Gifted Bride of the Sinned Prince

“I will take meals when His Highness will wake up,” Li Hua asserted. “Today is Qiqi festival. I pray that I get to see the moon in the night,” she murmured. The sky was covered in clouds, but it would not rain anytime soon.

“Your Highness, the Crown Prince is here,” Nuan Xi informed Li Hua, who turned her head in the other direction and saw Xiaoming coming to the pavilion.

Li Hua stood up as a smile appeared on her lips. She asked Nuan Xi to leave, who left the pavilion. Xiaoming entered the pavilion with a menacing expression on his face and asked Li Hua to take the seat.

“I will after the Crown Prince,” Li Hua replied. Xiaoming hummed and settled on the chair. Li Hua also sat down on the chair and waited for Xiaoming to speak.

“I talked with my mother and found out what happened twenty years ago. My father killed more than a hundred noble families to dethrone Uncle Qizhen. I am unable to express my frustration on this. Were the Xu and Shui families loyal to the former king?” Xiaoming asked.

“The reason our families were targeted is because of me,” Li Hua stated.

Xiaoming was perplexed to hear that statement.

“Monk Yuze has done a prophecy for me too. I was supposed to marry Prince Lóng Wei and our stars had matched at the time of my birth,” Li Hua asserted.

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Xiaoming was stunned to hear Li Hua. So, Lóng Wei’s and Li Hua’s fates were interconnected. But the question was why his father would do it. Wasn’t Qiu Zedong allowed Lóng Wei to marry Li Hua?

“I know that the Crown Prince is thinking about how it can be possible. The King was the one who let us marry,” Li Hua affirmed.

Xiaoming nodded his head.

“Because Monk Yuze let it happen. He was the one who convinced the King,” Li Hua asserted.

“Your Royal Highness, you must have noticed that the King was not ready to let you marry the Crown Princess. He didn’t agree to let you marry her because the Queen requested him but because he has himself married a woman from a low-class noble family. Prince Lóng Wei didn’t reveal it to the Crown Prince,” Li Hua stated.

“What is Princess Consort Li Hua trying to say? Can she explain thoroughly to me?” Xiaoming inquired.

“The King looks for benefits. He doesn’t care for emotions,” Li Hua asserted. “My words may sound wrong to the Crown Prince, but he must have seen and observed it numerous times,” she stated.

“Prince Tianjie wanted to marry Song Jia, but the King refused it. But His Majesty readily agrees to it when the Crown Princess has to reveal her true identity. The King within a day gave back the title of the minister to Li Zixuan, ignoring all of his crimes,” Li Hua explained to Xiaoming.

He nodded his head and curled his fingers. “Father was even pressuring me to marry a noble-class woman,” Xiaoming muttered. “He even tried to make my sister marry Li Jianjun even though his true face was revealed,” he asserted.

Li Hua nodded her head. “Your Royal Highness, will you stand with me and Prince Lóng Wei? When I see my elder brother, I control myself not to cry. He lost his entire right arm. He was called disabled and still many do that. My second brother could not be saved that night. My mother… I could not even see her face for the last time. I remember how she was smiling that night and in just mere seconds, she was gone. My Father was fighting in front of my eyes. So many innocent servants died that day,” Li Hua recalled that night again and tears appeared in her eyes.

She apologized to Xiaoming for turning emotional.

“Your Royal Highness, I didn’t come to the palace to start my new life but to find the person who did this to my family. No one in my family wanted anyone’s bad, yet we had to go through such a horrible night. Shui Feng Lao’s family got the same end. Why? Because his father tried to reveal the truth. No one survived in the sudden fire that broke out in the Shui residence,” Li Hua affirmed while holding her tears back.

Xiaoming empathized with Li Hua. He had respected Li Hua since the time he had seen her.

“I came to the Crown Prince as his loyal subject. He has the highest authority in the Kingdom, who can challenge the King and give justice not only to me but to hundreds of families who are still suffering,” Li Hua said.

“Why did Brother Lóng Wei not come to me? Why did he not tell me anything? Did he not trust me?” Xiaoming had the last few questions from Li Hua before giving his final decision.

“Because Prince Lóng Wei thinks none of his brothers will stand with him. He thinks when he never got support from his mother when he was young, then what he could expect from the others? Also, the King did the biggest injustice to Prince Lóng Wei– Capturing his mother against her will,” Li Hua pronounced.

Xiaoming fiddled with his fingers.

“If Brother Lóng Wei comes to me and tells me why he killed his mother, I will ask every prince to stand with him if tomorrow we challenge the King,” Xiaoming put forward a condition.

“Why does the Crown Prince want to know about that?” Lóng Wei asked as he stepped up from behind the pillar.

“Your Highness, when did you come here!?” Li Hua astonishingly asked.

“A minute ago,” Lóng Wei replied. He stepped up and stood next to the chair on which Li Hua was seated.

“Why does the Crown Prince know about it?” Lóng Wei asked.

“Because I found out something weird. Your mother wasn’t supposed to enter the palace, but our father forced her to come here. Uncle Qizhen had a lover too but no one knew about her. Is that what I am thinking, Brother Lóng Wei?” Xiaoming inquired.

“What is it that the Crown Prince is thinking?” Lóng Wei asked.

Xiaoming stood up and pushed the chair back. He took a step toward Lóng Wei and said, “The woman who was rumored to be uncle Qizhen’s lover was Brother Lóng Wei’s mother.”

Li Hua also got up from her place and looked at Lóng Wei.

“I always knew that the Crown Prince is smart,” Lóng Wei said with a smile.

Xiaoming could feel the pain behind that smile. He hugged Lóng Wei and didn’t let him withdraw this time. “Brother Lóng Wei, I will turn everything right for you. I will stand with you until the very end,” Xiaoming stated.

Lóng Wei stayed that way for a minute when Xiaoming pulled away.

“What do I have to do?” Xiaoming asked.

“The Crown Prince needs to stand with me when the truth is revealed,” Lóng Wei stated. “Before that, I don’t want the Crown Prince to reveal this to anyone,” he urged.

“I cannot hide it from Jin Yu,” Xiaoming stated.

“Keep it to yourself,” Lóng Wei said. “The rest of the answers, I will give you in the evening,” he asserted.

Xiaoming nodded his head.

“Do not betray me, Crown Prince. I know that you’ve been insecure right after you started to understand the meaning of the prophecy. However, I never wanted the throne. All I wanted was my mother’s love which I never received and in the end, I decided to be the Sinned Prince,” Lóng Wei asserted.

“I am not the old Xiaoming, Brother Lóng Wei. Even if I have to put my life in danger, I will do that. I want to turn everything right,” Xiaoming stated.