Chapter 653 Chapter 393 Wu Junwan's Ambition_1

Hearing Princess Junwan's question, Murong Xue'er was momentarily stunned, unsure of how to respond.

Seeing Murong Xue'er offer no answer, Wu Junwan picked up the teacup on the stone table and gently took a sip before saying, "Is it that you've lost count because there were so many?"

Murong Xue'er had nothing to say; although she believed there weren't many times, she truly couldn't remember the number.

Murong Xue'er countered, "Why does Your Highness inquire about this matter?"

Wu Junwan didn't answer the question but continued, "So it seems you have already betrayed Qingrou?"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Murong Xue'er fell silent once again; in a certain sense, she had indeed betrayed the Yue Emperor.

After all, she couldn't bear to separate from this bad man anymore; her body and heart had become entirely his.

Seeing Murong Xue'er still not speaking, Wu Junwan knew she had hit the mark, let out a slight sigh, and thought to herself that the most frightening thing about this man was that no woman could resist his seduction.

Hearing this, Murong Xue'er couldn't help but wonder: could it be that even Princess Junwan had been conquered by the North Prince?

Princess Junwan was, after all, the esteemed Princess of Great Wu, and she had only just arrived in the North Country; had she been subdued so quickly by that bad man? Could it be true?

Murong Xue'er asked, "What do you intend to do, Your Highness? Are you going to tell the Empress about this servant's actions?"

Murong Xue'er was somewhat uncertain about Wu Junwan's stance; she was very clear about just how close the relationship between Wu Junwan and the Yue Emperor was.

In the days without Wu Junwan, the Yue Emperor even treated her as if she were Wu Junwan, holding her down beneath her; their affection for each other was extraordinary.

Although Wu Junwan's body might have been tarnished by that bad man, this did not mean that Wu Junwan no longer had feelings for the Yue Emperor. Now that Wu Junwan knew the spy the Yue Emperor sent to the North Country had defected and could pose a threat to Great Jue in the future, Wu Junwan might consider their sisterly love and tell the Yue Emperor about this matter.

If that happened, Murong Xue'er would be completely exposed for betraying the Yue Emperor.

At this moment, Wu Junwan asked with an expressionless face, "Do you wish for me to tell Qingrou about your affair, or would you prefer that I pretend to know nothing?"

Murong Xue'er did not immediately answer the question.

Seeing Murong Xue'er not directly responding, Wu Junwan said,

"If I say nothing, the North Prince will use you to pass on more false intelligence to Qingrou, or you might steal more information from Great Jue to give to the North Prince. In that case, you still have some value."

"If I tell Qingrou directly about your affair, you might not need to continue serving as an envoy for Great Jue, but you will also become useless to the North Prince. He might just discard you then."

At this point, Murong Xue'er spoke up, "Your Highness may be overthinking it. For the North Prince's ambitions, I don't play a significant role; to him, my greatest use is to provide a means for him to relax, I am merely a tool for him to release his emotions with." Read new chapters at empire

"The North Prince seldom requests that I proactively provide him with information on Great Jue, nor does he often ask me to spread false information. Even the defense map of the North Country that I originally obtained from the North Prince was a real one. It's just a pity that despite it being real, Great Wu's army still suffered defeat."

Upon hearing this, Wu Junwan's brows slightly furrowed before she sneered and said, "So you think that the North Prince's feelings for you are real?"

Murong Xue'er replied, "This servant is well aware that the Prince only likes my body. I harbor no delusions that His Highness could have genuine feelings for me."

Seeing Murong Xue'er say as much, Wu Junwan was at a loss for words.

After pondering for a moment, Wu Junwan then said, "Although he is enamored with your beauty for now, there will come a day when you grow old, and women are what he lacks the least. Following him, you should be prepared to be discarded."

Murong Xue'er replied, "Thank you for the reminder, Your Highness. This servant will bear your words in mind."

Wu Junwan did not wish to advise Murong Xue'er further. She herself had been thoroughly taken advantage of by Lu Chen; she had no right to speak about others.

Moreover, she was crystal clear that with that young man's capabilities, indeed any woman who had shared marital relations with him found it extremely difficult to leave him. His methods of dealing with women were indeed numerous.

Wu Junwan said, "For now, I will not inform Elder Hu about your situation. From today onward, you will stay with me."

Murong Xue'er once again expressed her gratitude, "Thank you, Princess Your Highness!"

At that moment, Wu Junwan said, "Since you came to the North Country early on and have long been the North Prince's woman, you must be very familiar with the North Prince Mansion. There are some matters regarding the North Prince that I would like to inquire about with you."

Murong Xue'er replied, "Whatever Your Highness wishes to know, just ask, and this servant will withhold nothing."

Wu Junwan, after all, was the sister of the Yue Emperor, and Murong Xue'er thought that providing Wu Junwan with some information about the North Prince would serve as a repayment for the Yue Emperor's past grace in raising her.

Wu Junwan uttered a "Hmm," and then asked, "With so many women in the inner court of North Prince Mansion, there must be intense internal strife. I wish to know which woman in the Prince's Mansion has the greatest ambition."

Hearing this, Murong Xue'er seemed to understand something. Wu Junwan was preparing to integrate herself into the North Prince Mansion and even intended to fight for power and gain.

Murong Xue'er immediately said, "If Your Highness intends to fight for power and gain within the North Prince Mansion's inner court, this servant advises Your Highness to abandon that thought."

"Although I haven't lived in the North Prince Mansion before, through the palace maids, I've learned some things. The inner court of the North Prince Mansion is very harmonious. His Highness's concubines are like sisters and hardly engage in any scheming against each other."

