The moment they stepped outside, they saw Steward Zhang hurrying toward them with a woman carrying an infant in her arms. Behind them were more than a dozen of the War Prince Manor’s personal guards.
Panting heavily, Steward Zhang said,
“Your Highness, quickly hand the little prince over to Du Bin. Let him take the child away, and you can hold this baby instead.”
He pointed at the infant in the woman’s arms.
The woman looked down at the baby she was holding, her face filled with reluctance.
Afraid that Jun Wan would not trust Du Bin, Steward Zhang hurriedly added,
“Please rest assured, Your Highness. Du Bin and the others will definitely get the little prince out safely.”
The leader of the guards behind him dropped to one knee and declared solemnly,
“Please put your mind at ease, Your Highness. I swear on my life that I will protect the little prince.”
Steward Zhang looked anxiously at Jun Wan, hoping she would agree before it was too late.
But Jun Wan’s expression darkened.
Why should she entrust her son’s life to someone else?
Besides, they were merely being exiled. The way these people were acting, one would think they were about to be executed.
“Protect him with your lives?” she said coldly. “And what if all of you lose those lives?”
“…”
Du Bin was left speechless, and the others looked equally embarrassed.
“Thank you for your good intentions, but there’s no need. My son has me to protect him. No one will take him away from me.”
As she spoke, she took little Jingchen from Nanny Lin’s arms and walked forward without even glancing at Steward Zhang and the others.
Nanny Lin and Linglan shot the group mocking looks before quickly catching up with her.
With the miraculous treasure their mistress possessed, how could the little prince ever suffer?
Du Bin stood up and looked at Steward Zhang.
“Steward Zhang, what do we do now?”
“What else can we do? Hurry up and follow them. Protect the little prince!”
As everyone prepared to leave, Steward Zhang instructed one of the guards to escort the woman and the substitute baby out through the secret passage they had used to enter.
He had gone to great lengths to find a child to stand in for the little prince, yet the Princess Consort had refused.
The prince had only this one heir.
Though angry, Steward Zhang still hurried after Jun Wan.
The closer they got to the main courtyard, the clearer the sounds of fighting became.
Jun Wan frowned and quickened her pace.
When she arrived, she saw dozens of the War Prince Manor’s guards battling the Imperial Guards.
The commander of the Imperial Guards, Dou Kong, stood off to the side with an ugly expression on his face.
Although the Imperial Guards outnumbered the manor guards by more than ten to one, the prince’s soldiers had suffered only minor injuries, and some of them were completely unharmed.
The Imperial Guards, on the other hand, had all been wounded to varying degrees.
Looking at the scene before her, Jun Wan simply called out,
“Stop.”
Although the manor guards did not particularly like Jun Wan, they still obeyed her.
After all, she had given birth to their prince’s only heir.
They all stepped back and ceased fighting.
Seeing that Jun Wan had arrived, Dou Kong flicked his sleeve and ordered his men to withdraw as well, while secretly signaling a few of them with his eyes.
He had come to deliver the imperial decree, but before doing so, he had wanted to test just how formidable the War Prince Manor’s troops really were.
The result had utterly humiliated him.
Several hundred of his men had failed to subdue a mere few dozen guards.
It was simply too embarrassing.
Jun Wan looked at Dou Kong, pretending not to know why he had come.
With a puzzled expression, she asked,
“Commander Dou, what is the meaning of this? Weren’t you informed by your men and sent here to help our manor investigate the theft?”
“The War Prince Manor was robbed as well?”
Dou Kong had not even had time to take out the new emperor’s decree before Jun Wan dropped such shocking news.
He blurted out the question instinctively.
“So Commander Dou didn’t know about the theft at our manor.”
Jun Wan deliberately put on a spoiled and unreasonable demeanor.
“Are those soldiers guarding the manor outside just eating for free? They were ordered to protect the War Prince Manor, yet thieves still entered and emptied the entire estate. What’s the point of keeping such useless people around?”
