Fengguang bit her finger. She had transmigrated into someone with the same name and the same face—if that wasn’t fate, what was? No matter how she thought about it, taking over someone else’s body just felt wrong. She needed to do something to make up for it; only then could her conscience feel a little better.
She rose from her stool. “Feiyu, spread the word that the Crown Princess is gravely ill and barely hanging on. Say that on her deathbed, she keeps calling out for the Crown Prince and only wants to see him one last time.”
“My lady!” Feiyu protested instantly. “You’re perfectly fine—why are you cursing yourself!?”
Fengguang tapped Feiyu on the forehead. “Who’s the lady here, you or me? Do as I say.”
“Y—yes, my lady…” Feiyu pouted, wronged.
“And you…” Fengguang looked at Yiren, still kneeling on the floor. “You get along pretty well with people in the palace?”
Yiren replied, “To answer Your Highness, this maid’s relationships are… reasonably good.”
“Then can you leave the palace?”
“This maid has a token. I may leave once a month to visit my family.”
“Good. Then you’ll leave the palace and go straight to the Prime Minister’s Manor. Find my father and tell him I’m dying.”
“Yes.” Though she had doubts, Yiren agreed quickly.
Within the time it took for one stick of incense to burn, the entire palace knew: the Crown Princess was deathly ill, refusing to see imperial physicians, delirious and whispering the Crown Prince’s name, with barely any breath left in her.
The Prime Minister didn’t even stop to put on his court robes before rushing into the palace. The moment he saw his daughter lying weakly on the bed, his heart clenched tight.
“Fengguang…” Xia Chao hurried to her side. “What happened? Feiyu, where is the imperial physician!?”
He barked the last sentence at Feiyu.
Feiyu flinched.
“Father…” Fengguang’s face was pale, her words weak and broken. “I fear… I don’t have long… Before I go… I just want to see the Crown Prince… just once…”
“Fengguang, don’t say such foolish things. I only just received word yesterday that you finally woke up. How could you suddenly be at death’s door?”
Prime Minister Xia Chao was a refined middle-aged man. He and his wife had once shared deep affection, but in a moment of weakness, he committed the common mistake of men. When he brought a concubine home, his wife died depressed. Xia Chao, filled with guilt, treated Fengguang twice as well ever since.
“Father… maybe this is my final flare of energy before death… I have no other wish. I just… just want to see His Highness one last time…” Fengguang said weakly—admiring her own acting skills in her heart.
“Alright—alright, Father will fetch the Crown Prince. Wait for me to return.”
“Mhm…”
Xia Chao dared not linger, rushing out of the Eastern Palace to seek the emperor in the Imperial Study.
The moment he left, Fengguang sat up briskly. “Looks like my father’s actually quite good to me.”
“My lady… what on earth are you doing?” Feiyu was completely lost.
Fengguang sighed helplessly. “Something as serious as treason, and His Majesty goes out of his way to hide it from everyone in the Eastern Palace. Why do you think that is?”
“Why?”
“Because he doesn’t want the Eastern Palace to know, of course.” Fengguang tapped Feiyu on the forehead again.
Feiyu rubbed her brow, aggrieved. “How is that an answer?”
“If His Majesty doesn’t want the Eastern Palace to know, it’s likely because someone here could ruin his grand plan. Now think about everyone in the Eastern Palace—aside from me, who else is capable of that?”
Feiyu blinked. “Huh?”
“I asked you before, didn’t I? His Majesty only ascended the throne thanks to my father’s help. They grew up together and treated each other like brothers. Now my father is the Prime Minister and controls military power on the western border. I’m his beloved daughter. Tell me—could the emperor really ignore someone like me?”
Loveguy On CFRFGC Chapter 1