Not planning to meet her?
She clearly already met her—why would Serena lie to him?
Prince Nolan looked utterly confused, staring blankly at Serena for a long moment before finally speaking: "The people watching her say you’ve met her—not just once, but several times."
"What?" Serena’s voice shot up sharply, so shrill that Zuo’an nearly fell out of the tree in fright: What are these two doing, arguing in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?
"I met her? When? Why don’t I even know it myself?" Serena stared wide-eyed at Prince Nolan, utterly astonished—she hadn’t met Lady Min at all.
But when she saw the doubt and confusion in Prince Nolan’s eyes, Serena was stunned. She asked, voice trembling, "You don’t trust me? You suspect me?" The last words came out choked with tears.
Serena had never imagined that one day Prince Nolan would look at her like this, would speak to her in a tone full of suspicion.
Staggering backward, Serena shook her head in disbelief: "You actually don’t believe me. When you ask me to trust you completely, you turn around and doubt me."
Serena always thought that hysterical crying and accusations weren’t her style, but right now her mind was blank, her heart felt crushed and aching, and tears fell uncontrollably…
She didn’t understand how things had come to this—just a moment ago everything was fine, so why had it suddenly turned out like this?
"It’s not that I don’t believe you—I just want to know why you met her." Prince Nolan reached out again, only for Serena to slap his hand away. He didn’t try again, just stared at her, insisting on an answer.
He didn’t mind Serena meeting Lady Min; what bothered him was her hiding it from him.
But...
"I haven’t met her," Serena repeated, but Prince Nolan didn’t respond—clearly, he still didn’t believe her.
Serena cried and cried, then suddenly started laughing... What’s the point of fighting with this man? If he won’t believe her, so be it.
Wiping her tears away haphazardly, Serena forced down her pain and anger, then looked calmly at Prince Nolan: "I don’t know where you heard this, but I can tell you with absolute certainty—I haven’t seen her, not even once, since you returned."
"I have no reason to lie to you. If I did something, I’ll own up to it. But if I didn’t, nobody gets to pin it on me. I said I haven’t seen your mother, and I haven’t—believe it or not, that’s up to you."
"I believe you." Prince Nolan answered without hesitation, but Serena knew he didn’t believe her at all.
Sure enough, Prince Nolan continued, "The people attending her—they’re my people. They told me you’ve met her, more than once."
It sounded like an explanation, but to Serena’s ears it was an interrogation—he wanted her to give a reason, but...
How was she supposed to explain something she hadn’t done?
Serena gave a bitter laugh: "So, you trust them—not me?"
"No, I just want to know the truth—why did they see you?" Prince Nolan had come from Lady Min’s place, weighed down by worries...
He carried too many secrets—he couldn’t allow any surprises.
"How should I know? They’re not my people." Serena retorted, still sulking.
"Serena, sulking is pointless." Prince Nolan reminded her to calm down: "We’re here to solve a problem, not to fight."
"You come to me looking so suspicious, and even after I answer, you still don’t believe me—if this isn’t a fight, what is?" Serena just couldn’t understand how he could always stay so calm, even when she was about to lose her mind, he could still coldly remind her to keep it together.
"I never wanted to fight with you, Serena. Calm down and listen to me." Prince Nolan’s tone grew stern, his face serious: "I believe you didn’t meet her. Clearly, someone we don’t know is secretly misleading us."
"It’s not about misleading us, it’s about misleading you. The Phoenixfield Clan has already fallen—no one would bother scheming against me. Prince Nolan, you once found someone who looked like Mira Summers to trick the Taishang Emperor. Now, someone else can just as easily find a woman who’s seventy or eighty percent like me to fool you. Don’t forget, the people you sent to serve the Grand Empress Dowager don’t know me well, and they’re far away—it’s normal if they can’t see clearly." Serena was proud of herself; even after being driven to this point by Prince Nolan, she could still analyze the situation so rationally.
"So... what we need to do isn’t fight, but figure out who’s behind this." Prince Nolan tried to defend himself, but Serena shot him a mocking look: "Find the mastermind? Are you kidding yourself? Who else could it be besides her?"
The people serving Lady Min wouldn’t look closely—but wouldn’t Lady Min herself notice?
"She... doesn’t have freedom. She can’t contact the outside world." Prince Nolan hesitated, but voiced his suspicion anyway.
He’d suspected Lady Min, but when he thought it through, she simply couldn’t have done it.
"You’re already making excuses for her. There’s nothing left for us to discuss. If you want to investigate, go ahead—I won’t interfere. And I’ll be investigating who’s using me. When the time comes..." Serena paused, her voice icy and ruthless: "Whoever it is, I won’t let them off."
"Serena, don’t be like this." Prince Nolan rubbed his temples, exhausted. "If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have come to you."
"Fine, I won’t make a fuss. Let’s talk business." Serena didn’t let Prince Nolan interrupt, going straight to the point: "Sean came to me today. He learned from my aunt about the secret of the Lu family’s wooden box. He told me that if we’re going to search for the treasure, the box is crucial and must be brought along. I came to you to discuss this—if possible, I hope Sean can come with us."
"And if I say no?" Serena refused to keep talking about Lady Min, so Prince Nolan could only use this issue to test her.
Serena looked at Prince Nolan for a long moment, then replied indifferently, "If you say no, then forget it. It’s late—I’m going to rest. I’ll meet you outside the city in two days, right on time."
With that, she turned and headed for the inner room, but just as she reached the threshold, Prince Nolan grabbed her hand. Serena kept her back to him and didn’t look back, her voice cool and distant: "Anything else?"
"Serena... can we not be like this?" Prince Nolan felt stifled; he never expected things would get so tense between them. "You’ve doubted me before, too—can’t we just talk things through?"
You never believe what I say—how are we supposed to talk things through? Serena felt so stifled she just let everything out.
All these years, I’ve always been the one accommodating you. Whatever you do, you never tell me first. Even when we’re close, I still have to hear about your affairs from others—someone else has to tell me what happened to you, what you’ve done...
You’ve never considered how I feel. Do you know I get anxious too, that I overthink, that I get scared... No matter how strong I am, I’m still a woman—I need you to care for me, to spoil me, to tolerate my stubbornness and temper. But you never have. In front of you, I can only be calm and rational—I’m not allowed to be willful or throw a fit...
The tears Serena had just dried suddenly started flowing again. Not wanting Prince Nolan to see her so vulnerable, she quickly covered her mouth...
She didn’t need Prince Nolan to compromise just because she was crying...