Kindhearted Sweetheart

"Well..." Colin Gu glanced at Bobby Zhu and said, "Anyway, I’ve already uncovered the truth. It was Cindy Zhu who instructed a maid named Silver to lure them over there and then ambush them with drugs."

"Cindy?" Prime Minister Zhu’s expression grew troubled.

Silver was assassinated before she could confess, which made Prime Minister Zhu suspect foul play.

Still, deep down, he really didn’t want to believe Cindy Zhu was behind it.

After all, she was his daughter too.

"She’s already admitted it herself," Colin Gu added.

"It’s all my fault for failing to raise her properly! Please punish me, Your Majesty!" Prime Minister Zhu knelt, face full of shame.

"Get up quickly!" Colin Gu helped him up. "I can’t shirk responsibility for this either."

"Your Majesty, Cindy did all this just to seize the chance to enter the palace! But now that she’s a consort, I have no right to discipline her. Please handle it as you see fit!"

Colin Gu nodded, then looked past Prime Minister Zhu to Grace and said, "Grace, I’m sorry—I should have believed you."

"Your Majesty, you don’t need to feel that way," Grace replied humbly. "Maybe it’s just fate that I’m not meant to be with you."

"No—"

"Your Majesty!" Grace suddenly knelt with a thud. "I have a request—may I ask for your permission?"

"Go ahead, whatever you ask, I’ll agree to it," Colin Gu said.

He knew Grace very well.

She would definitely take this chance to ask him to let her enter the palace.

Everyone else thought the same thing.

After all, everyone had seen how much she wanted to marry Colin Gu in the past.

So when she spoke up, Uncle Ernest immediately panicked: "Grace! Cindy is your own sister! She’s already entered the palace, and the decree naming her Imperial Noble Consort has spread throughout Blue Moon Kingdom! As her older sister, are you really going to hold a grudge over this and compete with her?"

Grace replied sweetly, "Uncle Ernest is right. Your Majesty, Cindy is still young, and as the baby of our family, she’s bound to be a little spoiled and reckless sometimes. I beg you, please just pretend this never happened and forgive her!"

Uncle Ernest: "..."

Everyone else: "..."

She’s actually pleading for Cindy Zhu?

Is this sweet little angel really the same Grace who’s usually so arrogant and bossy?

Maybe they all just got up on the wrong side of the bed today?

Colin Gu frowned slightly. "So the thing you wanted to ask me for... was to ask me to forgive her?"

"That’s right!" Grace replied sincerely, full of emotion. "Cindy and I grew up together—we’re very close. If something bad happened to her because of this, I’d be anxious day and night."

With that, she looked at Colin Gu with hopeful eyes.

Basically: You said you’d agree to anything!

Colin Gu paused, then said, "I can spare her, but the Imperial Noble Consort title was supposed to be yours. She should give it back. Come to the palace with me—I’ll demote Cindy Zhu to a Beauty.*"

*Beauty (美人): A lower-ranked palace consort, beneath Noble Consort. This rank is often given to women of noble birth who have lost favor or political standing.

He actually wants her to enter the palace...

Grace shook her head. "Your Majesty, if our Zhu family produces two consorts in the same year, the other officials will surely have something to say."

Colin Gu looked at her. "You don’t want to enter the palace?"

Grace sensed Colin Gu’s aura grow darker and glanced up at him.

Their eyes met—she saw a pair that pretended to be calm, but underneath hid suspicion and gloom.

Grace replied calmly, "I couldn’t bear to see my sister demoted, nor could I bear to see Your Majesty troubled."