Dou Kong looked at her with open disdain.
No wonder the War Prince disliked this woman.
She had no brains at all.
Would the late emperor really send troops to protect a prince’s residence?
He did not pursue the matter any further.
Overnight, countless ministers’ homes throughout the capital had been robbed. Even the national treasury and the former Ping Prince’s residence—where the emperor had lived before ascending the throne—had been looted.
Compared to that, the War Prince Manor being robbed was nothing unusual.
Still, he couldn’t help but feel that today’s War Princess seemed different from before.
As for exactly how she was different, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Just as Dou Kong was about to unroll the imperial decree, Jun Wan interrupted him once again.
“My imperial father has passed away. The palace should be desperately short of manpower. Yet as Commander of the Imperial Guards, instead of remaining at the palace to perform your duties, you’ve brought soldiers here to provoke the War Prince Manor. What kind of reasoning is that?”
Dou Kong had heard enough.
Before the others could arrive, he shot a vicious glare at Jun Wan, who was holding the baby, and loudly announced,
“The imperial decree is here! Everyone in the War Prince Manor, kneel and receive the decree!”
Jun Wan, however, did not kneel.
She widened her eyes in apparent shock.
“Commander Dou, how dare you! You’re forging an imperial decree!”
“My imperial father has already passed away. How could he possibly write another decree? Are you trying to rebel?”
Her face was filled with horror.
“War Princess, mind your words,” Dou Kong said through gritted teeth.
“This decree was issued by the new emperor.”
“Oh?”
Jun Wan blinked innocently.
“A new emperor has already ascended the throne? When did that happen?”
Determined to play the fool to the very end, she acted completely clueless.
“The late emperor has passed away. The nation cannot remain without a ruler for even a single day. Prince Ping ascended the throne this very morning.”
Dou Kong let out a cold snort.
Jun Wan immediately understood.
The counterfeit Imperial Seal must have been completed; otherwise, Mo Cheng would not have been able to issue an imperial decree.
She decided there was no longer any need to keep acting.
Dou Kong probably no longer suspected the theft of the manor’s treasury.
At that moment, all of the women from the War Prince’s inner courtyard had also been herded into the courtyard.
Jun Wan smiled faintly at Dou Kong.
“Please forgive me, Commander Dou. I’m carrying a baby, so it’s inconvenient for me to kneel. Surely His Majesty—my imperial uncle—would not blame me if he knew.”
Dou Kong inwardly wondered why he had never realized before that the War Princess seemed to be missing a screw.
Still, he couldn’t be bothered arguing with someone who was as good as dead.
In his eyes, once Jun Wan and her son were sent into exile, there was no chance they would survive.
Nanny Lin, Steward Zhang, the newly arrived women, and everyone else present all knelt.
Dou Kong opened the imperial decree and began reading.
The contents were exactly what one might expect.
It declared that War Prince Mo Yan had colluded with foreign enemies and deserted the battlefield, causing chaos within the army.
His princely title was revoked.
Everyone in the War Prince Manor was stripped of noble status and reduced to commoners.
Those with official status within the household would be exiled to Dian City.
Those without status, along with all the servants, would be sold off.
The manor’s personal guards and its steward would all be imprisoned.
Finally, in an act of supposed mercy, Mo Cheng decreed that because Jun Wan had only recently given birth and was also a princess of the Silver Wolf Kingdom, she would be provided with a carriage for the journey and exempted from wearing shackles.
In truth, he simply feared that Jun Wan and little Jingchen might die before Mo Yan had a chance to appear and rescue them.
After hearing the decree, Jun Wan’s expression darkened.
Did this mean Nanny Lin and Linglan would have to stay behind?
Absolutely not.
By now, everyone else had already broken down in tears.
“Sir, there must be some mistake! The Prince would never desert the battlefield!”
“That’s right! We beg you to investigate thoroughly!”
…