Transmigrated as the Doomed Scumbag Alpha of the Eldest Princess (GL , ABO) - Chapter 8
In the days that followed, the Marquis’s residence became much quieter.
Or rather, the Southern Courtyard had always been quiet. The only reason it ever felt lively before was because Jiang Si or her people would come by and stir things up.
Now that no one came, it was peaceful again, even more so than before.
And that was the kind of peace Mowan Ci preferred.
Since birth, she had been the most honored princess of Yue. Her mother passed away early, and the late emperor doted on her even more as a result. The things she was taught were far beyond what most Kunze were ever allowed to learn. She was nothing like the princesses sent away for political marriages.
She never learned embroidery. Her skills in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting were only average.
Instead, she excelled in history, political essays, poetry, and literature.
The reason was simple. When the emperor was still young, she had helped teach him as his elder sister. She found the lessons enjoyable, and the more she learned, the more she liked it.
Except for horseback riding and archery, which she never quite managed to master, she had studied almost every subject expected of imperial princes and princesses, and she had done well in all of them.
Life in Yucheng was not much different from the capital, aside from the climate and the residence itself.
Freshly brewed tea sat nearby, and in her hands was a political essay.
Mowan Ci was completely focused, but Zhi Miao, who stood beside her, looked nervous and uneasy.
“What is it?” Mowan Ci asked impatiently, closing the book.
Zhi Miao knew this was not a good time to interrupt, and she would surely upset Mowan Ci, but she had no choice.
“Your Highness, His Majesty has sent a letter.”
“Where is it?” Mowan Ci reached out to receive it, but Zhi Miao said nothing. Instead, she knelt on the floor.
Because they had grown up together, Mowan Ci did not like seeing Zhi Miao kneel to her.
But it was also a sign that the matter was serious.
Mowan Ci sat upright, her eyes sharp and alert.
“This morning, when I left, one of the guards told me the Emperor’s letter had arrived. But when I got there, the gatekeeper said someone had already taken it.” Zhi Miao lowered her voice even more. “I was a little late, and by the time I arrived, the letter was gone. No matter how I asked, they wouldn’t say who took it.”
She eventually gave up, since the letter would most likely end up in the hands of the Marquis of Jiajing anyway. It was better to return and report it to Mowan Ci right away.
“Prepare my clothes. I will go see the Marquis,” Mowan Ci said calmly, gently asking Zhi Miao to stand up.
Most of the people serving in the Southern Courtyard were from the Marquis’s household.
They had only brought seven or eight armed maids from the capital. That was enough for protection, but they still needed servants for cleaning and daily tasks.
Those servants clearly worked for the Marquis or her generals and were placed there to keep an eye on things.
This became obvious when they arrived at the Northern Courtyard. Ye Chan and Su Xun, who were guarding the entrance to Jiang Si’s study, showed no surprise at all.
“I wish to see the Marquis of Jiajing,” Mowan Ci said.
“Would the two generals please inform her?” Her tone was steady, not exactly polite, but she was not using her status as a princess to pressure them either.
Su Xun did not seem to mind and turned to deliver the message.
Ye Chan, however, was clearly displeased. She blocked his path and gave Mowan Ci a forced smile, bowing lazily.
“Your Highness, our Lord is currently reading military strategy. She gave strict orders not to be disturbed by anyone.”
“Perhaps you could wait outside for a while?”
Mowan Ci’s expression remained unchanged, but both Zhi Miao and Su Xun frowned at the same time.
Zhi Miao was offended that the Marquis would be so disrespectful.
Su Xun, on the other hand, believed Ye Chan had gone too far.
Jiang Si had indeed said she did not want to be disturbed, but that only applied when there was nothing urgent.
Ye Chan was twisting her words in front of the princess.
Su Xun had grown up with Ye Chan and fought beside her in countless battles. That history made him tolerant of her, but only when she was acting out of loyalty to the Marquis.
After everything that had happened recently, he was starting to question her motives.
It was not the first time she had acted on behalf of the Marquis without permission.
Su Xun’s eyes darkened. He kicked Ye Chan directly in the spot where she had once been punished during military training. Ye Chan winced in pain and glared at him.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
Su Xun glanced at Mowan Ci and Zhi Miao, then looked back at Ye Chan, as if silently asking her the same question.
The people under the Marquis were all highly capable, but they were also used to doing things their own way.
Only Jiang Si could truly keep them under control.
