“Second Young Master, don’t speak nonsense! You’ll be ruining both my mistress’ reputation and your own!” Peony was both embarrassed and angry at seeing Yun Moyuan’s untoward proclamation.

By this time, Xi Lan had also reacted. She pulled Ling Lan in front of Yun Ruoyan, shielding her mistress from Yun Moyuan’s line of sight.

Yun Moxiao forcibly suppressed his desire to dig out Yun Moyuan’s eyes, his handsome face turning red with fury.

On the other hand, Yun Ruoyan didn’t feel particularly offended by Yun Moyuan’s sudden proclamation—she simply didn’t like the youth.

On the Chenyuan continent, maternal cousins could get married, but paternal cousins could not. Who knew what Yun Moyuan was thinking? Could this all be an underhanded ploy by Madam An to try to get rid of her?

Such incestuous behavior was plainly forbidden by law and custom, but examples nevertheless plagued history. There had been quite a few high-profile cases of siblings who had been found sleeping together and drowned alive even among civilians, and there was a particularly notable case in the annals of the Li kingdom.

At the advanced age of fifty, the third emperor of the Li kingdom found himself attracted to one of his nieces. He tricked her into going to the palace and was in the middle of carnal relations with her when the crown prince discovered the emperor’s actions by accident.

In rage, the crown prince forced the emperor to abdicate. This was the first record of a crown prince seizing the throne in the Li kingdom, and it was after this historic moment that death became a codified punishment for incest.

If this were truly part of Madam An’s plan, then she was more malicious than Yun Ruoyan had given her credit for! Luckily, she had discovered the matter early. If Yun Moyuan’s thoughts were discovered by an outsider, then she would surely be dragged into the affair and have her reputation tarnished further.

No, this doesn’t make sense. A moment later, however, Yun Ruoyan shook her head. Yun Moyuan wasn’t a fool, and he wouldn’t be controlled by Madam An so easily. Furthermore, given Yun Moyuan’s position as the sole heir of her second uncle, it was unlikely that Madam An would try to target him.

“Yun Moyuan,” Yun Ruoyan said to her cousin, “we share the same surname. Don’t you know that incest is crime punishable by death?”

“I know!” Seeing that Yun Ruoyan was willing to speak to him, Yun Moyuan tried to stand up and move in her direction. However, his right leg failed him, and he stumbled back down onto the ground.

Yun Moxiao had infused some spiritual energy into his kick, and although Yun Moyuan’s femur wasn’t broken, it was swelling up considerably.

“How can you be so heedless of the consequences? You might not be afraid of drowning, but don’t drag my mistress down with you!” Xi Lan thundered.

“I naturally won’t harm Ruoyan,” Yun Moyuan quickly replied. “If my surname isn’t Yun, wouldn’t everything be alright then?”

“What?” Yun Moxiao shouted. “It looks like you’re still muddle-headed from your infatuation. Shall I give you a few more punches to clear your head up?!”

“Brother, listen to me!” Yun Moyuan hurriedly shied away from Yun Moxiao. “I’m not speaking nonsense. I was adopted.”

When Yun Moyuan revealed this secret, everyone stilled once again. Peony was particularly shocked—she had been born to a servant in the employ of the Yun family, and had grown up with a fair number of the Yun scions.

And although she’d never really talked with Yun Moyuan, she had known of him ever since she was little. How could the sole heir of the second branch of the family have been adopted?

“It’s true! I only found out when I overheard Madam An talking with Yun Ruoyao and Yun Ruoyu. Allegedly, my mother was so sickly that she couldn’t have given birth, and it was Madam An who procured me from one of her distant relatives and handed me over to my parents.”

When the others heard Yun Moyuan’s words, they were stupefied. While it certainly seemed like a stretch, it wasn’t impossible. Yun Ruoyan’s aunt had been sickly ever since marrying into the Yun household, and had passed away before Yun Moyuan had turned one. It was very possible that Yun Feng had adopted a child from Madam An in order to console his dear wife.

“You overheard this from Madam An?” Yun Moxiao asked. “Can you even trust her?”

“Not under usual circumstances,” Yun Moyuan replied, “but I was particularly distressed because of my feelings toward Sister Ruoyan. When I overheard this news, I was both shocked and excited. In order to confirm Madam An’s words, I confronted my father, who admitted to the secret! He even told me that he wouldn’t stop me if I wanted to meet my true parents.”

Victoriously, he proclaimed, “Sister Ruoyan, we’re not related by blood at all!” Yun Moyuan’s ardent gaze pierced through both of her servants as he looked toward Yun Ruoyan once more. “As long as I leave the household, we won’t have the same surname anymore. Then, I’ll be able to marry you officially!”

Yun Ruoyan felt the beginnings of a headache emerge. That the situation had developed to this extent was indeed because of Madam An’s meddling.

“Wanting to wed my sister? You’re a toad lusting after a swan!” Yun Moxiao scoffed.

“I’m not a toad!” Yun Moyuan disagreed. “Sister Ruoyan is truly beautiful, but she still suffers from a tarnished reputation. In terms of talent and ability, I’m certainly a match for her. Rather than an arranged marriage, why not marry someone like me, a known quantity? I can guarantee Ruoyan’s happiness.”

