The Lustful Young Master starting with Holy Maiden.-Chapter 58: The Flashback of crown ascension.

***6 months ago***

After the crown ascension ceremony, the ceremony that happens every 5 millennia, for ther prince participating for crown.

The lotus garden, blessed by three thousand formations and cloaked in silence, breathed softly under the moonlight.

Ancient qi pooled around the white petals, reflecting not just the stars, but a peerless, dustless, unparalleled face.

Zhao Fan sat just near the spiritual pool, in an ornate jade chair, holding a cup with ten-thousand-year-old wine, enjoying the breeze.

..

Lady Mei Lian, the concubine of the palace, approached with the grace of falling snow, each step slow, each motion carved from years of navigating palaces where affection was poison and favor, a sharp blade, learning how to utilize those hips and legs on movement creating seductive charm.

Her son, Prince Wan, followed behind like a faded painting. Pale, sickly, eyes full of bookish softness and hollow pride.

To think, even such a prince would nominate himself for the crown, how pathetic.

But perhaps it’s the reason the mother came here to meet Zhao.

Zhao Fan didn’t look up.

"You walk into a lion’s mouth, yet wear a swan’s smile," he murmured," Have you come to offer tea or flesh?"

Vast intelligence, and unparalleled wisdom, it’s not that hard to see through the concubine of the Emperor.

After all, Zhao Fan is a genius among geniuses, a monstrous talent, already in the seventh stage of the great emperor realm.

The only reason for a woman like her to come here is to build a connection.

Lady Mei Lian stopped, lips twitching just slightly.

"Maybe I am... who knows, regardless, it’s my honor to meet Young Master Zhao," she said, voice gentle but firm giving a polite greeting.

"I can’t help but praise your wisdom, I came to offer a possibility,"

Zhao Fan finally raised his gaze, eyes as deep as dried blood beneath the frost.

"Possibility," he opened his mouth. "An empty word favored by women without leverage,"

Her smile didn’t waver, "And power is a word favored by men who mistake themselves for the throne,"

Hmm... She’s clever.

Knows her place, but tests the corners of the cage. Still... too much perfume, not enough venom.

He gestured lazily to the seat across from him, "Sit. Let’s see what the grace has to offer,"

They both sat, while Prince Wan remained standing like a statue carved from confusion and shame.

"A prince without cultivation. Without alliances. With nothing but a mother who still dreams," Zhao Fan said, words as calm as water yet as sharp as ice.

Zhao Fan isn’t afraid to speak the truth.

This prince was trash, sitting at the mere third stage of the Qi refining realm.

How pathetic, look at Zhao, at the age of 20, he is a Great Emperor, and here is this prince, bone age 25, still Qi refining.

Tch, Tch, Tch...

Nevertheless,

"Correct," she answered.

Zhao Fan’s finger tapped the table twice.

"Then allow me clarity..."

He leaned in, voice sharp enough to flay illusions.

"Your son is a joke whispered by eunuchs. He lacks the spine to kneel properly, the eyes to see poison in wine, and the ruthlessness to kill his own brother. You came to me, to support him, of course, grace is free to lie to this Zhao, but this Zhao isn’t a fool born yesterday,"

With a slight pause, he continued...

"That is not ambition, fairy. That is madness painted with rouge,"

Wan flinched, but Mei Lian did not move. Her silence was armor, not surrender.

"Nonetheless, I believe the fairy has something up her sleeve since she needs my assistance, I wonder what the grace has to offer... perhaps willing to warm this Zhao’s bed,"

Prince Wan hearing this greeted his teeth and clenched his fist, the audacity.

"Well, Well, Well, little rabbit angry? Too afraid of true world?" Zhao Fan’s voice dripped with disdain, a midnight chime cutting through the garden’s tranquil air before turning to Lady Mei.

"Must a tigress crouch and purr to receive a scratch behind the ears? I am not the Emperor, nor a compliant lapdog. Why should I empower a prince lacking fortitude, a leaf blown about by every whisper? Even if Grace has a heaven-shaking treasure, this Zhao refuses,"

His piercing gaze stripped Lady Mei Lian bare, as a winter gale plucks the petals from a reluctant bloom.

