Crossing the Mountains

Chapter 216 Full Confession
Cai Zhu'er knelt before the burning antidote, looking up at Aisha through the wisps of smoke: "Your Highness, from the very beginning, you wanted to push me to be the sinner?"

Aisha said frankly, "Yes, Alan died and the marriage alliance went wrong. Even if Da Xuan lets it go and doesn't pursue it, it still damaged the face and interests of the Mohe royal family. Someone has to bear the consequences."

Fu Feng couldn't take it anymore and burst into a tirade: "Have I been away from home for too long and can't understand the Mohe language anymore? Or have you forgotten how to speak human language? Shouldn't you, the envoy, bear the consequences? As an elder brother, you failed to protect your sister. As an envoy, the entire marriage alliance was wiped out except for you. You shamelessly begged Cai Zhu'er to impersonate the princess, and now you repay kindness with enmity? Why should she take the blame for you!"

“Because I am a nobleman, a member of the royal family, while she is just a commoner,” Aisha said condescendingly. “Nobles can enjoy privileges and do whatever they want, while commoners can only be manipulated. Isn’t that the rule of Mohe?”

“Aisha, you’ve gone mad!” Fufeng said incredulously.

“I understand.” After a brief moment of surprise, Cai Zhu’er regained her composure, as if the conversation was not about her life or death. “If you want to clear your name of guilt, thereby rebuild the prestige of the eldest prince, win over the people, and gain leverage to contend with the princess, then the crimes I should admit to are far more than just impersonating a princess.”

“Indeed.” Aisha lowered her eyes. “Caizhu, you are even more intelligent than I imagined.”

"I can be your sacrifice, but are you confident of victory?"

“Caizhu, don’t listen to him…” Fufeng said urgently, “There’s not a single trustworthy member of the royal family!”

Cai Zhu waved to him, indicating that she accepted the arrangement.

Aisha made no promises to her: "In a war where it's a matter of life and death, does it matter if I'm confident or not? I have no choice but to gamble everything. What does success or failure have to do with a sacrifice like you?"

Cai Zhu'er nodded and gave a self-deprecating smile: "That's true, but I still wish Your Highness can carry on Princess Alan's last wish, resolve the predicament of Mohe, and establish a great achievement for all ages."

Aisha stood in front of the cell door, seemingly wanting to say something, but ultimately remained silent and turned to leave.

Fu Feng gripped the fence and said, "Cai Zhu'er, have you gone mad too? Are you out of your mind?!"

Cai Zhu sat wearily against the wall, saying helplessly, "We're already locked up in this place, what else can we do? His Highness is right, nobles can do whatever they want to commoners and slaves. Right now, all I can do is try my best to cooperate and hope that he can successfully seize power from the princess, otherwise I'll just be sacrificed in vain."

"But if you admit to these so-called crimes, do you think you'll have a way out?"

“I don’t know either…” Cai Zhu sighed. “The minds of the royal family are really hard to fathom. Princess Alan is like that, and so is the eldest prince. Both of them have dug bottomless pits for me. If things go well, perhaps he will still consider a little bit of our past relationship.”

“They’re all lunatics…” Fu Feng murmured.

"But don't worry, this has nothing to do with you. I suppose the eldest prince just locked you up here to keep me company and help me detoxify. He won't really do anything to you," Cai Zhu'er comforted him.

"Alright, you should worry about yourself first." Fu Feng lay down fully clothed, looking at the oppressive prison dome, and said, "He came personally to check if you were awake, and even had me remove the sleeping potion from you. I reckon it won't be long before he takes you away to face the consequences."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too."

"Are not you afraid?"

“It’s alright,” Cai Zhu’er said. “His Highness must have already prepared a list of crimes for me. I just need to accept them as he says. Then it’s just a matter of waiting to die. It won’t take much effort.” “…” Fu Feng laughed. “I really admire you. You can be a widow, play the princess, be made a queen, and now you can even be a death row inmate with a clear conscience. You are indeed a worldly little merchant girl.”

