Consort of a Thousand Faces

Because of this, she felt angry and annoyed, yet she was out of options.

 

Just when she was deep in thought, the sound of the door opening alerted her. It was Yun Ruofeng’s right-hand man, Wei Mohai.

 

When Ning Anlian saw him, a glint of surprise flickered across her face. She solemnly asked him, “Commander Wei, who danced in this Princess’ stead?”

 

Wei Mohai paid his respects to Ning Anlian, emanating an air of righteousness. “Eldest Imperial Princess, Prince Yun knows that you have injured your ankle, and arranged for a replacement in order to prevent your injury from getting worse. Of course, the rulers of other nations still think that it is you dancing. The woman in question will be returning to your repose palace shortly. Eldest Imperial Princess, please change into a purple dress.”

 

Ning Anlian was very angry, but she didn’t show it on her face. She asked, “Who is it that replaced this Princess?”

 

Wei Mohai was slightly startled. “Eldest Imperial Princess, you will know shortly.”

 

“What, you want to hide it from this Princess?” The corner of Ning Anlian’s mouth showed a smile that didn’t reach the bottom of her eyes. “How can this Princess not be allowed to know who danced in my stead? Wei Mohai, who do you think you are? You can’t even tell me this?”

 

Wei Mohai listened to the orders of Prince Yun, and didn’t care about the anger and complaints from women of the imperial harem.

 

However, he still maintained a respectful expression. “Eldest Imperial Princess, this subordinate will take my leave if there is nothing else.” He then turned on his heel to leave.

 

Ning Anlian was enraged and yelled loudly when Wei Mohai dodged the question. “You better get back here! Get back here!”

 

However, Wei Mohai pretended that he didn’t hear anything and simply left!

 

Piao Xu immediately tried to comfort her on the side. “Eldest Imperial Princess, don’t be angry. You need to keep calm.”

 

“Why can’t this Princess be angry? How dare Prince Yun let another woman dance in this Princess’ stead? It was the first time that this Princess was supposed to dance, but I needed to be replaced by someone else?”

 

Piao Xu knew that Ning Anlian was behaving unreasonably because of her anger, but also knew that it was useless to try to reason with the latter in such a state. As a result, she could only continue to comfort her. “Prince Yun is actually doing this for your sake.”

 

“For this Princess’ sake?” Ning Anlian’s face was confused. “You tell me, how is it for my sake when he asked another person to replace this Princess and made me completely lose my face?”

 

“Eldest Imperial Princess, think about it, Prince Yun must have found out about your ankle injury from the imperial physician. Because of this, Prince Yun must have been worried that your ankle would get worse, so he found someone similar to dance in your stead.  He made sure that nobody knew that the person dancing wasn’t you, and protected your reputation as well as your health. Isn’t Prince Yun doing this for your sake?”

 

When Ning Anlian heard Piao Xu’s explanation, her angry expression gradually dissipated. She thought about it carefully and replied, “What you said does have some merit, but it is the rule that only the Eldest Imperial Princess can dance at the state banquet.”

 

“But you have injured your foot, and the imperial physician said that you can’t make big movements, otherwise…”

 

Ning Anlian was annoyed and interrupted her. “Regardless of whether he was thinking for this Princess’ sake, he should have discussed this with me. He shouldn’t have held this Princess captive and only released me after the dance finished.”

 

“Eldest Imperial Princess, Prince Yun knows about your stubborn nature. Even if he had discussed it with you, you wouldn’t have agreed, right?”

 

Ning Anlian thought about it, and her face twisted. I had prepared the dance for so long, how could I give up so easily!

 

The dance at this year’s state banquet held much significance to me!

 

Piao Xu didn’t want Ning Anlian to make a big scene while the banquet was still ongoing, so she continued. “Prince Yun had personally made the arrangements all for your sake, Eldest Imperial Princess!”

Ning Anlian didn’t care about what Piao Xu said; she was still angry at Yun Ruofeng for making arrangements without her and for wasting all of her effort. What makes me even angrier is that incorrigible Su Xi-er deliberately kicked my ankle!