Princess In The Palace

20. Their Past Sins

Chapter 20.

2 important announcements below, please read towards the end! 🎵🎵🎵

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recap: in the previous chapter, when Yì Rán was helping Madam to remove her hairdo, her veil was caught on the hairpiece of Madam and it came off. Madam saw her face and was surprised but managed to hide it. When Yì Rán was returning to her hit, Madam followed her and wanted to kill her but when she saw Pī Yáng with her, she began to suspect. She secretly went to find Ān Yú and revealed her identity as Xiǎo Rù, Crown Princess' servant, and that she now went by the name Rù Yáo. Rù Yáo found out from Ān Yù that Yì Rán was Princess Yì Róng.

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"You are not doing a great job taking care of Princess. I am going to take her back. She is a princess, she should not live like a servant." Rù Yáo hastily stood up, her eyes shooting deadly glares at Ān Yù. She still harboured immense amount of mistrust towards the Mistress. No matter what, she was the secondary wife of Crown Prince. According to the nature of the rotten palace and this ugly world, the primary and secondary wives were meant to be sworn enemies. How could she trust Yì Rán with her?

"No! You must not tell her who she really is!" Ān Yù hastily stood up, her right hand held onto the wall right beside her while her left clutched onto her chest as she breathed in deeply.

"She is a princess! She has the right to know who she really is!"

"She hates all of us!" Ān Yù screamed painfully, her heart shattered when she had to acknowledge the reality. Rù Yáo twitched an eyebrow and eyed the woman before her suspiciously.

"What do you mean?"

"His Highness Crown Prince, Crown Princess and even me...the...the Mistress...she dislikes all of us."

"What nonsense are you saying?"

"I..." Ān Yù sucked in more air deeply but her body rejected everything, causing her to let out an endless string of cough that began to hurt her chest. She covered her mouth and coughed, almost violently while Pī Yáng hastily poured a cup of water and rushed to her side, patting her back and handing the cup of water to her. When she removed her hand, she saw a familiar red patch of liquid staining her palm.

"You..." Rù Yáo was left speechless when she saw blood on the Mistress' hand.

"Yì Rán she...entered the palace two years ago, because...Empress Dowager Xīn noticed her resemblance to her younger self.. Yì Rán then grew fond of Empress Dowager because she was especially kind fo her. However, there seemed to be some rumours in the palace about how Crown Prince, Crown Princess and the Mistress were despicable...and...and she heard it. She believed it," Pī Yáng glared at Rù Yáo annoyingly while putting down the cup of water and retrieved a clean cloth beside the table and passed it over to Ān Yù.

She once said...her previous master passed away...? It must be...Empress Dowager Xīn then...

"Ho-how did she enter the palace?"

"First Prince saw her resemblance to the young Empress Dowager. He wanted to paint her as a birthday gift for the Empress Dowager, and the latter then took a liking to her and made her her servant," Pī Yáng continued.

"It is all your fault. It is all your fault! If you had not left the palace, Crown Prince would not have refused to attend the Court and all of us would never end up like today!"

A tear escaped Ān Yù's eyelid, it was a tear filled with regrets, melancholy and guilt. It was also a tear of longing for someone who would never return.