Chapter 1.15 — Princess Substitution Marriage (Epilogue)

The battle cry from outside the imperial hunting grounds was already gradually becoming smaller. There was just the fire that was getting bigger and bigger that illuminated the entire Imperial City.

Xuan Yuan Qing leisurely strolled in the large hall and walked towards the Imperial throne step by step. When he passed by Su Wan, he paused for a moment and then continued walking with a smile.

Xuan Yuan Po who was sitting on the Imperial throne looked deeply at the Fifth Prince who he was never fond of. After being silent for a long time, he slowly started talking: “For this seat, would you kill your Father Emperor?”

“Father Emperor?”

Xuan Yuan Qing halted his footsteps and looked at Xuan Yuan Po with a sneering face: “Since you’ve calmly let me be beheaded, then why am I not allowed to kill you? When you killed me at that time, did you even faintly care about our father and son relationship?”

Xuan Yuan Po did not speak. He just deeply looked at Xuan Yuan Qing as before. Right now, he was still hoping for someone to come to his rescue in his heart. After all, there were still a lot of defense soldiers outside the Imperial City. Xuan Yuan Po did not believe that Xuan Yuan Qing could fall the Imperial City in one fell swoop without causing any commotion and suspicion outside based on his strength alone.

“Father Emperor, why are you not speaking anymore? What are you waiting for?  Defense soldiers? Or your royal shadow guards?”

Speaking till here, Xuan Yuan Qing suddenly lifted his eyes and gazed at Head Steward Anping (who was in-charge of internal affairs) who was always guarding beside the Imperial throne: “Is it better to let Head Steward enlighten you on the answer?"

Anping?

Xuan Yuan Po’s gaze sharply turned to Anping who stood at the side. The always submissive Anping no longer concealed himself at this moment and quickly walked down the steps and kneeled at Xuan Yuan Qing’s feet: “Your Majesty, this is the Hufu to maneuver the defence soldiers and the secret injunction to utilise the hidden guards of the royal family!”

“Anping! It turned out to be you!”

At this moment, Xuan Yuan Po finally knew that he was betrayed by his most trusted confidant. Because his emotions were stirred up, the poison attacked his heart and he suddenly spit a large mouthful of black blood.

In the past life, Xuan Yuan Qing was also the unfavoured Fifth Prince but in the end, he sat on the Imperial throne. Besides his own forbearance and wisdom, he also had a lot of support from external forces. And the greatest assistance was from Anping, who was right in the middle of the Imperial City, who he coordinated outside and inside offensives with .

In the past life, Xuan Yuan Rui’s faction had fallen from power at an earlier time, so Ye Zhi Hua didn’t know that Anping was Xuan Yuan Qing’s people but regarding this matter, Su Wan was very clear on it.

This was the most common betrayal in the Imperial City and was also the most despair inducing betrayal.

Now, the atmosphere in the main hall became even more weird. It was as if Xuan Yuan Qing was afraid that no one knew how cold-blooded he was, so he suddenly took the sword from the hand of the Imperial guard behind him and walked up the flight of stairs step by step, and pointed the sharp sword at Xuan Yuan Po’s chest.

Xuan Yuan Po had been a monarch for so many years and enjoyed being aloof and remote but at this moment, his life was threatened. He instinctively began to panic and be scared: “Qing er, Father Emperor…..Father Emperor can….. abdicate…. abdicate…. give….. ”

The word “you” has not yet been said when Xuan Yuan Qing’s sword pierced through Xuan Yuan Po’s body.

Since he’s already walked the path of a renegade, Xuan Yuan Qing did not look for a justification but tonight, he must leave a mark in everyone’s heart. He wanted everyone to treat him with reverence and respect.

Blu: Lol, he on a power trip. His thoughts are quite practical though (the justification part).

“Father Emperor, have a good journey!”

Extracting the blood stained sword, Xuan Yuan Qing kept smiling.

“Anyone else?”

Xuan Yuan Qing dragged the sword, the blood dripped drop by drop down the Imperial throne. He smiled as before and gazed at the people in the main hall: “Is there anyone else who wishes to accompany the late Emperor? Zhen has already succeeded him!”

