With a sharp “swish,” Jian Yi’s long sword pressed against the neck of the fallen palace maid.

Perhaps because there was no way to flee, the palace maid cradled her belly and stared unblinkingly at Feng Jiu’er, her eyes shimmering with tears.

Looking at those despairing eyes, Feng Jiu’er furrowed her brow, stepped forward, and gently pushed Jian Yi’s long arm aside.

Jian Yi’s thick brows drew together, and he withdrew his sword, stepping to stand in front of Feng Jiu’er as a shield.

Feng Jiu’er paused, glanced at Jian Yi, then shifted her gaze back to the fallen palace maid.

“Who exactly are you? Who ordered you to assassinate this Princess?”

The palace maid strained to prop herself up, instinctively glancing at her own abdomen.

She bit down hard, not daring to meet Feng Jiu’er’s eyes directly, yet unwilling to speak.

Jian Yi gave a light flick of the arm that held the sword. A razor-sharp surge of sword energy swept across the grass not far from the palace maid, leaving a long, deep furrow in the earth.

The palace maid trembled violently with fright, let out a sharp cry, and curled over to one side, clutching her belly.

After drawing several deep breaths, she finally steadied herself. She rubbed her small hand over her abdomen, and two glistening streams of tears slid down her cheeks.

“Just… kill me.” As the words fell, she pressed her eyes shut, still as death.

“If you are not afraid of dying, what else is there to fear?” Feng Jiu’er addressed the woman on the ground, her voice carrying a low, measured weight.

“If I am not mistaken, you are the woman my Second Imperial Brother holds dear. Do you truly believe that by dying, the crime of attempted assassination against this Princess can simply be wiped away?”

“Do you not worry that the blame will fall upon my Second Imperial Brother?”

“No.” At Feng Jiu’er’s words, the palace maid’s eyes flew wide open, and she struggled to sit upright.

She drew a deep breath, knelt before Feng Jiu’er, raised her gaze to meet hers, and shook her head.

“No.”

Yet the moment she opened her mouth to speak again, a mouthful of dark blood trickled from the corner of her lips. She seemed to pay it no mind, merely wiping it away carelessly as her weakened voice sounded once more.

“This matter has nothing to do with the Second Imperial Prince. The fault lies with this servant alone — it has absolutely nothing to do with the Second Imperial Prince.”

Feng Jiu’er looked at the kneeling woman, her brow creasing.

“Unless you can explain yourself clearly, once this reaches my Imperial Father’s ears, it will inevitably implicate my Second Imperial Brother. Surely you do not wish to see that come to pass, do you?”

“This truly has nothing to do with the Second Imperial Prince — nothing at all. This servant begs the Princess to investigate clearly!” The palace maid pressed her forehead to the ground in a kowtow before Feng Jiu’er, the dark blood trickling from the corner of her mouth growing heavier.

“So, you have no intention of explaining what exactly happened?” Feng Jiu’er’s voice dropped even lower than before.

As a physician, standing by and allowing someone to die was no easy thing — and this was the woman her Second Imperial Brother held dear, at that.

Yet Feng Jiu’er understood clearly: this matter had to be investigated to the root. Even setting aside her own willingness, Jian Yi would never permit her to intervene on the woman’s behalf without answers.

The palace maid looked up briefly at Feng Jiu’er, then lowered her head again, clenching her fists.

After a moment, she placed her hand over her abdomen once more, drew in a slow breath, and exhaled gradually.

“This servant will speak — this servant will speak everything. Only, Princess, please do not report to the Emperor what passes between this servant and the Second Imperial Prince.”

She cast a glance down at her own lower abdomen, then raised her eyes to meet Feng Jiu’er’s gaze.

“Princess, please give the Second Imperial Prince back to this servant. I… I already carry his child. A child cannot be without a father. Princess, please…” Before she could finish, the palace maid vomited blood once more.

Feng Jiu’er’s brow furrowed, utterly at a loss as to what was going on.

