Transmigrated as the Doomed Scumbag Alpha of the Eldest Princess (GL , ABO) - Chapter 16
The sudden release of pheromones was not good news for Jiang Si. Her neck throbbed with pain, and her body felt unbearably weak.
Her mind had become clearer, but she stumbled back several steps, trying hard to suppress the scent that had escaped her.
Even if she and Mowan Ci had been close in name and behavior, what had just happened was still a breach of respect.
“I’m sorry, I…”
“You heard everything, didn’t you?” Mowan Ci interrupted, not caring to hear her apology. She looked directly at Jiang Si and asked, “So what are you going to do now?”
The outburst had affected them both. Jiang Si was in pain, and Mowan Ci, who was already in a vulnerable state due to her heat cycle, was now even more unsettled.
She was frustrated with Jiang Si, and even more so with herself and the identity she was born into. She also felt an increasing disappointment toward Mu Zesheng.
Whether it was about Feng Yao or the demand for more troops, it was clear to her now that Mu Zesheng had been pushing her toward the Marquis Jiajing from the very beginning.
She saw through his intentions. It was laughable.
Peace and stability were never his real goal. What he had always wanted was absolute power.
The lives of the people meant nothing to him. They were just pawns on a board.
He could openly admit to using Mowan Ci in front of Jiang Si, all for the sake of his ambitions.
He wanted to have it both ways—appear selfless while chasing ultimate control.
The fact that he treated her like this was not just his fault. She had allowed it. She had been too soft and too forgiving.
She would rather suffer through her heat cycle than serve anyone with her body.
She wanted to make that clear to Jiang Si. There was absolutely no chance. She would rather endure everything.
Mowan Ci waited in silence for Jiang Si to speak. But Jiang Si’s eyes had gone blank.
Inside her mind, something had taken over.
A memory—no, not hers—had suddenly taken control.
The room was dark, filled with the cloying sweetness of snow lotus.
On the bed, Mowan Ci was tied at the wrists and ankles, struggling in pain. Her eyes were red, and her clothes were in tatters. She looked nothing like the graceful and composed person she was. Now, she looked fragile and helpless.
A figure stood beside the bed, holding a whip. The person leaned over, grabbed her chin, and smiled coldly.
The gesture was repeated again and again until Mowan Ci turned her head away in disgust. The figure then spat out a cruel sentence.
“So what if you’re noble? In the end, you’re still mine to use.”
Then the whip came down on her exposed back.
“Marquis, something’s wrong!”
“A letter from the northern border. The Rongdi are attacking!”
Su Xun’s urgent voice broke through the memory. When Jiang Si returned to herself, Mowan Ci had already walked away and returned to her own quarters.
Jiang Si steadied her breath and took the letter from Su Xun.
She read it a few times before fully grasping the situation, then returned to the side hall.
The letter had been sent by a trusted aide who had stayed at the Marquis’s residence.
The small-scale attacks had started soon after they left the border. Now, the Rongdi had officially declared war.
The northern border was without a commander. In this crisis, Ye Chan had taken charge and barely managed to stabilize the situation.
After reading the letter, Su Xun explained the situation further. Jiang Si listened and absorbed everything. She understood the broad picture, but the tactical details were Su Xun’s domain.
Su Xun had given advice in many past battles. This time was no different. She spoke with certainty until she suddenly paused, remembering that they were not in Lingcheng anymore.
She also remembered that two thousand troops had already been sent to support Pingjin. Now, the emperor wanted to take fifty thousand more from the Jingyuan Army.
Su Xun hesitated, but finally asked the question that had long been on her mind.
“Marquis, I truly don’t understand why you insist on taking the Princess Royal as your concubine.”
Su Xun was confused, and truthfully, Jiang Si was even more so.
As a military leader, Jiang Si had power over an entire region and was trusted by the people. With her influence, she was practically a sovereign in the north. Why would someone like her step into this mess by marrying the Princess Royal?
But the memory had made something clear.
The original Jiang Si had not been emotionally stable. Her thoughts and desires were beyond the understanding of most people.
What she had wanted was something hidden, dangerous, and addictive.
But how could Jiang Si explain that to Su Xun now?
She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them and looked at Su Xun. After a long pause, she said calmly, “Because she’s beautiful.”
Su Xun looked shocked and still didn’t understand.
Jiang Si didn’t want to explain any further. She wasn’t the original Jiang Si, after all. How could she know?
“I’m going to request permission to leave the capital. Go back to the station and have the men prepare.”
“Understood.”
The two walked out of the side hall. Su Xun left the palace, and Jiang Si went to find Mowan Ci to inform her of the situation in the north.
But when she arrived, Mowan Ci and Zhi Miao were nowhere to be found. A young maid told her that the emperor had summoned them.
Jiang Si asked, “Did His Majesty say what it was about?”
The maid knelt on the ground and replied softly, “His Majesty said the Empress is with child.”
With child?
Why now, of all times?
Jiang Si immediately felt something was wrong.
She made her way to Mu Zesheng’s private hall without delay. Strangely, no one stopped her.
Just before she entered, her eyes met Mowan Ci’s.
She stood there quietly and calmly, while Mu Zesheng and the Empress were putting on an overjoyed performance.
The contrast was jarring.
Mowan Ci was the first to look away. Jiang Si stepped inside without asking questions. During the formal greeting, she smiled politely and offered congratulations.
“I heard the Empress is expecting. This is a blessing for the nation.”