So even with Mowan Ci and Zhi Miao standing there, Su Xun did not hold back.
He also wanted to make it clear that Ye Chan’s words were not the Marquis’s orders.
After offering a proper bow, Su Xun said respectfully, “Your Highness, please wait here. I will go inform the Marquis right away.”
Then he turned and knocked on Jiang Si’s door, ignoring the angry look in Ye Chan’s eyes.
Jiang Si was awakened by a knock that had gone on for quite some time before she finally heard Su Xun’s voice from outside.
“What is it?” she asked lazily.
She had been reading military texts, but they were so dry and easy to understand that she quickly lost interest and fell asleep.
When she heard that it was Su Xun calling her, she did not feel any particular annoyance.
As long as it was not Ye Chan, she was fine.
That woman had a talent for making things worse. Jiang Si found her presence irritating, but she had yet to find a good excuse to send her away.
“My Lord, the Princess has come to see you,” Su Xun reported.
Jiang Si was lying on her couch, and at first she was unfazed by Su Xun’s voice. But the moment she heard “the Princess,” she immediately sat up straight.
Her outer robe had felt uncomfortable earlier, so she had taken it off before lying down. Now she grabbed it and put it back on quickly.
After wearing this style of clothing for several days, she had grown used to it. She no longer fumbled with the fastenings the way she had at first.
Before opening the door, she took a deep breath.
She had to admit, Mowan Ci did have that kind of presence people often called a “main character aura.”
That day at the stables, during that one brief embrace, Jiang Si’s heart had trembled a little.
Only for a moment. She had snapped out of it quickly.
Still, she had taken a good look at the Princess’s face.
Especially her eyes and brows.
Those delicate and almost dreamlike images had flashed through her mind, making it clear that her reaction that day was not entirely her own.
She had to admit, Mowan Ci’s appearance was exactly the type she found visually pleasing.
But Jiang Si was not the kind of person who believed in love above all else. She was not someone who would lose her head over beauty. At most, she could appreciate someone’s looks.
She would never let her thoughts go any further than that.
And she certainly would not allow herself to feel something so overwhelming that it felt like her glands were being set on fire, a heat that continued to burn through the night and made it impossible for her to sleep.
The fact that she had somehow ended up inside a book was already bizarre enough.
The ABO world system was even more confusing to her.
She could not be sure whether her reaction was due to some leftover feelings from the original host or the effects of that thing called “scentbond.”
Either way, she disliked it.
Becoming the Marquis of Jiajing had not been her choice. But even so, she did not want her thoughts or actions to be controlled by something else.
That was why she had kept a low profile for the past few days.
She had not wandered around the residence, nor had she gone to the stables or the training grounds. She stayed in her study, researching everything she could about this world. She had especially focused on everything related to Qianyuan.
She wanted to avoid another uncontrollable incident like the one before.
Even after she thought she understood it, she had not been able to trigger the scentbond again no matter what she tried.
It was like a flash of lightning. There one moment and gone the next.
She did not dare to ask anyone about it. If her situation turned out to be unusual, she might be exposed, and that would be dangerous.
So she buried herself in her study, reading endlessly. She lost track of time and even her sleep schedule was a mess.
By the time she was woken up, it was nearly noon.
Putting on her clothes had taken some more time, and when she finally opened the door, the sunlight outside was so bright that she had to squint.
The study had been dark with the doors and windows shut, and the sudden light was hard to adjust to.
She closed her eyes for a moment before slowly opening them again.
Standing at the door were Su Xun and Ye Chan, one on either side. In the middle stood Mowan Ci, supported slightly by Zhi Miao.
The Princess wore a pale pink top and a blue skirt. Her outfit was dignified and graceful, and her bright, captivating eyes were fixed calmly on Jiang Si.
“Greetings, Your Highness,” Jiang Si said with a polite bow, her lips curved in a slight smile. She tried to appear friendly and respectful.
But surface-level politeness was not enough to win over the Princess.
Mowan Ci raised her hand and spoke in a quiet voice.
“May I have the letter returned to me?”
“What letter?” Jiang Si looked puzzled, her confusion seemed genuine.
Mowan Ci watched her closely for a moment, then said, “His Majesty was deeply concerned and sent a letter after I left the palace. It arrived early this morning, but someone in your household intercepted it.”
“Are you saying you were unaware?”
“I did not know,” Jiang Si replied.
“I truly did not know.”
