The pattern is dark brown, small and delicate, contrasting against fair skin, like a beautiful butterfly about to take flight.
Consort Shu turned deathly pale instantly, a hint of panic flashing in her beautiful eyes. She tried to cover the pattern on her shoulder blade, but her whole body was weak and she could barely move. Even with all her strength, she couldn't reach her back with her arms.
"When Li Shishi, the eldest daughter of Prime Minister Li of Qingyan Kingdom, was five years old, she was dancing in a flower garden when she accidentally fell. A flower branch pierced the skin on her shoulder blade. After the injury healed, a small butterfly-shaped scar remained on her jade-like skin. The Prime Minister's mansion used the finest medicine to treat her injury, and the scar quickly disappeared without a trace. However, the dark brown butterfly mark was not removed. From a distance, it looked like a butterfly fluttering in the air, which was very beautiful. This story became a legend in Qingyan, and everyone praised her as a graceful butterfly fairy..." Shen Lixue's cold voice resounded in the imperial study, shocking everyone.
"Who... exactly are you?" The Prince of Yan, no, the Holy King, looked at the butterfly mark and narrowed his eyes slightly. He and Li Shishi were about the same age, and he knew the most about the butterfly pattern. Dongfang Heng and Shen Lixue knew about this because he mentioned it unintentionally.
"Of course I am Mu Zixin, the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Mu's mansion!" Consort Shu blinked, her mind racing. "This is my birthmark. Others can have butterfly scars, but I can't have a butterfly birthmark?"
“There’s a small bump in the center of the butterfly scar on Li Shishi’s shoulder bone. Your Majesty’s birthmark wouldn’t have a bump.” Shen Lixue looked at Consort Shu, her cold eyes calm and unwavering, and said with a half-smile, “If you want to prove whether Your Majesty is Li Shishi, just touch that butterfly pattern.”
Consort Shu's face instantly turned as black as ink. She stared coldly at Shen Lixue. It seemed that the matter could no longer be concealed. The secret that had been hidden for more than ten years was about to be revealed to the world. The Duke of Mu's mansion was about to decline, and she had nothing to worry about. Rather than waiting for others to expose her, she might as well say it herself: "You are right, I am Li Shishi!"
Her soft words were like a thunderclap, stunning everyone and leaving them speechless for a long time. What was going on? How could the legitimate daughter of Prime Minister Qingyan Li's family become the legitimate daughter of the Duke of Mu's family in Xiliang?
Countless eyes focused on Consort Shu, listening intently.
Consort Shu gazed at the dark night sky, a faint smile playing on her lips, her eyes gleaming with a warm light: "Twenty-two years ago, I was the eldest daughter of the Prime Minister's household, of noble birth, intelligent, beautiful, and exceptionally talented. At the prime of my fifteen-year-old self, noble young men flocked to propose marriage, but I ignored them all, single-mindedly seeking an outstanding man worthy of me. And I was fortunate enough to meet that exceptional man of my dreams..."
In March of that year, peach blossoms were falling in abundance. After offering incense in the main hall of Xiangguo Temple, she went to her room to rest. As she passed through the peach grove, she saw a man in a dark blue brocade robe standing there. The slowly falling peach blossoms fluttered down on him, making him look exceptionally beautiful and otherworldly, unlike any mortal.
She fell in love with the man at first sight.
“That person is none other than your father, Holy King Dongfang Yan!”
Dongfang Heng and Shen Lixue exchanged a glance, their eyes flashing with shock. They hadn't expected that there was such a romantic entanglement between the Holy Prince and Li Shishi.
The Holy King abruptly removed the mask from his face, his sharp gaze like piercing arrows, coldly shooting at Consort Shu: "I told you long ago that I have no feelings for you. Even if it hurts your pride, you hate me and plot against me. Why did you have to kill Meng'er?"
"You...you are actually..." Consort Shu looked at the Holy King's true face and was so shocked that she couldn't speak. She had long guessed that the Holy King was also in the capital of Xiliang, but she did not expect that he had been living by her side disguised as the Prince of Yan. No wonder she felt familiar when she passed by the Prince of Yan.
"If it weren't for Liu Rumeng, we would be a loving couple. If it weren't for Liu Rumeng, I wouldn't have married the Emperor with such heartbreak. If it weren't for Liu Rumeng, we would already be living a happy life with many children. Her appearance stole everything that belonged to me and caused me to lose a lifetime of happiness. Of course, I must take revenge on her..."
Upon seeing the Holy King, Consort Shu's joy was tinged with unspeakable sorrow; all the suffering and torment she had endured over the years erupted at this moment.
