Chapter 110: The Fourth Prince of Nanyang Kingdom

The man opposite him heard his words without surprise. He nodded and continued, “Prince Jiǔ, you truly are perceptive. You haven’t disappointed my expectations.”

With that, Nán Yè sat down in front of Shěn Hézhī. The stark contrast between the two at this moment was striking.

One was a disgraced prince, imprisoned and pleading for mercy, while the other was a lofty, finely dressed prince from a neighboring kingdom.

“I really don’t understand why the Fourth Prince brought me here. Could it be to surpass your Third Prince brother? Or to kill me so the border wars can be resolved?” Shěn Hézhī asked.

The Fourth Prince shook his head, “I have no intention of competing with my Third Prince brother. After all, everything in Nányáng Kingdom belongs to me; there’s no need to fight him for it.”

Nán Yè’s words provoked Shěn’s dissatisfaction, but as a prisoner now, he had no right to argue.

“If that’s the case, then it makes some sense why the Fourth Prince brought me here. It can’t be to befriend me, so you dragged me here to have a heart-to-heart? Judging by my appearance, I hardly seem like a guest.” Shěn said, raising his chained hands.

Not only were his hands bound with iron chains, but his feet were shackled as well. Clearly, this was imprisonment, not hospitality.

Nán Yè shook the feather fan in his hand and replied, “Bringing Prince Jiǔ here is certainly not as a guest. I have no intention of inviting my enemy into my home. You were brought here solely because of your princess.”

“My princess?” Shěn frowned. “I don’t see how this concerns my princess.”

“Looks like you’re not aware yet. Your A Nu, who ostensibly serves my Third Brother, is actually on my side. She has reported everything she uncovered to me. Your princess is, in fact, the niece of my Third Brother. Ha ha ha!” the Fourth Prince said.

His answer left Shěn Hézhī incredulous. “There must be some mistake. My princess is the sixth young lady of the Yan family. How could she be the Third Prince’s niece? Besides, I’ve never heard that the Third Prince’s sister had children.”

“That’s part of our royal family’s secret history, something outsiders like you would never know. I wanted to tell you this today so you understand clearly and stop opposing us. That way, it saves me the trouble,” the Fourth Prince said.

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Shěn Hézhī eyed the Fourth Prince with deep suspicion. In his memory, both Nán Yè, the Fourth Prince, and Nán Àn, the Third Prince, were not people to be trifled with — both highly intelligent.

Yet the Fourth Prince’s current behavior and the story he was telling seemed nothing like the person Shěn remembered, nor like what the records described.

The Fourth Prince seemed oblivious to this, or perhaps was deliberately playing this role.

Regardless of the reason, he continued speaking, regardless of whether Shěn wished to listen.

He revealed that Shěn’s princess, Yàn Héré, was not actually the sixth lady of the Yan family, but rather a princess of Nányáng Kingdom. Her mother had fled the kingdom while pregnant.

Where she went after leaving Nányáng and how she gave birth to Yàn Héré was unknown, as was how she became a lady of the Yan household.

As the Fourth Prince spoke, Shěn suddenly recalled something from years ago in the capital. The Yan family was not a prominent clan, so few paid attention to their affairs.

Shěn had been busy and had no time to observe this minor family. He had only stumbled upon this information while researching.

Long ago, Master Yan suddenly married a woman who reportedly caused discontent within the family. But for some unknown reason, he insisted on marrying her, so outsiders assumed he must have deeply loved her.

Yet the woman’s life was tragically short. After giving birth to two children, she fell gravely ill and died shortly after.

Those two children were Yàn Héré and Yàn Hèchéng. From what Shěn knew, their lives in the household were far from happy, so the rumors of how favored the woman was were likely false.

If that were true, then according to the Fourth Prince, Yàn Héré’s mother fled Nányáng while pregnant, likely bringing her child to Beiyu Kingdom, where she found Master Yan. Whatever arrangement they made resulted in the mother remaining there.

However, their relationship was not as affectionate as the world believed. Yàn Héré’s mother was probably not favored; they were merely bound by a transaction.

---

Shěn Hézhī now suddenly doubted how Yàn Héré’s mother had died. Perhaps she had endured too many conspiracies and darkness. Shěn tended to view every matter with complexity.

The Fourth Prince, however, cared little for Shěn’s thoughts and continued speaking.

“My Third Brother’s sister fled like that — a disgrace to the entire royal family. Because of this, her whereabouts were concealed, and it was publicly claimed she remained in the palace all along.”

“So why tell me this? If you truly want to bring my princess back, then you should have captured her, not me,” Shěn said.

He did not mean to shirk responsibility or endanger Yàn Héré, but was genuinely curious about the Fourth Prince’s intentions.

The Fourth Prince smiled and replied, “Of course I want to capture her. Though A Nu told me everything, she also informed my Third Brother. So he has quietly stationed people to guard Yàn Héré.

That’s why I can’t capture her directly. But just because I can’t capture her doesn’t mean I can’t bring her here. Hence, the idea to capture you.”

Shěn Hézhī felt utterly helpless upon hearing this. He never imagined the Fourth Prince’s reason for capturing him would be this.

Yet after learning his wife’s true identity, worry crept into his heart. This was no ordinary identity. The royal family of Nányáng was in chaos, embroiled in endless strife. If his wife returned to that family, she would surely be dragged into conflicts, perhaps even face mortal danger.

Thus, Shěn’s mind raced. How could he prevent his wife from going back to the royal family?