CHAPTER 79 — THE TOKEN SHE GAVE TO THE WRONG MAN
Tang Ke Xin felt a strange chill run through her as she listened to the Empress's words.
Why would she want me to reveal the bracelet in times of danger?
Precious things were meant to be hidden, not displayed.
"Xin'er, do not ask," the Empress said softly, cutting off her unspoken questions. "There are matters you will understand only when the time comes."
Her tone was gentle, yet firm—an unmistakable warning that this was not the moment to pry further.
Tang Ke Xin swallowed her doubts and nodded. She could only bury her questions deep within her heart.
"Your Majesty… are you truly all right?" she asked quietly. Being betrayed by the person one trusted most was a wound that cut deeper than any blade.
"I never imagined it would be her," the Empress murmured, shaking her head. Pain clouded her features. "Even now, I struggle to believe it."
She drew a slow breath.
"Xin'er, you must not involve yourself in such matters again."
"Yes," Tang Ke Xin replied softly. She did not wish to add to the Empress's burdens.
"When Chen'er arrives, I will have him escort you home," the Empress continued. "I do not want you remaining in the palace. It grows more dangerous by the day… and I no longer know whom I can trust."
Her voice trembled ever so slightly.
She had begun calling her Xin'er—a sign of closeness, but also of fear.
"But I can stay with Your Majesty," Tang Ke Xin offered gently.
"No." The Empress shook her head. "I will be fine."
Her tone was resolute, but the sadness beneath it was unmistakable.
A short while later, Ye Lan Chen arrived. The Empress dismissed him almost immediately, urging him to take Tang Ke Xin away before anything else happened.
When he learned of Aunt Xi's betrayal, his expression darkened.
"To think Aunt Xi had the ability to harm Imperial Mother… this is unforgivable." His usual teasing vanished, replaced by a rare seriousness. "If even she betrayed my mother, then who can she trust?"
"That is why we must find the mastermind," Tang Ke Xin said, her eyes narrowing. "Everything traces back to that person."
Xiao Cui, Liu Ruyue, Aunt Xi—
all pawns on someone else's board.
"But who do you think it is?" Ye Lan Chen asked quietly. "To set trap after trap within the palace… each more precise than the last…"
"That is powerful," Tang Ke Xin admitted. "Terrifyingly so. Every move he makes is flawless."
"Then… will Mother be safe?" Ye Lan Chen's voice wavered with genuine fear.
"She will," Tang Ke Xin said firmly. She did not know why, but she believed the Empress's earlier words. She believed nothing would happen to her.
"How can you be so certain?" he asked, frowning.
"Let's walk," she said abruptly. "I don't want to take the carriage."
He studied her for a moment, then nodded.
"Very well. I will walk with you."
They left the palace on foot. Even taking a shortcut, it took nearly two hours to reach the bustling streets.
Meanwhile, in a private room of a teahouse, the Third Prince sat exactly where he had sat the last time. A guard whispered a report beside him, but Ye Lan Jue's expression remained unreadable—save for the faint, icy glint in his eyes.
"Your Highness, the Crown Prince has arrived," another guard announced from the window.
"Is his sudden visit related to that matter?" the guard asked gravely.
Before Ye Lan Jue could respond, the door swung open and Nangong Yi sauntered in, wearing his usual devil-may-care smile.
"I've lured the Crown Prince here for you," he said cheerfully. "You may test him as you please."
The guard stiffened. "Lord Nangong, it may be inappropriate for you to involve yourself—"
"My family's Xin'er was nearly killed," Nangong Yi cut in, his smile sharpening. "How could I not involve myself? Anything concerning her concerns me."
He sat down uninvited, his grin brightening as he looked at Ye Lan Jue—clearly provoking him.
Ye Lan Jue's eyes narrowed, a dangerous chill radiating from him.
Moments later, the Crown Prince arrived upstairs. Nangong Yi fell silent, sensing the shift in atmosphere.
But before the Crown Prince could speak—
"Your Highness, the Fourth Prince and Miss Tang have also arrived," the guard at the window reported.
"My Xin'er is here?" Nangong Yi leapt to the window, his smile dazzling. "Excellent. I've missed her terribly."
Outside the teahouse, an angry shout rang out the moment Tang Ke Xin and Ye Lan Chen stepped inside.
"Tang Kexin! Stop right there!"
Tang Ke Xin's brows twitched.
Why is Mu Shaoyi here?
"Mu Shaoyi, what are you doing?" Ye Lan Chen stepped in front of her, his princely aura unmistakable.
Mu Shaoyi froze, startled to see him. Then jealousy flickered in his eyes.
"Fourth Prince," he said stiffly, "Tang Kexin is my fiancée. How can the Fourth Prince walk so closely with my future wife?"
"Why didn't you say that when you were clinging to Liu Ruyue every day?" Ye Lan Chen replied coldly.
Mu Shaoyi's face drained of colour.
"You—you two—"
He misunderstood instantly.
He thought Ye Lan Chen was confessing to something improper.
"What does it matter to you?" Ye Lan Chen snapped. "The Empress has already informed the Mu family that the engagement will be annulled. From today onward, Xin'er has nothing to do with you."
Mu Shaoyi's expression twisted.
"The Empress forced that engagement upon me! And now you force me to break it? How is that fair?"
"Fair?" Ye Lan Chen's voice dropped to a chilling calm. "Your family agreed to the engagement. You agreed. The Empress never forced you. And when your father delivered the betrothal token, you said nothing."
His aura surged—cold, commanding, impossible to ignore.
"You delayed the marriage. You humiliated her. You bullied her. If you disliked her so much, why did you not break the engagement yourself?"
The crowd murmured in agreement.
"That's right! Young Master Mu and Miss Liu bullied Miss Tang constantly!"
"If he dislikes her, he should let her go!"
Mu Shaoyi's face turned ashen.
"Tang Kexin," he snarled, "do you truly want to end the engagement? If so, why haven't you returned the betrothal token? That heirloom belongs to the Mu family!"
"Return it to him," Ye Lan Chen said calmly.
Tang Ke Xin blinked.
Heirloom? Betrothal token?
She had no memory of any such thing.
She wasn't even the original Tang Kexin.
And she certainly didn't have any keepsake.
"Continue pretending, Tang Kexin. If you don't wish to break the engagement, then say so openly. There's no need for such theatrics."
Mu Shaoyi's lips twisted into a mocking smile. "That jade pendant is a Mu family heirloom. You've carried it with you since then. And now you claim you don't know of it?"
His voice was sharp, but there was something else beneath it—
a flicker of triumph, a glint of certainty.
He truly believed she was acting.
He truly believed she still wanted him.
I've had it ever since and never left my side?
Tang Ke Xin froze.
Did he mean… the original Tang Kexin had always kept that pendant on her person? That she had never once parted with it?
A sudden, cold realisation struck her.
Her body stiffened.
That night in the temple—
the night she had nearly died—
the night she had unknowingly transmigrated—
She had rewarded the man who saved her.
She remembered fumbling through her belongings, offering him a few pieces of silver. But she had also felt something else in her hand—something smooth, cool, and unfamiliar.
Could it have been the pendant, the engagement token?
Her breath caught.
From that night onward, she had never seen any jade pendant on her body. Not once.
Which meant—
She had given the Mu family's heirloom
to the man from that night.
The man whose identity she still did not know.
And even if she discovered who he was…
would he return it?
Would he even want to?
A faint, almost imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of the Third Prince's lips as he watched her expression shift.
Nangong Yi, on the other hand, was openly grinning—
a fox who had just scented chaos.
In the private room above, the Crown Prince—who had been listening—was struck speechless… again.