A dark cloud gradually crept over the Queen's face.
The Queen could see the little moves the Crown Prince made towards Cheng Simian in private.
She truly realized that her son had really fallen in love with this woman before him.
He was so deeply in love that he couldn't extricate himself. He was so in love that he could make a promise that no emperor in history had ever made, to share the world with only her.
She understood that since the Crown Prince didn't want Cheng Simian to make a statement, if she pressed further, it would not only embarrass Cheng Simian but also strain the mother - son relationship.
"Mother, Your Highness, my heart is in tune with Mianmian's. I hope Your Highness will take the trouble to obtain an imperial edict for our marriage as soon as possible. Once I'm married and there's a mistress in the Eastern Palace, Your Highness can rest assured."
The Queen didn't even look at him. She leaned back onto the soft pillow, looking a bit tired.
"I'll discuss this matter with the Emperor."
The Crown Prince stood up, pulling Cheng Simian's hand.
"Mother, I won't disturb your rest. Mianmian, let's go."
Daiying saw them out of the main gate of the Yukun Palace.
"Your Highness, does this mean I've passed Her Majesty the Queen's test?"
The Queen's attitude just now was not clear - cut.
She seemed to have recognized her, but there was no definite statement about obtaining the imperial edict for marriage.
Cheng Simian could see clearly that the condition for the imperial edict for marriage to reach the Crown Prince was that he agreed to let Qin Xuanyan enter the Eastern Palace as a concubine.
As long as the Crown Prince resisted, the imperial edict would not be issued.
Cheng Simian didn't understand why the Crown Prince refused.
The Crown Prince didn't answer her question. Instead, he stared into her eyes and asked, "If I hadn't stopped you just now, what would you have said to Mother?"
It was really strange. Cheng Simian blinked. The Crown Prince should have known her answer. Asking such a question was redundant.
Following the principle of having to answer when the superior asks, Cheng Simian replied honestly, "Her Majesty the Queen is also considering the court. Your Highness's marriage is not like that of ordinary people. Every decision is related to the officials in the court. Her Majesty the Queen has far - reaching plans. How could I not agree?"
As soon as she finished speaking, a sharp pain shot through her hand.
The Crown Prince had squeezed her hand so hard that it hurt.
She let out a soft hiss, her eyes full of forbearance.
The Crown Prince suddenly let go of her hand. His eyebrows knitted together, and anger flashed in his dark eyes.
For a man who was good at hiding his emotions, being so openly angry was a loss of composure.
Cheng Simian stared at him blankly, wondering why the Crown Prince was so abnormal today.
She hadn't said a single wrong word or done a single wrong thing. In front of the tests set by the Queen, she could be said to have passed through all the difficulties easily.
She had proven her ability to the Queen and made the Queen trust the Crown Prince's choice.
In the difficult situation of entering the palace as the main wife while another concubine was to enter at the same time, she had shown the magnanimity of the future main wife.
Why was the Crown Prince still unhappy?
She could only guess that the Crown Prince simply disliked Qin Xuanyan's shallowness and ostentation.
During the banquet just now, Qin Xuanyan had been jumping around, and the Crown Prince didn't even want to look at her.
If it weren't for his calmness and self - restraint as a future emperor, the Crown Prince's disgust for her would have been hard to hide.
"Do you dislike Qin Xuanyan? The concubines in the harem are related to the situation in the court. Not all of the Emperor's wives are the ones he likes..."
These words from Cheng Simian's mouth sounded extremely harsh to the Crown Prince.
His eyebrows furrowed, and his tone turned cold. "You haven't even married into the family yet, and you're already on Mother's side?"
To Cheng Simian, these words seemed like a warning not to forget who her real master was.
"Your servant is naturally on the same side as the Crown Prince. Her Majesty the Queen is doing this for your own good and for the stability of the court. You're not wrong, and the Queen is not wrong either. But since you have different opinions and the matter has to go on, someone has to compromise first."
