistaken for abductors by a lot of people during their trip.

Du Chuyue and the man beside her were both blindfolded. Also, the guards had drugged them lest they make any sounds. Luo Yi held a medicine phial to their noses in turn, and before long the two of them came around. Luo Qing was the one who had invented that drug, so only members of Sect Luo had access to it.

After waking up, Du Chuyue was bemused for a moment. At the sight of Luo Yi, her eyes widened drastically. She pointed at him and opened her mouth to curse him. Du Chuxuan, naturally, knew what his big sister was like. She was far less gentle and ladylike than Fang Rui was. If he really let her swear, she would probably have everybody in the East Palace hear her.

“Du Chuyue, you owe me an explanation for running away from your wedding, don’t you think?” Du Chuxuan asked before his sister could speak. On hearing the familiar voice, Du Chuyue swiveled her head around. It was only then that she saw the face of the speaker. Feeling somewhat guilty, she asked, “You had them kidnap me to this place?”

Du Chuxuan, who obviously couldn’t be bothered to answer her question, snorted, “I thought you fled to some out-of-the-way place, that even Father wouldn’t be able to find you. It never crossed my mind…” He turned to glance at the man beside Du Chuyue, a faintly disapproving look in his eyes. Luo Yi had long since told him about this man. Du Chuxuan was very displeased with him.

Apart from anything else, Du Chuyue was a highborn lady from the Du family, whom his family had spent a large sum of money licking into shape. All other things aside, Du Chuyue’s living standards had been no inferior to a princess’ since her childhood. On top of that, Du Chuyue had always had everything offered to her on a silver platter, and she had never done any chores before.

Du Chuxuan couldn’t believe that a guileless girl like her had been tricked into eloping by this man, and that was not the worst part. If this man had given her a life befitting her, Du Chuxuan would not say a word about it, but their clothes were dirtier than those of a beggar in the capital.

“Stop looking at him like that! Me running away from the wedding had nothing to do with Cheng Xuan! This gentleman here must be the Crown Prince, I suppose? If any of my actions strikes you as offensive, you may just kill me, and I won’t say a word about it, but please spare the several hundred innocent people in the Du family, especially this stupid little brother of mine.”

Du Chuyue dropped to her knees before Yuxing Tianrui. She had heard about what had happened in the capital city recently. She had never seen the Crown Prince before, and she didn’t have a clue why Yuxing Tianrui had had the Emperor betroth her to him. She had never wanted to become a Crown Princess.

However, she had no way to explain to the Emperor how this whole thing was an unexpected misfortune for her. In her opinion, she had incriminated Du Chuxuan already, and worse still, she had also incriminated the several hundred people in the Du family. She would die a hundred times if that was what it took to ensure those people’s survival, let alone die a single death.

Du Chuxuan frowned slightly. He was just about to say something when he heard Yuxing Tianrui reprimand in a very uncharacteristic tone of voice, “You’ve got a lot of balls! You really think the authority of the imperial family is fake? What good could your death possibly do? Still, your little brother strikes me as quite likable, so it’s not really impractical to have him stay in your stead.”

Astonished, Du Chuxuan looked back at Yuxing Tianrui and thought, “What’s got into this guy?” However, before Yuxing Tianrui could notice the look in his eyes, Du Chuxuan observed that there was a suggestion of displeasure in Yuxing Tianrui’s eyes when the latter looked at Du Chuyue. However, the reason for that hint of displeasure was not because of her fleeing from the wedding. It was seemingly more because of… because of him, Du Chuxuan.

Du Chuyue, who was kneeling there, looked as if she had been struck by lightning. She stiffly turned to glance at Du Chuxuan and then quickly looked away, her whole body trembling. Du Chuxuan mistakenly believed that his big sister felt as though she had heard some kind of joke, and that she was trying hard to keep a straight face, but when he heard Du Chuyue’s voice, he instantly caught on.

“Your Highness! Is this some kind of sick joke, Your Highness?! Xuan is still young. You can’t do this! If you don’t want that, I’ll do it! I’ll do anything! It can’t be Xuan!”

Du Chuyue’s voice was tinged with powerlessness, sounding as though she had been drained of energy. She gripped the lower hem of Yuxing Tianrui’s robe as if clutching at straws. Luo Yi and the others, naturally, had been pretending not to exist all along, but now their faces changed as well.

It came to them as a great surprise that this girl, who had previously been quite mean to them, was now going to such great lengths to help their master. It struck them that the Crown Prince was testing her. It seemed that sparing a woman like her would not be a recipe for disaster.

Yuxing Tianrui found her words fairly satisfactory, but his annoyance had not ebbed away completely yet, so he broke free from Du Chuyue’s hold and snapped, “I never make jokes. You may ask the steward if I’ve consummated my marriage. I’m afraid your little brother is no longer able to start a family.”

Yuxing Tianrui pivoted around, his hands balling into fists in his sleeves. Though Du Chuxuan had talked to him about this many times, this matter was still like a knot in Du Chuxuan’s heart, one that could not be untied. And it was for his and Du Chuyue’s sake that Du Chuxuan was burdened with this knot, wasn’t he?

Du Chuxuan let out a deep sigh. It struck him that every time this issue was brought up, the intense guilt in Yuxing Tianrui would give him an unbearable stab of heartache. He thought, “What do I have to do to get this fool to let go of the crime he thinks he’s responsible for?”