The war over Longyuan had little effect on Da Zhou’s homeland—neither among the common people nor within the royal family did anything change.

Prince Baxian truly was a worthy prince who could be entrusted with great responsibility, managing the court affairs in an orderly fashion. As for the harem, the puppet emperor’s harem was naturally free of infighting.

Emperor Tianhui had long since been imprisoned at the imperial mausoleum, and all his consorts had naturally accompanied him there. In the harem now, aside from a few imperial princes, only Consort Yi—Jun Beichen’s birth mother—remained.

When Jun Beiyue returned from Xijing, he was originally meant to return to the Prince Yao residence, but Prince Baxian had him brought into the palace instead, to stay in Emperor Tianhui’s main hall, the Xuanlong Palace.

With Ziqing absent, and Yingzi absent too, hardly anyone dared raise any objection.

The Xuanlong Palace sat right on the central axis of the entire imperial palace, covering vast grounds—it was where Emperor Tianhui had lived and handled state affairs.

At the very front was the main hall, which also served as the study where affairs were discussed after court adjourned. In the middle was a small garden; beyond the garden was the reception hall, where the emperor mostly held banquets. Past the banquet hall was a large garden, and beyond that garden lay the sleeping quarters.

Since entering the palace, Prince Baxian had been staying in the small courtyard beside the study, while Jun Beiyue, upon arriving, naturally moved into the sleeping quarters—effectively living alongside Prince Baxian.

To this day, Jun Beiyue remained unconscious, and naturally all his affairs were being handled by Prince Baxian.

Within the sleeping quarters was a massive man-made hot spring pool, long since converted into a medicinal bath. Since returning to the palace, Jun Beiyue had been soaking in the medicinal broth continuously, nourishing his vital energy with medicine.

His injuries were too severe—not only was his chest gravely wounded, but his vital energy had also been severely damaged. If Imperial Physician Gu hadn’t decisively formulated medicine to nourish his vital energy, he likely wouldn’t have lasted this long.

Special herbs had to be used to restore his vital energy first; only once it was restored could treatment begin. Even the wound on his chest—Imperial Physician Gu and Sha Qiuzi had only managed to stop the bleeding, not daring to touch it further.

Without his vital energy restored, even the finest herbs and the finest medical skill would be useless.

No one but Sha Qiuzi and Imperial Physician Gu could easily approach these sleeping quarters—not even Jun Beichen. The secret of Jun Beiyue’s grave injury was being carefully guarded.

Because if word ever got out, it would surely draw those with designs on Jun Beiyue, and those with designs on the Da Zhou throne.

As late spring gave way to early summer, the braziers used for warmth had finally all been withdrawn, and the air in the Xuanlong sleeping quarters was much fresher now—though it also felt more desolate.

The vast sleeping quarters stood empty. Though Jun Beiyue remained unconscious, Prince Baxian, respecting his fastidiousness, had cleared out everything belonging to Emperor Tianhui, down to the last drapery. All that remained was the enormous medicinal pool, the towering wooden pillars reaching to the sky, and a long table laid with various herbs.

The room was filled with the fragrance of medicinal herbs. In the steaming medicinal pool, Jun Beiyue’s upper body was exposed—his bronze skin captivating, every line, every inch of skin finely honed and handsome. Even gravely wounded, the sight of him was enough to stir the heart.

He sat at the shallowest end of the pool, leaning slightly back, his lines sharply defined, his chest—devastatingly attractive—wrapped in white gauze to stanch the wound over his heart.

Had he not left in such haste, he might have worn that black shark-scale armor. But that day, having just bathed on the northern frontier plateau, he’d received the letter only a short while later, and he had rushed out like a madman, never once thinking of that armor.

His eyes were tightly shut, his handsome brow perpetually furrowed slightly, as though he were still worried about something.

Yet he had not woken. Three months had passed, and still he had not woken.