She denied it twice in a row, worried that Mowan Ci would think she had done it on purpose.
Then she turned instinctively to look at Ye Chan.
She questioned her directly.
“Was it you who took the letter?”
“Why would you stop a personal letter from His Majesty to the Princess?”
Jiang Si’s sudden anger caught Ye Chan off guard. She froze, her brow furrowed as she hesitated.
“My Lord… I only…”
Afraid that her explanation would upset both Jiang Si and the Princess even more, Su Xun quickly cut her off.
“Ye Chan, hand the letter over to Her Highness at once.”
Ye Chan seemed to snap out of it. She stood up straight, first apologized to Mowan Ci, then gave instructions for someone to retrieve the letter.
When she handed the letter to Zhi Miao, Ye Chan gave a formal military salute and spoke with sincerity.
“This morning, I passed by the gate and saw that no one had come to collect the letter. I took it upon myself to hold on to it for safekeeping.”
“I ask for Your Highness’s forgiveness.”
“This matter has nothing to do with the Marquis.”
It was Ye Chan who had dragged Jiang Si into the situation in the first place, and now it was Ye Chan again who had deliberately pulled her out of it.
If it had not been for the number of people around, Jiang Si would have smacked her own forehead just to show how frustrated she felt.
She truly could not understand what Ye Chan was thinking.
If she were just foolish, then fine. Her recent decisions had been nothing but trouble. They had annoyed Jiang Si and brought Ye Chan punishment as well.
But to say she had no intelligence at all would not be right either.
She had somehow managed to make the princess’s resentment grow stronger by the day.
If this world had not been built around Qianyuan and Kunze relationships, Jiang Si might have wondered if Ye Chan was in love with her.
Why else would she keep trying so hard to ruin Jiang Si’s relationship with the princess?
She had to push their relationship to complete collapse.
“Ye Chan, it looks like you have too much free time. Why don’t you spend more of it at the city gates?”
The gates of Yucheng were always tightly guarded. In the Jingwu Army under Jiang Si’s command, generals were usually rotated through gate duty. But being sent there alone was often the beginning of a punishment or demotion.
Most who were assigned there either died of old age on duty or eventually resigned and left Yucheng.
Ye Chan’s heart sank at the command. She stared at Jiang Si in disbelief.
“My Lord, are you removing me from the Jingwu Army?”
“Where would you get that idea?”
“The city gate is the first line of defense for Yucheng. I am sending you there because I trust you.”
Jiang Si was smiling, but the smile never reached her eyes.
In that moment, she suddenly remembered who Ye Chan was in the original story.
Early in the plot, the Marquis of Jiajing had been shown to be ruthless. Over a small mistake, she had demoted a childhood companion to gate duty. Jiang Si was not sure if that person ever returned.
Right now, she just wanted Ye Chan gone.
Ye Chan’s presence would only make things worse between her and the princess.
All Jiang Si wanted was peace. The princess could remain a dignified symbol, and she would be a quiet, unbothered marquis.
Because of her smile, Ye Chan felt a chill run down her spine.
She had thought she understood the Marquis of Jiajing better than anyone. Now she realized everything she believed had been a mistake.
She did not leave immediately. Instead, she looked at Jiang Si with an expression full of hurt.
Jiang Si could not stand it. She frowned and told Su Xun to take her away.
After the two of them left, only Jiang Si, Mowan Ci, and Zhi Miao remained at the entrance, facing one another in silence.
Anyone else might have felt embarrassed to punish a subordinate in front of others, but Jiang Si did not feel that way at all.
She had no particular feelings for Ye Chan, and she did not care much about saving face as the Marquis of Jiajing.
She turned slightly, smiled, and motioned for the princess and Zhi Miao to come inside.
“Your Highness, let us speak inside.”
Since Mowan Ci had not said she was leaving after getting the letter, it seemed like the contents involved her too. Naturally, Jiang Si invited her in.
As expected, once they were inside, Mowan Ci did not even open the envelope. She placed it on the desk instead.
“The letter is meant for the Marquis. I only need to know what it says.”
Marquis?
Jiang Si had been sitting, but the moment she heard that word, she stood up quickly.
She did not hide her surprise and stared straight at Mowan Ci.
For once, Mowan Ci said more than usual and even explained her choice of words.
“Before, there were always others around when we spoke. But now, it is just the three of us.”
“As your concubine, I should speak accordingly.”