C214

When she returned to her room, she walked dejectedly towards the copper mirror. The light in her eyes dimmed as she looked at herself in the mirror, and the figures of her mufei and her royal brother suddenly appeared in her mind. Confession? Or blame? She didn't know that Duan Mu Yan simply didn't want to enter the Imperial Hall again, and didn't want to see her father, the one who had wanted to tie her up and execute her in the afternoon.

An hour later, Yao'er entered the room.

"Esteemed wangfei, no matter what, Eunuch Li brought along the imperial edict. Even if you're unwilling, you can't disobey the imperial edict …" He analyzed the pros and cons.

Speechless, Duan Mu Yan let out a long sigh before standing up.

"Whatever, I'll follow Eunuch Li into the palace. Wait here, if you don't regret coming back, you must keep him at Duke Xiao Palace." After which, he left the room.

When Eunuch Li saw Duan Mu Yan again, he was still dressed in the same attire. Even so, he was still respectful as he walked over to Duan Mu Yan's side.

"Third Princess, shall we go?" Duan Mu Yan did not say anything as she left the Xiao manor with Eunuch Li.

In front of the Imperial Hall, Eunuch Li first went to report, while Duan Mu Yan quietly stood outside the door. Other than the cold, she didn't feel anything, as ever since she had become sensible, she had never received even the slightest bit of love from her royal father. Naturally, the number of times she came to the Imperial Hall was limited as well.

"Third princess, the emperor wants you to enter …" The shrill voice interrupted Duan Mu Yan's train of thoughts. She sighed lightly as she slowly stepped into the Hall, but her heart was incomparably heavy. What could she say after seeing him again? It was just hurting each other. The rift between them was already in an irreparable state, there was no need for them to see each other again.

"This subject greets Your Majesty." It was not that she did not have the courage to even look at him, but she did not have the heart to do so either. Even though the person in front of her was her biological father, in her eyes, such a father was not even comparable to her own master, nor to a stranger. At the very least, a stranger would not cause her such painful injuries.

"Mu Yan... Hurry, get up and sit with royal father. " His hoarse voice was filled with boundless guilt and shame. Duan Chen leaned against the bed rail with a pale face, his eyes filled with the tender affection of an elder.

Her heart trembled slightly. In her memories, his royal father's voice had always been loud, rough, and even had an awe-inspiring majesty. But now, his voice was weak to such an extent that even without raising her eyes, Duan Moyan knew that Duan Chen had been deeply poisoned.

"This subject's wife has come late. Please punish her, Your Majesty." With an ice-cold voice as cold as ever, Duan Mu Yan respectfully knelt there, with no intentions of standing up.

Duan Chen couldn't help but smile bitterly as he looked at that stubborn and frozen expression of his. Now, it would be impossible for him to reunite with his daughter even if he wanted to.

"I don't blame you. Stand up and sit on the chair." At this moment, Duan Mu Yan felt as if her entire body had been frozen stiff. At the bottom of her heart, there was a faint pain, as though that pain was spreading to every cell in her body like crazy grass growing crazily. The person in front of him had white hair and a face like paper. Due to his emaciation, his cheekbones stood out, and his hands were withered like firewood. How was this the high-spirited and proud Emperor of the Great Mo?

Noticing the shock in Duan Mu Yan's eyes, Duan Chen intentionally hid his hands under the blanket. The former hegemon of the academy was now so old that he couldn't get out of bed. What a sad reality.

"I wonder if Your Majesty has something to discuss with this subject's wife before entering the palace?" The shock in her heart was something that Duan Mu Yan was unable to accept. However, it was not sufficient for her to forget all of her hatred. His illness was something that he had brought upon himself. Duan Mu Yan continued to address herself as' Subordinate ', causing a sense of desolation to appear in the bottom of Duan Chen's heart.

"I missed you, so I asked you to come to the palace with me. You wouldn't refuse, would you?" Duan Chen deliberately lowered his status, his weak voice clearly slightly perturbed. As far as Duan Mu Yan was concerned, this sentence was the funniest joke she had heard since the start. The man who wasn't even willing to look at her once had actually said that he wanted her … Should she have been flattered and prostrated at his feet, then said something similar to praise and praise with tears of gratitude? If it was the him from back then, he would have done this. Yet now, it was impossible for her to accomplish such a thing.

"Your Majesty can be considered lucky. At the very least, you can meet anyone with just a single imperial edict. If poor Mu Yan wants to meet Imperial Concubine and imperial brother, she might have to ask Hades …" There was not a trace of emotion in Qing Yue's voice, yet it caused Duan Chen's guilt to reach its limits.

"It's been so long, and you still hate it?" Duan Chen bitterly said, his eyes dim.

"It's been a long time, but the injury is gone. His Majesty will never understand this." She also thought that time could erase everything, the better and the worse, they would eventually become nothing but smoke in the blink of an eye. But she never expected that she could not, because that hatred had already sunk deep into her bones.

"If royal father were to admit it, he shouldn't have vented his anger on you and Jing Yang because of your mother's concubine. You …" Will you choose to forgive? " Perhaps he had felt the terrible condition in his body, as the saying goes, a man is about to die. Right now, other than Mo Jiangshan, the only other thing Duan Chen felt was that he owed Duan Moyan.

