Serena Feng had just entered the city and hadn't even made it home before Prince Nolan's men escorted her straight into Ninth Prince Manor.
"You rushed me back so urgently—what happened?" Serena asked, not even pausing for a cup of tea before coming to see Prince Nolan.
Prince Nolan didn’t answer right away. He simply gazed at Serena in silence for a long moment before dropping a bombshell: "My mother has appeared."
"What?" Serena’s jaw dropped in shock, staring at Prince Nolan, half doubting she’d heard him right. "Did I mishear, or did you misspeak?"
"Neither." Prince Nolan was perfectly calm, even pouring Serena a cup of tea. Serena stared blankly at him, too stunned to care about the tea, her lips twitching as she said, "Are you joking with me?"
"Do I seem like someone who has time for jokes?" Prince Nolan replied seriously, with no trace of humor. Even if Serena didn’t want to believe it, she had no choice but to accept it now.
"So you’re sure it’s really your mother?" Serena took the cup from Prince Nolan, but didn’t drink—she set it aside. "Your mother—wasn’t she already dead? How did she suddenly show up? Did she rise from the dead?"
"Not sure. I haven’t seen her myself. But everyone who has says it’s her. She claims she faked her death back then." Prince Nolan’s eyes were lifeless, betraying no emotion. Serena couldn’t tell what he really felt about this suddenly reappearing mother.
"Faked her death? Why would she do that? You were just a child—how could she bear to leave you alone in the palace? Wasn’t she afraid you’d die young?" Even children with mothers rarely survived long in the palace, let alone those without.
"She said her life was hanging by a thread. My father arranged for her to fake her death. When she woke up, she’d forgotten much, and only recently remembered." At this, Prince Nolan’s usually expressionless face finally showed a hint of something else—mockery.
"Amnesia? If things really happened the way she says, then I guess it's not impossible." Serena admitted she was making it sound like a conspiracy again, but since the woman was Prince Nolan's mother, she kept her suspicions to herself.
Faked death, amnesia. How could things be so coincidental? This is real life, not some melodramatic Qiong Yao TV drama—only someone with no brains would believe a plot like this.
Too many coincidences. Her story might not have any obvious holes, but it's not exactly convincing. Whether she's really my mother is still up in the air. Even if the whole world says she is, if I'm not sure, I won't acknowledge her." Nolan was clearly unconvinced.
If he actually believed her, he wouldn't have called Serena here. Serena might not know the details, but Nolan was very clear—his mother... was a princess of the Former Dynasty. And now, with things tense between him and the Lan clan, his mother's sudden return was just too perfectly timed.
"Qingchen, the reason I called you back this time is because I want you to check as soon as possible—find out if she's really my mother or not." Nolan remembered Serena saying before that you can't judge a parent-child relationship just by whether their blood mixes.
Since Serena knew about this, she must also know how to determine if two people are really parent and child.
"Alright, but I'll need some samples. Her blood and yours—just a drop each, or even if it's just on a handkerchief, that's fine. If blood is too hard to get, a few hairs from both of you will work too." Serena had never done a parent-child test before, but she understood the principles. As long as she had the right equipment, any doctor could figure it out.
"I'll have it for you by tomorrow morning." Just a drop of blood—this was nothing for the staff at Ninth Prince Manor.
Serena nodded lazily, "Just have someone deliver it to Feng Manor tomorrow. I just got back and I'm exhausted—I don't want to move."
"Stay here." No need to run around: "Tomorrow morning, I'll send you back myself."
"Let me think—" Serena was just about to say she'd consider it, when heavy footsteps sounded outside the door. Then came the steward's voice: "Your Highness, Lady Min heard Miss Feng is here. She wishes to meet Miss Feng."
Lady Min was the woman claiming to be Ninth Prince's mother. If Nolan realized that Lady Min was the aunt he'd been searching for, he'd have no reason to doubt her identity.
Jason Lan's aunt was very likely Nolan's mother.
"What does your mother mean by this?" Instead of answering, Serena asked Nolan first.
"It's still not certain if she's really my mother." Nolan seemed anything but pleased about this sudden appearance.
Makes sense. Nolan was long past the age of needing a mother. For him, a mother suddenly showing up wasn't a happy surprise—it was trouble.
If Lady Min really was his mother, he'd have to find a way to explain to the world why the Empress, honored posthumously by the late emperor, had come back from the dead. If Nolan's mother hadn't died, then who was buried with the late emperor in the Imperial Mausoleum?
"Then I'll wait before meeting her. Let's see what the results say first." With her identity unclear, should Serena treat her as Nolan's mother or just an ordinary noblewoman?
Either way, if she guessed wrong, she'd be the one in trouble.
"Mm." Nolan fully agreed with Serena's decision. "I'll send you home myself."
The steward outside immediately understood—Serena didn't want to meet her. Of course, when he went to report back, he wouldn't say Serena refused. He'd just say Serena had already left and they didn't cross paths.
Lady Min—Jason Lan's aunt, the Former Dynasty's Princess Royal—had put away all her noble pride from Liancastle and Moonvault Palace. She was so gentle and graceful now, like an ordinary woman walking out of a riverside ink painting in Jiangnan.
She wore plain clothes, spotless and neat. Her long black hair was tied up simply, and aside from a single jade hairpin, she wore no other ornaments.
Time seemed to have been especially kind to her. After more than twenty years, she was only more mature and beautiful, with no sign of age. Her eyes, clear as autumn water, were so tender they could intoxicate.
Lady Min was stunning, but she never flaunted her looks. Every move she made was full of elegance and charm that you couldn't look away from.
With someone this beautiful, it was no wonder the late emperor favored her above all others in the harem.
Ever since the steward saw Lady Min, he never dared meet her eyes again. Every time, he kept his head bowed, looking respectful, but really he was just avoiding those expressive eyes of hers.
When Lady Min heard the steward say Serena had left, she didn't get angry. She just softly said, "What a pity. I've always wanted to meet Serena Feng, to see what kind of woman could capture my son's heart."
From the very first moment she saw Nolan, Lady Min naturally treated him as her son. If not for the cold, distant air around him, she probably would have hugged him and cried her heart out over decades of separation.
In front of Nolan, Lady Min was all warmth, beauty, and harmlessness—pouring pure motherly love into him, making it impossible for anyone to feel wary. But the more flawless she seemed, the more suspicious Nolan felt. Otherwise, he wouldn't have summoned Serena back even after the court and Liancastle people vouched for her identity...
Nolan might dislike women, but he never underestimated them. Even Bella Qin, who was sheltered her whole life, had her own tricks and schemes. If Lady Min really was his mother, she was definitely not some harmless woman.
Could a woman who was favored above all in the harem and valued by his father be a simple character?