The Devious First Daughter

541 - 550

“The affairs of the previous dynasty… Yan’er, if you’re related to them, would you think that I’m your enemy?”

Even though his voice was soft, Ning Xueyan heard him loud and clear. She shook her head. “Your family didn’t destroy the previous dynasty.”

Ning Xueyan had investigated the previous dynasty quite well. Regardless of how the dynasty ended, the initiator was said to be the then Right Minister, whom the Ao family had won the throne from. She didn’t think that this made Ao Chenyi her enemy.

But so what if there was indeed enmity between them? Her biological mother went missing after entrusting her to her adoptive parents. Even though they did their best to raise her, they also kept her origin a secret. This showed that they didn’t want her involved with the past.

The previous dynasty had been destroyed. How could a mere princess hope to revive her fallen country?

This must be her adoptive parents’ intention as well. They must have kept her origin a secret to give her a peaceful life. Yet, they couldn’t hide their biggest secret and were tricked by the Xia family. Their early deaths had also forced her to come to the capital and seek shelter with the Lord Protector’s Manor.

“Ning Ziying was the eldest princess of the previous dynasty, but she didn’t know anything. With her gone, all the grudges and grievances about the past and present dynasty have nothing to do with us,” she said softly.

Ning Ziying was dead. Whatever left of her—this remnant soul—was proof of that. Her death meant the end of the bloodline of the previous imperial family. Ning Xueyan didn’t wish to lament over things so much that they became her obsession. She didn’t hope for much. She just wished to protect the people she wished to protect and live peacefully.

National affairs were never something a young woman like her could hope to control.

Her heart was very small; there wasn’t enough space for the grandiose, worldly matters. She was just a young woman raised in the depths of the boudoir and all she could see was the corner of the sky from the backyard. A young woman as weak and slender as she could neither kill enemies in the battlefield nor spar verbally in the court.

No matter who she was, she was still an ordinary young woman.

“I’m glad that you think that way.” Ao Chenyi’s voice was as steady as ever, but Ning Xueyan could still sense his relief. The corners of her mouth curved yet there was a mild stinging in her eyes. She felt as if there was finally someone who cared for her. She was no longer the orphan abandoned at the Bright Frost Garden whom nobody loved nor wanted.

“My mother was the Imperial Father’s concubine. She was lovely, but her beauty didn’t bring her much happiness. She died from blood loss after giving birth to me. Afterward, I started following my father to the battlefield out of fear of being murdered. He hadn’t become the Emperor then. I have continued to stay in the army since.”

Ao Chenyi’s voice was flat but Ning Xueyan could hear a trace of sadness in his indifference.

No wonder he became famous at such a young age. He was heralded as a man with the power to overwhelm the world and rumored to be arrogant and domineering. He was still a child when he joined the army and entered the battlefield. If he wasn’t capable, he would have been dead a long time ago.

It was said that the late Emperor had taken care of him, but how could that be possible? The late Emperor was a man, and a man caught in a war at that. The world was in chaos then, so where would he find the time and energy to take care of his child? There seemed to be a huge age gap between Ao Chenyi and the current Emperor, too.