After saying that, she didn’t even sit before delivering her report.
“The northern border is in chaos. I must return at once. I came to seek His Majesty’s permission to leave the capital.”
Mu Zesheng did not look surprised at all. Instead, he turned to Mowan Ci with an expression of regret.
“You’re leaving already?”
“And Royal Sister… will she be going with you?”
Jiang Si followed Mu Zesheng’s gaze and looked at Mowan Ci. She noticed that Mowan Ci showed no sign of reluctance. Instead, she calmly stood up, clearly intending to leave with her.
“If I am to be someone’s concubine, then naturally I must follow my lord.”
Mu Zesheng could say nothing more. He let out a long sigh.
“I haven’t even had a proper conversation with my royal sister. And she hasn’t even met her nephew…”
“Well then. National affairs always come first. There will always be another chance for us to see each other.”
Jiang Si watched the whole exchange from the side. Mu Zesheng’s performance today was even more polished than it had been yesterday, while Mowan Ci had grown even colder.
There was hardly any warmth between them. It was hard to say what this visit had achieved in terms of family ties.
Just as she thought it was all coming to an end, Mu Zesheng pulled one last move. He called over the imperial physician, who had been quietly standing in the background, and asked him to examine Mowan Ci.
“My royal sister has never been strong. The northern border is bitterly cold, and winter is coming. Better have the physician prescribe some tonic for the journey.”
Was this not a subtle insult? Lan Shao’s medical skills were clearly superior to this imperial physician’s.
Jiang Si could not say why, but the moment she saw the physician’s shifty eyes, she felt uneasy. When she glanced at Mowan Ci, she could tell she wasn’t pleased either. Jiang Si wanted to refuse on her behalf, but before she could speak, Mowan Ci stepped closer to her, keeping a distance from the physician.
She replied firmly, “That won’t be necessary. The military doctors under the Marquis’s command are more than qualified. Your Majesty should focus on ensuring the Empress is well cared for.”
Mu Zesheng’s face darkened slightly, but with Jiang Si present, he dared not show it.
He waved the physician away.
Then he spoke again about the challenges at the border, but Jiang Si quickly lost patience with his empty words.
He was still young, and his intentions were easy to read. He could be cruel, but also quite naive.
Before their departure, Mu Zesheng held the Empress close as he saw them off. When he noticed how far Jiang Si and Mowan Ci stood from each other, he even added a comment, suggesting they should have a child soon.
It was obvious. He wanted to push Mowan Ci as far away as possible.
And it was just as clear that he didn’t fully trust her.
That was probably why he had arranged this meeting in the first place. There were eyes watching at Qingyi Palace. He had known about the unrest in the northern border even before Mowan Ci arrived. Even summoning her here seemed to have been part of a plan.
As they left the capital, Jiang Si did not ride horseback. She sat in the same carriage as Mowan Ci.
The carriage was small, and now that Jiang Si had joined, Zhi Miao could only follow alongside on foot.
Jiang Si had something to say about everything that had happened between Mowan Ci and Mu Zesheng.
But she couldn’t find the right words at first. It wasn’t until they stopped to rest at the Princess Royal’s residence in Jingyang that she finally spoke.
“This estate is really something. I doubt many princes or princesses ever received this level of affection from the late emperor.”
Mowan Ci had her eyes closed and was resting.
She didn’t even glance around the residence. When she heard Jiang Si’s remark, she lifted the curtain and looked outside briefly, then let it fall again.
“Being favored only brings resentment and jealousy.”
“Even from a younger brother?”
“Even from a younger brother.”
There was a bitter smile on Mowan Ci’s face as she spoke.
It was a smile Jiang Si knew well.
She had seen that same expression on her own face, when she thought of her birth parents, who had abandoned her and gone on to live happily without her.
But her family ties had always been fragile. Compared to Mowan Ci, who had once believed deeply in sibling love, the betrayal from Mu Zesheng cut far deeper.
Jiang Si remembered how, in the original story, when Yue fell, Mu Zesheng had been nothing but weak and helpless, surviving only by clinging to the Princess Royal.
“You asked me earlier what I wanted.”
“After we return to the border, I hope we can live our own lives. You at the Southern Court, me at the Northern Garden.”
“We stay out of each other’s way.”
Mowan Ci narrowed her eyes, not believing her so easily.
Jiang Si gave a vague smile and said, “Believe it or not, I’m not the same Marquis Jiajing you knew before.”
“It’s just that… sometimes, I still struggle to control my emotions. But if we don’t see each other, we can still get along just fine.”
It was rare for Jiang Si to speak so much.
Mostly because she had been shaken. First by Mu Zesheng, and then by that memory that came to her so suddenly.
She couldn’t help but feel more sympathy for Mowan Ci.
And now that the words were flowing, she found it easier to keep going. She pointed in the direction of the capital and said with a sigh, “Your relationship with your brother is really terrible.”
“If there’s nothing urgent, don’t come back to the capital again.”
As soon as she said it, Mowan Ci looked up at her. There was doubt in her eyes.
Just as Jiang Si was about to say something else, the carriage jolted violently. She lost her balance and fell forward, straight toward Mowan Ci.
Luckily, her reflexes were quick. She caught herself by placing her hands on either side of Mowan Ci’s head, without touching her at all.
But they were close. Very close.
Close enough that when she looked down, she could see the faint redness at the corners of Mowan Ci’s eyes.