"The grievances of mufei will sooner or later be known to the world, and there are no 'ifs' in this world," each of Duan Moyan's words contained ice as an unapproachable iciness surfaced in her eyes from start to finish.

Duan Chen was speechless. He knew that no matter how much he repented, he wouldn't be able to get his daughter back.

"If you have any wish, royal father would like to help you complete it in the final moments …" Duan Chen said bitterly. He only hoped that in his final days, he would be able to do something for this daughter of his that he had forgotten for many years.

"Mu Yan does have a wish, but she doesn't need your majesty to worry about it. In the end, she has to rely on herself to walk her own path." The ice-cold voice rejected Duan Chen's last bit of good intentions.

"Perhaps I didn't expect it now. If I ever think of it in the future, tell royal father that royal father will help you … "You can leave." Duan Chen dejectedly spoke. Upon hearing his voice, Duan Mu Yan immediately stood up and turned around to leave without the slightest hesitation. As he gazed at that slender figure bearing too much resentment and unwillingness, tears actually welled up in the depths of Duan Chen's eyes.

After Duan Mu Yan left, Eunuch Li hurriedly entered the hall.

"Your majesty, you should just lie down and rest. It's getting late. If you continue enduring like this, how can your dragon body withstand it!" Speechless, Duan Chen sighed viciously before shifting his gaze to Eunuch Li.

"Mu Yan that child keeps saying that we have wronged pear consort, do you think we have truly wronged her?" The guilt in his heart surged up like floodwaters, Duan Chen suddenly felt indecisive. This was the first time he had ever believed in something that had happened over twenty years ago. Eunuch Li heard his words and was momentarily at a loss as to how to respond. Being in the harem for over thirty years, he had personally witnessed the rise and fall of many of the harem's concubines, and the only person he had a profound impression of was Riko.

"Your Majesty, it's been a long time. Your dragon body is still the most important …" Eunuch Li said all sorts of things, worriedly responding.

"People die eventually, but I really don't want to just let it go right now!" Although Yi'er is a genius at governing nations, she can't help but be emotional. Furthermore, I really hope that she can once again call us royal father. Perhaps, she is old and is especially nostalgic … I often dream of Pear Consort and Jingyang these days, do you know? I actually didn't dare look them in the eye when I was facing them. "I've already let down Yu Die, why would I implicate Fei Li and the children …" Duan Chen's thoughts were in a mess as they were thrown into disarray. His words were a complete mess. When Eunuch Li saw this, he could not help but feel pain in his heart.

Gonggong Li didn't reply. He quietly helped Duan Chen to lie down, then he stood quietly at the side, listening to him reminiscing about the past. People said it was not good to reminisce often. At this moment, Gonggong Li could only shed tears inwardly.

When she returned to the Xiao manor, it was already late at night. Duan Muyan walked out of the sedan chair with heavy steps and instructed the sedan bearer to return. At this moment, Yao'er had already been waiting for a long time.

"Princess, you're back. Did anything happen?" Yao'er asked with concern.

"No, I don't regret it. Did you come back?" Duan Mu Yan suppressed the bitterness in her heart as she asked. Her heart felt as though it had sunk to the bottom of a ravine. No matter how much repentance she had, she couldn't stop herself from moving forward.

"No regrets, I've already been waiting in the main hall for a long time!" Yao'er truthfully explained. Duan Muyan's gaze slightly shifted as she turned around and walked back to her room.

"Do not regret coming to my room! "You should go rest …" Duan Mu Yan instructed as he slowly walked away.

Duan Mu Yan lightly knocked on the door, not even raising her head to look at him. The three-foot-long staff in her hand flickered with a golden light as it was illuminated by the candlelight.

"I will not regret kowtowing to Pavilion Master." Xiao Lingfeng respectfully bowed. When he saw the three-foot-long dragon staff in Duan Mu Yan's hand, his body couldn't help but tremble. However, he quickly recovered.

"How's the trip?" As she slightly raised her head, she caught sight of the panic in Xiao Lingfeng's eyes.

"Reporting to Pavilion Master, everything is progressing smoothly. Subordinate has persuaded Pingdu and Min County's officials to testify against Duan Xingyi. Their request is to return home with the money they had stolen." Xiao Jin Feng reported truthfully, but his gaze purposefully avoided Duan Mu Yan's Dragon Staff.

"You agreed?" In the depths of her heart, she already had the answer to her question.

"This subordinate has agreed. If the pavilion master feels that they have committed a great sin in the future, this subordinate is willing to personally kill them." The once powerful and influential Prince, as well as the generals on the battlefield, had always kept his word. However, at this moment, Xiao Jin Feng was willing to be someone who broke his word.

"There's no need. I won't let you be someone without trust." As Duan Mu Yan spoke, her hand slipped and her three-foot-long Dragon Staff fell to the ground. Just as the Dragon Staff was about to land on the ground, Xiao Jin Feng suddenly took action and held the Dragon Staff up in his palm at the last moment.

"Pavilion Master, be careful …" A simple action that was completely captured by Duan Mu Yan. She received the Dragon Staff, and her clear eyes met Xiao Jin Feng's pitch-black eyes. She was so familiar with them that she nearly shouted out his name.

"Do you recognize this?" Duan Moyan changed the topic of her words and caught the Dragon Staff.