It was pretty early in the early... After the current investigation, ML ordered MC, in her disguise, to investigate the cause of his subordinates deaths. She was to meet him in his current staying courtyard to see the corpses, however before that she was whipped by her father due to her sister's schemes. ML noticed her injury and had her background investigated. That was when he discovered the truth of her identity..
Spoiler: ML Knows MC Is A Girl Yin Yang Corpse Case Chap 53 - ML grabs MC's waist causing her whiplash wound to reopen and she cries out in extreme pain; ML insists on checking MC's back but she refuses and downplays her pain by coming up with an excuse. Chap 54 - ML orders Lang Po (his right-hand man) to investigate what happened to the MC. Chap 57 & 58 - ML arranges to deliver expensive herbs to treat MC's back while visiting her father (MC doesn't know it's the ML); ML asks to see her father's precious whip (a reward from the emperor) on the pretext of admiring it, then burns it in revenge while her father watches in horror. Chap 66 - MC wants to go on a trip to further investigate the case and ML insists on accompanying her; by this time Lang Po had already informed ML that MC is a girl (ML is overjoyed); ML becomes more protective over MC from this point onwards. Chap 86 - MC accidentally reveals her gender to ML; ML tells her he already knows.
Thanks for spoiler, it really help me. At least this thing is not drag to long. Thanks for @ChuChi and @annkanni
I'm waiting for that specific chapter when he finds her again after she leaves and he completely melts before reading the novel. Huehue I never properly read it from the beginning which I will do after that chapter gets translated. I literally dropped this novel 2-3 chapters before the end because of that one guy's death which I don't remember who it was but was a love rival and felt that he was more worthy of our MC and also due to finding out it was an OE.
Please tell me how that damn family of hers is going to get their comeuppance? Even that little girl has such disgusting behavior.
Based on the latest MTL chapters, MC and ML are still travelling to the capital. Got delayed for a few days due to the assassination attempt at the inn where they were staying. MC was stabbed and needed to recover first; ML was so upset he went into yandere mode. UPDATE: MC did go to the Capital once with ML to help with a cold case, but they had to leave sooner than expected due to safety reasons. The one above talks about their second trip.
From the latest MTL chapters, Wei Yi (the "fool" who was once engaged to MC) has been kidnapped, and ML suspects that it's someone from the Imperial Palace who wants to use Wei Yi as a pawn to stop MC and ML from reaching the capital. MC doesn't know what happened because she was still unconscious after being stabbed, but ML has ordered his people to rescue Wei Yi.
You can try this link: http://www.520xs.la/87047/ UPDATE: The above link hasn't been updated for a while. No new chapters after 693. Try the link below instead, it's updated regularly. Latest chapter is 718. http://www.novel8.net/novel/72158.html
He's introduced as someone with an intellectual disability and called a fool even until the latest MTL chapters. However, in the middle chapters he suffers an injury to the head during an attack, and as a result becomes more lucid in his facial expressions and behavioural responses. But he significantly downplays it, so although MC is aware, she doesn't know the extent of his recovery. No one knows, not even us readers, as the author still hasn't revealed it. Nevertheless it's certain that he's no longer a "fool", so I chose to include the quotation mark covering spoilers for the later chapters. When MC takes him back to his home to recover and to learn (reading & writing), his subtle coherent actions reveal his new awareness that he likes MC as a man likes a woman. That part is sad.