NOVEL NEXT Chapter 31: To Stop This Marriage
Chapter 31: To Stop This Marriage
How could Marquis Lin not understand the Emperor’s true meaning behind these words?
He immediately stepped forward, knelt, and bowed, “Your Majesty, my unworthy son is impulsive and reckless by nature. He committed violence in a sacred Buddhist place in public. Being punished by Prince Ming was his own doing. I beg Your Majesty to see this clearly!”
The implication was that he wouldn’t blame Prince Ming.
In fact, Marquis Lin never intended to blame Prince Ming from the beginning.
He knew better than anyone the current situation of his Lin family.
However, when the Emperor heard about this matter, he specially summoned him and his wife to the palace, and announced his intention to punish Prince Ming in front of them, without giving them a chance to speak.
Now, hearing Marquis Lin’s words, the Emperor was satisfied.
He just snorted lightly, showing some contempt.
He turned to Xiao Heng and asked, “General Xiao was present at the time. What do you think?”
Xiao Heng bowed and saluted. His dark eyes looked deeply at Qiao Nian before he spoke, “Your Majesty, although this matter was caused by Miss Qiao’s improper words and actions, the Young Marquis’s impulsiveness is a fact, and Prince Ming’s punishment being excessive is also a fact. However, Prince Ming has already been punished, and the Young Marquis is also seriously injured. Why don’t we let this matter rest?”
Hearing this, the Emperor nodded slightly, “We have the same thought. What does Marquis Lin think?”
“Your Majesty is wise!” Marquis Lin shouted “Long live the Emperor,” and the Emperor waved his hand, “Let Prince Ming come in!”
“Yes!” came the response from outside the hall.
But at this moment, Prince Ming could hardly walk. He was carried in by several people.
They placed Prince Ming next to Qiao Nian. Seeing Prince Ming’s back covered in blood and flesh, even though Qiao Nian suspected this might just be a ploy to gain sympathy, she couldn’t help but look alarmed, “Your Highness…”
Hearing Qiao Nian’s voice, Prince Ming turned to look at her. His face, which had been full of pain just moments ago, instantly curved into an extremely gentle smile, “It’s alright, it doesn’t hurt at all.”
This scene, in everyone’s eyes, was that of a pair of star-crossed lovers.
Even the Emperor narrowed his eyes slightly.
However, he didn’t notice the two women standing on both sides of the great hall lifting their eyes to look at each other, reaching a tacit understanding.
Qiao Nian and Prince Ming were both sent back to Noble Consort De’s chambers. The female doctor reapplied medicine to Qiao Nian’s wounds. When Qiao Nian finished being bandaged and wanted to check on Prince Ming, she was told that he had already gone to sleep.
But Qiao Nian understood that with such severe injuries, saying he was asleep probably meant he had passed out.
This was for the best, otherwise she wouldn’t know what to say to Prince Ming’s face.
Noble Consort De sent a palace maid to escort her out of the palace.
Although she didn’t want to return to the Marquis’s mansion at all, she didn’t know if this incident had reached her grandmother’s ears. She was worried about her grandmother and needed to hurry back to report that she was safe.
The palace maid leading the way walked slowly in front, with Qiao Nian following slowly behind.
However, as they passed by the rockery next to the Imperial Garden, a large hand suddenly reached out and pulled Qiao Nian into a cave in the rockery.
Before Qiao Nian could cry out, that large hand covered her mouth.
A familiar scent invaded her nostrils, leaving her stunned.
The cave in the rockery wasn’t large, but Xiao Heng’s figure was particularly tall and broad, seemingly able to fill the entire cave by himself.
Now with Qiao Nian added, he could only force her into a corner.
Yet, mindful of her back injury, he put his hand on her waist, pulling her closer to his embrace.
But this brought them too close.
So close that Qiao Nian could see Xiao Heng’s long eyelashes clearly if she looked up, so close that if he hadn’t covered her mouth, their lips might have touched.
Her heartbeat instantly became erratic.
Qiao Nian thought this must be an old ailment from those previous fifteen years, not yet cured.
The panic in her eyes was fully captured by Xiao Heng.
For some reason, seeing her like this made his heart race.
But thinking of how intimate she and Prince Ming had been in the great hall, his jealousy flared up again, “After three years, how have you still not grown any wiser?”
Qiao Nian’s panicked heart finally steadied a bit. She pushed hard against Xiao Heng, but with the limited space in the cave, her efforts were in vain. She managed to pull his hand away from her mouth and glared at him, “Did General Xiao abduct me here just to say this?”
Xiao Heng’s eyes darkened, showing some disappointment, “Don’t tell me you haven’t realized that today’s events were all a scheme set up by Noble Consort De? Even if your back injury is severe, it shouldn’t be so bad that it bleeds through after just a few steps!”
Unless her wound hadn’t been treated at all from the beginning.
But clearly, Qiao Nian knew. The feeling after being rebandaged was vastly different from before.
However, she didn’t feel there was anything wrong, instead sneering, “Are you saying that even the Young Marquis beating me was all part of Noble Consort De’s scheme?”
If so, Noble Consort De’s methods were far too clever.
If not, then the main culprit for everything today was still Lin Ye!
Seeing her current attitude of not caring about consequences, Xiao Heng’s dark eyes grew colder, “Prince Ming is not a kind person, and Noble Consort De is not as simple as you imagine. If you marry him, I guarantee you won’t even have bones left in the future!”
“Then who does General Xiao think I should marry?” Qiao Nian countered, her eyes gradually filling with intense mockery, “If not Prince Ming, should I marry you instead?”
Her original intention was just to embarrass him.
She knew Xiao Heng didn’t like her. Even when they were bound by an engagement in the past, he had always been cold and indifferent towards her.
So she was going to tell Xiao Heng next that if he didn’t want to marry her, he shouldn’t meddle in her affairs.
But unexpectedly, Xiao Heng’s eyes flashed with a hint of threat. He didn’t scold her for being ungrateful or delusional, he just fell silent.
His breathing grew heavier.
Qiao Nian finally panicked.
She pushed against Xiao Heng again with all her might, even though she couldn’t push him away, at least trying to maintain that already dangerous distance.
“Whether Prince Ming is kind or not is none of General Xiao’s concern. After today, the Emperor will surely issue a decree for our marriage. My marriage to Prince Ming is already set in stone!”
How could she not know what today’s act of suffering was for?
Although the Marquis’s family had declined, the alliance between Prince Ming and the Marquis’s family would still make the Emperor wary to some extent.
But if Prince Ming and the Young Marquis had a conflict, and he was only marrying an adopted daughter of the Marquis’s family,
Then in the Emperor’s eyes, the Marquis’s family’s help to Prince Ming would be virtually non-existent.
Therefore, the imperial edict for the marriage would probably be sent to the Marquis’s mansion tomorrow.
However, unexpectedly, Xiao Heng’s eyes suddenly reddened, “Then do you know why I risked stopping you here?”
If it wasn’t urgent, he could have waited until after leaving the palace to analyze these things with her.
But…
He couldn’t wait a moment longer.
As long as she told him she was unwilling to marry, he would immediately go to the Emperor and use everything in his power to stop this marriage!
Qiao Nian had never seen Xiao Heng like this before.
In her eyes, he had always been calm and indifferent, just like how he had watched her being beaten by Lin Ye in the temple today.
Occasionally he would show gentleness, but mostly towards Lin Yuan.
But now, he seemed to have lost control.
Those bloodshot eyes held too many emotions, leaving her unable to distinguish or understand them clearly.
But she still replied calmly, “It’s none of your business, General.”