Jinshen Hall was originally the imperial study. Minghua Palace had been burned—reconstruction would still take time. Other palace buildings didn’t meet the proper standards, so the new emperor temporarily resided here.

Hearing the junior official’s words, both Director Jiang and Director Lü from the Ministry of Works who were in the workshop panicked. The emperor’s residence—aside from the armed close attendants by the emperor’s side, anyone entering needed to relinquish their weapons, including the empress.

“Regent, should we summon several Imperial Guard commanders to stop Her Majesty the Empress?”

Liu Chaoming, seeing the snow had stopped, walked outward while tossing out one sentence: “Have Zhu Yiheng go.”

Director Jiang was stunned. “The Tenth Prince?”

But in this palace, how could a minister order a prince to handle affairs?

Still wanting to ask more, Director Lü beside him quietly said, “Director Jiang, in this current court, whose orders should be obeyed and whose shouldn’t—don’t you have a sense of it in your heart? The Tenth Prince holds the Office of Imperial Clan Affairs—he can indeed manage this matter. You should quickly go find him, lest things become chaotic at Jinshen Hall and the Regent blames you.”

Jinshen Hall was already in chaos.

As soon as Shen Jun arrived, she drove out all the guards stationed outside and the maids serving inside. Alone, holding a red-tasseled spear, she stood in the outer chamber for a while. Her mind calming slightly, she then walked step by step toward the inner hall.

Day had just broken. Lamps still burned in the inner hall.

Zhu Yushen leaned against a pillow, half-reclining on the dragon bed, his eyes closed, as if sleeping.

Shen Jun looked at him, unable to describe what she felt.

She actually wasn’t certain what had happened. Yesterday, learning of Zhu Nanxian’s death, she too had been more bewildered than grief-stricken. After sitting numbly through the night, she gradually sensed something was wrong—Fourth Brother was already delirious. The evening before last, why did Thirteen summon him? Why would Thirteen suddenly commit suicide by fire after summoning Fourth Brother? Given legitimate succession by the legitimate heir, why would the edict establish Fourth Brother as emperor—what about Seventeen? At the end of August, when they returned to the capital to report, why did Xiao Xi not hesitate to nearly drown Fourth Brother to test whether his dementia was real or false?

A terrifying speculation suddenly arose in her heart—she couldn’t tell if it was shock or sorrow.

In her panic, disregarding the two dowager consorts’ attempts to stop her, she seized a horse and rushed back to the palace. Upon seeing the completely burned palace buildings, the speculation transformed into overwhelming fury, driving her to storm into Jinshen Hall with her red-tasseled spear.

But now, standing before Zhu Yushen, she felt somewhat at a loss.

He looked so still, half-reclining with closed eyes—clearly he was demented.

Could it be—she was thinking wrongly?

Her chaotic thoughts instead calmed her mind. She softly called, “Fourth Brother.” Then hoped he wouldn’t hear as usual, wouldn’t respond.

However, after a moment, Shen Jun heard a soft sigh.

Zhu Yushen, half-reclining on the bed, slowly opened his eyes and returned one sentence: “Third Sister.”

The red-tasseled spear fell to the ground with a clang. The crimson tassels swept the floor, raising a chill.

She still seemed unable to believe it. Glancing at the medicinal soup for treating dementia placed on the imperial desk, she said in shock, “You… aren’t you demented?”

Feeling something was wrong, she asked again, “When did you recover?”

Thinking again, it was still wrong, so she asked, “Could it be… you recovered long ago, and because—because you feared Thirteen would reduce the fiefdoms, so—”

“I deceived you.” Zhu Yushen, seeing Shen Jun like this, interrupted in silence. “I’m sorry.”

Even though her heart had already harbored speculation, when the facts lay before her eyes, she discovered it was unbearable—to the point she was still desperately making excuses for him.

Shen Jun’s entire being was in chaos.

She looked at Zhu Yushen, bewildered and uncomprehending. “No, why? Why deceive me? I wouldn’t harm you. If you feared having your fief reduced, I grew up with Thirteen—I could speak with him. Or worst case, don’t be this prince—I’d accompany you, with Xuan’er and Jin’er, go together to Beiliang, to Dadan, or south to Annan? Why did you have to deceive me? Why, when your dementia recovered, didn’t you tell me?”

“I never had dementia.” After a long while, Zhu Yushen responded, then paused. “Third Sister, I couldn’t afford the gamble. You’re a Shen family person.”

Shen Jun said blankly, “When you originally married me, didn’t you already know I was the Shen family’s third daughter?”

Having asked this, she reacted.

Couldn’t afford the gamble?

What couldn’t he afford to gamble? Or rather, what was he gambling on?

“What do you mean by ‘Shen family person’?” Shen Jun asked. “Are you saying I’m an Eastern Palace person?”

“You and Qingyue grew up with Thirteen since childhood. Zhu Minda and Shen Jing treated you like father and mother. The Shen family always supported the Eastern Palace. Since I decided to compete for the throne, naturally some of my actions were inconvenient for you to know.”

