Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Aunt Nan heard what Aunt said, and felt her heart skip a beat. She realized that something must have gone wrong.
It was the biggest snow of the winter of the year, but Aunt hurried here without even using an umbrella. It was the first time for such a calm woman to do so. The reason why Aunt was assigned to take care of Princess Xunyang was because she was calm and reasonable.
So instead of making any delays, Aunt Nan took Aunt to the inner chamber.
The Queen had been doing better today. Aunt Nan fed the Queen the pill Gu Chaoyan gave to them a couple of days ago, and the pill, which Gu Chaoyan said could be eaten at any time for anything, was really working well. So Aunt Nan had been in a good mood earlier today, but… She had not had enough happiness when something else happened.
Aunt Nan showed a very complicated look on her face.
The Queen looked at Aunt and asked, “What are you doing here, Aunt, what happened to Xunyang?”
Aunt nodded. She, who had been calm and steady, almost burst out into tears. She knew clearly that the Queen had no idea what had happened.
She was going to get really sad when she heard the truth a moment later.
Aunt whispered and said, “The King just came to Princess’ palace and said…”
“…”
“He said that he wanted the Princess to marry to the North Qi Land!”
“…”
“Princess doesn’t want me to tell you about this, but it is very important! I have to tell you, my Queen,” Aunt said, her voice trembling.
The moment the Queen heard that, she felt that her head had gone blank.
Then she suddenly remembered how the King promised her that Xunyang was going to marry someone from the capital and that he would seek justice for anyone who dared to bully the princess. He told her that even in the palace, no one would dare to bully Xunyang, because she was protected by the imperial parents and her brother Huaijin.
At that time the Queen felt that her heart was filled with sweetness. She made a wish that it would be a princess that was born, but now… More than a decade has passed, and the vows of the past had been forsaken!
The Queen felt her heart suffocate, then she let out a cough.
Aunt Nan was very startled. “Queen!”
The Queen then saw that she had coughed blood. She gripped Aunt Nan’s hands, helping herself up.
Aunt Nan cleaned the mess up, then the Queen said, “Aunt, I know about this, please take care of Xunyang.”
Aunt was about to say something but stopped, then she nodded and left.
Aunt Nan could not see Aunt off as she was busy taking care of the Queen.
“What should we do?” Aunt Nan asked. It was a different case now. Another country was involved and it was not that easy to deal with them as they dealt with the Gu Family.
The Queen felt distracted. She was startled and then said, “Aunt Nan, don’t worry, close the window. We should talk about this tomorrow. It is too cold today.”
Aunt Nan saw that the window was already closed.
Only now did she realize that the Queen was very anxious to say things like that.
***
The following day…
The Queen got up early in the morning. She asked Aunt Nan to put on a coat for her and decided to visit the Qianqing Palace amidst the snowstorm.
It had been a few months since the Queen visited the Qianqing Palace..