In the past, among the four Consorts, Consort Hui and Consort Mei once formed their own faction, but now that the two Consorts have fallen, Consort Xian and Consort Lan have formed their own faction.

Xiao Lan had risen up to her current position, so naturally, her scheming and tactics have also adapted to suit as well. At first, she was a little weary and uneasy. Later, she gradually adapted to her new identity and new status. With the guidance of Concsort Xian, she quickly sat firmly in the position of a Consort and managed her subordinates well. Being in good order, there was no need for Lin Feilu to worry about it.

Time flickered into winter.

Lin Feilu keenly discovered that Lin Qing’s attitude towards Lin Ting had altered slightly.

The brotherly atmosphere between the two before had now disappeared as the two seemed to currently be at odds with each other. Occasionally, Lin Qing would confront the other as well.

Lin Ting still looked docile and modest, but he was much quieter than before. Those soft eyes that perceived everything had not lit up for a long time.

Lin Feilu knew where this change came from.

When the Crown Prince encountered the tiger, it was impossible for the Empress’s family to sit idly and not launch their own investigation. Once the clues were found, Noble Consort Ruan’s faction was then completely hostile towards the investigators.

The Ruan family’s reaction was very aggressive and that alone was more than enough to cause Lin Qing to be justified as someone who resented his elder brother.

In addition to being soft-tempered, Lin Ting was actually no worse than the Crown Prince in all aspects. He just didn’t want to fight and usually didn’t want to steal the spotlight. But even if he didn’t want to fight, what could he do? Unless he completely broke away from the Ruan family by refusing to recognize his Mother Consort and neglecting the Ruan family, he would always remain as their most important pawn.

The Ruan family had developed thus far and their forces in the Great Lin Empire were commendable. But once the Crown Prince ascended the throne, their power and position would be overturned.

No one wanted to give all of that up.

Both of them were still in their teens, but they had to discard and shed all sense of personal relations for the throne. Although Lin Feilu had planned strategies in the beginning, her heart was full of flesh and emotions. She had long regarded these two as family, so seeing these two develop their relationship into something strained and gruesome was making her anxious.

But she couldn’t do anything as this was not a small-scale palace fight. The battle for the position of the Crown Prince had always been cruel, fierce, and deadly. She would be involved the moment she decided to participate. However, she had her Mother Consort and her older brother behind her; she couldn’t put them at risk.

Therefore, Lin Feilu could only remain anxious while watching the changes from the sidelines.

She was still the innocent, lovely and carefree Fifth Princess in front of everyone. Only when she secretly went to play with Song Jinglan would she show a hint of her true emotions.

It’s getting a lot colder lately, so she had prepared enough silver coal early on as she sent all kinds of heating equipment to the Cuizhu Villa as if she didn’t need the money.

This was Song Jinglan’s second warm winter. He poured half a glass of water into the bamboo tube with white plums inside of it, and when he turned around, he saw the little girl warming her hands in a trance.

Her soft fingers were warmed red by the silver coal as the fragrance of her hand cream became stronger and stronger. She made a rose-flavoured hand cream this year and gave him two boxes of it. Although Tiandong complained that His Highness always smelled like he applied perfume on his body and did not suit the image of a man at all, Song Jinglan would still eventually reapply the cream.

He thought that smelling nice was pretty good for a change.