Blu: Zhen = way to refer to self (imperial use)

As expected, the original male lead had an even more domineering air. Su Wan took the opportunity to tilt her body to size up Xuan Yuan Rui who was in the middle of the crowd. At this moment, his face was indescribably ugly.

At the moment when Xuan Yuan Qing’s voice fell, there were finally a few figures in the hall that could not help but rush out, one of which was Su Yu Feng.

“Brazen renegade! Still don’t quickly accept death!”

A few patriotic and loyal Generals, at Su Yu Feng’s lead, suppressed the poison by force and rushed to Xuan Yuan Qing. Xuan Yuan Qing merely lifted up his sword and lightly sweeped it, knocking down the usually aloof Generals to the floor, without exception.

Seeing their furious and unbearable appearance, Xuan Yuan Qing kicked down Xuan Yuan Po’s dead body from the Imperial throne, and as if there were no one else present, he sat on the chair. He contemplated as he swept his eyes over everyone present and finally landed on Su Wan’s body.

“Su Wan biao mei, this poison of yours is really ferocious.”

Su Wan glanced at Xuan Yuan Qing, and in front of the incredulous gazes of the people present, Su Wan got up: “No matter how powerful the poison, it would be useless without Steward An’s help.”

“Xiao Wan!”

“Xiao Wan!”

Su Yu Feng, who was on the floor, and Physician Si, who was seated not far away, shouted at Su Wan to halt, their voices carrying vibrato.

Su Yu Feng did not dare to believe that his own daughter would collude with a renegade, and Physician Si’s gaze was completely focused on Su Wan. This kind of complicated expression looked like he was silently questioning and denouncing her.

“Currently, what I’m holding in my hands is the antidote.”

Su Wan completely ignored Su Yu Feng and Physician Si’s gaze. She gazed indifferently at the people present: “Only need all of you to willingly swear loyalty to His Majesty and you can get the antidote or even a promotion! If you all are unwilling to declare where you stand, then I can very sincerely send you underground to vow loyalty to His Majesty!”

As the voice of Su Wan fell, the atmosphere in the main hall changed again.

Xuan Yuan Qing’s rebellion was obviously successful, His Majesty was also dead. What else can they do?

Does one continue to be a loyal minister who is not afraid of death, or….

In the main hall, some people’s heart beat faster while some people hesitated, but no one dared to be the first person to speak.

“You all only have half an incense stick’s worth of time to think it over!”

Su Wan waved her hand and Anping immediately got ready to light up an incense stick.

Even though they were pressured, no one wanted to be the one to stand out but seeing that there was less and less time left, someone finally couldn’t bear it anymore and jumped out to swear allegiance to Xuan Yuan Qing. Once there was a first person, there would be a second. In a blink of an eye, half of the people kneeled in the middle of the main hall, and the incense stick happened to burn out at this time.

“Anyone else?”

Su Wan looked around once again and paused her gaze on the remaining people.

Apart from Xuan Yuan Qing’s brothers and some royal family members, the rest of the people were truly loyal officials.

“It should be just these?” Su Wan turned her head and glanced at Xuan Yuan Qing. Xuan Yuan Qing nodded his head.

“You all have missed the last opportunity.”

Su Wan muttered that line to herself. Following that, she opened the medicine bottle in her hands and put the antidote in the hands of those people who came over. Those officials and their families impatiently thanked her and swallowed down the antidote.

Su Wan’s lips finally exposed a little bit of a smile and that smile was taken note of by Physician Si who paid attention to her each and every move. Physician Si took a deep breath and a wonderful expression appeared on his face. This smell is……

After killing Xuan Yuan Po and obtaining the title of Emperor, he also subdued half of the ministers. Right now, Xuan Yuan Qing’s mood was very good. He smiled and looked at the group of people in the hall who refused to admit defeat. Among them were his other brothers.

These few people were also clever. They knew that whatever the case, he would not let them go anyway, so, at this moment, almost everyone was sitting in their original places with ugly expressions and looked face to face at Xuan Yuan Qing.

“Since you are not willing to assist Zhen, so Zhen is forced to…”

“Wait a moment!”

