Chapter Ninety-Four: Even the Royal Descendants Have Gone Missing

By the time Su Jingluo had settled everything, more than half an hour had passed. When she stepped outside, the eunuchs waiting there were all drenched in anxious sweat.

“Oh, my princess consort, why are you only coming out now?” The old eunuch, fretting so hard he could hardly stand still, hurried forward and helped Su Jingluo into the carriage.

Su Jingluo glanced at A-Lan, who looked at her in reluctant parting, waved her back inside, and cast one long, deep look at the prince’s residence before drawing down the carriage curtain. She only hoped Yun Bai and Xiao Jingxuan would keep their composure and behave themselves.

As the carriage rolled farther and farther away, Su Jingluo’s wish was not to be fulfilled. The moment she left, A-Lan ushered Lin Wanwan into the residence and arranged everything for her, then came to Xiao Jingxuan with a mind full of worries.

“Your Highness, this servant has been left behind by the princess consort to care for Miss Lin.” A-Lan was still deeply concerned about Su Jingluo.

“I know.” Xiao Jingxuan kept his head lowered, thinking about something, and waved her away to attend to Lin Wanwan.

“Zhuo Yue’an!”

Xiao Jingxuan’s voice was muffled, and the expression on his face was grim.

“This subordinate is here.” Zhuo Yue’an was likewise fully on guard.

“Send a flying pigeon message and have Mu Yunyin at the border make her preparations.” His gaze remained cold and dark.

“Your Highness? This... Didn’t the princess consort tell you to wait for her? Shouldn’t we wait a little longer?” Zhuo Yue’an had not expected Xiao Jingxuan to actually mobilize Mu Yunyin’s forces from the frontier.

Mu Yunyin had been the female general who once fought alongside Xiao Jingxuan on the battlefield, the famed female warrior of the Great Shang Dynasty. She had earned countless feats of merit for Great Shang. Though Great Shang was not among the strongest nations surrounding it, in those years Mu Yunyin and Xiao Jingxuan, stationed at the frontier, had been the nightmare of every enemy army. Even when several kingdoms joined forces and advanced together, they still failed to shake Great Shang’s borders in the slightest.

On the battlefield, Xiao Jingxuan and Mu Yunyin had lived and died together through countless days and nights. Xiao Jingxuan had saved Mu Yunyin innumerable times, and so if Xiao Jingxuan lived or died, Mu Yunyin would follow him without question. Mu Yunyin was a piece the prince might not even be willing to use in the end.

The prince was truly enraged.

“There is no waiting. What if she suffers some grievance in the palace? If she is harmed... no, I cannot allow it. I must make the palace understand that if even the slightest thing happens to Su Jingluo, then their entire realm will be buried with her.” Xiao Jingxuan knew the emperor, empress, and empress dowager had long wanted to remove him. He could bide his time and plot slowly, but if they touched Su Jingluo, that was another matter entirely.

“This subordinate will see to it at once.” Zhuo Yue’an could see how resolute Xiao Jingxuan was. After a salute, he was about to withdraw.

“Wait. Tell the shadow guards to bring out every prince and princess in the palace.” Xiao Jingxuan still felt it was not enough. In his eyes, the emperor’s realm could never compare to Su Jingluo.

“Why would Your Highness do that?” Zhuo Yue’an did not understand.

“Mu Yunyin is too far away. Distant water cannot put out a fire at hand. What if the people in the palace move faster than we do? I need leverage against them immediately.”

“Yes, this subordinate will go at once.” Zhuo Yue’an rushed out in a hurry.

Xiao Jingxuan slowly sank into a chair. The shadow guards had not reported that the empress dowager was critically ill; they had only said that the empress had suddenly fallen unconscious. Everything about it was strange, and that unease gnawed at Xiao Jingxuan’s heart. After sitting for a while, he rose and began pacing back and forth. A moment later he took down the sword hanging on the wall. If necessary, he would simply kill his way into the palace.

“Your Highness, something is wrong. The shadow guards report that the crown prince and the princes and princesses are all missing.” Zhuo Yue’an had only gone out for a short while before he came rushing back in panic.