The water basin was overturned onto the ground.

With a “clang” sound.

A complete mess everywhere!

Na Tuo was drenched in sweat, looking at his hands covered in fresh blood.

He kept backing away.

His heartbeat quickened.

“Blood, why… why is there so much blood, why?” Na Tuo was nearly roaring.

His hands were trembling violently.

His lips turned pale.

A pair of eyes staring wide, desperately wiping the blood from his hands onto his body.

But no matter how much he wiped, he couldn’t wipe it clean.

“No, no!”

He looked at the blood on his hands, then at the blood on the ground.

Extremely terrified~

This action directly frightened the two maids beside him.

Blood?

What blood was there?

What was on the Prince’s hands and on the ground was clearly water.

The maid said tremblingly: “Your Highness… there’s no blood! This is the clean water this servant just fetched.”

It was clearly blood.

Na Tuo’s eyes were bloodshot—he couldn’t listen to any of this at all, his rationality completely devoured.

Another moth flew before his eyes.

He raised his hand almost madly and swung at it, but struck the maid instead.

The maid fell to the ground, her entire body sprawled on the spilled water.

“Your Highness, spare me.” Ignoring the pain on her body, she immediately knelt.

The other maid was also frightened and knelt on the ground with a thud.

Na Tuo turned and overturned the table.

Raising his hands, constantly swatting at the moths swarming around him.

His body crashed about east and west.

Knocking things in the room to crash and fall to the ground.

Shattering with crackling sounds.

Everywhere.

That incense burner placed on the table was also smashed to the ground by him.

The ashes inside scattered everywhere.

And the still-burning incense block, because it touched the water on the ground.

Went out!

The guards from the residence came in from outside and quickly restrained him.

“Your Highness?”

“Get away, get away…” Na Tuo struggled.

But his body was held fast, unable to move.

Only when he became weak and powerless did he gradually calm down.

Seeing this, the guards quickly released him.

Na Tuo’s consciousness became increasingly clear.

He stood in the center of the room, his body swaying unsteadily, both hands hanging powerlessly at his sides.

A complete mess everywhere!

All smashed by him.

And before his eyes, there were no moths at all.

He slowly raised his hands—where was there blood?

It was only water.

The basin of blood he had overturned on the ground was also water.

“How… could this be?”

He couldn’t believe it!

Even less could he trust his own eyes.

He tightened his neck, shaking his head: “No… impossible.”

After speaking, he turned to look at that large cabinet.

No white-robed youth.

No moths.

No blood.

At this moment, he was truly afraid.

That feeling of fear was like being in a place of complete darkness without any light, reaching out unable to touch anything, only making himself more and more suffocated.

The guard carefully inquired: “Your Highness, are you alright?”

Are you blind? Things are like this and you still ask if there’s nothing wrong?

Na Tuo grabbed that guard’s collar and demanded: “Speak, what exactly is wrong with this Prince?”

“Ah?”

“Speak!”

How would that guard know what was wrong with him?

“This subordinate doesn’t know. Upon entering, I only saw Your Highness smashing things.”

Na Tuo pushed him away and turned to ask the two maids kneeling on the ground: “You speak.”

The maids lowered their heads, their voices fearful as they said: “Your Highness said he saw a room full of moths, and also said the water this servant fetched was… blood.”

Everyone gasped.

Several guards exchanged glances with each other.

Each thinking to themselves, could it be that the Prince had encountered something evil?

One person said: “Your Highness, how about… we call for a physician to take a look.”

“This Prince is not ill, get out.”

“But…”

“Get out!” he said excitedly.

But blood rushed to the top of his head, and after shouting this, he staggered back several steps.

His body drooped down.

Fortunately he was caught by the guard.

“Your Highness? Your Highness?”

Na Tuo had already fainted.

Unconscious.

Someone said: “Quickly go fetch a physician.”

The physician came very soon. After examination, he said Na Tuo had no serious problem and just needed proper rest.

Everyone felt relieved.

The servants cleaned up the messy room quickly and then withdrew.

Little did they know, after the time it takes to burn a stick of incense.

Someone pushed open the door.

Jing Xuan walked in holding a new small incense burner in her hands.

Her gaze seemed calm but revealed an eerie quality. From the moment she entered, she looked at Na Tuo on the bed.

She slowly walked to the bedside.

The candlelight in the room was very dim.

The light flickered faintly.

She looked down from above at the unconscious and pale-faced Na Tuo.

Suddenly she smiled.

A smile extremely strange.

Then she turned and walked to the table, set down the incense burner in her hands, took out a new piece of incense from her sleeve, lit it, and tossed it inside.

White smoke curled upward.

Permeating the entire room.

The fragrance was overwhelming.

Her index finger lightly tapped the incense burner.

The smile at the corners of her mouth grew increasingly intense.

“Among the thousands of pitiful people in this world, you are one of them too.”

Her voice was very soft.

Seeping into one’s heart causing panic.

At this moment, deep in the night heavy snow fell, snowflakes covering the ground.

She left the room, walking forward facing the snowflakes, her head, shoulders, hands… covered with snow.

After returning to the courtyard, she stood in the garden, raising her head to look at the heavy snow falling down.

A maid quickly brought an umbrella over.

Worried, she said: “Princess Consort, it’s snowing. You mustn’t catch cold—please go inside quickly.”

The corners of Jing Xuan’s mouth curved up as she gazed at the heavy snow for a long while.

Suddenly she asked: “Do you believe souls exist in this world?”

“Souls?”

“I can feel it—he’s always been by my side, never left. I can still feel his breathing, his heartbeat…” She extended her hand and caught several snowflakes.

The snowflakes fell into her hand and quickly melted.

She smiled faintly.

As if she could truly feel “that person” holding her hand…

The maid didn’t understand her meaning.

She could only silently accompany her.

…

The next day, after Na Tuo got up, his complexion was still poor.

His eyes were red and swollen.

Extremely haggard.

What happened last night still made his hair stand on end.

He sat in the room in a daze for a long while.

Truly unable to distinguish between reality and illusion anymore!

Upon learning of this, Marquis Pingyang immediately rushed over to visit.

He asked many times, but Na Tuo brushed it off with “nothing’s wrong.”

Regarding what he had encountered last night, he said not a word.

Marquis Pingyang was uneasy and insisted on having someone summon the imperial physician.

The imperial physician examined him thoroughly but found no abnormalities.

Marquis Pingyang asked: “Well? Is there nothing wrong with the Prince’s body?”

The imperial physician frowned and asked: “Has Your Highness not been resting much recently?”

Na Tuo nodded slightly: “Mm, recently this Prince has been copying scriptures—haven’t rested for several days.”

“That explains it! Your Highness, your body has no serious problem, you’ve just been too exhausted recently.”

“But those past few days, this Prince’s spirits were very good. I didn’t feel sleepy, nor did I feel tired!”

“Your Highness’s condition is like a rubber band—stretch it too long and naturally it will break. Your Highness, you need to rest properly.”

The imperial physician’s words naturally commanded trust!

In the end, the imperial physician only prescribed some calming medicine and left.

Na Tuo had not told the imperial physician about his hallucinations, to avoid it reaching Prince Huyi’s ears later.