Seeing Xuan Yuan Qing going to order the Imperial guards, a voice suddenly interrupted him.

Physician Si’s shakily stood up. Although he was talking to Xuan Yuan Qing, his eyes were looking straight at Su Wan: “Fifth Prince, can I ask the xiao Junzhu a question?”

En?

Xuan Yuan Qing did not care about how Physician Si addressed him. In fact, he didn’t really want Physician Si’s life. Physician Si was a talented person and also had deep affection for Su Wan. He is a person that can be exploited and there was a chance to force him into submission.

“Si Daren, do as you like!”

Xuan Yuan Qing could already guess what Physician Si wanted to ask Su Wan. Actually, Xuan Yuan Qing was also curious how Su Wan would reply Physician Si. Could she convince Physician Si to swear loyalty to him or not ne?

Step by step, Physician Si slowly walked and stood before Su Wan. Looking straight at her eyes, both people silently looked at each other for a good while.

Until he saw Su Wan, who was standing in front of him, lightly rub her shoulders because she was unwell due to standing motionless for too long. Physician Si finally started to slowly talk: “Xiao Wan, assisting Fifth Prince to rebel, was it voluntary?”

Hearing Physician Si’s words, Su Wan gave Physician Si a quick glance and subconsciously looked down at Su Yu Feng who was lying at one side with blood at the side of his mouth.

“Of course, it…..”

Su Wan’s voice paused for a while and immediately replied in a louder voice: “Was not voluntary!”

“Su Wan!”

Xuan Yuan Qing on the Dragon Throne looked at Su Wan with a terrible expression on his face. He was thinking about what the meaning was behind Su Wan’s words. A large group of elite troops suddenly rushed into the main hall and completely surrounded Xuan Yuan Qing’s group!

“Xuan Yuan Qing, you committed regicide and killed your father, everyone will be put to death!”

A low voice sounded from within the crowd and in front of everyone’s indescribably astonished eyes, the Fourth Prince Xuan Yuan Ye who never showed the mountain and never revealed the water (to hide key facts) stood up with a peaceful expression.

This is……

Just when Xuan Yuan Qing was shocked, an unexpected incident happened in the main hall. The complexion of those officials who just ate the antidote went purple and started foaming at the mouth, one went down after another.

To call this many twists and turns would be barely acceptable.

Physician Si looked at Su Wan and then looked at the medicine bottle in her grasp: “The contents of the medicine bottle are extremely toxic poison. Am I right?”

Su Wan declined to comment by smiling. That’s right, what she was holding in her hands was poison. Su Wan had actually snuck the true antidote into the spice of the incense that was burnt.

“Su Wan!”

Xuan Yuan Qing looked at Su Wan with eyes full of hatred. Until now, he still didn’t dare to believe it. He was actually played by the weak and harmless looking Su Wan!

Welcoming Xuan Yuan Qing’s gaze, Su Wan had an innocent appearance: “Fifth Prince, you used Su Rui’s life to threaten me. I was forced to compromise with you but I didn’t expect you to actually harm His Majesty. You truly are terrible! If….if I had known earlier that you wanted to harm His Majesty, I….. I would consider dying and I also would not compromise with you!”

With these few sentences, Su Wan cleanly removed herself from the situation first. Regardless of whether other people believed her or not, it’s fine as long as she believes in herself.

As expected……

Hearing Su Wan’s excuse, Xuan Yuan Qing’s heart/mind thoroughly cooled down.

Su Wan was always deceiving him. Su Wan’s true partner was actually….

“Fourth Imperial Elder Brother, you really hid deeply and didn’t show yourself a!”

Xuan Yuan Qing looked back and forth between Su Wan and Xuan Yuan Ye, his sharp gaze gradually dimmed down: “I’ve lost. I admit.”

…………

It’s said that the country cannot be without an Emperor not even for a day, so after the Imperial City was controlled by Xuan Yuan Ye’s troops, the ministers who survived accepted their fate and elected Xuan Yuan Ye as the new Emperor!

