Chapter 26: The Empress’s Throne

Lu Yue-rong stood stiffly, stubbornly refusing to move. “Mother, aren’t you worried about me at all? The moment I come home, you punish me?”

“Worried about you?” The Grand Madam let out a cold laugh. “With abilities like yours, you managed to leave the estate without anyone noticing. Do you still need me to worry about you?”

“So I’m completely beyond your control now, is that it?!” The Grand Madam raised her voice. “Yue-rong, why have you become like this?!”

The Grand Madam could not accept how much her daughter had changed.

“Mother, you simply—”

If Brother had truly gone to Siam to carry out a mission, and Chen Nianqing used the situation to stir up trouble, then Brother’s safety seemed to be in serious jeopardy.

Only after Li Hanting had kissed her to his satisfaction did he finally release her, though his ironlike arms still held her tightly against him, unwilling to let go.

Of course, agreeing was one thing. Before the King Father and Queen Mother departed, there would inevitably be all manner of reluctance and instructions. That was the principal purpose of this dinner.

At the train station, she watched her parents walk away. Luting felt utterly miserable inside. Only a few minutes earlier, she had still been beside them, repeating over and over, “It’s all right. Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of myself and work hard,” and things of that sort.

As it turned out, Wang Jiayi’s phone was playing a video. He merely glanced at it before realizing that the cliff face looked strangely familiar—and the figure upon it even more so. It seemed to be none other than himself.

“Then let us begin with the Jiuli tribe. I shall hold a grand ceremony in my own territory to cast off the Son of Heaven.” Chi You was the first to make his complete support and allegiance clear.

Even with the pull of kindred blood, finding Ning Xia still required crossing layer upon layer of space and pinpointing the child’s exact location.

Someone was lost in a reverie when the telephone on the table suddenly rang, jolting him out of his dazed state.

The two chatted idly. The Warriors were far ahead at the moment, so Kerr did not need to pay much attention to the game.

Beside them, Yu Qing glared fiercely at Wang Li. By then, it was too late to stop him. Even Yu Qing had never imagined that grass would actually grow inside the roadbed. Wasn’t this utter nonsense?

Once these men who had commanded armies returned to the capital, their military authority was taken away. They were like tigers locked in cages—frightening to look at, but posing no real threat at all. They could never compare with those close ministers of the Son of Heaven, who could determine whether a person lived or died with nothing more than a few careless words.

In a residential district west of the Minamigawa Misaki Bridge, there stood an apartment building tucked into a corner beside the main road.

This blade radiance contained a thread of primordial energy. The slightest lapse in attention could cost someone his life. Thus, Xiao Yi and the other three prepared themselves with utmost vigilance, as though facing a formidable enemy.

What had the Eighth Prince gone off to do? I wondered whether he had gone looking for the ancestral treasure. Perhaps there was another explanation: he had gone to seek out the person who possessed it.

When Hei Fa noticed the gesture, he was deeply disappointed. Seeing his disappointment, Man Shengsheng sympathized with him from the bottom of her heart.

Thus, Ichinose Honami’s pretty face flushed faintly, and she turned away instinctively, avoiding his gaze.

“Dad, I’m not asleep yet. What is it? Has something happened at home?” Dahei hurriedly asked. He knew his father’s temperament all too well—the man was a born troublemaker. Back when Dahei had been in Sunjia Village, he could still keep things under control whenever his father caused trouble.

Besides, he knew him well. If he found out about it from someone else someday, that would be when real trouble began.

Su Ke remembered that he had said he still had something to do and would not be coming home for dinner, which was why she had agreed to go out for a meal with Mo Zhanbai.

I also felt that what I had said sounded rather false. At my age, who knew how long it would take before I could actually earn any money?

Jiang Chengwu was both anxious and curious. He stared at the letter with eager eyes, yet could neither snatch it away nor let on that he cared in the slightest. The inner conflict was driving him nearly mad.

That very day, he had all the maids and old servants involved in the matter at the Grand Princess’s residence arrested, and dispatched his men to investigate the whereabouts of the residence’s chief steward.