Just as Mo Jiuye was anxious to urge the Fourth Princess to speak up, a trace of reluctance and conflict appeared in her eyes, and she took the initiative to speak.
"I want to talk about the whereabouts of Mo Yuance, the seventh young master of the Mo family."
Upon hearing this, both Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran expressed astonishment.
They had considered that it might be related to the male members of the Mo family, speculating it could be the eldest or second brother, but they never expected it to be the seventh brother.
Regardless, the whereabouts of any brother was equally important to Mo Jiuye.
"Fourth Princess, where is my seventh brother?"
At the thought of Mo Yuance, the Fourth Princess's heart bled.
When she was fourteen years old, Mo Yuance served as the commander of the imperial guards in the palace. She happened to see him once and was attracted by his resolute and handsome appearance.
The Fourth Princess knew that she would have to embark on the path of a political marriage in the future, so she never dared to have any extravagant hopes for Mo Yuance.
Unexpectedly, she encountered Mo Yuance again by chance.
The reason was that her pet parrot, which she had raised for many years, suddenly got frightened and flew away. She chased after it with the palace servants, but the parrot flew too high, and they could only see its silhouette without being able to catch it.
At that moment, a robust figure leaped high like lightning and effortlessly caught the flying parrot.
Mo Yuance calmly returned the parrot to her and then left with a bow.
The Fourth Princess already had an extremely favorable impression of Mo Yuance, and after the incident with the parrot, she couldn't forget about him.
She secretly mentioned this matter to her mother, but her mother dismissed it because of Mo Jiuye acting as a tutor for Nanqi, thinking that the Mo family was aligned with the third prince, and she directly crushed her hopes.
Moreover, as the legitimate princess of Da Shun, she was destined to enter into a political marriage. Even if her mother agreed, her father would not allow it.
Since then, she could only keep Mo Yuance silently in her heart and not dare to have any improper thoughts.
Later, when Mo Yuance got married, she cried for several days and lost a significant amount of weight.
And then, she heard the news of Mo Yuance's death in battle, and her heart was buried in the yellow earth along with Mo Yuance.
Thinking of the pitiful state in which she saw Mo Yuance, she felt indescribable pain.
She had always kept her feelings for Mo Yuance in her heart, not even her two most trusted maids knew about them.
Now she wanted to honestly tell Mo Jiuye about Mo Yuance's whereabouts, but she didn't intend to reveal these feelings.
"I arrived in Nanchuan not long ago, and a Gu Master came to the Crown Prince's Residence. One person with him looks remarkably similar to Mo Yuance.
At the time, the Crown Prince treated me fairly well, so I asked him to help inquire about the person's identity. The Gu Master, knowing that the Crown Prince and the Mo family were at odds, did not conceal Mo Yuance's identity. He removed half of his mask, and I was completely convinced that this person is indeed Mo Yuance."
Upon hearing that the Fourth Princess had encountered her seventh brother, Mo Jiuye's nerves tensed instantly, and he anxiously asked, "Princess, do you know the whereabouts of my seventh brother?"
The Fourth Princess had just spoken so much, clearly out of breath.
Lan Er knew that there was still a lot more the princess wanted to say, and she was worried about the princess's physical condition. She spoke up, "Princess, let me explain instead!"
Understanding her own situation, the Fourth Princess knew there were indeed many things she needed to explain. Worried about her stamina, she nodded slightly at Lan Er, determined to gather the last of her strength to address some crucial matters.
With the princess's permission, Lan Er turned to Mo Jiuye and said, "The princess secretly approached Seventh Master Mo to talk, but he showed no reaction. It was later revealed that he had been afflicted by a puppetry gu, which robbed him of his own will. He became completely controlled by the person who cast the gu, just like a puppet."
The princess didn't want to see brave men loyal to Da Shun being controlled by the people of Southern Frontier. So, she pleaded with the Crown Prince and the gu master to keep Seventh Master Mo in the Crown Prince's residence. This way, she could take care of him privately."
Pausing for a moment, Lan Er further explained, "The princess was desperate to save Seventh Master Mo but forgot the extent of Southern Frontier's hatred towards the Mo family. When the Crown Prince saw the princess's plea, he immediately slapped her and ordered her to be confined to her chambers."
It was only later when the princess discovered she was pregnant that she was granted freedom after informing the Crown Prince. Even so, she didn't give up on the idea of saving Seventh Master Mo, but this time she didn't dare to use the real reason to convince the Crown Prince.
The princess claimed that the Mo family supported Prince Qi of Da Shun, who was opposed to her own brother, Prince Heng. She hoped to have leverage over a member of the Mo family to threaten them into siding with Prince Heng in the future.
Seeing the princess present a logical and well-founded argument, the Crown Prince dispelled his previous doubts.
A few days later, the gu master visited again and brought up a condition.
The gu master was cautious and couldn't fully trust a Fourth Princess of Da Shun. If he were to hand over Seventh Master Mo to the princess, she had to agree to one condition."
"What condition?" Mo Jiuye asked eagerly.
The gu master said that the princess must willingly accept his gu. If she were to do anything that went against his wishes, the gu inside her would torment her.
In order to keep Seventh Master Mo close to her and take care of him, the princess readily agreed to the gu master's condition.
Later on, as promised, the gu master delivered Seventh Master Mo to the princess's side, becoming her personal guard.
Unexpectedly, this incident aroused suspicions from the Crown Prince. He couldn't believe that the princess, who harbored such hatred towards the Mo family, would willingly accept someone placing a gu on her.
Not only that, the princess lost the child in her womb because of the gu, and when these two incidents were combined, the Crown Prince believed that Seventh Master Mo held a higher position in the princess's heart than himself. As a result, he constantly sought to torment the princess, leading to her current fate of being exiled to the Palace of Exile."
Listening to Lan Er's explanation, Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran roughly understood the situation of Seventh Brother. At this moment, they couldn't spare the time to carefully consider the princess's true motives but were eager to know the whereabouts of Mo Yuance.
According to Lan Er's words, Seventh Master Mo has become the personal guard of Fourth Princess. He must be nearby.
However, when they just arrived here, apart from two maids, there was no sign of any guards at all.
"Where is Seventh Master Mo now?"
Lan Er truly didn't know about the whereabouts of Mo Jiuye. All she knew was that ever since the princess was brought here, Seventh Master Mo was taken away by the Crown Prince's men.
Lan Er couldn't answer this question, so she could only look at Fourth Princess lying on the bed.
Since they had come this far discussing the matter, Fourth Princess had nothing to hide.
"He is in the dungeon of the Residence of the Crown Prince."
Upon hearing this, Mo Jiuye intended to go to the dungeon to find Seventh Master Mo. He had just pulled He Zhiran to turn around when he was stopped by Fourth Princess.
"Wait, you can't go and save him."
Mo Jiuye didn't understand. "Why?"
