Today, she must secure the Crown Prince, climb onto the Dragon Bed, and become the next Crown Princess Consort!
A ruthless determination gradually ignited in Meng Yanzhi’s beautiful eyes.
In her previous life, as the true daughter of the Meng family, she was found and brought back but never loved.
Until the Crown Prince’s birthday, when he was assassinated and fell into the water, she risked her life to save him in the harsh winter, resulting in lifelong infertility. The Meng family leveraged this favor to rise from an obscure, low-ranking official family to prominence and power.
But the Meng family felt no gratitude toward her. Instead, they pushed onto her the marriage originally intended for the fake daughter, Meng Anxian.
A poor scholar.
Because she could not bear children, she was tormented and humiliated daily by her husband.
Helplessly watching as her husband took concubine after concubine, she was later sent by him to his superior—a sixty-year-old man—to curry favor for his promotion. She was tortured beyond recognition.
In desperation, she wrote to the Meng family for help.
Instead of her family, she was met by Meng Anxian, who had become the Crown Princess Consort thanks to her sacrifice. Meng Anxian sneered at her, “Did you really think it was just the cold water that made you infertile? Of course not. This excellent marriage was meant for me, so Mother gave you those tonic medicines—they were sterility drugs…”
“Oh, and the idea to have your husband please his superior by sending you to him? That was Father’s suggestion. It also secured your husband, a promising talent, under the Meng family’s wing.”
“Sister, you’ve lived such a foolish life.”
Those words struck her like a thunderbolt.
She had become a laughingstock. Even in her marriage to the scholar, she had schemed and toiled for the Meng family, desperately craving even a shred of familial affection.
But the Meng family treated her like livestock, a disposable object.
Now, reborn, the marriage that was rightfully hers would return to her…
Meng Yanzhi adjusted her moon gauze-like dress, her slender waist and lotus-like face exuding stunning beauty. She was born with a face that could bring ruin to empires—otherwise, her wretched husband would never have been so blinded by lust as to marry her, knowing she was barren.
This face was now her greatest weapon.
Tomorrow, the imperial decree appointing Meng Anxian as Crown Princess Consort would arrive. Before that, she must climb into the Crown Prince’s bed and reclaim this marriage.
Meng Yanzhi pushed open the tightly shut door, her voice practiced to sound like a nightingale’s song, softly calling out.
“Your Highness…”
“Your Highness, this servant heard you were drunk and came to attend—” to you.
Before she could finish, “Bang!”
She was abruptly shoved, crashing against the door.
A figure burning with heat loomed before her like a towering mountain.
She tried to scream, but the man’s hand clamped tightly around her throat.
His dark, fierce eyes seemed steeped in the murderous aura of a supreme ruler.
“Who sent you?”
His deep voice, thick with heat, felt as if it could scorch her cheeks.
The voice was pleasant and magnetic, belonging to a remarkably steady and mature man.
But it was clearly not the Crown Prince.
She had heard the Crown Prince’s voice before and could tell the difference.
Yet, the man carried a faint scent, unmistakably that of someone drugged with an aphrodisiac.
Panic flickered through her. If the Crown Prince wasn’t resting here in the main residence of the Crown Prince’s manor, then who was this?
“Sir…”
“I entered the wrong room by mistake, please release me.”
Hearing that pleasant, delicate voice, the man felt something ignite in his chest. Having drunk the medicated wine, he was precisely in the throes of passion.
Always composed and never losing his rationality, yet this voice was truly captivating.
His chest felt as if something were wildly pounding within, his throat burning, ready to combust at the slightest touch.
He deepened his voice, “You drugged me and still want to leave? Nothing good comes that easily.”
She stared at him in astonishment.
The next second, the man’s broad palm clamped around her waist, pulling her entire body against his. Pressed against his scorching heat, she instantly flushed, realizing what it was.
“I, I’m not…”
Before she could finish her sentence, the man tapped an acupoint on her body, and she found herself unable to speak a single word or move at all.
Her eyelashes fluttered wildly as she could only stare wide-eyed at the blurred figure. The man’s deep voice sounded:
“Sneaking into a man’s room in the dead of night, and you still dare deny it? So noisy—save your energy for later and bear it properly.”
Meng Yanzhi stiffened, watching helplessly as she was carried into the soft bed.
A wave of purely masculine scent washed over her.
She struggled internally, but her body remained completely immobile.
At this moment, she could only recall one phrase: “The late emperor’s enterprise was half-completed when he prematurely passed away.” Had she been reborn only to tread the same old path again?
Seeing the glistening tears in her eyes, the man’s heart softened inexplicably. He wiped away her tears, “Fine, I’ll be gentler.”
Suddenly, an intense pain struck.
Meng Yanzhi’s eyes widened.
Tears streamed down her face.
Liar!
Soon, Meng Yanzhi experienced what it meant to be utterly exhausted. She lost count of how many times she fainted throughout the night, and when she woke, dawn had yet to break.
By now, the acupoint restriction on her body had lifted, and the man was nowhere to be found. Immediately, she hoisted her trembling legs and fled.
Unbeknownst to her, in a place she didn’t see, a shadow guard on the beam witnessed her escape. Without a sound, he leaped down and swiftly arrived at a study.
The shadow guard stepped forward and knelt before a man.
The man was tall and imposing, his noble robes enhancing his presence—it was the same man from last night.
His expression was stern and cold, devoid of last night’s intoxication. Recalling how he had indulged multiple times with a woman of unknown origins, tirelessly, a surge of anger rose within him.
“She’s gone?” he asked.
The shadow guard replied, “Yes.”
“I have investigated—she carried nothing unusual, so it must have been the effects of last night’s aphrodisiac wine. The one who drugged you and the maid arranged to climb into your bed have already been apprehended.”
The man frowned, “Just the wine?”
The shadow guard nodded.
The man’s throat tightened, finding it hard to believe. He had always possessed exceptional self-control, yet yesterday it was as if he had been bewitched.
“Your Majesty, shall we investigate the woman’s identity? Since you have mistakenly… favored her, perhaps…” The words trailed off hesitantly.
The address “Your Majesty” fell softly. Who would have thought the current emperor was residing incognito in the Crown Prince’s manor?
Yuan Jingdi’s voice turned cold, “Unnecessary.”
The shadow guard understood immediately. A woman who could reside in the Crown Prince’s rear courtyard and come and go freely was either a concubine or a bedroom servant. With her seductive skills, she could be nothing else.
If he investigated her identity, it would surely alert the entire household.
For the esteemed emperor to have slept with his son’s woman—even if only an adopted son—it would still be a royal scandal.
Meng Yanzhi fled back to the Meng residence and returned to her room, where she washed up.