My Wife Turns Out to be an Empress of the Dynasty

The palace maid eventually halted, mere inches away from Gu Lan, a hint of jasmine fragrance wafting through the air. Gu Lan peered down at her.

"Greetings, Your Highness," she said with a respectful bow, her demeanor betraying no hint of surprise.

Gu Lan's eyes flickered at her composure.

"Do you... know me as well?"

Gu Lan inquired, intrigued by her familiarity.

The maid smiled faintly, her countenance cool despite the smile.

"Your Highness is renowned throughout the palace. Who wouldn't recognize you here?"

"It's not surprising that they recognize me, they are the old residents of the palace..." Gu Lan nodded slightly, smiling.

"But I don't know you."

The maid's smile faded, but her tone remained composed.

"Your Highness jests. I am but a common palace maid. How could Your Highness know me?"

Gu Lan shook his head.

"I don't know you, yet you seem oddly familiar. Can you enlighten me?"

The maid met Gu Lan's gaze but remained silent, prompting murmurs among the nearby guards...

Goodness, Prince Jingyang's flirtation with palace maids is rather old-fashioned, isn't it?

However, constrained by their position, they could only suppress any dissent and refrain from interfering...

Otherwise, they would surely intervene to rescue the damsel in distress.

"The maid is not a newcomer... Perhaps Your Highness encountered her somewhere before. After all, chance meetings are common in the palace, and how could Your Highness remember everyone?" She replied calmly.

Gu Lan nodded, seemingly accepting her explanation.

He continued, "What is your name? And from which palace do you hail?"

"I am called Yuyang, a maid serving by the side of Empress Dowager in the Cining Palace."

"Empress Dowager..." Gu Lan's expression shifted, and then he smiled. "Very well, you may leave."

As if it were just casual inquiry, the maid nodded at him with a smile and gracefully departed.

Gu Lan's mind stirred, leaving an obscure mark of consciousness on the maid Yuyang.

With his current imperial cultivation, if Yuyang were merely a common palace maid, she wouldn't have detected his mark.

With this mark, every move Yuyang made would be within his grasp.

Gu Lan was cautious about this maid.

Despite her reasonable explanations, he couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't as simple as she appeared.

Her demeanor was too composed, and her aura transcended that of a mere maid.

Even a maid serving the Empress Dowager couldn't possess such a demeanor.

Her aura was even more captivating than the Empress Dowager's!

As the maid vanished into the crowd of court ladies and palace maids, disappearing from sight, the guards on either side couldn't help but feel puzzled.

Was Prince Jingyang truly not interested in that maid?

Didn't he see her appearance and figure?

He let her go just like that?!

They found it hard to believe.

The obvious allure was within reach, yet Prince Jingyang easily dismissed it.

Despite being a palace maid, even if she served the Empress Dowager, could she resist Prince Jingyang's advances?

The guards knew it was impossible.

That's why when Gu Lan let the maid go, they were astonished and began to admire him.

Not every man could disregard beauty and power.

Most men, once they attained power, would be consumed by it.

Gu Lan paid no heed to the guards' thoughts.

He continued to stroll through the palace, seemingly indifferent, but his mind was focused on the mark of consciousness he had left on Yuyang.

As Yuyang merged into the graceful procession of court ladies, she had already distanced herself, but she couldn't escape Gu Lan's surveillance.

However!

Contrary to Gu Lan's expectations, as she left, a faint smile appeared on her lips, incongruous with her cold demeanor...

If Wu Fan were here, he would recognize her at a glance.

She was the black-robed woman who led him to the Plum Forest north of the city two months ago!

Gu Lan felt a sense of familiarity with her, indeed because they had a fleeting encounter through the void.

However, at that time, Gu Lan only saw a vague silhouette.

In the Cining Palace, "Maid Yuyang" entered slowly.

The Dowager Empress was leisurely sipping tea.

Upon noticing the maid's entrance, without even lifting her head, she instructed, "We are short of tea. Go fetch some Heaven Mountain's snow water and melt it into spring water."

However, Yuyang remained unmoved.

After waiting for a moment, the Empress Dowager's brows furrowed, her thoughts racing.

Where did this maid come from, and why was she so ignorant of protocol?

She held the teacup, ready to rebuke, but upon seeing the maid, her pupils contracted!

The teacup slipped from the Dowager Empress's hand, shattering on the ground, but she remained oblivious, her gaze fixed on the maid!

If one looked closely, one would notice not only shock but also a hint of concealed fear in the Dowager Empress's eyes!

Yuyang looked back with a mysterious smile as if she had anticipated this moment.

The Dowager Empress snapped out of her daze, stunned.

After a moment's hesitation, she hastily ordered the doors to be closed, leaving only her and Yuyang inside, unsure of what to discuss...
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On the other side, Gu Lan's steps faltered slightly!

His expression froze.

At some point, he realized that the mark of consciousness he planted had disappeared!

This was the first time it had been wiped out, making him instantly alert!

"Interesting... I feel increasingly familiar with this maid..."

His lips still held a calm smile, and despite his surprise, he felt more intrigued than anything.

Recalling the interruption of the consciousness mark earlier, it seemed to coincide with Yuyang's entrance into the Cining Palace.

Was there a connection to the Dowager Empress?

Thinking along these lines, Gu Lan's unparalleled consciousness surged like a tide, enveloping the entire palace.

Especially in the Cining Palace, he concentrated most of his consciousness on probing the area.

"Nothing?"

"She left so soon?"

His surprise deepened.

He had never taken such action of covering the palace with his consciousness before, but once he did, the effect was extraordinary.

Every move in the palace was within his scrutiny, although it consumed a considerable amount of consciousness.

However, even with such extensive searching, he still couldn't find the maid.

Suppressing his astonishment, Gu Lan pondered.

There were only two explanations now.

Either the maid had left the palace, requiring him to expand the search area, or the maid had some means to shield his consciousness detection... which could explain why his consciousness mark disappeared.

Comparatively, Gu Lan leaned towards the second possibility.

Sensing the disappearance of his consciousness mark in the Cining Palace and conducting a thorough search, the time interval was too short for the maid to leave the palace.

Thinking of this, Gu Lan headed toward the Cining Palace, but he stopped after a few steps.

Under his consciousness, only the Dowager Empress sat alone in the Cining Palace, eyes closed in meditation, with no trace of any palace maids around.

The maid had truly vanished!