Chapter 718: Deception

After seeing Hua Manman off, Li Ji spoke to Li Liao nonchalantly.

“Let’s go.”

Li Liao followed him into the Regent Prince Mansion.

Li Xun came trotting out. His eyes scanned the area, but not seeing his mother, he asked anxiously.

“Where’s Mother?”

Li Ji replied casually, “Your mother had something to take care of. She’ll be back later.”

Hearing this, Li Xun’s little head immediately drooped in disappointment. “Oh.”

Since his mother wasn’t here, Li Xun didn’t want to stay any longer. He turned and ran off.

Li Liao watched the child run off into the distance and couldn’t help but remark.

“He really looks like you when you were little.”

Li Ji scoffed.

Gao Shan had someone serve hot tea.

But Li Liao asked, “Do you have any wine?”

Gao Shan glanced at the Regent King first. Seeing that the Prince had no objection, he replied, “Yes, we do.”

A short while later, Gao Shan brought a pot of warmed fine wine, along with several small side dishes.

One of the dishes was a plate of vinegar-marinated peanuts.

Li Liao picked up a plump, round peanut with his chopsticks.

He didn’t eat it. Instead, he stared at the peanut, a nostalgic look on his face.

“Do you remember our old peanut-picking contests? We’d see who could grab the most peanuts the fastest with their chopsticks. You had just learned how to use them back then and could never get a good grip on the peanuts. But you were so competitive—the more you failed, the more determined you were to keep trying. In the end, you nearly frustrated yourself to tears…”

Li Ji cut him off, his voice cold.

“I’ve forgotten all of that.”

Li Liao froze. “All of it?”

Li Ji gave him a cold look, reminding him, “You are no longer my father.”

Hearing this, Li Liao laughed self-deprecatingly. “Right. After acting as your father for so many years, I nearly forgot you aren’t my biological son. I suppose if you play a part for long enough, you start to believe it’s real.”

As he finished speaking, he loosened his chopsticks, letting the peanut fall back onto the plate.

Li Ji said, “Can I ask you something?”

Li Liao lifted his wine cup and looked up at him.

“What is it?”

Li Ji asked, “Regarding Princess Rouwan being violated by the late Emperor… did you truly know nothing about it?”

Li Liao’s hand trembled, and some of the wine in his cup spilled.

…

「Duke Zhen Country Mansion.」

Princess Rouwan sat dazedly in the pavilion.

On the low table before her lay a divorce paper.

Li Liao had just written it for her; the ink on it was not yet completely dry.

A gentle breeze swept through, lifting the thin divorce paper into the air.

It twirled a few times in mid-air before fluttering down onto the steps.

Just as Princess Rouwan was about to get up and retrieve it, she saw a pair of pearl-inlaid embroidered shoes stop before the steps.

She looked up and saw Hua Manman standing quietly outside the pavilion.

Princess Rouwan’s eyes widened, and she gasped in disbelief.

“Manman!”

Hua Manman bent down, picked up the divorce paper, and stepped into the pavilion.

“Princess, it’s been a long time.”

Princess Rouwan used the low table to support herself as she stood, staring unblinkingly at the woman before her. She murmured.

“Manman, is it really you?”

Hua Manman spread her arms and did a little twirl in front of her.

“Of course it’s me.”

Princess Rouwan felt as if she were in a daze, as if dreaming. “But… but weren’t you already dead?”

Then she recalled the woman she had met at the guesthouse outside the city.

That woman had claimed to be Hua Manman and had said many things that only she and Manman would know.

All this to-and-fro was making her more and more confused.

Hua Manman helped her sit back down and explained in a soft voice.

“The truth is, I never died. When I saw you at the guesthouse outside the city, I used a Disguise Technique to change my appearance. Now that everything is resolved, I’ve changed back to my real face.”

‘Explaining the details about coming back from the dead and swapping bodies would be too much trouble.’

‘The Disguise Technique was a much simpler and clearer explanation.’

Princess Rouwan’s expression cleared in understanding. “Oh, so that’s what happened.”

Hua Manman glanced at the divorce paper in her hand. It was written very clearly—

Duke Zhen, Li Liao, having wronged Princess Rouwan, hereby presents this divorce paper to set Princess Rouwan free. Henceforth, we shall go our separate ways, with no involvement in each other’s lives, be it in marriage, mourning, or celebration.

Furthermore, all properties belonging to the Duke Zhen Country Mansion are to be transferred to Princess Rouwan’s ownership.

This was tantamount to Li Liao leaving the marriage with nothing to his name.

Hua Manman didn’t understand. “Everything seemed fine. Why the sudden divorce?”

Princess Rouwan looked at the calm surface of the lake, silent for a long time before she spoke.

“He deceived me.”

Hua Manman waited quietly for the rest.

After another moment, Princess Rouwan continued.

“My son died long ago, yet he deliberately concealed the truth, using someone else’s child to replace him. He wasn’t dead at all, yet in all these years, he never sent me a single word. And like a fool, I waited desperately at home for his return. I even took my anger out on Li Ji because of it. Li Liao… what on earth does he take me for?”

As she spoke, she covered her eyes with her hand and bit her lower lip, desperately trying to keep from crying out.

Hua Manman didn’t know what to say and could only remain silent.

After a few moments, Princess Rouwan composed herself slightly.

She dabbed the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, her voice laced with self-mockery. “I truly loved him. When I heard he had died on the battlefield, I wanted nothing more than to join him in death. But how did he treat me? He deceived me, over and over again.”

In fact, the moment she saw Li Liao, she knew she had been deceived.

But their armies were at war then, and soldiers were dying every day.

In the face of life and death, such matters of love and resentment seemed too trivial to mention.

Both Princess Rouwan and Li Liao had tacitly chosen not to speak of the past.

It wasn’t until now, after the war was over and everything had settled down, that Princess Rouwan could finally ask Li Liao to his face—

“How many lies have you told me?”

The answer left her heartbroken and in despair.

Princess Rouwan looked at Hua Manman, her eyes glistening with tears, and spoke through her sobs.

“At this point, I don’t know which of his words were true and which were false. I don’t even know if he ever truly loved me.”

Hua Manman sighed softly.

‘It was undeniable that Li Liao was a loyal and honorable official, a good general who kept his word. He had fulfilled his promise to the Crown Princess Consort and helped clear Crown Prince Li Shu’s name. But as a husband and a father, he was an absolute failure.’

「Inside the Regent Prince Mansion.」

Li Ji looked at the pale-faced Li Liao before him and spoke slowly.

“For so many years, you hid your identity and schemed in the shadows, all to expose the truth and clear my birth parents’ names. You had everything planned out. Does that mean I can suspect that you even factored the Emperor’s violation of Princess Rouwan into your calculations? That it was just another move in your grand game.”