She analyzed calmly. Her extremely beautiful eyes stared at him intently, but there was not a trace of personal affection in them.
All she said were the great principles about the country and the court that the Crown Prince didn't want to hear.
His blood was boiling. He couldn't hold back his anger and really wanted to shut her up.
During the banquet, he had whispered sweet words to her in secret, but this woman didn't understand a single bit.
He was angry because she didn't care about him at all. She even wanted to push him into another woman's arms.
She had no extra personal feelings for him.
He was so angry, but Cheng Simian was still analyzing the situation logically, talking about the advantages of Qin Xuanyan being a concubine.
Even if she showed a little bit of grievance?
Who asked her to be so magnanimous?
Cheng Simian looked at the angry and depressed Crown Prince. For the first time, she felt that her brain was a bit muddled.
What on earth was the Crown Prince angry about?
Wasn't it because he had to accept a woman he didn't like?
"Cheng Simian, do you have a heart at all?"
He had said in front of his mother that he didn't need a concubine. Couldn't she understand his feelings?
Cheng Simian was stunned by the question.
She stared blankly at the Crown Prince, her red lips slightly parted, confusion welling up in her eyes.
She knew she must look really stupid now.
The Crown Prince hated stupid people the most.
But she really couldn't guess.
The Crown Prince suddenly grabbed her wrist. Startled, Cheng Simian instinctively took a step back, tripped over a brick, and tilted backward.
The Crown Prince took the opportunity to pin her against the palace wall.
His other arm wrapped around her body. As they got closer, his slightly rapid breathing tickled her ear.
This was the first time Cheng Simian truly felt the scorching breath of a man.
"Cheng Simian, are you really stupid or just pretending?"
He was firmly attracted by those clear and beautiful eyes and couldn't help but want to be entangled with her.
However, such intense emotions welled up to his lips but were swallowed back by him.
He couldn't forget the shocked and terrified look on Wanchu's face when he had confessed his love to her straightforwardly and passionately.
For a woman as sober and longing for freedom as Mianmian, the true love of an emperor was not a treasure but a heavy shackle.
If Wanchu couldn't bear it, how much better could Mianmian be?
If he said it now, it would only add to Mianmian's psychological pressure.
It would make her want to escape even more.
He had failed once. He couldn't fall on the same road twice.
He suppressed the surging emotions in his eyes and restrained himself from kissing those alluring red lips.
"Cheng Simian, remember this."
His deep and cold voice rang in Cheng Simian's ear. "I don't like others making decisions for me, and I especially don't like being controlled. I know exactly what I want and what I don't want. You don't need to show your magnanimity when it comes to the number of women in the Eastern Palace."
His voice was cold, but the breath brushing against her cheek was hot.
It was as if something was about to burn between their breaths.
Cheng Simian lowered her eyes, hiding the confusion in them.
"Thank you, Your Highness, for your instruction. Your servant has learned."
He was the future emperor, young and ambitious. He must dislike the feeling of being controlled.
She wouldn't be the one accompanying him on the road to becoming an emperor. Since the Crown Prince had said so, why should she worry unnecessarily?
"I'll take you back."
"I wouldn't dare to trouble the Crown Prince. Your servant can go back by herself—"
Before she could finish her sentence, the Crown Prince put his arm around her waist, picked her up horizontally, and placed her in his carriage.
The carriage was spacious, but the Crown Prince sat next to her.
Just as the coachman was about to lower the carriage curtain, the Crown Prince said, "It's getting hot. It's too stuffy in the carriage. Just leave the curtain up."
Cheng Simian was slightly surprised.
With the curtain up like this, wouldn't everyone be able to see her sitting with the Crown Prince on the way back to the Rong's old residence?
The imperial edict for marriage hadn't been issued yet. Wasn't the Crown Prince being too impatient?
"Mother is forcing me to accept Qin Xuanyan. I'll use my own way to make her ask for the imperial edict as soon as possible."
The Crown Prince said it grandly.
But his real wish was just to spend a little more time with the woman he loved.