Not knowing everything that had happened, one glancing from afar might think Prince Yao was simply tired, bathing and resting a while, pondering state affairs, waiting for his princess consort to arrive.

But alas—he was wounded, badly, badly wounded.

For these three months, Imperial Physician Gu and Sha Qiuzi had scarcely left his side, day and night, except to personally gather herbs.

At this moment, Prince Baxian was present as well.

Looking at Jun Beiyue, his face full of worry—no one understood better than he that Da Zhou could not do without Jun Beiyue!

The other imperial princes were simply not up to the task, and he himself was getting on in years—he couldn’t hold the fort for many more years!

Only Jun Beiyue had the ability to lead Da Zhou further, to lead it well!

Prince Baxian gazed at Jun Beiyue for a long while, then let out a long sigh and asked, “Imperial Physician Gu, can the two of you give this prince a definite time—when exactly will he wake?”

Imperial Physician Gu and Sha Qiuzi were caught in a bind. Nourishing his vital energy was the hardest part—once that was restored, given Prince Yao’s foundation, recovery would come easily.

But if it couldn’t be nourished properly, there was no telling.

Seeing their expressions, Prince Baxian grew furious. “Give me something at least! Outside, the situation can’t wait! Drag this out any longer and there’ll be no peace conference to hold, and the war will have been fought for nothing!”

“Prince Baxian, this cannot be rushed. We can guarantee Prince Yao will live, but we truly cannot guarantee when he’ll wake. However, judging by his pulse at present, there’s still hope within this year,” Sha Qiuzi said honestly.

“Within this year!”

Prince Baxian was nearly driven mad. He had to admit—when it came to handling domestic affairs, he had real skill, but in diplomacy he truly wasn’t adept, and the Da Zhou court had no one else to spare either!

The Xiongnu and Xiliang seemed to have caught wind of things, and had already sent letters urging the peace conference be reconvened.

Just as Prince Baxian was fretting, a guard’s voice came from outside the door, announcing, “Prince Baxian, the Second Prince requests an audience.”

Prince Baxian sighed and turned to leave, while Imperial Physician Gu, seeming to sense something, gave Sha Qiuzi a few instructions and hurried out after him.

Just as Imperial Physician Gu had suspected, Jun Beichen had come again over the matter of Han Ziqing.

“Imperial Uncle, I stake my life on it—Ziqing is still alive! I beg you for a search order!”

As Jun Beichen spoke, he dropped to one knee. The royal family had a dedicated search-and-capture force for locating people, deployed throughout all of Da Zhou. If Prince Baxian gave the order, they could at least confirm whether Ziqing was within Da Zhou’s borders.

“What makes you so sure she’s still alive? That tornado was enormous—she was likely swept up into the sky, and even if she’s found, it’ll be a corpse! And it’s been three months already—would you even recognize the body?”

Prince Baxian’s voice was cold. Issuing a search order wasn’t difficult—it was practically just a matter of stamping a seal.

But he wasn’t about to do it. He knew perfectly well—Jun Beiyue hadn’t gone to the peace conference at Akbachu because he was waiting for Han Ziqing. When the great wind struck at Akbachu and everyone else fled outward, Jun Beiyue had run toward Mingsha Mountain—also for Han Ziqing.

The reason he’d been wounded so gravely was entirely because of Han Ziqing!

In fact, both he and Imperial Physician Gu suspected that only Han Ziqing could have wounded him so badly.

Neither of them had ever said it aloud, but in their hearts, they almost wished Han Ziqing were already dead—and if not dead, that she would never come back!

How could he possibly go looking for her?

Jun Beichen and Yingzi had already exhausted every manpower resource they could muster, and still couldn’t find her—Jun Beichen had no choice but to appeal to the power of the royal family.

Seeing Prince Baxian’s attitude hadn’t changed, he stood abruptly and shouted furiously, “Imperial Uncle, if this continues, do you believe that when Jun Beiyue wakes, you’ll be the first he deals with?”