Wu Junwan chuckled lightly, "Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes. The more powerful the man, the more the women of his harem will do anything to win his favor. Even if they appear harmonious on the surface, they're likely harboring such conspiracies in secret."

Being born into the imperial family, Wu Junwan knew the situation of the harem best, so she didn't believe for a second that Lu Chen's harem was particularly harmonious.

She had already been claimed by Lu Chen, and she also realized that the trend towards unification was irreversible. The North Prince was too powerful, and the military might of the North Country was quickly improving.

Furthermore, as the North Prince was a dominant man, Wu Junwan believed she probably couldn't return to Great Wu, and from now on, she could only become that man's possession.

To be his woman, actually, she didn't resist the idea, but she wasn't content with just being a caged canary.

Wu Junwan planned to prepare a second path for herself, if one day Lu Chen truly unified the world and became the sole emperor, then she would also become the most important woman by this man's side—in plainer terms, the Empress.

So to her, all the women in Lu Chen's harem were her competitors, even her enemies.

Because of this, she must start preparing now, but before that, she needed to thoroughly understand the specific situation inside North Prince Mansion.

Upon hearing Wu Junwan's words, Murong Xue'er knew that Wu Junwan was not planning to give up.

But thinking about it, it made sense. Wu Junwan was once Princess Junwan of Great Wu, already a person of high status and power. That terrible man intended to keep her locked up in North Prince Mansion, to bear children for him—how could she possibly tolerate that?

Wu Junwan couldn't possibly give up the fight.

Murong Xue'er then said, "Most of the women in North Prince Mansion are busied with their own affairs. The wife oversees all the properties of North Prince Mansion, managing the entire Prince's Mansion."

"Yelv Nanyan, once the Sky Wolf King's wife, manages the national treasury..."

Before Murong Xue'er could finish, Wu Junwan interrupted with a question, "Does the Sky Wolf King's wife still manage the treasury now?"

Wu Junwan knew through her spies when she was in Great Wu that Yelv Nanyan managed the national treasury. At the time, she just thought this was one of Lu Chen's political maneuvers, mainly to stabilize those Barbarian Tribe people of the North Country.

After all, Yelv Nanyan was a Barbarian Tribe wife. If she qualified to manage the national treasury of North Country, that indicated North Prince was, to a certain extent, treating Barbarian people equally, giving them hope.

Of course, Wu Junwan considered this to be nothing but a facade—the actual control of the treasury surely still lay with North Country people, having nothing to do with Yelv Nanyan.

Murong Xue'er replied at this moment, "Yes, she still holds control over the treasury, but she's started to delegate authority. I estimate in another ten years, she will hand over the treasury to someone else."

Wu Junwan continued to ask, "Alright, tell me about the other wives and concubines of North Prince."

Murong Xue'er continued, "Currently, only Yelv Nanyan is involved in the political affairs of North Country."

"Besides her, Wang Qingci manages Rain-listening Pavilion, Dongfang Longyue oversees the Eastern Newspaper Agency, Chu Yuqin commands the Prince's Mansion's trusted aides, and as for the woman surnamed Bai, she often follows the North Prince, but I don't know much about her."

Wu Junwan asked, "Are those all of North Prince's women?"

Murong Xue'er answered, "Not just them. There are also the two sisters from the Zhou Family, the princess from the former Sky Wolf King tribe, and a woman surnamed Lin from Mysterious Moon Palace. Besides these women, it seems the Prince also has some women outside, but I am not aware of the details."

Wu Junwan frowned.

This man had too many women.

Truly a lascivious fellow.

With so many women, could he take care of them all?

It seemed the strife within the Prince's Mansion was even more severe than she imagined.

So many women vying for one man—the inner court of the Prince's Mansion could not possibly be peaceful; no woman wanted to live in neglect.

Especially after having that kind of affair with that man, they would want his affection even more, so surely they would compete for his favor.

In Wu Junwan's mind at this moment, the inner court of the Prince's Mansion was tantamount to a battlefield of life and death.

Afterwards, Wu Junwan continued to consult Murong Xue'er about other matters concerning North Prince Mansion, and the two talked late into the night in the pavilion.

Just as Lu Chen had said, the two indeed had a lot in common to talk about.

Late at night.

Murong Xue'er moved into the room next to Wu Junwan's, not having brought anything with her, all her clothes still at the mansion. The dress she was wearing was one provided by North Prince Mansion.

Sitting in front of the dressing table, Murong Xue'er sighed softly. Just then, a palace maid came in and asked, "Mrs. Murong, the hot water is ready. Would you like to bathe now?"

Murong Xue'er didn't correct the maid's address of her. She didn't care anymore; let the maids call her whatever they wanted. After all, she had already been rendered utterly passive by that man's doings. She replied faintly, "Fine."

The maid immediately said, "Please follow me, Mrs. Murong."

Then Murong Xue'er followed the maid to the bathroom next to the room. The bathroom was very large, with a bath pool steaming with hot water, and several maids were scattering petals into it.

Within moments, the whole bath was filled with the scent of flowers. Murong Xue'er, helped by the maids, slowly stripped off her clothes, revealing her fair skin.

She then gently stepped into the hot water. As soon as she entered, she immediately felt rejuvenated, her fatigue from the day swept away, and she felt extremely comfortable.

Soaking in the hot water, Murong Xue'er soon became drowsy. At this point, she told the maids, "You may all leave now. I will call if I need anything."

"Yes, Madam!"

The maids then left the bath, and Murong Xue'er leaned back in the tub, closing her eyes.

Just as she was about to drift off to sleep, suddenly a pair of large hands wrapped around her slender waist. She woke up startled and began to struggle. Just when she was about to cry out, in the next moment, her mouth was covered by a large hand, and she could only make muffled "mmph mmph" noises.