When Lin Fan and Mu Bao Bao heard this, both of them revealed shocked looks.
Not because of what the Emperor Mu had said was the real cause of Mu Bao Bao's disappearance, but because of what he had said at the end.
He had called Mu Bao Bao…the successor of the throne.
Did he not understand the implications of this or was he actually being serious?
Both of them looked at Emperor Mu with narrowed eyes, as if they were trying to figure out if he was being serious or not.
Emperor Mu just looked back at them with a calm look on his face, as if there was nothing wrong with what he had just said.
Seeing him act this way, they began to believe him more and more…they believed that he was being serious when he called Mu Bao Bao the successor of the throne.
Mu Bao Bao knitted her brows before angrily saying, "How can you say something as irresponsible as this? Do you really think that you can erase the mistakes of the past just by saying something like this? Not to mention, do you know what kind of danger this will put the people I love in? All for your mistakes?"
Emperor Mu waited for Mu Bao Bao to finish her rant before saying, "Bao Hua, this…"
Mu Bao Bao suddenly said, "My name isn't Bao Hua, it is Bao Bao."
Emperor Mu was taken aback by how firm her voice was before a hurt look appeared in his eyes. But in the end, he still said, "Bao Bao, this isn't what you think. From the very beginning, you were my successor and there was no one else."
"Ha, ha, ha." After he said this, Mu Bao Bao broke out in laughter.
Of course, this laughter wasn't well mannered, but rather filled with spite.
Emperor Mu didn't say anything and just waited for Mu Bao Bao to finish laughing.
But she didn't stop when she saw him acting like this. Instead, she started laughing even louder as if she wanted to spite him.
In the end, it was Lin Fan who stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
Seeing this, Mu Bao Bao took a deep breath and waited for Emperor Mu to explain.
Emperor Mu once again looked at Lin Fan with a grateful look when he saw this, but there was also a bit of anger in his eyes that didn't bother Lin Fan.
He then turned back to Mu Bao Bao and said, "I know it is hard to believe, but this is the truth. From the moment that you were born, I had already decreed that you would be my successor."
Mu Bao Bao was about to start laughing again, but Lin Fan tightened his grip on her shoulder to stop her.
He could tell that there was more to Emperor Mu's story.
Emperor Mu didn't keep going right away as he revealed a sad look, but after a moment of wallowing, he said, "You should know that our Mu Empire…Wait, you wouldn't know this because you've been away so long…"
Mu Bao Bao couldn't hold herself back when she heard this as she shouted, "And whose fault is that! Who was the one that…"
She stopped once again when Lin Fan squeezed her shoulder again.
She looked at him with a pouting expression, but he stayed firm.
Though secretly, he couldn't help giving a bitter laugh since it was hard work keeping this father and daughter combo from tearing at each other…
Emperor Mu revealed another hurt look as he heard this, but he powered through and said, "The last generation's ruler, my father and your grandfather, was a wise ruler. Our Mu Empire was once much smaller than it currently was, but it expanded greatly during the rule of my father. But because of that, we attracted the attention of people that we couldn't afford to offend."
At this, he couldn't help giving a sad sigh before saying, "The Five Great Sects, they are giants that we have no way of matching."
Five Great Sects, this wasn't their first time hearing this term, but they didn't really know what these Five Great Sects were or what they had to do with this.
Emperor Mu gave another sigh before continuing, "The Five Great Sects were threatened by our rapid expansion and we started cutting into their benefits, so they sent a warning to us. After my father passed, they sent many experts to weaken our Mu Royal Family and I'm ashamed to say that I wasn't able to stop them. The only way that I was able to compromise with them was to accept many different new sects into our Mu Empire and weaken the overall power of our Mu Royal Family. At the same time, I was forced to take many concubines that had connections to these sects so that they would be able to meddle in both the court and the harem…"
His voice sadly trailed off after saying this.
It was as if he was lamenting his own weakness…though he had good reason for doing so.
A nation's ruler had been forced to weaken his own control of the nation and to give up power in the nation to invading powers…
This was without a doubt the most embarrassing thing one could put a ruler through.
Then all of a sudden, Emperor Mu said, "From the beginning, the only one that I ever loved was Yu'er…I was forced into relations with all those other women, my heart bled from every time I did it with them…"
Mu Bao Bao looked like she wanted to snap again, but seeing him like this, she really couldn't bring herself to do it.
After all, this was the ruler of a nation who was looking down like this…
It really was a sad sight to behold.
After a long period of silence, Mu Bao Bao finally said, "Then if what you're saying is true, what happened?"
When Emperor Mu heard this, his eyes lit up again and he said, "It was a plot by various sects and families, they took advantage of the birth of your little brother to kidnap you. Then they dumped you in the middle of the forest when chased with nothing more than the protective token that I left with you."
Mu Bao Bao knitted her brows when she heard this before asking, "Little brother? So you're saying it was one of the other princes?"
Emperor Mu shook his head as he immediately understood her misunderstanding and said, "It's not just any of the princes, it's your little brother from the same mother. The fourth prince."
When they heard this, they couldn't help being surprised…
They never thought that there would be this kind of connection with the fourth prince.
But that also explained by Mu Bao Bao had never brought herself to hate the fourth prince like she had all of the other princes. It seemed that the ties of blood were deeper than one thought.
But as they were lost in thought, Emperor Mu suddenly dropped another bomb.
"When the Love Sect was attacked, it took all that I had just to get you away safely…"
When Mu Bao Bao heard this, she could no longer be restrained.
With a wave of her hand, there was a sword that appeared and she charged forward to place the sword at Emperor Mu's neck.
There was a figure that suddenly appeared by Emperor Mu's side and placed their sword at Mu Bao Bao's neck, but she didn't care at all as all of her attention was on Emperor Mu.
She said through gritted teeth, "You were there when the Love Sect was destroyed?"
Emperor Mu could see the rage and pain in her eyes, so he made his voice was gentle as possible as he said, "I wasn't there personally, but I had sent my subordinates to escort you out of the Love Sect safely."
"Then you watched the rest of the Love Sect be destroyed? You watched as the ones who raised your daughter were all slaughtered?" Mu Bao Bao roared out.
Emperor Mu averted his gaze at this, but he still gave a slow nod in the end.
Mu Bao Bao looked like she was about to lose it, not caring if she had to give her own life to take his.
But Lin Fan said, "Bao Bao, this isn't what you want to do. He's not the one that caused the destruction of the Love Sect, so he's not the one that you need to take revenge on. Will you really give up all of that just to die here?"
Mu Bao Bao's hands trembled when she heard this and the sword that was about to slash Emperor Mu's neck suddenly stopped.
She looked down at her hands before slowly pulling the sword away from his neck.
Then all of a sudden she slashed out at the ground, creating a large gash on the floor before walking back to Lin Fan's side. Once there, she put her head in his chest and completely locked herself into this safe space, as if she was going to ignore Emperor Mu.
Emperor Mu had a complicated look when he saw this, but he still gave a nod to the cloaked figure who immediately disappeared again.
As expected, Emperor Mu had come with a guard.
After the room settled, Emperor Mu forced himself to continue, "I had no choice, it was all I could do to save you. If I did more, the others would have discovered that I knew that you were there and they would have done much more than just destroy the Love Sect."
Mu Bao Bao's cold voice came from Lin Fan's chest, "And what does it matter if I die. You never cared about me in the first place."
Emperor Mu had a grim look on his face as he said, "All of this has been to pave your path to taking the throne."
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