A Marriage in Name Only? My Stepbrother Won't Let Me Go

This was destined to be a sleepless night for many.

Although the Empress Dowager suppressed what happened at the Royal Villa, the well-informed still managed to glimpse a part of the truth.

Particularly the fact that Pei Yan had taken Mei Wanying back to the Prince Chen Mansion—that was set in stone.

Mei Wanying was the first woman to enter the Prince Chen Mansion. Rumor had it that the Prince himself had carried her inside.

This was a blatant declaration: Mei Wanying was under the protection of the Prince Chen Mansion!

The Crown Prince had tried to steal someone from him, to challenge him. In this round, the Crown Prince had lost.

The struggles of the imperial court were a turbulent and unpredictable affair.

Even a seemingly minor incident could shift the alignments of the various factions.

Some felt Pei Yan was a man of courage and conviction. He had acted decisively for his benefactor’s daughter, showing both boldness and a strong sense of loyalty. Siding with him would surely not be a disadvantage.

Others, however, saw him as reckless. If he could raise such a fuss with the Crown Prince over a woman today, who knew what foolish things he might do tomorrow.

Even if he succeeded in taking the throne, he could become an incompetent emperor.

It was best to wait and see!

...

The Crown Prince was supposed to be confined to the Eastern Palace, yet he had appeared at the Royal Villa.

No one was more furious than the current Emperor.

"Leaving the palace without permission and trying to abduct the daughter of a decorated official... He’s treated Our words as if they were nothing but wind! This is defiance of an imperial edict! What, does he intend to overthrow the heavens?!"

In his younger years, the Emperor had exhausted his vitality trying to produce a son. Even with the finest medicinal herbs, his health was no longer robust.

And the weaker he became, the more he feared the Crown Prince would usurp his throne.

Especially since the Crown Prince was his nephew, not his own flesh and blood!

The Crown Prince had acted outrageously before, but as long as it didn’t disrupt the grand scheme of things, the Emperor had always turned a blind eye.

But things were different now.

The Crown Prince now dared to feign obedience while secretly defying him. And this came on top of the recent discovery that he had been secretly stockpiling weapons.

’If I don’t do something, one day the Crown Prince will raise an army and rebel!’

The Emperor’s face grew dark. For the first time, he truly considered killing the Crown Prince.

The struggle for Imperial Power had always been this way.

’If I had been indecisive back then, I wouldn’t be the one on the throne today!’

The Empress Dowager hurried back to the palace. Before she even entered the main hall, she could hear the Emperor shouting, his voice thick with a rage that clearly showed he was livid.

Leaning on the arm of a Palace Attendant, she hurried into the great hall.

"It was I who summoned the Crown Prince to the villa. He was only being filial. He thought We were gravely ill and rushed to Our side without a second thought. If you mean to punish him, you may as well punish Us, too!"

Fury swirled in the Emperor’s eyes.

Every time the Crown Prince made a mistake, the Empress Dowager would appear to shield him.

"Mother Emperor, your constant indulgence will only cause him to make even greater mistakes. You are hurting him, not helping him!"

The Empress Dowager sighed. "Do you think I don’t know that? But he lost his own parents. He’s a pitiful child. If I don’t protect him, who will? How miserable would he be?"

Empress Gu, who had been silent until now, barely suppressed a scornful laugh.

’Just admit you’re biased,’ she thought. ’Why dress it up in such high-minded words!’

"Mother Emperor, are you blaming His Majesty and I? Do you feel we haven’t shown the Crown Prince enough care?"

A dangerous glint appeared in the Empress Dowager’s eyes.

’Ever since Pei Yan was found, this woman’s ambition has been showing, bit by bit. Now, she’s not even pretending anymore.’

’Trying to sow discord again!’

The Empress Dowager said with a look of disapproval, "You and the Emperor have poured your hearts into raising the Crown Prince. We have seen it all. How could you think such a thing? Don’t let your imagination run wild and harm the bonds of our own family."

Empress Gu’s expression grew sorrowful. "No matter how pitiful the Crown Prince is, he has you, His Majesty, and me. He is not like Ah Yan, who was lost to the world at such a young age. It was a blessing he was saved by General Mei. Otherwise... otherwise, we might never have had this family reunion."

As she spoke of this painful memory, Empress Gu dabbed the corner of her eye with a handkerchief.

