His words seemed to carry a weight of a thousand jun, hitting Song Wanchu's heart like a boulder.
Song Wanchu's ears buzzed, and she couldn't come back to her senses for a long time.
She looked up at the man reeking of alcohol, and the shock in her eyes deepened layer by layer.
If she didn't have some understanding of the Crown Prince's character and knew that he was mature and prudent and never spoke casually, she would really have taken that promise as his drunken words.
From the solemn look in the Crown Prince's eyes, she gradually recognized a reality. The Crown Prince was more paranoid than she had imagined. He was determined to get what he wanted; otherwise, he wouldn't have made the promise so easily.
Back then, when the Crown Prince asked to marry her as a side concubine, it had already made the Song family and her maternal grandfather's family extremely uneasy.
Song Wanchu knew that he had some unfinished feelings for her, but she never expected that this little bit of unfinished business from years ago would, with the passage of time, turn into a crazy obsession.
Even more terrifying was that this man had more power than Liang Yuzhou.
Song Wanchu suppressed the shock and panic in her heart. "Your Highness, my father was only a sixth - rank low - level military officer until his death. My family has neither a noble title nor power. If you let a woman like me be the Crown Princess, how much controversy will it arouse? The higher one stands, the colder it gets. With my status, I really dare not take such a noble position!"
She spoke straightforwardly, trying to wake the Crown Prince up from his fanaticism.
"Wanchu, do you think I'm so simple and impulsive?"
Seeing that she showed no joy at all about the promise of being the Crown Princess or even the Queen, the Crown Prince couldn't hide his disappointment. "Since I've decided to elevate you to a high position, do you think I haven't thought of a foolproof plan?"
This rhetorical question left Song Wanchu speechless. She was afraid that the Crown Prince was too serious about her, and even more afraid that he had thought it over carefully and had already paved the way for her!
The Crown Prince gently stroked her hair bun, and his fingertips slowly slid down, tracing the outline of her face bit by bit, feeling her soft skin.
His body burned like fire, and there seemed to be a wild beast roaring inside him. But the woman in front of him was all tensed up, like a bowstring about to break, with resistance written all over her face.
He suppressed his desire again and again and said hoarsely, "I can let Song Wanchu, the former concubine of the Duke's mansion, stay in the south of the Yangtze River forever. You come back to the capital with me. In the capital, countless noble families will compete to adopt you as their adopted daughter and give you a new identity. It's an easy thing for me."
He had already planned all this. The Wen family, the family of the Grand Tutor, had a daughter who died prematurely years ago. The Wen family could naturally adopt her as their adopted daughter.
If he married the daughter of the Grand Tutor as the Crown Princess, no one would dare to object.
As for the Emperor and the Empress, he had already thought of reasons to persuade them.
Everything would go smoothly.
As the Crown Prince spoke, a road paved with flowers seemed to unfold in front of Song Wanchu, leading to a cold and magnificent cage.
She had had a similar scene in her dream.
The Crown Prince was going to turn her nightmare into reality with his own hands.
"Wanchu, come back to the capital with me, okay?"
The Crown Prince's voice was as gentle as water. The smell of alcohol brewed his longing. He lifted Song Wanchu's chin and lowered his head to kiss those long - desired red lips.
The man's breath hit Song Wanchu's face, making it hot, but a chill ran down her spine.
"Your Highness, I'm not willing."
Just as the man's lips were close at hand, Song Wanchu's words were like a bucket of cold water poured down suddenly, extinguishing all his impatience and restlessness.
In his sight, the Crown Prince's face turned cold inch by inch. The fingers pinching her face tightened, forcing her to look up at him.
There was ice in the Crown Prince's eyes. "Why, Wanchu, why can't you try to love me? You haven't forgotten Liang Yuzhou, have you?"
He tried his best to suppress his towering anger, but there was a faint chill emanating from his body. How could Song Wanchu not feel it?
She looked into the Crown Prince's eyes, with a sincere plea in her tone. "Your Highness, please don't force me."
In her eyes, there were faint glimmers of tears. There was fear of high positions and power in the depths of her eyes. She looked so pitiful, like a little rabbit begging a tiger for mercy.
Wanchu had no love for him at all.
"Did I come too late? Wanchu, do you blame me for coming too late?"
The Crown Prince lost his voice. He was overwhelmed by intense frustration. Calmness and rationality vanished at this moment.
He pinched Song Wanchu's chin with one hand and pressed her trembling shoulder with the other. His voice trembled slightly. "Do you know that in order to come to the south of the Yangtze River to see you, I submitted nine memorials to the Emperor in a row. Each memorial was ten thousand words long, detailing the urgency of inspecting the south of the Yangtze River.
I know that Liang Yuzhou cut off his relationship with the Duke's mansion and became a Taoist priest in order to win you back. I admire his courage and determination. I can't do that because there are all the common people in the world behind me! If the Emperor knew that I came to the south of the Yangtze River just for a woman, how disappointed and angry he would be?
I had to plan carefully. I wanted to go straight to Huzhou as soon as I came to the south of the Yangtze River, but I had to avoid it on purpose, otherwise my intention would be too obvious.
In the past year, I've punished many corrupt officials in the eight prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River, which has shaken the foundation of many powerful officials in the capital. I've made enemies everywhere, which is very disadvantageous to me. But I had to make achievements to show the Emperor so that he would believe that I had the world in my heart!
Even the investigation of the Yue family in Yunzhou was not ordered by the Emperor. It was I who sent a memorial at top speed that the Emperor ordered me to come to Yunzhou!
I've painstakingly planned all this, going around such a big circle. Outsiders think I'm high - spirited and ambitious, but only I know that all this is for you!"
His voice was hoarse as he spoke, self - deprecating yet determined without hesitation. "Wanchu, do you know how difficult it is to get true love when you're born into the royal family? I've paved 999 steps of the road for you. Why, why just won't you take one step forward?"
The man who had always been high - and - mighty and dignified lost his composure in front of Song Wanchu.
The last words were more like a plea.
Song Wanchu's tightly clenched hands were already soaked with sweat, hot and sticky. Every word the Crown Prince said seemed to put another layer of shackles on her shoulders.
She couldn't bear such a weight.
No matter how beautiful love was, in front of the power of the royal family, it could only be a foil.
If the statuses were matched, it would be a icing on the cake for power. But for her and the Crown Prince, with such a huge gap in status, it could only be a momentary outburst of passion.
When the Crown Prince's passion faded, the fire would go out, and the oil would eventually cool down.
She had fallen once and was already sober.
She raised her eyes, and there was a bit of cold firmness in her clear eyes. "Your Highness, I can never love anyone else in my life. I can't give you the true love you're talking about, and I don't want your true love either."
Her words were almost heartless.
The Crown Prince had never been rejected like this before. He bowed his head for love, but she stabbed him in the chest with a sharp knife.
"You still love Liang Yuzhou, don't you?"