Chapter 276 - Shocked, Imperial Family’s Secret (1/2)

The expression on Fifth Prince at that moment couldn’t be described as mere shock any longer, it’s like a bomb had been thrown inside his mind and everything was blown with a bang, he was incapable to think, completely incapable to think at all.

Nan Xun, who was equally stunned, still did not forget to continue pouring tea for Gong Moran.

The Old Monarch’s three princes died three times in a row, was it really just because his ancestor did evil deed too much?

Nan Xun couldn’t help looking at Gong Moran.

She didn’t believe there’s such a coincidence in this world, she’s sure that his own hands were behind this whole matter.

Gong Moran didn’t seem to notice the unusual look on the two people as he just leisurely continued, “Concubine Zhao, who gave birth to First Prince and Noble Concubine Xue who gave birth to Third Prince, both died from difficult birth, doesn’t Fifth Prince think it strange?”

He took a sip of tea lightly, his attitude was so relaxed it was as if he wasn’t talking about the secrets of royal family, “…Just because they saw the dead babies they gave birth to, they were killed cruelly by the Emperor. The Queen was lucky as she fainted after giving birth and didn’t discover about this matter, thus escaping from a big calamity.

Fifth Prince’s hands that were put on the table curled up slightly, clenched into fists without him knowing.

He knew that his father wasn’t a soft-hearted person, but he didn’t know that his heart was so hard up until this point. In order to consolidate his throne, he didn’t bat an eye to kill these women who had spent so many years with him, and even go as far as to exchanged his own dead babies, such a preposterous thing!

After Gong Moran revealed these shocking secrets, his expression remained as indifferent as before. After a moment of silence, he exonerated the Old Monarch, “Fifth Prince, your father did this for the whole Nanyun Kingdom too. If the people knew about the successive deaths of the Emperor’s sons, it can easily cause the nation unrest.”

The Fifth Prince sank into a great confusion.

Was it really like this? Can father’s faults really be covered with such a reason? Doesn’t the throne underneath him feel uncomfortable at all? How can he feel at ease and justified for all these years?

“Does the Fifth Prince know how Nanyun Kingdom obtained its territory?” Gong Moran suddenly asked.

The Fifth Prince was taken aback with this question, he replied, “Naturally it’s a kingdom that the founding emperor of Nanyun Kingdom has worked so hard to laid everything down.”

Gong Moran looked at him, his thin lips became more and more rosy because of the moist tea. His lips gently curved, there seemed to be a trace of mockery in his eyes, “Fifth Prince, the land under your feet was once the territory of Great Zhou Kingdom 300 years ago, and Nanyun Kingdom’s founding Emperor was the trusted subordinate of the last Emperor of Great Zhou Kingdom. He turned his back on his master and became a king on his own, although there was no lack of supporters, but his title was illegitimately conferred after all, and because of this, there came three other forces of power that declared themselves as kings too, eventually giving rise to the four kingdoms that are mutually holding back each other right now.”

When Fifth Prince heard State Teacher saying this, he felt that his tone was somewhat strange, but he couldn’t point out what’s strange and what’s not.

“Everyone said that he was a hero that appeared in troubled times, but unfortunately the founding Emperor had a lot of blood on his hands while also lacking the spirit and decisiveness, thus he couldn’t subdue the other three kingdoms.”

Fifth Prince twisted his eyebrows slightly, “This Prince naturally knows about these things, but this Prince doesn’t understand why State Teacher would talk about this?”

Gong Moran looked at him and said lightly, “This Lord is just telling the Fifth Prince that everything has a cause and effect. Your ancestors didn’t have the ability to dominate the world, but they committed more slaughter than ruling*, and thus retribution will come knocking at the door. Your father has three thousand beauties in the back palace, but in the end, he only succeeded in having Fourth Prince and you as his own biological sons, furthermore, you both have mothers from a humble background.” [T/N: *I’m not quite sure with this sentence] ( PR/N: this could mean that they only busied themselves with their greed to the throne and power by slaughtering people than actually govern the Kingdom to prosperity as they should have as an Emperor.)

When the Fifth Prince heard this, his expression abruptly changed.

He hated the mention of his biological mother since he was a child, because his birth mother’s background was really humble. She was a rough-working maid who crawled onto the Emperor’s bed, while Fourth Prince birth mother wasn’t much better as she was only a singer. [T/N: rough-working maid refers to a really low-ranked maid who works in the laundry department, or even worse, handling waste.]