USWHC -Chapter 508 Alliance (Part 8)

“Princess Lanyi, you can’t go in! Our princess is sleeping!” Suddenly, a commotion rose outside the door, and Wan Yue’s loud voice rang out.

But before her words could finish, there was a loud bang as the door was kicked open. Princess Lanyi, without any courtesy, barreled in first. Wan Yue spun around in panic and saw the bed curtains hanging low—the entire room was silent. There was no sign of her princess or that man.

The emptiness of the room made it all the more terrifying. With all the chaos after drinking, they might well be on the bed! Wan Yue’s eyes widened as she looked at the curtains swaying in the wind—oh no, this was bad! Was she about to catch them in the act?

Clearly, Princess Lanyi had also spotted the only possible hiding place in the room. She shoved Wan Yue out of the way and strode toward the bed, calling triumphantly as she walked, “Sister! Sister!”

“No, Princess!” Wan Yue screamed hysterically, breaking out in a cold sweat. If it weren’t for Liurong holding her back, she would have rushed forward to grab Lanyi’s leg.

The more Wan Yue shouted, the more convinced Princess Lanyi became that something suspicious was on the bed. With a rip, she decisively tore down the bed curtains, exposing everything on the bed to everyone present.

Just as she bent down triumphantly, a soft voice called out, “Sister!”—clearly much quieter than before.

From the messy bed, someone slowly sat up, extending a hand gracefully, blinking slowly as if adjusting to the glaring sunlight. Her brows furrowed lightly as she opened her eyes.

When their gazes met, the person let out a surprised whisper, “Sister, why are you here?”

Indeed, there was no one else on the bed—only Zhu Jie, lying there with a languid charm. She leaned against the bedpost at an angle, her collar slightly open, eyes half-lidded, looking up at Lanyi in a pose of classic, sleepy beauty.

“Your hair! Your clothes! What happened to you?” Zhu Jie trembled as she reached out, pointing at Lanyi, who was a complete mess.

Yes—Princess Lanyi hadn’t even had time to fix her clothes or hair. The first thing she did after being alerted was rush to catch Zhu Jie in the act. Her hair was disheveled, her clothes torn, with thorny branches stubbornly snagged on her outfit.

Her hair had another wildly impractical style: a scattered, late-evening beauty look. Most bizarrely, a bright red peony was tucked into her dangling bun. This style was almost as extravagant as Ru Hua’s!

Lanyi shook her head violently and growled, “Sister, don’t you understand?”

“Understand what?” Zhu Jie pretended to be clueless. “Honestly, sister, I overindulged this morning and ate too many sweet rice balls, so my head still hurts!”

Princess Lanyi let out a cold laugh. “You wouldn’t deny that you went to the Imperial Garden, would you?”

“I went to the Imperial Garden?” Zhu Jie surprisingly managed to put on a drunken, bewildered look. Was she planning not to admit it?

But with so many eyes watching, she couldn’t just deny it.

At that moment, Wan Yue seriously corrected her: “Princess, you did go to the Imperial Garden—you just came back from there!”

Lanyi’s excitement spiked, and she nodded vigorously. The crowd’s eyes were truly sharp!

“See? Even your own maid says so!” Lanyi said with a sly grin. “Could it be that you were hiding someone, afraid I’d find out, so you dared not admit it?”

No sooner had she said this than Wan Yue added, “Princess, haven’t you forgotten? You even made me lie there for you to sit on!”

“What? I used Wan Yue as a stool?”

“What? She was the one sitting? Impossible!”

Zhu Jie and Lanyi almost shouted simultaneously—but the difference was clear: Lanyi looked genuinely shocked, while Zhu Jie was faking it, and not very convincingly. It was obvious she was trying to suppress a laugh!