“But you always knew the Shen estate supported the Eastern Palace, didn’t you?! You married me in the seventeenth year of Jingyuan. By then my elder sister had long since married the late Crown Prince. Xiao Xi had also entered office. Before I went with you to Beiping, Elder Sister, brother-in-law, Xiao Xi, Thirteen—they all came together to see us off. At that time we—”

Thinking of Shen Jing, Shen Jun’s heart suddenly turned cold.

When Shen Jing perished at Zhaojue Temple, Shen Xi had once, in extreme grief, told Shen Jun that besides Zhu Zhaowei, there should be others who harmed Elder Sister.

At the time, Shen Jun thought the “others” he spoke of were nothing more than Zhu Zhaowei’s faction. But thinking now, if they were only ministers of Zhu Zhaowei’s faction, with Shen Xi’s capabilities, he could find ways to deal with them—why would he need to tell her?

“No, from when did you decide to compete for the throne? Seizing the throne is no small matter. Zhu Zhaowei schemed eagerly for over ten years yet failed. Why could you occupy this position?”

“My elder sister and brother-in-law… died tragically at Zhaojue Temple. Does it have anything to do with you?”

Zhu Yushen descended from the dragon bed, glanced at the red-tasseled spear on the ground, stood silently with hands behind his back for a while, then nodded. “Yes.”

Shen Jun staggered back several steps, colliding with the hall door with a loud bang. Yet even leaning against the door, her entire person trembled unceasingly. Her legs had lost their strength—she couldn’t stand steady, nearly sliding down several times.

Zhu Yushen couldn’t bear to watch and wanted to reach out to support her.

Before his hand touched Shen Jun, he heard her shout sternly, “Don’t touch me!”

One hand reached behind her, grasping the hollow carved wood patterns of the hall door, forcibly steadying herself. The other hand gripped the clothing at her chest, gasping for breath in great gulps.

After a good while, her mind seeming to calm slightly, she spoke again. “I have several questions. I ask, you answer.”

“First, why did you have to harm my elder sister? How did you harm her?”

Zhu Yushen was silent for a moment. “This matter is very complex. Simply put, at that time Zhu Minda was about to succeed to the throne. Zhu Zhaowei was at odds with him like fire and water, planning to raise troops to kill the Eastern Palace. I… used him, along with some other people, to set up a trap that brought about this event.”

As for Shen Jing, though he had no intention of harming her, it was also impossible to damage the overall situation to spare her life.

It was he who harmed her—he acknowledged it.

“What about Lin’er? Where did Lin’er go?”

“Zhu Lin is still alive.” Zhu Yushen said. “If you’re curious why Qingyue suddenly left the capital at the end of August, it’s because he learned Zhu Lin was in Wuchang Prefecture. Not trusting anyone else with him, he went personally.”

“You… used Lin’er to send him away?” Shen Jun said. “This was your purpose in ordering someone to save Lin’er at Zhaojue Temple?”

“Yes.” Zhu Yushen nodded. “If I wanted to succeed to the throne, by rights I should have killed Zhu Lin. But, first, he’s only a child—really can’t be called a threat. Second, Qingyue is too clever. For my actions to deceive him was truly too difficult. But if we speak of any weakness in his life—the Shen family, Shen Jing. Thus Zhu Lin’s significance alive was greater than dead. At least he could restrain Qingyue at the most critical moment.”

“So when Xiao Xi summoned you back to the capital to report and wanted to sink you in the lake, it was because he saw through your intention to seize the throne. Your actions behind the scenes—he truly wanted to kill you, but I blocked him with my life. Having no choice, he could only believe you were truly demented?”

“What about Thirteen? Why did Thirteen become critically ill after returning to the capital? Why did Minghua Palace suddenly catch fire? Does his death have anything to do with you?”

“It was me. I used Su Shiyu’s life to force him. He couldn’t afford the gamble, so he came back to exchange for Su Shiyu’s life.”

“As for the fire at Minghua Palace.” Zhu Yushen was quiet for a moment, then said, “That day Thirteen asked me whether if he died more dignifiedly, more naturally, Su Shiyu would have more peace in the future. At the time I didn’t pay attention to his words. Later, thinking back, he probably considered that if he merely died of illness, there would surely be discordant voices at court. With discordant voices would come suppression, and among his faction, Su Shiyu was foremost. So he set a fire to burn himself and Minghua Palace completely clean, to exchange for Su Shiyu’s safety.”

As Shen Jun listened, the gaze with which she looked at Zhu Yushen slowly grew strange.

Day had fully broken. A pool of blue light slanted through the door.

The snow had stopped. Outside was silent—presumably the palace maids and attendants she’d driven out knelt covering the ground, not daring to make a sound.

“I have one last question.”

“When I was fourteen and was enfeoffed as County Princess, Qingyue accompanied me into the palace. We were pursued and nearly killed. Later, if Thirteen hadn’t saved us, we both would have perished. Was that your doing?”