Chapter 7: Peerless Beauty

The voice was exceedingly loud, heard clearly by everyone present. They all thought to themselves: wasn't the Eldest Miss of the Prince Gong Mansion right here in the room?

Where did another Eldest Miss come from?

Almost simultaneously, everyone looked toward the doorway, only to see a tender-looking young maid leading in a woman whose head was wrapped in white gauze. The woman wore a plain pink brocade top and a water-colored pleated long skirt, the hem adorned with several gardenia flowers, which added a touch of elegant grace to her appearance just perfectly. A verdant green ribbon outlined her slender waist; her figure was lithe, her waist delicate and frail, which, coupled with the blood-colored wound on her head, made her appear even more pitiable and moving.

The woman wore no makeup, yet it did not diminish the exquisite features of her face—willow-like brows, a delicate nose, a cherry mouth... In truth, each feature alone might not have been worth praising, yet on her face, they possessed an indescribable, ethereal beauty. Her phoenix eyes, shimmering with light as she looked around, were so brilliantly beautiful they were beyond compare.

The room fell into a heavy silence. It was as if everyone's soul had surrendered to the woman's breathtaking beauty, leaving them unable to react. After entering the room, the woman walked straight toward the Princess Consort of Prince Gong and threw herself into her arms, sobbing softly, "Mother, Erya should not have disobeyed you and indulged in drinking. Erya's injury has caused you worry; Erya was wrong..."

She said "Erya" three times in succession, as if telling everyone that *she* was the Shangguan Erya!

Only then did everyone gasp, their gazes darting back and forth between the woman kneeling on the floor and the "Eldest Miss" on the bed.

The two women were wearing identical clothes, not to mention their appearances were not even half a shade different!

It wasn't strange that they looked alike; everyone knew that the noble concubine of Prince Gong's Mansion had given birth to a pair of twin sisters years ago. However, for both of them to claim they were the Eldest Miss of Prince Gong's Mansion, Shangguan Erya, made this matter highly suspicious!

Discussions broke out all around, with people even ignoring the wound on Shangguan Erya's head. Some even curious onlookers began to bring up an old matter regarding the Prince Gong Mansion.

Years ago, before Shangguan Changsheng was enfeoffed as a Prince, he had arranged a marriage for his eldest son, Shangguan Le, with the daughter of a comrade-in-arms who had fought alongside him through life and death. Before the war had even concluded, that comrade had passed away. Before dying, the comrade had entrusted his youngest daughter, whose family had been scattered, to Shangguan Changsheng. Having become the Prince, Shangguan Changsheng kept his word and personally went to seek the hand of Lady Ye. However, just before the wedding, rumors spread that Shangguan Le was already involved in an affair with Lady Li, the eldest legitimate granddaughter of the Duke of Feng'en, and that she was even pregnant. This infuriated the Prince, who intended to cast his eldest son out of the house and refuse to recognize Lady Li as a daughter-in-law, but Lady Li's elder sister, Consort Shu, requested the Emperor to intervene.

The Prince naturally disagreed, but after being invited to the palace to discuss the matter with the Emperor for an entire day, he finally relented. No one knew what was discussed, but Shangguan Changsheng had secured a second-rank noble title for Lady Ye, so that even as a noble concubine, she would hold an official title.

At that time, Shangguan Le already held the status of Heir Apparent. Having just married, he was quite proud to have two beauties by his side and treated his wife and concubine with equal favor. Since Lady Li was already pregnant, he actually spent more time in Lady Ye's chambers. Before long, Lady Ye also became pregnant. Just before Lady Li went into labor, Lady Ye unexpectedly went into premature labor for unknown reasons.

Lady Ye's premature labor was so significant that it even summoned an old nanny from the palace to assist with the delivery. It took a full day and night before she gave birth to a pair of extremely beautiful daughters, leaving even the old nanny, who was accustomed to seeing the most extraordinary people, in constant awe.

Lady Ye's vitality was severely depleted after childbirth, leaving her with a chronic condition of blood deficiency. A few days later, Lady Li also gave birth to a daughter. Once the child was full-term, Lady Li, out of pity for Lady Ye's health, raised both daughters at her own knee. However, after some time, rumors spread that Lady Ye's eldest daughter was a "life-threatening" child—that if she were raised with her younger sister, she would bring misfortune and death to the other. Thus, it was suggested that the eldest daughter be returned to Lady Ye, claiming the two sisters should be raised apart. Lady Ye had no parents or siblings to rely on; despite her noble title, she had a soft and timid temperament and did not dare to utter a single word of protest. When the Prince learned of this, he did not hesitate and personally took Lady Ye's eldest daughter to raise by his side.

The crowd looked at the two women in the room again and again; they truly were identical. They were indeed biological sisters, but one was bound to be Shangguan Erya, and the other was Shangguan Yunzhu, raised under Lady Li's care.

Standing to the side, Nanny Zhou was momentarily at a loss, asking in an urgent whisper, "Princess Consort, what do you think of this..."

The Princess Consort of Prince Gong also snapped out of the surrounding chatter. She narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked at the woman clinging to her, a chilling fury deep in her gaze.

Even if others could not tell them apart, she knew better than anyone: the person before her was the real Shangguan Erya!

It was true that Shangguan Erya was always consistently delicate and pitiable in front of her, but Lady Li felt something was wrong. It had been suspicious since the time Shangguan Erya had managed to go missing despite being clearly intoxicated, and now, she had appeared at such a coincidental moment!

Was she intentionally coming to disrupt the situation? Or was she truly ignorant of the current circumstances?

Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, she would not allow Shangguan Erya to ruin the scheme she had set in motion!

The Princess Consort suddenly opened her sharp, dark eyes. Only then did she reach out to help her up, but her long fingernails dug harshly into Shangguan Erya's arms. Her voice carried a note of displeasure: "Yunzhu, you are wearing Erya's clothes to deceive me again. Have I not raised you since childhood to the point where I cannot recognize you? Now is not the time for your nonsense! Even if I dote on you, I will not indulge you!"