Chapter 17.1: Young Master's Bed-Warmer 9

Mu JinYu won first place in the horse racing competition as she had expected, and his superb horsemanship managed to impress the huge crowd of viewers.

In fact, everyone was secretly shocked as they had not expected him, the good-for-nothing eldest son of a Duke, to be good at anything except for having a pretty face.

But of course, this astonishment was nothing compared to the shock Princess XiLiang brought upon everyone.

To think that the man he had considered a 'sissy', was actually the princess herself!

Princess XiLiang had been sent here by the monarch of XiLiang for a political marriage, in hopes of forming an alliance with BeiLiang to build a peaceful and prosperous world for their citizens.

It wasn't surprising that Princess XiLiang would have a crush on Mu JinYu, as he was truly quite the charming and seductive man, in fact, what was truly surprising was that he had not agreed to the Princess's proposal.

As a princess's consort in BeiLiang, there were plenty of rules to uphold, but these rules do not apply to a foreign princess's consort.

However, Mu JinYu had already made it clear to the Emperor that he would need time to consider Princess XiLiang's proposal. And although she was quite anxious about his response, there was nothing she could do but wait it out, because, as a foreign princess, she could not exactly force this marriage upon him.

Knowing that this was a great opportunity for lasting peace for the two countries, and not wanting to ruin it by matching up these two by force, the Emperor would only agree to her proposal only if both sides agree to it. Otherwise, not only would it ruin a possible era of peace, it would also further add to the existing feud.

As such, the Emperor was indeed a man with great foresight.

After the hunting event ended, the crowd dispersed quickly and most of them returned to the city in groups of different sizes.

Mu JinYu and Gu MingYue reached the Duke's mansion in the evening, and the Duke, who had gotten news of the marriage proposal earlier on, led Mu JinYu instantly to the studies. It was not known what was discussed, but both men stayed until night fell.

When they left the studies, Mu JinYu was still his old self and still full of the rich and useless noble son's vibe, but the Duke's expressions were dark and unhappy.

Gu MingYue did not try to ask him about what was discussed within the studies, but she was somewhat relieved when she found out about the Duke's grim expression.

Meanwhile, the Duchess almost broke her nails from clenching her fists too tightly together. She could not understand where her seamless ploy went wrong, and how Mu Fu disappeared into thin air. She could not determine if Mu JinYu knew about this, and because she could not send someone to confirm this, it was very troubling for her and caused her much anxiety.

However, though this plan had failed, she was not discouraged yet. In fact, she had already figured out her next move, as there was no way she would allow Mu JinYu to marry Princess XiLiang as it would definitely increase his chances of inheriting the Dukedom.

This is because she knew that her husband, the Duke, still preferred Mu JinYu, the eldest son from his late wife, but thankfully, he was not a capable man, to the point that even if the Duke insisted on passing him the Dukedom, the Emperor himself would never agree to it. However, if he managed to marry Princess XiLiang, Mu JinYu will henceforth become an important character in the country, and there would no longer be a chance for her own son to be the next Duke.

She wasn't sure why, but that dead bitch's son had always given her a sense of unease, which was why after all of her hard work of marrying into this household, she had treated him extremely well and spoiled him senseless, also giving in to each and every one of his requests no matter how unreasonable it was.

To everyone else, this was an act of a loving and kind stepmother, but in truth, this was merely a method often used by women in huge households to spoil and doom a young child's future in the Family's eyes.

Every single person in the city knew about the sudden change in his personality ever since the fateful night when the late Duchess passed.

He went from being a naughty child into a rebellious delinquent overnight, never again touching any of his studies, and spent his days lazing and fooling around the mansion. When he grew older, he began hanging out with the other noble sons and spent their days loitering in the brothel.

Even the Duke himself, who had just returned from war, tried to take action on his behavior, but no matter what he did, be it verbal scoldings or physical punishments, nothing worked. Mu JinYu would always return to his good-for-nothing self after recovering.

He was a gone case, and everyone began speculating on who would inherit the Dukedom in the future, and many had placed their bets on her own son.

It was the right choice, after all, but she soon found out that her husband, the Duke, had never once considered passing down his title and Dukedom to her then obedient and clever young Xuan Er.

This was why, when Mu JinYu was twelve years old, after accidentally tripping and falling into the freezing pond in early winter, she had her men prepare some long-term poison and sent it to him under the pretense of medicinal concoctions.

This was all for her own son, Xuan Er's future.

However, if he had been as useless as he had seemed all these years, how could he have gotten first place in the Horse Racing Competition? Had he been hiding his skills all these years right under her nose, just to catch her unaware at the most crucial moment?...

The Duchess was somewhat startled by her thoughts, but she quickly comforted herself. Except for Mu Fu's issue this time around, all of her hidden schemes throughout the years had been perfectly executed. Even now, the birth-control concoction that she had been sending to Gu MingYue under the disguise of herbal soup was done so discreetly that even if they were to suspect this, no doctor in the country would be able to determine and prove her use of poison in the soup.

Hence, this was why she shouldn't get too worked up about this, lest she exposed herself now...

I'm back with chapter 17, and it seems like she's almost done with this world!