Feng Jiang was indeed being held in the dungeon.

Feng Jiu’er never could have imagined it — a prince of the realm, of noble and pampered birth, locked away in a place like this.

Dark, damp, filthy everywhere, and carrying a pervasive smell of mold.

Most distressing of all — there were bloodstains on Third Imperial Brother’s body.

“Father Emperor had you beaten again?” Jiu’er saw the blood on Feng Jiang’s body and felt a wave of cold despair wash over her.

Why could Father Emperor be so cruel? Third Imperial Brother was his own flesh and blood. How could he do this?

“It was my own body that fainted. What does that have to do with you?”

She took Feng Jiang by the arm and walked with him out of the dungeon, so angry her very fingertips were trembling. “I’m going to go confront Father Emperor. He wrongly blamed you!”

“I failed to take good care of you.” Feng Jiang caught her by the wrist, urgent in his tone. “Jiu’er, you can’t go. Whatever Father Emperor decides, it cannot be questioned.”

“He had you beaten like this!” You were already wounded before this happened.

Wound upon wound — couldn’t Father Emperor feel even the slightest pang of heartache?

“It truly is my fault.” Though Feng Jiang ordinarily seemed a little carefree, before Father Emperor, his respect was absolute.

“You are the Feng Princess. You will soon be officially bestowed the title of Highness, and in time, you will be our nation’s sovereign. Everything that concerns you takes precedence above all else. It is naturally my responsibility when something happens to you while you are by my side.”

“I don’t want to argue about that!” The root of all this was Father Emperor’s own fault.

He was far too harsh with Third Imperial Brother — harsh to the point of approaching outright cruelty.

His own son. Why would he treat him this way?

“Your Highness, if you truly want what is best for the Third Prince, I would advise you not to go and seek an audience with the Emperor.” Yanu said mildly.

“You’re taking Father Emperor’s side too!” Feng Jiu’er glared at him.

She was not normally an impulsive person. But she could not bear to witness a father and son relating to each other in this way.

How deeply she had longed for a father — how very, very much. She did not even know how long she had carried that longing.

And now, someone had told her all of a sudden that she had a real father — yet this real father turned out to be so cold and unfeeling.

She was, in truth… genuinely disappointed.

In her imaginings, a father might be strict, but he would never be willing to truly harm his own children.

“Jiu’er, he means no ill. He is simply telling the truth.”

Feng Jiang held her back, his expression helpless. “If you go and seek Father Emperor again, he will conclude that I put you up to it. And when the time comes, my punishment will be far heavier.”

Feng Jiang’s words brought Feng Jiu’er to her senses all at once.

She gripped her palms into fists, bit her lip, and after a long moment of hesitation, finally said, “I’ll see you back first and help you apply medicine.”

Yanu moved to follow. But Jiu’er said, “I’ll go with Third Imperial Brother — there’s no danger at all. Go back and attend to Father Emperor.”

She was putting distance between them…

Watching the two figures gradually recede into the distance, Yanu’s fingertips trembled faintly, and a desolate chill swept through his heart.

Jiu’er had never been so indifferent toward him before. Yet she had long since forgotten everything of how they had once been together, and all they had come to mean to each other.

To be forgotten — the pain of it was like something being torn out of him, raw and bleeding. To watch her leave with another man, leaving him standing alone in the wind, was like watching life itself be carried away from him in that single moment.

What remained was only a body — without awareness, without feeling, without any of the seven emotions or six desires that made a person human.

Was this the life he had truly wanted? Was it truly what Jiu’er wanted as well?

“You shouldn’t have been so cold toward Yanu. He took care of you in the separate residence for over a decade. His devotion in watching over you has been genuine — even I can see that.”

Back in his own bedchamber, Feng Jiang quickly cleaned himself up, then lay face down on the bed and let Jiu’er tend to his wound.

Mercifully, the wound from the early morning hours was on his chest, and this one was on his back.

The whip had not landed directly on the existing wound, so strictly speaking, it was not wound upon wound — he was already fortunate enough.

“He took care of me in the separate residence all along?” Jiu’er’s fingertips paused briefly, but then she continued applying the medicine.

“Yes. He came back to the palace together with you, and because he served you faithfully and deserved recognition for his protection, Father Emperor permitted him to move freely within the palace and continue to attend to you.”

Feng Jiu’er’s feelings were complicated. Yet the moment she thought about it — having Yanu remain by her side was in essence keeping one of Father Emperor’s informants right beside her — and her heart hardened.

“I can’t let him go on staying near me.”

This so-called Feng Princess, or Feng Woman, or Highness — none of it was what she wanted.

Though she was not yet certain what she did want, she was certain that everything around her now was not it.

Feng Jiang said nothing in response to her decision.

In truth, though Yanu was admittedly a pitiable figure, he was indeed Father Emperor’s informant.

Keeping an informant by your side — even if you had no intent to disrespect the Emperor — still felt deeply uncomfortable.

“All right. If you don’t want Yanu near you, tell Father Emperor and have him reassigned elsewhere.”

The technique Jiu’er used to apply the medicine was unusual — at first it stung with a pain that was almost alarming, but very quickly, the sensation faded to almost nothing.

It was the same wound ointment he always used — and yet combined with her technique, it soon produced a faint cooling sensation.

No pain at all — in fact, it was almost pleasant.

He closed his eyes, close to drifting off in comfort.

“Third Imperial Brother.”

“Mm?”

“Do you actually like the life you have now?”

Feng Jiang opened his eyes halfway. This life, now?

He thought about it, shook his head, then nodded. “What is there to like or dislike about it? It was decided the moment one was born. There is no choosing for oneself.”

“But if you could choose?”

In her memory, it seemed that princes, once grown, would not remain in the palace. Why, then, did all three of the princes here still live within the palace grounds?

“There is no choice.” And so there was no point in asking a question that led nowhere — Feng Jiang had no desire to dwell on it.

“Third Imperial Brother, where is your mother consort?” She had never heard him mention a mother consort, nor did she know which consort in the rear palace was his.

In truth, since returning to this palace, Jiu’er had never made any effort to learn about the layout and inner workings of the place.

She had no desire to, either. There was a persistent feeling within her — a sense that she would not be staying here long.

She didn’t know where that feeling came from.

But everyone kept telling her: she was the Feng Princess, and would soon become Highness, and after that, Empress Regnant.

Everyone seemed to be saying that she would remain here forever — that she would become the mistress of this place.

Feng Jiang closed his eyes again, his tone even. “From the time I was born, I never once saw my mother consort.”

“Then… what about my mother consort?” If he had never seen his mother consort since birth, it probably wasn’t something that caused him too much grief.

Feng Jiang thought about it, and shook his head. This question — it seemed no one had ever brought it up.

“You don’t know?” A Feng Princess of such paramount importance, and no one even knew who her mother consort was?

Jiu’er frowned. She felt increasingly that this identity as the Feng Princess had come to her in the most inexplicable, confounding way.

“Jiu’er,” Feng Jiang suddenly pushed himself up and turned to look at her, his expression deadly serious.

“I know that staying here may still feel unfamiliar to you. But do not defy Father Emperor. Going against him will bring you no benefit whatsoever. Do you understand?”