Yun Ruoyan clutched her forehead as she sighed. Why did something like this happen to her even when she deliberately tried to appear ugly?

Yun Ruoyan motioned for Xi Lan and Peony to move away before walking directly to Yun Moyuan’s front, stooping down, and observing him.

“Sister Ruoyan!” Yun Moyuan called out, his face radiant. “Did you change your mind? I really will take good care of you!”

“Yun Moyuan,” Yun Ruoyan finally murmured, sighing. “You claim to like me, but what you really like is my face, not me. Isn’t that the case?”

“All men lust for beauty,” Yun Moyuan countered. “I like your face, so much so that I’ll lose my appetite if I don’t see it. How is that different from liking you?”

“Oh? Alright.” Yun Ruoyan smiled. Her brows were thin and black, her gaze like stars. Her lips were red as cherries, her skin pearlescent. When she smiled, her teeth gleamed white as ivory.

Yun Moxiao’s eyes gleamed, and he almost felt as if his heart would stop.

Yun Ruoyan waved a hand in front of Yun Moyuan’s dazed eyes before sneering, “If you like my face so much, then have a good, proper look at it.”

She removed the gauze patch on her right cheek and revealed her birthmark once more.

The birthmark was angry, red, and sprawling. Like a centipede, it stretched from the corner of her right eye all the way down her lower jaw, as if irrevocably ruining the portrait of a beauty.

Yun Moyuan’s thudding heart trembled as cold sweat began seeping out from his forehead.

In the past, Yun Ruoyan didn’t wear a gauze patch. She kept her head lowered whenever there was anyone else around, her body seemingly wilted. Her body and personality matched her face, and although she looked disgusting, vile, and frightening, that was only to be expected.

Now, however, she looked as though she were a blooming orchid, flowering with such radiance that people were forced to stop and admire her beauty. But when they got closer and she suddenly revealed her true appearance, those without mental fortitude might truly be scared to death.

“Well, cousin?” Yun Ruoyan smiled, very pleased at the result of showing her birthmark. “What do you think of my beauty now?” Will it make you lose your appetite?

Yun Moyuan fared far better than the crown prince; at the very least, he didn’t stumble back and fall. He swallowed his saliva as he began, “Sister Ruoyan, I know you must be very concerned with your birthmark. I’m not in a hurry, and I’ll wait for it to heal and vanish. Even if it doesn’t vanish fully, I’ll still be satisfied with your appearance.”

Yun Ruoyan frowned. “Who told you that my birthmark could heal?”

“That day outside the Yun manor, I unintentionally overheard the crown prince and the second prince discussing your appearance. The crown prince told the second prince that your birthmark had gotten far better than before, that your birthmark was slowly healing after consuming a spiritual pill from Elder Lin. He was very regretful that he was scared off by your current appearance, and was trying to win back your favor!”

It looked as though Yun Ruoyan would find herself with more suitors yet.

“Sister Ruoyan, I know you won’t want to share a husband with Sister Qianying,” Yun Moyuan continued. “I’m willing to give up my position as the second young master of the Yun family in order to marry you as my wife. I’ll let Father know about this tomorrow morning.”

“And if I refuse?”

“You won’t refuse. I have plenty of time to make you agree.”

Yun Moyuan was a spoiled brat, and there rarely was an item he couldn’t get his hands on. He looked at Yun Ruoyan as if he knew with certainty that she would soon belong to him.

His behavior was particularly vexing to Yun Ruoyan. She slowly stood up, took a deep breath, and turned to Yun Moxiao. “Brother, we can’t hide this matter anymore. It’s time to make it public.”

Madam An hadn’t been feeling very well, and Yun Ruoyao had been staying with her mother in order to take care of her.

Madam An was a little moved when she saw Yun Ruoyao’s sallow, sunken face, a result of her tireless care. She truly is my daughter…

Yi Qianying and Yun Ruoyu hadn’t paid their respects to her for several days in a row now. Did they truly think her powerless?!

“What’s the situation like with Moyuan?” Madam An swallowed the tonic that Yun Ruoyao fed her and asked.

“According to his servants, he goes out nightly and only returns past midnight,” Yun Ruoyao responded. “And he always leaves in the direction of Yun Ruoyan’s cottage.”

“Haha.” Madam An swallowed another mouthful of tonic. “I really couldn’t have imagined that child’s change of heart. He truly is besotted by her beauty, isn’t he?”

“Yes, I hadn’t expected that either. I noticed his unusual behavior that day when we were all gathered at Grandmother’s room, but I only really understood what was going on after your prompting, Mother.”

Madam An had also noticed Yun Moyuan’s unusual behavior, but she’d neglected it in favor of focusing on her ploy with the Daoist master. In the end, after Yun Ruoyan had not only returned safely to the Yun manor and even forced her hand, she could only try to get back at Yun Ruoyan indirectly. Yun Moyuan would serve as one of her pawns.

“It’s at this age that youth like him are most affected by their feelings. But he still knows enough about decorum not to dare incest. I’ve really helped him out by revealing the truth about his parentage, haven’t I?”

“Mother,” Yun Ruoyao placed the empty bowl of tonic on her nightstand and asked, “Will Father really betroth Ruoyan to Cousin Moyuan?”