Three days later, the new Emperor ascended the throne. The traitor, Xuan Yuan Qing and his accomplices were beheaded in public. The heads of Xuan Yuan Qing and Ye Zhi Jin were hung above the noon gate to frighten thieves and robbers. This time, they really are dead and can’t die again.

In the wake of the enthronement of the new Emperor, the entire court suffered the largest purging and reorganization since the beginning to history. Soon afterwards, several other princes were charged with different accusations. Some were sent far away, some were put under house arrest. Those who were charged with even more serious crimes were immediately sentenced to be beheaded in public by the Imperial Court of Justice!

These denounced princes naturally included Xuan Yuan Rui, except that he wasn’t dead. He was put under house arrest in the courtyard where Imperial families were imprisoned. This place was even more desolate and deserted than the cold yuan that Su Wan used to stay in. The whole courtyard did not have a single attendant. Except for Xuan Yuan Rui, there was only Ye Zhi Hua who was imprisoned with him.

Both people were forbidden to go out from this secluded courtyard. They were no longer living in luxury and didn’t have any palace maids to wait upon them. Over a long time, Xuan Yuan Rui became more and more irritable. Ye Zhi Hua could only bear it alone.

The second month after Xuan Yuan Rui was imprisoned, the imprisonment courtyard welcomed their first guest. The guest was the inner servant in the Imperial City. He delivered some dress fabrics and exquisite pastry. It is said that it was specially bestowed down because His Majesty was going to hold a grand ceremony to confer a seal/title to the Empress and the whole nation would celebrate together. At first, Xuan Yuan Rui did not care about what the inner servant said until the inner servant handed Xuan Yuan Rui the Empress niangniang’s handwritten letter before leaving. Only then did Xuan Yuan Rui’s complexion turn wildly changed.

It turned out that the Empress that Xuan Yuan Ye wanted to marry was Su Wan!

In fact, Xuan Yuan Rui was the last person to hear the news. Right now, the entire capital already knew marry Su Wan as his Empress. The entire Su fu swept away the haze from the previous days and the entire residence was glowing with a new lease of life.

Although how Su Wan handled Xuan Yuan Qing’s matter wasn’t appropriate but right now, the entire court was under Xuan Yuan Ye’s control. No one dared to speak about this matter. On the contrary, after the reorganization of the court, Su Jia’s position did not rise. This let everyone realise that His Majesty was truly siding with Su Wan Junzhu. Now that the marriage of the two people had spread, not many people were surprised.

Su Yu Feng initially held a grudge over the death of the previous Emperor. Afterwards, he had a discussion with Xuan Yuan Ye in the Imperial study several times and he was finally convinced by the newly appointed Emperor. Although he did not understand why Su Wan gave up Physician Si and chose Xuan Yuan Ye, regarding Su Wan’s own choice, Su Yu Feng has no right to stop it.

When Physician Si went to Su fu again, he felt as if things had changed greatly.

Still in that room, the person was still right before his eyes but Physician Si suddenly felt like Su Wan was very far away from himself, so far away as if she was in a different world.

“You’ve come?”

Su Wan was very calm at Physician Si’s arrival.

“I came today because I just wanted to ask you….”

“There’s no need to ask. I’ve never loved you.”

Blu: Savage.

Su Wan coldly interrupted Physician Si.

I’ve never loved you, these few words were spoken very directly.

Physician Si’s heart tightened. His face still brought a gentle smile: “Actually, I wanted to ask…..”

“There’s no need to ask. It’s exactly as you thought. From the beginning, me and fourth biaoge had already calculated everyone in our plans, including you and Xuan Yuan Qing."

Su Wan once again cut Physician Si short, finally destroying the faint fancy in his heart.

Blu: Faint fancy, as in, he imagined that it wasn't the case that Su Wan planned it all with Xuan Yuan Ye.

Physician Si finally couldn’t smile anymore, his whole back was motionless: “Why, why?”

Why ne?

Su Wan seriously looked at Physician Si’s face: “Because,….you’re stupid. You’re easy to deceive a!”

Deceiving you was only because you were easy to deceive.

This was the best reason! Actually, there was still an excuse that Su Wan didn’t say and it was that she wholeheartedly did not have a favorable impression towards soft-hearted men.