"You flatter me, doctor."
-
The dungeon was dark, lit only by torches. At some unknown time, Caizhu was taken out by two guards.

Through the cell door, Fu Feng watched her anxiously, but he was powerless to do anything.

The sun was setting outside, and it wasn't yet time for the Mohe people to have dinner. Cai Zhu thought to herself, "It seems they want to discuss how to handle the sacrificial offerings first, and then have a proper welcome feast."

Just as she expected, the guards led her into the council chamber.

Princess Yelinya had long ago set a trap for Aisha. In front of King Mohe and a group of trusted nobles, she seemingly showed concern but in reality, relentlessly interrogated Aisha about her experiences on the wedding journey.

Why were there rumors of Princess Alan's assassination? Why was the mission reassembled midway through the process? Why was this marriage alliance delayed for so long only to end so abruptly? What was the cost of the alliance with the Great Xuan? As an envoy, what kind of exchange of benefits did Aisha make with the Great Xuan? Should he bear the responsibility for failing to protect the princess and disgracing his country?

Cai Zhu'er was brought in, just as Aisha was about to defend herself.

Yelinya's voice was like the thin mist in the Naxi Valley, seemingly gentle but concealing a chill: "She's the merchant girl who impersonated Alan? The Third Prince of Daxuan personally greeted her at Yangguan, and she didn't see through it?"

Aisha stood in the center of the hall, slightly raising her eyes: "At that time, Alan had already been assassinated, but the marriage alliance was imminent, and we could not back out at the last minute. This merchant girl came to me with Alan's keepsake and offered to marry the Third Prince in place of the princess. Although she had ulterior motives, for the sake of the overall situation, I had no choice but to play along and have her impersonate Alan. With my mediation, and the fact that this woman happened to have the appearance of a beautiful woman, the Third Prince Zhou Wenzong did not suspect anything at first."

"Is that so? This woman's appearance seems like divine intervention?" Yelena slowly walked towards Caizhu'er, her crimson fingertips lifting her chin. "Lift your head, let me see how much she resembles our princess..."

Cai Zhu'er was forced to raise her head and accept everyone's scrutiny.

She also took this opportunity to see the nobles she had never been entitled to look up to before. The king's obese body was crammed into the throne, each breath seemingly labored, his chest heaving with heavy panting. His gaze was somewhat unfocused, and it took him a while to fix it on Caizhu'er's face before he mumbled, "Ah...Alan?"

Yelena frowned: "It does look somewhat similar, which almost made the King mistake it for something else."

Cai Zhu'er noticed that standing next to the princess's seat was an extremely tall and robust young man. He was more than half a head taller than Aisha, and his muscles were bulging, completely inheriting the king's large build in his youth. He looked like a warrior of immense strength. She recognized him; this was Prince Munandun, known as the "First Warrior of Mohe." She had seen him from afar at the royal ceremonies before, where he stood out like a small mountain.

At this moment, Munandon was staring at her with a surprised and naked gaze, making Caizhu feel like she was being pricked by thorns.

Yelena interrogated, "So, why do you have Alan's keepsake? What did Alan say to you before she died?"

Cai Zhu'er suddenly realized that what the princess cared about most was the princess's last words.

She answered with feigned timidity, "That day, the sand bandits attacked and massacred and plundered the marriage procession and our caravan... My father and brothers died tragically under the sand bandits' blades. While I was hiding, I encountered the wounded Princess Alan."

She recounted her story, a mix of truth and fiction: "The princess begged me to save her, but I was barely able to protect myself, let alone her. So I abandoned her and fled elsewhere. Eventually, the bandits found her, killed her to silence her, and robbed all the dowry belonging to the princess. I was lucky enough to survive, and only managed to find a string of beads on her body. I originally planned to sell it for money when I entered the pass, but then I discovered that the eldest prince was searching for the princess, so I volunteered to impersonate her and complete the marriage alliance..."
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Next chapter: How dare a mere merchant's daughter covet the princess's position?