Dressed As a Consort in Ancient Times - Chapter 68
However, what Consort Yuan did not expect was that after waiting in the side hall of Ganming Hall for a while, she still did not receive an audience with the emperor. Let alone gaining any information about why Gu Yun was arrested.
As another half an hour passed, Consort Yuan began to grow anxious, and the unease in her heart gradually intensified. Just as she was about to instruct Ming Tao to go to the front hall and inquire, she saw Eunuch Sun, who served beside the emperor, walking toward her in quick steps.
“Peace to the Noble Consort.” Consort Yuan raised her hand slightly in acknowledgment. “Does His Majesty have urgent matters to attend to today?” Otherwise, why had she not been summoned for so long?
Eunuch Sun naturally understood the reason for her visit, so he gave her a bit of insight. “To answer Your Highness, the emperor is currently handling important affairs and is likely not available to see you at the moment…”
“You must have heard about the prince consort’s situation, haven’t you?” Eunuch Sun lowered his voice. “This matter concerns colluding with the enemy and treason. His Majesty has to be extremely cautious, so he issued a secret decree to investigate it quietly and has not made the matter public.”
“Please rest assured, Your Highness. If the prince consort is innocent, His Majesty will take into account Princess Jia Ning’s position…”
With the conversation reaching this point, Consort Yuan had no choice but to return to Changchun Palace and consider the matter further.
“I understand.” She placed her hand on Ming Tao’s wrist and walked out of Ganming Hall. “Inform His Majesty that I will visit him again in a few days.”
“Understood, Your Highness.” Eunuch Sun watched Consort Yuan’s entourage leave, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and sighed. “What a mess this is!”
The scorching afternoon was filled with the constant chirping of cicadas, and the blistering sunlight felt as if it could set people on fire.
Jiang Libai stood at the entrance of Changchun Palace, looking around anxiously, but she had yet to see her mother return. Chunxi, holding a handkerchief, once again wiped the sweat off her face.
“Princess, please don’t worry. Her Highness the Noble Consort has always been deeply favored by His Majesty—she will handle this matter for you.”
“The weather is so stifling right now. You should wait inside for her return; it’s much too hot out here, and you might get heatstroke!”
Inside the palace, ice blocks were placed in every corner, making it much cooler than outside.
But Jiang Libai didn’t hear any of these words. All of her attention was fixed on the palace gates.
The sun was high in the sky, and just as her patience was about to run out, her mother’s entourage finally appeared at the corner.
After waiting for so long, her father must have explained everything to her mother in full detail.
Jiang Libai pressed her hand over her rapidly beating heart and took small, hurried steps down the steps.
However, what she did not expect was that her mother had not been able to learn a single thing about the situation.
Back in the cool chamber, before Jiang Libai could voice her concerns, Consort Yuan spoke in a calm voice: “Your father did not see me.”
“Wh-what?!” Jiang Libai thought she had misheard. “Father didn’t see you?”
Consort Yuan sighed softly and repeated what Eunuch Sun had told her.
As time passed, Jiang Libai finally understood.
Gu Yun was indeed arrested because of the arson case, and even worse, she had been implicated in treason.
“Your father is always lenient with both you and me, but since this involves foreign nations, he does not want us getting involved.”
Consort Yuan gently stroked Jiang Libai’s head, her voice filled with helplessness. “The imperial harem must not meddle in state affairs. So, for now, we must not openly put His Majesty in a difficult position.”
Jiang Libai lowered her head, an indescribable feeling weighing on her heart.
So there were matters that even her mother could not resolve for her.
So their family of three was not just bound by love and kinship.
But Jiang Libai also understood.
Her father and mother had spent little time with Gu Yun; they did not know her well, so it was natural for them to have doubts about her.
Still, it hurt.
The people she saw as family did not trust each other.
This feeling was… utterly frustrating and heartbreaking.
“Mother, thank you.”
In the end, Jiang Libai nestled into Consort Yuan’s embrace, acting spoiled like she used to.
“I know that you and Father might not understand Gu Yun, might not know what kind of person he is, and that’s why you suspect him…”
“But Mother, he was once a citizen of Jin, but now, he is only my… husband.”
Consort Yuan felt a bit dazed—she hadn’t heard her beloved daughter sound so fragile and sorrowful in a long time. She raised her hand and gently stroked her daughter’s hair, softly comforting her: “Although I’ve only met Gu Yun a few times, I can still barely tell that he is someone who does not compete or fight, someone who devotes his whole heart to you.”
“Don’t worry, I will make sure this matter is handled properly for your sake.”
Hearing her mother’s evaluation of Gu Yun, the suffocating frustration in Jiang Libai’s heart seemed to be eased by a breath of fresh air, dissipating some of her worries.
“Mother, thank you…”
Smelling the familiar fragrance of her mother, Jiang Libai’s eyes turned red—after all, her mother still couldn’t bear to see her sad.
Consort Yuan pinched her daughter’s small face and couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re already married, yet you still love to act spoiled like this. Be careful, or Xingxing will see you looking all teary-eyed!”
With their playful exchange, the previously tense and heavy atmosphere was broken.
With Consort Yuan’s reassurance, Jiang Libai left the palace with confidence.