Although Physician Si really helped her a lot, but for another woman, he would still go through fire and water. For the sake of what he sees as “kind-hearted” was perhaps just “weakness”.

Blu: As in what seemed like being kind was actually just him being weak to girls. I think.

This kind of overflowing love, Su Wan dare not accept.

Blu: As in, he killed the prev Su Wan for Ye Zhi Hua because of "love".

When Physician Si arrived at Su fu, he was full of courage. After meeting Su Wan, his entire person seemed as if he was at a loss on what to do and was very distracted……

On the day of Su Wan and Xuan Yuan Ye’s wedding, all the places in the capital hung red ribbons and silk flowers. The festive music spread to every corner of the capital.

From inside the imprisonment courtyard he could also hear those sounds, could also see red everywhere. He seemed to think back of the year when he was high-spirited and vigorous. It was also on a grand scale when he married Su Wan back to the fu.

In the blink of an eye, in less than five years, she became the Empress but the Emperor was not him.

In the end, what went wrong?

Su Wan was originally his Wangfei. Now that she became the Empress, he should’ve been the Emperor, he should’ve been the person who was governing the country!

Blu: Tut tut, still narcissistic as always. *smh*

In the midst of a joyful thought, Xuan Yuan Rui’s gaze became absent-minded, his complexion became unusually painful.

“Wangye!”

It was at this time when Ye Zhi Hua, who just finished making the breakfast that she worked so hard on all morning, coincidentally came to call Xuan Yuan Rui to return to the room to eat. Hearing her voice, it was as if Xuan Yuan Rui was greatly stimulated, he violently stood up and scurried to Ye Zhi Hua. He used both his hands to firmly clutch Ye Zhi Hua’s neck: “It’s you, it’s all because of you!”

“Wang, wangye….” Ye Zhi Hua’s extremely pallid face quickly went pale and blue, her gaze fixedly staring at Xuan Yuan Rui’s face. At this moment, she felt utter despair, felt extremely woeful.

It became harder and harder to breathe, the scene in front of Ye Zhi Hua’s eyes became increasingly dim.  It was as if she saw the Spring in her previous life again. She was outside a peach blossom forest where she met the romantic and unrestrained Third Prince for the first time. At that time, her heart missed a beat and she thought that she found the man she was looking for, but in the end ne?

In the past life, she had no chance to be with Xuan Yuan Rui. She herself was killed.

In this life, everything important restarted again. She married Xuan Yuan Rui as she wished but now what did she get?

Except for a short brief happiness, he harbored suspicions towards her, treated her coldly and harmed her.

Ye Zhi Hua gradually closed her eyes, she began to regret.

God was so fond of her that she was reborn and she gave her all to help Xuan Yuan Rui.

How foolish a!

In the past life, Xuan Yuan Rui’s ability was already inferior to other people. In this life, she helped Xuan Yuan Rui plan a counterattack against Xuan Yuan Qing, and then what happened? Wasn’t it the same as before where they were all knocked down by Xuan Yuan Ye into the dust!

Did God let her be reborn this time just to let her accept her fate?

No, it should not be like this! If it was possible, if it was possible to redo everything, she would rather marry Xuan Yuan Qing……

Bringing this regret and sorrow, Ye Zhi Hua closed her eyes forever.

She didn’t know that even if she was favored by the Heavens, she will always only have one more chance. She would never have a second chance to choose…..

Ye Zhi Hua died. She was choked to death by Xuan Yuan Rui. Seeing the dead body that lost its breathe under his feet, Xuan Yuan Rui was expressionless. He kicked the corpse that was still warm and shouted angrily: “Audacious slaves! Still don’t know how to salute when you see Zhen!”

Blu: (゜Д゜;) Well, looks like someone went insane. And, you shouldn't disrespect a corpse, you *insert colourful vocabulary*.

He was unwilling to admit that he was a loser. In his heart, he was the winner.

A person who regards status and power as their whole life, after losing everything, they would be filled with bitter remorse and fall into insanity. To a large extent, it was far more gratifying to the people than directly killing him.

At the moment of Ye Zhi Hua’s death and Xuan Yuan Rui’s fall into madness, Su Wan was getting ready to sit on the Empress’ Phoenix seat.

