Chapter 1456: 711

Han Ye was surprised, “How can that be? Your Highness is the Crown Prince!”

The Crown Prince scoffed, “Shangguan Yun was once the Princess! Did you see our lord father show her any mercy? When he deposed her, he didn’t show the slightest bit of compassion. This father of mine is the cruelest and most merciless one, and besides, don’t forget, the kings of Ling, Xu, and Li are all covetously eying the position of the Crown Prince. None of my brothers are easy to deal with! If they find even the slightest fault with me, I would face a crushing defeat!”

Han Ye fell silent.

The Crown Prince looked up at the bright moon in the sky and said, “Ye’er.”

Han Ye bowed, “Your Highness.”

The Crown Prince said coldly, “I want him to never see tomorrow’s sunrise.”

…

In the Imperial Palace, the Little Princesses, after causing a stir all day, finally came to rest.

The Emperor’s Sleeping Palace regained its usual tranquility.

Being favored, many ladies of the Imperial Harem had wanted to take the Little Princesses to their own Sleeping Palace for care, all gently declined by the Little Princesses.

The Little Princesses appeared naive, but having grown up motherless from a young age, she was actually more sensitive than most children.

She could feel that in this Forbidden City, only her uncle the king truly liked her, without any ulterior motives.

So she only wished to stay in her uncle’s Sleeping Palace.

Her small bed was right beside the king’s Dragon Bed, draped with her favorite pink canopy.

The king sat behind his desk, going through the memorials, listening to her even breathing, his face briefly clouded with a trace of distraction.

Zhang Dequan carefully turned up the wick of the lamp a little.

This was the eighth time the king had been distracted since returning from Lingbo Academy.

Zhang Dequan dared not point it out, much less ask; he could only whisper a gentle reminder, “Your Majesty, it’s late. You should rest.”

The king asked, “What time is it?”

Zhang Dequan answered, “It’s almost the hour of Zi.”

The king put down the memorial, “I’m going out for a walk.”

“This…” Zhang Dequan didn’t dare to stop him, he could only take up the lantern and accompany the king out of the Sleeping Palace.

The king stared at the swarming mosquitoes, making his way to the Cold Palace.

He stood in front of the long dilapidated gate of the Cold Palace, silent for quite some time.

Zhang Dequan thought to himself that it must be that female student from today causing trouble again; those phoenix eyes, the more he thought about it, the more they resembled Queen Xuanyuan’s eyes.

Zhang Dequan’s face was swollen with bites; he swatted at the mosquitoes with one hand while fanning the king with the other.

The weeds were overgrown around the Cold Palace, and the mosquitoes were particularly vicious, a single bite was serious.

Yet the king seemed not to notice the several bites on himself, just staring at the gate of the Cold Palace, as if he expected Queen Xuanyuan to walk out from it once again.

But how could that be?

From the moment you slaughtered her entire family, she would never come out to see you again.

Zhang Dequan could only mumble these thoughts to himself, not daring to speak them aloud.

“Your Majesty, there are too many mosquitoes here. You must take care of your dragon body…”

“Who is there!”

Zhang Dequan had gotten halfway through his sentence when a sudden snap of breaking branches came from within the Cold Palace, prompting the king to call out sharply.

Zhang Dequan was startled.

The king quickly stepped forward and pushed open the gate of the Cold Palace, but he only saw a figure scaling over the wall and out.

“Protect His Majesty!” Zhang Dequan spread his arms out in front of the king in a protective gesture.

The king said indifferently, “They’ve already gone.”

Zhang Dequan muttered to himself, puzzled, “That person’s silhouette seemed familiar…”

The king said, “Shangguan Yun.”

Was it the Princess?

If it was the Princess, then it was not surprising.

Monitored by others during the day, she could only sneak out at night to reminisce about Queen Xuanyuan.

“She went that way. Send someone to check.”

“Yes.”

Zhang Dequan called over the Imperial Palace guards nearby and instructed them to follow but warned them not to startle the quarry.

A moment later, a delegation returned to report, the leader hesitantly saying, “The deposed Princess… she’s escaped the palace through a dog hole.”

The king’s expression turned very interesting as he gritted his teeth and said, “Escaped through a dog hole? Shangguan Yun, you really know how to make me look good!”

Zhang Dequan’s face broke out in a cold sweat. Princess, has your amnesia aftereffect come on too strongly?

Zhang Dequan looked hesitantly towards the king: “Your Majesty…”

The king snorted coldly, “Prepare the carriage! I want to see what kind of trouble she intends to stir up by leaving the palace so late at night!”