She continued, "Ah Yan takes after the Emperor; repaying kindness and valuing loyalty are in his very bones! He isn’t trying to compete with the Crown Prince for anything, nor has he uttered a single word of complaint. He only wants to protect the daughter of his benefactor. So why is the Crown Prince so relentless? Why must he cause trouble for Ah Yan? Does he... truly see Ah Yan as a brother?"

The Emperor had been the instigator of that incident years ago, and every time he was reminded of it, a profound sense of guilt washed over him.

But now, with Empress Gu suddenly bringing it up only to praise him, the Emperor felt an inexplicable sense of relief. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

’Pei Yan is my biological son, of course he’s like me.’

’Pei Yan’s sense of gratitude and loyalty... he certainly got that from me.’

’It was just... I had no other choice when I did what I did.’

’The better Pei Yan turns out, the more it proves that I, his father, am beyond reproach.’

The Emperor was already displeased with the Crown Prince, and now, his displeasure intensified.

He didn’t even give the Empress Dowager any face. "No matter what, the fact remains that he defied an imperial edict! If We do not punish him, the prestige of the Royal Family will be diminished!"

The Crown Prince was already so seriously injured that it would take months for him to recover. How could the Empress Dowager bear to see him punished further?

’In the end, this was all trouble stirred up by the struggle for power. They were just using this as an excuse to make a move.’

’In any other family, would this even be an issue?’

The Empress Dowager fell back on her previous argument, taking all the blame. "The Crown Prince is a filial boy. He erred for Our sake, so We shall bear the consequences of his mistake alongside him!"

The Emperor was the Empress Dowager’s own son. Bound by filial piety and emotion, he often found himself powerless against her.

But Empress Gu was different.

From the moment she learned that her own son had been swapped with a stillborn infant by his own father—all because he feared the power of the Gu Family—Empress Gu’s heart had turned to ice.

Now, her only goal was to help her son seize the throne.

’This is a life-and-death struggle. It’s not as if the enemy camp would show us mercy if we simply chose not to fight.’

Empress Gu would eliminate anyone who stood in her son’s way.

Her voice was deceptively mild. "You rushed back to the palace so quickly, so your illness must not have been too severe. Why, then, was the Crown Prince so anxious to see you that he would defy an imperial edict?"

"He claimed he was going to see you, so how did he end up entangled with Mei Wanying?"

"Was he truly being filial, or was he just blinded by lust!"

Those who are in the wrong are often the quickest to anger.

The Empress Dowager’s face went cold. "Are you questioning Us?"

Empress Gu replied, "I would not dare."

The Empress Dowager snorted. "Hide your true intentions better. Don’t think for a moment We don’t know what you’re plotting. The Crown Prince is tied to the fate of the empire. To make a move against him is to shake the very foundations of the nation!"

These words were aimed at Empress Gu, but they were also a warning to the Emperor: deposing one Crown Prince to establish another would not be a simple matter.

The court would be thrown into turmoil, and one wrong move could plunge the entire empire into chaos!

Her words infuriated the Emperor, who felt his authority had been challenged.

’I am the Emperor!’

’I am the foundation of this nation!’

’If the Crown Prince can shake my empire, then this Crown Prince is a menace.’

’I might as well depose him!’

’Then they’ll all see who is truly master of this empire!’

The Emperor’s face was cold and stern. "Confinement cannot restrain him, nor does it deter him. His audacity is boundless—does he think he can walk all over Us? We must teach him a lesson he will never forget!"

This was a sign he intended to punish the Crown Prince severely—perhaps even strip him of his title.

The Empress Dowager was shaken to her core.

’That was her most beloved grandson. If he lost his position as Crown Prince, he wouldn’t be able to go on living.’

’Absolutely not!’

The Emperor called out, "Attendants! Draft Our imperial decree—"

Before he could finish, the elderly Empress Dowager suddenly collapsed.

An old attendant at her side cried out in alarm, "The Empress Dowager has fainted!"

The Emperor was the Empress Dowager’s biological son. While he was not blindly obedient and didn’t defer to her on every matter, his mother still held a very high place in his heart.

As he calmed slightly, he knew that today was not the right time to depose a crown prince. He had no choice but to take the opportunity she had given him to back down.

"Summon the Imperial Physician!"