"Cough, cough..." Damien Gray suddenly began to cough violently. Morgan Shangguan immediately stood up and gently patted his back, asking worriedly, "Your Highness, are you all right?"
"I'm fine... cough, cough..." Damien coughed for quite a while before he recovered somewhat, but he still looked as if he were about to collapse.
Prince Ethan spoke up, "We should have someone call for the imperial physician to take a look!"
Damien waved his hand, "No need. I just need a bit of rest. Second Brother, you don't mind if I rest in your room for a while, do you?"
Prince Ethan was even more baffled by Damien's intentions, but under the circumstances, he couldn't refuse him rest. He instructed someone to escort Damien to a room, signaling with his eyes that they should keep a close watch on him.
Damien coughed lightly twice and said, "Princess Consort, please explain the situation to Second Brother for me. I'll go rest first."
Morgan nodded, "Then please rest well, Your Highness!" Who knew what he wanted to say! He was so mysterious, saying nothing at all, and just appeared at Prince Julian's Manor. Did he really trust her to play along and not slip up?
Watching Damien walk away, Prince Ethan sat back down and asked for tea to be served. He frowned and asked, "Princess Morgan, what exactly is Third Brother trying to do by coming here today?"
Morgan frowned and replied, "I'm not really sure. I just feel like he's up to something big. He only told me about coming to Prince Julian's Manor this morning. You should definitely have someone keep an eye on him!"
Prince Ethan mused, "You can rest assured, I've already told someone to watch him! Maybe he's here to look for something that could harm me." Prince Adrian has also been acting mysteriously these past couple of days—he must be planning something for the banquet. At this moment, Damien is probably preparing to make his move!
Morgan Shangguan smiled faintly. As expected, that sly fox always managed to achieve multiple goals with one move. His aggressive words and suspicious actions not only made Prince Ethan feel threatened, but also misled him about the true purpose of his visit. And now, Damien had time to do whatever he wanted—though Prince Ethan had ordered people to watch him, the Ghost King was hardly so easy to keep an eye on.
Just then, a servant brought in tea. Morgan glanced at the servant, her eyes flickering slightly. She picked up her cup and sniffed it, curling her lips in a slight smile. Her tea was perfectly fine, and the servant paid her no special attention, watching Prince Ethan instead. Only after Prince Ethan drank his tea did the servant quietly leave, closing the door softly behind him.
Prince Ethan was preoccupied with how to deal with Damien, and his collaboration with Morgan was hardly an aboveboard affair. It made sense to close the door for their discussion, so he didn't notice anything unusual about the servant. It wasn't until he felt dizzy and lightheaded that he snapped back to reality, leaping to his feet as a sudden wave of heat surged through him, startling him.
Could it be that Damien's goal wasn't to find evidence against him, but to make him do something to Morgan Shangguan and then use it against him?
Indeed, as sons of Emperor Alexander, how could any of them truly be hopeless romantics?
Clinging to a shred of sanity, Prince Ethan shouted at Morgan, "Get out!" He absolutely couldn't let Damien get his way!
But Morgan remained perfectly still, even picking up her teacup again and sipping elegantly, though she seemed dissatisfied with the flavor.
From start to finish, she paid no attention to the man who was about to lose control. Since Damien had his own plan, she had no reason to worry. Besides, what could Prince Ethan possibly do to her?
Clearly, the drug was potent—within moments, Prince Ethan lost all reason and lunged at Morgan, but she dodged aside.
Before Prince Ethan could lunge again, Damien suddenly appeared and pulled her into his arms, "Yihan!"
Morgan glanced over and saw Ethan Gu carrying a quilt—or rather, if her guess was right, a person completely wrapped up in the quilt, nothing visible at all.
Ethan Gu tossed the quilt onto the floor, and as it unfolded, the person inside was revealed to be Mona Shangguan. Ethan quickly pried open Mona's mouth and fed her a pill, then released her from her sleeping pressure point—all in swift, practiced movements.
By now, Prince Ethan was completely delirious, lunging at anyone he saw. As he rushed forward, Ethan Gu dodged nimbly, and Prince Ethan pounced directly onto Mona Shangguan, his eyes red as he tore at her clothing.
Morgan frowned and asked, "What kind of drug did Prince Ethan take?"
Damien Gray replied innocently, "How should I know? I wasn't the one who did this!"
Morgan thought for a moment, then sneered, "Adrian Yarrow?"
Damien nodded, "He must be worried you'd back out at the last moment!" He snorted inwardly. Try to mess with him? He'd let Adrian Yarrow taste the bitterness of betrayal!
In fact, Adrian Yarrow could have simply used the drug to force something to happen between Morgan and Prince Ethan, but he didn't dare underestimate Damien. If he did only that, Damien would surely notice something was wrong. So he needed Morgan to willingly insist that Prince Ethan had tried to take advantage of her, provoking Damien's wrath and making him lose all reason!
That's why he went to such lengths to move Morgan emotionally, making her so infatuated that she'd do anything for him!
Damien watched coldly as Prince Ethan, in a frenzy, bit and clawed at Mona Shangguan. His eyes were dark and menacing, thinking that in Adrian Yarrow's plan, Mona was supposed to be Morgan. Rage welled up inside him, his sinister aura swirling as if it might burst free at any moment.
Morgan grabbed his hand, their fingers intertwining tightly. "Damien..."
Damien tore his gaze away, looked at her, tightened his embrace, and led her to sit at the spot closest to the door. Ethan Gu kicked the quilt aside and took up his post by the door.
Mona Shangguan slowly woke up, and when she saw who was on top of her, she actually reached out and hugged Prince Ethan.
Morgan raised her eyebrows and looked at Damien, who simply smiled and kissed her lips.
Earlier, Ethan Gu had given Mona the same hallucinogenic drug once used on Zixue, so now Mona completely mistook Prince Ethan for Adrian Yarrow!
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