"Li Shishi, listen carefully! I have never loved you. Even without Meng'er, I would never marry you!" The mastermind behind the death of his beloved was right in front of him. Hearing her so-called reasons, the Holy King's sharp eyes flashed with cold light, and his large hands clenched tightly.
Li Shishi smiled bitterly: "If it weren't for Liu Rumeng, even if you don't like me, we could still be husband and wife."
That day, she learned from a young monk that the person in the peach blossom forest was the heir of the Holy King. After returning to the capital, she inquired about him from her father and learned that Dongfang Yan was not yet married. She then asked Prime Minister Li to hint to the old Holy King that she wanted to arrange a marriage between their children. The Li family was also a noble family, and Li Shishi was so outstanding that the old Holy King had no objections. Just as she was about to tell Dongfang Yan, he brought back Liu Rumeng.
That beautiful and dignified girl was also a noblewoman, gentle and graceful, with polite manners, and was also the one her son liked, so the old Holy King rejected the marriage proposal from the Li family.
"Liu Rumeng married you, had a son, and received your meticulous care and love. She was as happy and fulfilled as honey. But what about me? I married a man I didn't love, and I was just a concubine. I lived in the deep palace every day, alone in my empty room, and had to deal with all kinds of open and hidden attacks from the other concubines. Do you know how bitter my life was?"
"If you had married another nobleman, you would have been cherished by your husband and become a concubine in the palace. It was your own choice, so who can you blame!"
The Holy King had never experienced the cruelty of palace intrigue, but he had heard of it. Open and covert attacks could kill without leaving a trace. Before Li Shishi entered the palace, a noble young man had proposed marriage to her at the Prime Minister's residence, but she refused. She was determined to enter the palace. No matter how difficult the road was, it was her own choice, and she had no one to blame but herself.
"Do you think I want to share my husband with so many women? Do you think I want to live in that magnificent cage? I entered the palace as a concubine only because the emperor bears a slight resemblance to you; I wanted to find your shadow in him!" Consort Shu glared at the Holy Prince, her beautiful eyes flashing with cold light, and roared hysterically.
“I face the Emperor every day, but my heart is filled with thoughts of you. Day after day, year after year, all I think about and all I utter are your names. After each night with the Emperor, I dare not fall asleep, for I fear I will call out your name in my dreams…”
Dongfang Yan glanced at Consort Shu indifferently. His impression of her was limited to a few meetings at banquets. The old Holy King had indeed mentioned to him the matter of marrying Li Shishi, but at that time, he had already met Liu Rumeng and directly rejected the marriage proposal from the Li family. He never expected that Li Shishi would be so deeply in love with him: "Once you're married, you should forget the past and devote your heart to the Emperor..."
"I want to forget, but I can't!" Consort Shu roared again, her beautiful eyes brimming with tears. "Four years of longing, more than a thousand days and nights, I suffered agonizingly, and finally I couldn't bear it anymore and fell ill. I was on the verge of death, extremely weak. The imperial physicians finally diagnosed that there was no cure. In my last moments, looking at my Zhan'er, my thoughts were still on you..."
Shen Lixue's beautiful eyes suddenly narrowed. Could it be that Dongfang Zhan's inexplicable hostility towards Dongfang Heng and Dongfang Xun stemmed from Li Shishi? Did he know about the emotional entanglement between Li Shishi, Dongfang Yan, and Liu Rumeng?
"When I passed away in Qingyan, it was winter. Snow was falling heavily outside, and my coffin was inside. Did you go to see me off on my final journey?" Consort Shu asked, her eyes brimming with tears and her voice filled with sorrow.
The Holy King lowered his eyelids: "You were a Noble Consort. When you passed away, many ministers and their families would have come to pay their respects!"
"Heh!" Consort Shu looked at the Holy King and laughed mockingly, her smile filled with indescribable bitterness: "You truly have no feelings for me whatsoever. You only came to the mourning hall to see me out of courtesy between ruler and subject. In vain I loved you so deeply and missed you my whole life..."
"I have little interaction with you, and I did not know how deeply you loved me. I did not know that you married the Emperor for my sake." These words sound like a consolation to Consort Shu, but upon closer reflection, they are meaningless. The Holy King loves Liu Rumeng. Even if he knew that Li Shishi loved him to the point of obsession, he would not marry her, and she would still end up in this situation.