Fortunately, Mu Jiang had been efficient and had already gathered information while waiting for her at the residence.
“What’s going on?”
Jiang Libai didn’t even have time to take a sip of tea before heading straight to the study to meet Mu Jiang.
“Reporting to the princess, I’ve found out what happened.”
Without any unnecessary words, Mu Jiang laid out everything he had uncovered.
For now, very few people knew about this matter. Mu Jiang had only learned about it through his younger brother, who worked odd jobs at the Ministry of Justice.
“…The prince consort stated that last night he went to the secret prison with Commander Fang to interrogate the Yun Kingdom captives. However, after Minister Shangshu summoned Commander Fang for questioning, he claimed that he was never with the prince consort that night and even denied that the Five City Battalion had captured the arsonist…”
Because of this, Gu Yun could not clear her name, and as a result, she could not be released.
Jiang Libai clenched her fists.
Gu Yun had previously confided in her, saying that Fang Zhan seemed unreliable, but she had dismissed it. She had believed that Marquis Chen Yang was a staunch royalist who wouldn’t get entangled in the fight for the throne, and therefore, she assumed there wouldn’t be any trouble.
But now, it was clear—Fang Zhan wasn’t just problematic; he was a huge problem!
He was targeting Gu Yun so deliberately—who knew whose orders he was following?
“Where is the prince consort being held now?”
Typically, those involved with enemy nations would be secretly imprisoned elsewhere, in places known to almost no one. Still, Jiang Libai held onto a sliver of hope as she looked at Mu Jiang.
But Mu Jiang shook his head. “Please forgive me, Princess, but… I was unable to find out.”
…As expected.
Jiang Libai waved him away. “You may go now. Keep a close eye on this matter.”
Once he left, she could no longer suppress the irritation in her heart. She pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to ease her growing restlessness.
“Princess, please don’t be too upset. The prince consort is only temporarily detained. Given your status, they likely won’t resort to torture…”
Chunxi couldn’t do much to help, so she could only do her best to comfort the Seventh Princess.
“I hope so.”
Jiang Libai’s expression had already dulled.
She had mobilized every resource available to her within the residence and had even written a letter to be delivered to her maternal family.
She had done everything she could—now, it was just a matter of seeing whether the final outcome would be what she hoped for.
In the following days, any news regarding Gu Yun seemed to have its wings clipped—there was not even a single trace.
As Jiang Libai grew increasingly anxious, Gu Yun, who was being held under guard, had already undergone several secret interrogations.
Fortunately, as the Seventh Princess’s prince consort, she had not been subjected to torture.
However, the so-called evidence linking her to the Jin Kingdom and conspiring to sabotage the livelihood of the capital’s citizens was piling up.
Because Fang Zhan had denied being with her that night, the Ministry of Justice had pinned the crime of colluding with the Jin Kingdom onto her.
It was only now that Gu Yun fully understood the situation.
According to the interrogators, they had already tracked down the arsonist’s hideout that night and had been preparing to secretly capture them when their plan was discovered in advance.
They were forced into a chase, and after a battle, they managed to capture two Jin Kingdom operatives, while three escaped.
The Ministry of Justice interrogated them overnight, and one of the captives, unable to withstand the torture, confessed everything.
Not only did they reveal their identities and their purpose in setting the fires, but they also implicated Gu Yun, who was in Yu Kingdom.
However, the informant had already died, so whether his words were true or not could no longer be verified.
Moreover, whether Gu Yun had been deliberately framed was also unclear, making it impossible to reach a definitive conclusion.
The Ministry of Justice reported the findings to Emperor Yu, and his response was simple—better to kill the wrong person than to let the guilty go free.
After all, this was a matter of national security.
He could not lower his guard just because of Jia Ning’s status.
Day by day, time passed.
The Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review were beginning to lose patience.
Gu Yun watched as the iron brands glowed red in the fire, as whips soaked in saltwater lay nearby—she knew she could not afford to wait any longer.
It seemed that the remote location of her prison had made the Ministry of Justice more at ease, as they had only assigned three interrogators to question her.
Moreover, when she had first arrived, she had already used her mental energy to probe the surroundings—there were only two groups of guards stationed outside, switching shifts every two hours.
And those guards never entered the room, only patrolled outside.
This gave Gu Yun a glimmer of hope.
“…Honestly, I know what you’re waiting for.”
One of the interrogators, a man dressed in blue robes, walked over to the brazier, looking down at the glowing iron brand as he spoke indifferently.
“You’re waiting for the Seventh Princess to fight for you outside, to beg the emperor to release you, just like before. Am I right?”
Hearing this, Gu Yun paused the mental energy she had been preparing to release.
Why did it feel like this man was about to reveal something?
“But you might as well give up.”
He chuckled as he picked up the red-hot iron and slowly walked toward her.
“I’ll be honest with you—the princess pleaded with the Noble Consort, and the Noble Consort, for your sake, requested an audience with the emperor.”
“But the emperor did not see her.”
“You should understand what that means, right?”
The man smiled as he stood next to her, brandishing the iron.
“The emperor will not show you any leniency just because you are the Seventh Princess’s prince consort.”
“So you might as well sign the confession and put your name to it—save yourself some suffering.”
