Jiang Chen, for his part, paid little attention to the battle unfolding in the distance.
At this moment, he gently held Consort Dan in his arms, letting her sob quietly against his chest. He understood that after all the grievance she had endured over the years, all the setbacks she had weathered, she had accumulated countless emotions that needed release. In times like these, words were unnecessary.
It was better to let her cry her heart out.
Perhaps after this bout of tears, Consort Dan would feel more at ease?
Consort Dan sobbed for a long while before her emotions gradually settled. Only then did she truly realize that she was not dreaming.
The thing she had yearned for day and night for so many years had actually come to pass.
Everything felt like a fairy tale — so unreal it was almost impossible to believe.
"Am I not dreaming?" Consort Dan tilted her face up gently, gazing at Jiang Chen's chiseled, commanding features. The bold, masculine aura that radiated from him nearly intoxicated her.
This was the feeling she had longed for every day and every night. This was the scene she had dreamed of countless times in the dead of night.
Now, it had finally come true.
"It's not a dream. It's real," Jiang Chen said softly with a sigh. "Look at this — do you remember?"
In his hand, a letter had appeared seemingly from nowhere. It was the very letter Consort Dan had left at the Grand Tutor's Villa, having her subordinates deliver it to Jiang Chen.
When Consort Dan saw the letter, she let out a soft cry, and a gleam of joy flowed through her eyes. "You… you received this letter? And you've been keeping it all this time?"
"I did. What I never expected was that the little Fei from the trial back then was actually you, Consort Dan," Jiang Chen said with emotion.
Consort Dan suddenly gripped Jiang Chen's arm tightly, a flicker of insecurity crossing her eyes. She asked softly, "Will you regret it?"
"I will," Jiang Chen nodded. "I regret not making more connections sooner. I regret not looking for you once at Peacock Sacred Mountain. If I had, I could have found you much earlier."
When Consort Dan heard the word "will," her body trembled slightly. But when she heard the rest of what Jiang Chen said, her heart settled back into its proper place, and a warm current surged through her.
"Jiang Chen, Jiang Chen… what happened back then was my own choice, and I have never regretted it. Even when I was cast out and suffered every hardship, I never once regretted it. I only ask one thing."
"What is it?"
"Just promise me that because I was the one who initiated it, you won't look down on me or think me cheap. Please?" Consort Dan was a woman of immense pride, yet when love finally arrived, even she could not help feeling uncertain and anxious.
Jiang Chen's heart ached. Looking at Consort Dan's insecure expression, his guilt only deepened.
"You did so much for me and endured so much suffering. How could you possibly treat me poorly? I am not made of stone and iron — how could I not understand? How could I ever look down on you?"
Jiang Chen sighed gently, caressing Consort Dan's face. "From now on, I will never let you suffer like that again. I will never let our daughter be separated from her parents at such a young age."
As Jiang Chen said this, an inexplicable pain pierced his heart.
Consort Dan let out a soft gasp. "You… you already know?"
Jiang Chen nodded and said earnestly, "Though I never saw you at Peacock Sacred Mountain, I did meet Nian'er. The first time I went to the Duobao Dojo and saw her, I felt an inexplicable sense of closeness, as if she were deeply connected to me. It struck the softest place in my heart, making me feel an irresistible desire to be close to her, to cherish her. I thought it was just my imagination at the time. Now I understand — Nian'er is actually my daughter. How could I have been so blind? My own daughter was right beside me, yet I left her all alone for so long…"
By now, Consort Dan was weeping beyond words.
"This is all my fault… my fault…" Consort Dan shook her head in self-reproach. "I was the one who specifically begged His Majesty to send her to the Duobao Dojo. I wanted her to have a proper upbringing from a young age, so she wouldn't grow up to be as useless as her mother, so she wouldn't be like her mother…"
"Dan'er, don't say that," Jiang Chen interrupted gently. "If our daughter grows up to be like you, then as her father, I could only be proud."
Hearing Jiang Chen say this, Consort Dan felt a wave of happiness, and a blush crept across her lovely face.
"By the way, Dan'er — you were in seclusion at Peacock Sacred Mountain. How did you end up here at the Treasure Tree Sect?" Jiang Chen could not help asking.
Consort Dan did not answer at first. Her clear eyes gazed at Jiang Chen with deep affection. After a long moment, she sighed softly. "If I couldn't find you in this lifetime, then even being alive would bring me no happiness. I wanted to find you. I wanted Nian'er to have a father. I also wanted to find the old master… I keep thinking, if only life could go back to the way it was back in the Royal Capital of Tiangui Kingdom…"
"You came here looking for me?" Jiang Chen was stunned.
Just then, Jiang Chen's spiritual sense stirred, and he turned his gaze toward the right.
Over to the right, a young man dressed in a magnificent dragon robe was rushing toward them at great speed, surrounded by a contingent of Dragon Tooth Guards.
The young man still looked young, but the hair at his temples had turned slightly gray.
"Ye Rong?" Jiang Chen recognized the newcomer and was shocked. The once radiant and vigorous Fourth Prince Ye Rong — after only a few years apart, he had changed so drastically?
How had the hair at his temples turned so gray?
Consort Dan was also somewhat surprised. Staring at Ye Rong as he ran toward them from a distance, her beautiful eyes widened in disbelief.