Consort Shu looked at the Holy King, waiting for him to speak, but he remained silent, not even bothering to offer a word of explanation. Consort Shu gritted her teeth in anger, and her words went against her original intentions: "It's said that my life wasn't meant to end there. That winter, when Duke Mu was on a mission to Qingyan, he discovered that my heart was still warm in the coffin during the memorial service. He secretly used medicine to revive me. I didn't want to return to the luxurious cage of the Qingyan Palace, so I came to Xiliang with him. The real Mu Zixin from Duke Mu's mansion had been recuperating in the countryside, but her illness was extremely serious and incurable. She passed away a month ago. The news was well-covered, and few people knew about it. So I took her place and stayed at Duke Mu's mansion..."
Shen Lixue raised an eyebrow at Consort Shu: "If you think Qingyan Palace is a cage, why do you still want to enter Xiliang Palace?"
"I haven't been in Xiliang's capital for long, and the imperial harem has started selecting concubines. The Duke of Mu's family is one of the best among noble families. Since they have a legitimate daughter, she will definitely be selected to enter the palace as a concubine."
Consort Shu's face darkened, and tears welled up in her beautiful eyes. Jumping from one cage to another was not her wish, but this was her fate—she couldn't break free, she couldn't escape…
Shen Lixue's gaze sharpened: "Your Highness, you've been secretly in contact with Dongfang Zhan all along, haven't you? Qianlong's assassination attempt in Qingyan was orchestrated by you!"
Consort Li did not die; in fact, she became a concubine of the Emperor of Xiliang. She gave birth to the sixth prince, and in order to ensure that her son would inherit the throne, she instructed Dongfang Zhan to assassinate Ye Qianlong. All of this makes perfect sense.
"Princess Consort An loves to make wild guesses. I really don't know if this is your strength or your weakness!" If Consort Shu denied it outright, it would only indirectly confirm Shen Lixue's guess. Since her words were ambiguous, Shen Lixue couldn't be sure whether the matter was true or false.
"Your Majesty, there's no need to be so mysterious. This matter cannot be made true by deception, nor can it be made false by truth. We both know the truth." Shen Lixue paused, then looked at Consort Shu with wide eyes: "There's something else I forgot to tell you. Emperor Qingyan wisely bestowed your daughter Ye Qianmei upon your son Dongfang Zhan. If the two of them really get married, it would be incest between siblings..." The culprit behind all this is Li Shishi, the mother.
"What?" Consort Shu was startled, her slender hands clenched tightly, and her beautiful brows furrowed. How could this be?
"Didn't you tell Ye Qianmei that she has an older brother named Dongfang Zhan? Or did you not tell Dongfang Zhan that he also has a half-brother and half-sister in Xiliang?" Shen Lixue blinked, mercilessly provoking Consort Shu.
"I warned Qianmei long ago that she could not marry a prince of the Qingyan royal family. Even if she were given to Dongfang Zhan, they would definitely not consummate their marriage!" If they did not consummate their marriage, how could it be considered incestuous?
“Qingyan is thousands of miles away, and we are in Xiliang. We can’t help even if we are anxious. Let’s deal with the current matter first. Five years ago, at Xiangguo Temple, you were the one who sent the Holy Princess to kill her!” Shen Lixue looked at Consort Shu, her eyes cold as ice. Every word she spoke was not a question, but a statement of certainty.
The Holy King and Dongfang Heng's sharp gazes also turned to Consort Shu. They already knew the answer in their hearts and just wanted to hear Consort Shu admit it herself.
"Liu Rumeng, I pushed her off the cliff with my own hands!" Seeing the Holy King's furious, almost spitting fire gaze, Consort Shu suddenly raised the corners of her mouth, a smug smile on her face. "I pushed her off the cliff myself, watching her fall to her death, her body shattered beyond recognition. You have no idea how happy and joyful I was when I saw her covered in blood at the bottom of the cliff. The resentment that had been building up in my chest for so many years was finally released. I finally killed that vile woman who stole my life's happiness..."
"Shut up!" The Holy King's face turned ashen. He flipped his hand and slapped Consort Shu hard across the face. As her beautiful face was turned to the side, a bright red five-fingered mountain appeared on her fair skin. A trickle of blood spilled from the corner of her mouth. He roared like thunder: "Meng'er has never done anything to wrong you. Why did you use such a cruel method to harm her?"
"Liu Rumeng stole the man I loved, and the four of them lived happily ever after. But what about me? I married into the palace and had to compete with hundreds of concubines for my husband. I was confined to that cold palace every day, like a walking corpse. Her happiness was built on my suffering. I was heartbroken and in pain, so how could she be happy?"