"Yet, you persist. Sweet moonlight cannot warm what holds no fire. You speak of possibilities, but your son’s path is as doomed as a rabbit caught in a hunter’s snare... however, if Grace truly wants his son to be crowned as true heir, this Zhao might still help, I need no treasure, just warm my bed and of course, let the rabbit watch how dragon handles the things,"

Zhao Fan leaned back, the mourning dove’s call of his chair echoing through the night.

His fingers curled around the hollow of a wine cup, the red liquid an icy mockery of the warmth in his words.

Lady Mei Lian was silent for a breath, two, three, and finally four before opening her mouth wide not out of shock but after calculation.

There it was, the dragon’s arrogance.

So this is what power looks like when it grows too quickly, unrefined, untempered, all fangs and no sheath.

She lowered her gaze, not in submission, but in thinking about the way to handle this.

Zhao Fan leaned back with the ease of a man who believed he had already won.

After all, how can one be tempted by mere treasures? She must be stupid to think a mere treasure can bring his support.

Plus supporting this foolish brat is indirectly making enemies of other princes, not that it matters much, as one ant or hundred ants are the same, all can be crushed under a single foot.

She finally spoke, soft and elegant, her words wrapped in silk.

"Young Master isn’t tempted by treasure yet by my body? Shall I feel honored or horrified, even if I submit, what guarantees that Young Master won’t betray us,"

Zhao Fan’s brows arched in amusement, a wicked smile playing on his lips.

"Betray you? Oh, fair fairy, what an amusing picture you have painted. You think me capable of such base behavior? Even if I do, so what?"

He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, eyes piercing through the veil of night.

"Allow me to enlighten you. When a dragon claims a maid, she becomes his treasure, his plaything, his possession. And one does not betray what is rightfully theirs..." frёewebηovel.cѳm

He gestured to the prince, pale and trembling at the edges.

"Your son, on the other hand, is a pawn, a gamble. His fate swings on the whims of the chess board. But as for you..."

A single, turquoise finger extended, tracing an invisible line from his chest to hers.

"You stand on stronger ground, once beloved of the Emperor, bearing his seed, but perhaps now forgotten all because of this son,"

Zhao Fan’s gaze slid to the prince once more, the slightest hint of disdain on his features, indeed such son will make concubine lose favor of emperor.

"This son ruined your relationship with the Emperor, who knows what the Empress Dowager has said to the emperor, you have little chance to reclaim the emperor’s heart, it’s this Zhao’s mercy, I am allowing you to be my plaything... or perhaps, do you truly want to return back to emperor showing how capable the son you bore is,"

"Forgive me, if I am truthful, but you want to seek the attention of the emperor once again, using your son, but one can’t claim all the stars in one hand,"

"If there is nothing more you may leave, this Zhao doesn’t like to discuss meaningless topics, if not, don’t blame this Zhao for making a move,"

"You... You... You..." She stammered.

"Leave..."

"Good! Good! Good!..." She clenched her teeth before getting up, Zhao Fan had seen through her.

Then again, it’s not that hard, only a stupid woman would push such a son to fight for the crown... Tch, Tch, Tch, the addition of beauty hardly balances the subtraction of intelligence.

Have eyes but failed to see Mount. Tai, for a stone losing the refined silver.

Nevertheless,

"I wonder if Grace has heard it all, or perhaps Grace doesn’t wanna reveal herself self," Closing his eyes and tasting the wine, Young Master Zhao spoke like an autumn wind.

..

"Ah! Young Master is truly dragon among dragons, even able to sense my void-walking technique, when I leave no presence at all..." Within the space, a beautiful woman came to the vision.

"Forgive my intentions but if Young Master wants, This Queen Consort is willing to warm Young Master’s bed,"

"Oh, how interesting... Do you also seek the alliance of This Zhao?"

"I dare not hide my thoughts... This one seeks the alliance with Young Master Zhao, hoping to gain the support of Young Master for my son,"

"If Young Master wants I can show my sincerity in my quarter,"

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