She brushed aside Jian Yi’s arm where it blocked her path and went to the palace maid, pressing on several acupoints along her body, then took hold of her wrist, placing her slender fingers against the pulse point.

Jian Yi watched the two on the grass without blinking, afraid that some new and unpredictable turn of events might arise.

Releasing the palace maid’s hand, Feng Jiu’er reached into her medicine pouch and retrieved a small pill, holding it out to her.

“Take this. The child will be all right.”

The palace maid looked up at Feng Jiu’er, a flicker of surprise passing through her eyes. She had just raised her hand against this Princess, and yet the Princess was now offering to save her?

“You have disturbed the fetal breath. This medicine stabilizes the womb. Take it — the child will come to no harm.” Feng Jiu’er cast the kneeling woman a sideways glance and said plainly:

“If my Second Imperial Brother were to learn that I left his woman and his child to fend for themselves, he would most certainly be displeased.”

The palace maid bit down on her lip and accepted the pill from Feng Jiu’er’s hand, her eyes glistening once more with tears.

She could clearly feel that since the Princess had sealed off several of her acupoints, the pain in her body had eased considerably.

If the Princess wanted her dead, a single word would suffice. So what was left to fear?

She took the pill, placed it in her mouth, and swallowed. A tiny thread of hope seemed to stir within her.

She pressed both hands to the ground and kowtowed before Feng Jiu’er once more.

“Princess, please give the Second Imperial Prince back to this servant — no, this servant means only to ask that you refrain from taking the Second Imperial Prince as an attending consort.”

“This servant’s station is lowly. This servant does not ask that the Second Imperial Prince belong to this servant alone. But if the Princess were to take him as an attending consort, then between this servant and the Second Imperial Prince…”

“Hold on.” Feng Jiu’er’s elegant crescent brows drew lightly together. “What do you mean? When did I ever say I intended to take my Second Imperial Brother as an attending consort?”

“He is my Imperial Brother. Do you not find what you are saying utterly absurd?”

Feng Jiu’er touched the wrapped portion of her arm, her brow creasing, her eyes filled with bewilderment.

The palace maid raised her head and looked at Feng Jiu’er, her eyes flickering uncertainly.

“Princess, this arrangement was decreed by the Emperor himself. Not only the Second Imperial Prince, but the First and Third Imperial Princes as well — all three are to serve as your attending consorts, bound to serve at your side for the rest of their lives.”

“Preposterous!” Feng Jiu’er flicked her sleeve and let out a cold scoff. “You attempted to assassinate this Princess over something so impossible? Are you tired of living?”

Though it had not quite left a scar, that cut had been truly undeserved!

They were all her elder brothers. Feng Jiu’er knew that no matter how confused her Imperial Father might be, he could never do something like this.

“Princess, this is the absolute truth. The Second Imperial Prince told me so himself.” The palace maid’s brows were drawn tight, her expression frantic.

“He also said… he wished to part ways with me. This servant believes the Second Imperial Prince would never invent excuses so carelessly.”

“He said he is not the Emperor’s biological son, and so…”

Drawing a deep breath, the palace maid kowtowed before Feng Jiu’er once more.

“Princess, if you harbor no intention toward the Second Imperial Prince, this servant implores your grace — please give him back to this servant.”

“If the child has no father, he will not even have the right to be born. I…”

“So, knowing full well it was a path to death, you still chose to gamble everything?” Feng Jiu’er shot the palace maid a look and let out a quiet sigh.

Her Second Imperial Brother was not her blood brother — did that mean her First and Third Imperial Brothers were not either?

Recalling the unusual behavior of Feng Yan and Feng Jiang that day, Feng Jiu’er’s eyes grew darker.

“You may go. Consider what happened today as if it never occurred.”

“Princess.” The palace maid looked up, her expression filled with disbelief as she gazed at Feng Jiu’er. Those dead, hollow eyes at last recovered a faint glimmer of life.

“Does the Princess mean… you will not pursue this servant’s wrongdoing? And as for… the matter of making the Second Imperial Prince your attending consort — will the Princess reconsider?”