After sensing that her task was successfully completed, Su Wan who was clothed in the scarlet Phoenix robes, took a final glance at the scenery of the capital and immediately contacted headquarters in her heart.

Number 003 mission accomplished, requesting return! Requesting return!

Headquarters has received request! In the middle of transmitting message……

Every time, the time used to return to headquarters is not fixed. Sometimes, the message would be transmitted swiftly and you could leave the world very quickly. The body of the original owner would disappear because the soul had dissipated.

Sometimes, the message is transmitted slowly and may take an hour or two, but the slowest would not exceed twelve hours.

Recalling that today was the day of her marriage, Su Wan thought it would be best to disappear right now, or later at night, when waiting to greet the groom in the sleeping quarters, or else, if she was out of luck and disappeared while saluting, that would be really……it can’t be helped.

In the past, when Su Wan completed a task, she would find a safe spot and then quietly vanish there, but right now, she was being protected by a group of elite Imperial guards. It looks like her wish to leave was simply a lunatic’s ravings.

Just when it was the hour when Su Wan was supposed to depart, the troop returning to the Imperial City suddenly stopped and soon after that, sounds of battle burst forth.

Unexpectedly, there was someone who dared to bar the way of the Phoenix carriage of the Empress niangniang!

How audacious a!

Audacious?

Su Wan’s heart suddenly went cold. She raised her hand and lifted the curtain that was obstructing her view. Once the red curtain was lifted, a familiar incomparably handsome face immediately fell into her sight.

“Su Rui!”

Su Wan did not foresee this. Earlier when she was still putting on her dress and make up, Su Rui was still lying unconscious in another courtyard. How did he suddenly……

Meeting Su Wan’s gaze, Su Rui revealed a strange smile and then his figure flashed. The next moment, Su Rui in front of Su Wan’s Phoenix carriage.

Quietly staring at Su Wan’s red attire, Su Rui narrowed his eyes, his gloomy face had a soft and gentle expression: “You look very beautiful wearing this dress.”

Eh, he became schizophrenic again.

Su Wan maintained her composure and looked at Su Rui: “You have woken up long ago?

“No.”

Su Rui shook his head. If he woke up long ago, then Xuan Yuan Ye would not be here today.

“Then you…”

“I’ve said it before—“

Su Rui moved closer before Su Wan, interrupting her: “I’ve said it before, whoever you wish to marry, I’ll mince that person and feed him to the dogs. Xuan Yuan Ye is not an exception.”

“Then, go chop him up.”

Su Wan lifted her eyebrows at Su Rui.

“You want to distract me?”

Su Rui fixed his gaze on Su Wan as before. At that moment, Su Wan suddenly felt the feeling of being seen through.

How could he….

Ding ding!

Message has been transmitted.

The sound of headquarter’s artificial intelligence has started to sound in her head.

Now she was in the process of transmitting her soul.

“Su Wan!”

Su Rui’s eyes suddenly went red and he madly pulled Su Wan into his embrace: “You’re leaving? You’re not allowed to leave! I won’t allow you to leave!”

He felt as if she was going to leave.

It was just like that day when he felt that she was in danger so he immediately became clear-headed. He instinctively tightened his embrace.

Just like today, he felt like he was going to lose her. The moment her escorts to the bridegroom’s home departed from Su fu, he woke up!

Just like now, he feels that she is leaving and would leave him forever.

Su Wan didn’t expect that the youth before her eyes possessed a horrifyingly excessive spiritual perception that ordinary people did not have.

This was a good seedling ne!

If only she could bring him back to headquarters, tsk tsk.

Blu: BRING HIM BACK!!!!

Su Wan felt slightly sorry because right now, her body was starting to become transparent.

Su Rui didn’t feel anything about the horrifying scene before his eyes. He just stubbornly kept on hugging Su Wan up until the last part of Su Wan’s body disappeared in his arms.

Embrace, empty.

Didn’t expect that she would still leave him.

As expected she really is a heartless female.

Su Rui’s gaze became more and more darker, the deep darkness containing some frenzied paranoia……