A Record of Hidden Affection

1.

Xiao Yan, Crown Prince of the Great Xia Dynasty, was cold-hearted and ruthless, feared by everyone for his brutal methods.

An official once speculated that the prince's temperament must have been caused by a troubled childhood.

As soon as the Eastern Palace changed hands, memorials from the officials urging the crown prince to establish a crown princess flooded in like snowflakes. The prince only scoffed at them.

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One day, the crown prince brought a young woman from outside the palace to the Eastern Palace. The palace attendants assumed he intended to favor her, but he merely kept her there as a servant.

At first, the attendants treated her with respect and tried to curry favor, all addressing her as “Miss.”

When the crown prince found out, he scoffed and ordered her to scrub the horse troughs that very night, without food or drink.

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After that, the attendants simply looked down on her and neglected her. One day, while she was scrubbing the troughs again, her fingers were raw and bleeding.

When the crown prince heard, he flew into a rage and immediately ordered the troublemakers executed.

The attendants and servants dropped to their knees. The crown prince swept his robe aside, scooped the woman up around the waist, and their terror only grew.

He carried her to the carriage and asked coldly, “I said she was to be punished for one day. Are you all deaf?”

2.

Memorials from the officials urging the Eastern Palace to establish a crown princess continued to pour in like snowflakes, along with portraits of young women whose family backgrounds and looks were among the finest in Great Xia.

One portrait was of the Grand Tutor's daughter. It was rumored that the crown prince had delayed choosing a crown princess because he was waiting for the Grand Tutor's daughter, who had been frail and sickly since childhood, to recover.

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The young palace maid Su Miyian stepped forward to pour tea, but accidentally knocked over the teacup. The Grand Tutor's daughter's portrait was ruined in an instant.

That very day, rumors spread that the crown prince had locked the maid Su Miyian in a secret chamber and tormented her in every way.

One day in the secret chamber, before leaving, the crown prince ordered someone to bring her a bowl of dark, murky medicinal soup.

Su Miyian's eyes were misty, her alluring flush not yet faded. She drank the medicine in one go, but drank too quickly and choked. Her jade-like face flushed with beauty.

As she continued to cough, an attendant frowned and tended to her. The crown prince hurried back, took Su Miyian into his arms, pressed his forehead to hers, and kissed her between the brows to comfort her. The attendant was stunned.

Su Miyian furrowed her brows and pouted coquettishly. “Your Highness, the medicine tastes awful. I don't want to drink it anymore...”

A calculating look flickered in the crown prince's lowered eyes. He stroked her earlobe with his fingertip and said in a low voice, “All right. Then you don't have to drink it.”

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Wei Yunqu, the Grand Tutor's daughter, entered the Eastern Palace by imperial decree. Everyone assumed she would become the future crown princess.

Wei Yunqu was jealous by nature. When she learned that a palace maid named Su Miyian served the crown prince personally and was greatly favored, she planned to drive Su Miyian out of the palace and then get rid of her for good while the crown prince was away performing ancestral rites.

She led her trusted attendants into the secret chamber. Su Miyian was there, reluctantly holding a bowl of dark, murky medicinal soup, about to drink it.

“If you don't want to drink the contraceptive medicine, then don't. I've come today to send you out of the palace.”

Wei Yunqu put on an air of magnanimity, but Su Miyian suddenly began to retch.

Wei Yunqu's face went white with shock, because Su Miyian's belly was already beginning to swell.

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./Fictional setting/Many original details/Daily life/

./A cool and aloof crown prince x a lively beauty/Amnesia trope/Slight melodrama/

Theme: All people are equal.