Here's the English translation of Chapter 5713, "Former Life Extra - Mo Lian Also Missed It 2 (First-Person Perspective)":
Chapter 5713: Former Life Extra - Mo Lian Also Missed It 2 (First-Person Perspective)
When my mother was buried, a continuous drizzle fell for over three months.
Only today did the sky finally clear up a little.
I walked alone along the palace walls, strolling slowly down the desolate, empty main road, a peculiar emotion stirring in my heart.
My Imperial Father's madness grew worse.
Sometimes, when his head ached, he would rage, smashing and throwing things around like a madman.
In the past, when Mother lay there like a living corpse, he was at least not as violently insane.
But now...
I knew everything was heading towards the worst possible outcome.
The situation in the capital was no longer stable. Everywhere, there were corrupt, festering things.
Sometimes, they wouldn't sleep through the night, just circling the outer walls of the capital. No matter how many were shot down, there were always more to follow.
I don't know how much longer I can hold on.
I always worry about Imperial Father and Mother on Sky Void Star. I also wonder if my twelfth brother's frail shoulders can bear the weight of Mo Kingdom's empire.
But I can only wonder.
I can't go back. Compared to the peaceful, isolated lower star domains, perhaps the future of the Divine Land is even more terrifying.
"Your Highness, would you like to see the report from the Ministry of Rites regarding the Hundred Flowers Gathering?" Zhao Teng Dong shuffled closer, moving in small steps, and asked me in a low voice.
Right. With the period of deep mourning over, these officials began actively preparing for my selection of a consort again.
The Hundred Flowers Gathering, ostensibly to gather eligible young women from various families for me to choose from.
But I had no interest whatsoever.
I pushed back, citing the three-year mourning period, but those officials risked their lives to go before my Imperial Father, weeping and saying that if the Crown Prince remained without an heir for even a day, the nation would be in peril.
I was utterly sick of these hypocritical dogs.
Outside the city, puppet corpses plagued the common people, yet all they thought about all day was this nonsense, instead of countermeasures.
I wasn't dying, so what if I temporarily had no heir?
Sometimes I truly wished I could go mad like Imperial Father and just chop off these verbose officials, one by one.
During the Hundred Flowers Gathering, I sat there with an exceptionally cold expression.
Like a door god, or no, perhaps an ice sculpture.
The women who looked at me all had timid expressions, wanting to speak yet hesitant. A single glance filled me with irritation.
One, two, three—all were so artificial and utterly lacking in character.
Two women now stepped forward, came to pay their respects, and spoke in soft, delicate voices, "Greetings, Your Highness."
I recognized the daughters of Chen Chaozhi and General Zhongli.
Chen Baojia and Zhongli Zhiwei. If nothing went wrong, these two women were likely the concubines the Ministry of Rites had selected and registered for me.
Ridiculous. If the Ministry of Rites favored these two, then those old men should marry them themselves.
I looked up at them, seeing them feigning shyness and playing the part of delicate, charming maidens. An inexplicable anger rose in my heart.
It shouldn't be like this.
I always felt as if something in this life had gone wrong, making one mistake after another, wrong to the point where I couldn't face the future.
I stared coldly at the two women who came forward to pay their respects, then abruptly overturned the table in front of me.
Things clattered and crashed to the floor.
The exquisitely dressed young women instantly turned pale, falling to their knees with thuds, trembling as they pleaded for my forgiveness.
Forgiveness?
Forgive what sin?
I strode away with a flick of my sleeve. The Hundred Flowers Gathering ended in disarray, and the news quickly spread throughout the court and beyond.
Soon, rumors swept through the capital.
They said that the Crown Prince was not fond of women and preferred men.
??? Was that me they were talking about?
Imperial Father summoned me, his face filled with irritation as he scolded me.
He punished me by making me kneel in the ancestral temple. I knelt for three days and nights without uttering a sound.
Later, he had no choice.
His head ached. When the pain came, he would ram his head against the wall. Imperial Guard screamed repeatedly beside him, and even the most precious incense couldn't stop his frantic actions.
As he suffered his pain, he stopped bothering with my affairs, and I stopped bothering with his.
Our father-son relationship was already distant, but after Mother's death, perhaps even basic greetings ceased to exist between us.
The Ministry of Rites began unilaterally pushing women on me.
How laughable. Did they think this would make me yield?
I simply built a courtyard for the women they sent in, naming the courtyard "Destined for Solitude."
These women who willingly allowed themselves to be sent in should have understood from day one what "Destined for Solitude" meant.
Since they were willing, I was too lazy to manage it.
If they dared to stage any "accidental encounters" in the garden, I would kill one or two. After a long while, everyone should understand.
Do not "accidentally encounter" me. I can only be an object of their distant admiration.
Later?
Later, even the Ministry of Rites became disheartened and stopped taking it upon themselves to send me various beauties.
They resigned themselves to it.
And ridiculously, they actually believed those rumors: thinking that I, their unapproachable Divine Land Crown Prince, was a "cut-sleeve" (gay)!
Heh, cut your sister's sleeve!
Since these people were so foolish, let them remain foolish.
After the New Year, Emperor Rong Lie of Cangzhou visited. Imperial Father handed all state affairs discussions over to me.
He spent his days drunk in the palace, his hair uncombed, sometimes even shirtless, just sitting there in a daze, possibly for three days and two nights.
Emperor Rong Lie and I concluded our discussions and decided to jointly lead an expedition to the severely afflicted puppet corpse areas.
Trapped in the capital, we had no retreat.
Fighting might offer a glimmer of hope.
Retreating meant no path to retreat at all.
A month later, news of my elopement with Emperor Rong Lie, for some unknown reason, had spread across the Three States Continent.
It was inexplicably strange.
That day, when Rong Lie and I were galloping across the Pingjin Great Plains.
He suddenly stopped and pointed to the distant sky, where the fiery clouds connected.
"Look there."
I followed his gaze. It was a fiery red expanse, looking as if it had been reddened by a forest fire, strikingly brilliant.
"There's nothing there," I said, taking a casual sip from the wine flask hanging at my side. "What did you see?"
"I thought I saw a woman standing there, waving at us. Her expressionless face seemed somewhat familiar."
I couldn't help but chuckle, teasing, "Missing your wife?"
"Haven't married," Rong Lie shook his head.
I suddenly understood. I raised my hand and threw the wine flask at him. I said, no wonder! Everyone thought I eloped with you, you old bachelor who's been single for ages, why haven't you married?
"And why haven't you married?"
"How should I know?" In a daze, I felt a pang of sadness, wanting to permanently suppress the grief and indignation in my heart.
I cracked my whip and spurred my horse forward, "If we win this battle, then let's just stay on the grasslands and live out our lives."
Then I galloped far away, not hearing Rong Lie's quiet murmur, "What if we lose?"