Watching Chu Yuqin's retreating figure, Mu Zixuan couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh again.
Lu Chen asked with a puzzled look, "My dear, what are you laughing at?"
Mu Zixuan replied, "Prince, you didn't see Madam Chu's expression just now. When she was at the courtyard gate, her face was flushed, and she seemed to be in great distress."
Lu Chen thought to himself that this must be the effect of the Dragon and Phoenix Tea.
At this moment, Mu Zixuan asked, "Prince, has Miss Wang truly completely submitted to you?"
Lu Chen thought for a moment. When Wang Qingci had left earlier, he had glanced at her favorability. Her favorability hadn't gone down despite his forceful approach. On the contrary, under the influence of the Dragon and Phoenix Tea, her favorability had increased by ten, reaching seventy.
However, to say she had completely submitted was still premature.
Lu Chen then said, "Not yet, but if she visits the Prince's Mansion a few more times, I believe she will soon not want to leave."
Mu Zixuan said, "Then, I wish the Prince an early conquest of Miss Wang."
Lu Chen smiled slightly and said no more.
After returning to the Hundred Flowers Tower, Wang Qingci immediately recalled in detail what she had done since entering the Prince's Mansion.
After all, she was a Ninth Grade martial artist, but she had been drugged without noticing it.
Thankfully, the North Prince did not know her identity but only lusted after her beauty. If the North Prince had wanted to kill her today, she would likely be dead by now.
She would not allow such an incident to happen a second time.
After pondering for a while, Wang Qingci still couldn't think of where she might have been drugged.
At that moment, Wang Qingci suddenly thought of something. She immediately took a perfume bottle out of a wooden box on the table.
The moment she might have been drugged was likely with the perfume from the Prince's Mansion.
Wang Qingci then opened a perfume bottle and sniffed it, but the perfume didn't cause her to lose her skill.
Consecutively, Wang Qingci opened all the perfume bottles and smelled each one, but her inner strength remained intact.
She suddenly remembered that her skill had immediately returned after leaving the North Prince.
Could the problem be with the North Prince himself?
But the North Prince was just an ordinary man. How could he have such mysterious methods?
The more Wang Qingci thought about it, the more confused she became, and she was now very irritated.
Originally, she planned to seduce the North Prince and then control him using her Charm Seduction Skill, but not only did the seduction fail, she had gotten herself entangled with him instead.
After being toyed with by that guy for so long, she even worried that she might become pregnant with his child.
The thought made Wang Qingci furious!
"Damn it! That lecherous North Prince, I swear I'll personally castrate him one day!"
...
Meanwhile.
North Prince Mansion.
Lu Chen didn't go to find Zhou Youyou today, giving her a rare day to rest.
After Chu Yuqin had strolled around the inner court, she returned to the main courtyard, where Lu Chen was no longer there; only Mu Zixuan was still in the pavilion.
Chu Yuqin immediately came before Mu Zixuan, "Zixuan, earlier Chen'er said his lechery was due to a bitter necessity. Can you tell me what that necessity is?"
This…
Mu Zixuan was momentarily stunned.
Anyone with clear eyes could tell that Lu Chen was just looking for an excuse, but she had not expected Chu Yuqin to actually believe he had difficulties.
What hardships could he have, if not simply being lecherous?
Of course, as Lu Chen's wife, Mu Zixuan would definitely not speak of her darling in such terms.
Mu Zixuan thought for a moment, then replied, "Madam Chu, have you not noticed that the Prince has changed a lot recently? Although he still enjoys the company of women, he is quite different from the North Prince who was rumored to be ignorant and incompetent."
Upon hearing Mu Zixuan say this, Chu Yuqin thought about it and realized that indeed was the case.
Let alone the fact that Lu Chen possessed two mysterious weapons and had a tree that could enhance skill, just from his personal character, he had undergone a significant transformation.
In the past, he had not cared at all about the affairs of the mansion; everything had been arranged by her, his aunt.
But recently, Lu Chen had even come up with soap and perfume, thinking about increasing the income for the Prince's Mansion.
Moreover, it seemed he had also been encouraging Li Feng to actively train the troops.
Of course, the biggest change was the inner force fluctuation in him; he had now become a martial artist. Although she did not know where his skill had come from, he was indeed a martial artist.
However, when it came down to it, what did all this have to do with his lecherous hardships?
Chu Yuqin continued to ask, "Chen'er has indeed changed a lot recently, but what does this have to do with his so-called hardships?"
Mu Zixuan's mind raced, and then she sighed and said, "Madam Chu, in my opinion, the Prince is not ignorant nor does he truly fancy beauty. All that he has done, in fact, is to sully himself, to protect his life!"
"Think about it, if he were a Prince who was both literate and martial, could he have left the Capital alive?"
Upon hearing Mu Zixuan's words, Chu Yuqin's mind staggered, and she instantly connected all the past incidents.
She had always thought that Lu Chen had been spoiled by her and believed that he would continue to indulge himself forever, but she had never considered that it might be an act.
Now, thinking about it, if Lu Chen hadn't pretended to be incompetent, perhaps numerous forces would have made their move against him while he was still in the Capital.
The assassination attempt by Blood Moon Tower was a perfect example.
Even though he was already regarded as an incompetent Prince and had even been banished by the Emperor to the cold lands of the north, there were still people who wouldn't let him be.
If he had appeared to be even slightly smarter, wouldn't he have been seen as a greater threat in others' eyes, making the Princes even more eager to kill him?
Realizing she had misunderstood Lu Chen, Chu Yuqin felt an immense self-reproach.
All this time, it hadn't been that Lu Chen hadn't grown up; it was she who had never understood Lu Chen.
Lu Chen's pretense of being ignorant must have put a great deal of pressure on him.
As his aunt, she truly had not fulfilled her role well.
She had even promised her own sister to take good care of Chen'er all his life, yet she was oblivious to so many of his inner struggles, mistaking him for an irresponsible lecher.
Mu Zixuan, who had only been married to Lu Chen for a few months, was aware of the secrets in Lu Chen's heart, whereas she, who had been by Lu Chen's side for over a decade, was unaware of his hardships.
At this moment, Chu Yuqin said to Mu Zixuan with a downhearted tone, "Zixuan, you are right."
"It's me, his aunt, who has failed to comprehend the pressures he endures within."
"Now that you are the person closest to him, I hope you can help take good care of him and share some of his burdens."
Mu Zixuan smiled and said, "Madam Chu, you shouldn't speak like this. In the Prince's eyes, you are the person closest to him."
Chu Yuqin sighed and said, "What am I in being closest to him, when I don't even know his innermost thoughts?"
Mu Zixuan quickly said, "Madam Chu, you mustn't think like that. To the Prince, no woman is more important than you."
Chu Yuqin's face showed a bitter smile, and she did not continue the topic further.