At this moment, Lian Qin had already asked the people of Guixiang House for scissors.

“Don’t…”

Suzhen murmured quietly, but her voice was so hoarse she couldn’t make a sound.

No one could hear what she was saying.

Beyond the pain, there was also fear of life and death, grief that her fate could no longer be controlled—sorrow like tidal waters drowning her.

Lian Yu frowned tightly, his dark, fierce eyes carrying an incongruous trace of tenderness. Suzhen suddenly remembered the vicious look that had flashed in his eyes when he ordered Princess Zhennan’s arrest, as if should anything truly happen to her, he would kill the Princess to accompany her in death.

She also recalled his scheming mind that could reduce mighty fortresses to ash in casual conversation. This hidden, unexpressed tension made the bone-deep fear slowly recede, but the sorrow of imminent exposure grew more entangling—her path could no longer continue.

Large tears slid from her eyes, but she was too weak to make any sound.

Lian Yu’s gaze was so dark it seemed ready to drip ink. His large hand gripped hers tightly. Beside them, Lian Jie frowned deeply, saying quietly: “Sixth Brother, time is pressing. I’ll immediately examine her wounds carefully to see whether to remove the blade now or wait for the imperial physicians. If the knife is pressing on her heart meridian, surgery must be performed immediately… but I have no medicine to stop bleeding. Relying only on pressure points and bandaging to slow blood flow won’t work.”

He gritted his teeth slightly as he spoke. Lian Yu’s expression was grave. Huo Chang’an was a military general who had suffered severe injuries before. Though his old wounds had long healed, a soldier’s alertness made him always carry excellent medicines for external and internal injuries. Seeing the situation, he immediately pulled out a porcelain bottle from his chest and tossed it over.

“Thank you. I owe you another favor.”

Lian Yu caught the medicine with two fingers. On the other side, Lian Qin handed Lian Jie the scissors that had just been sterilized by fire—

Suzhen’s whole body felt as if it too had been burned by that fire. Though she bit her teeth tightly, she trembled in terror. They were going to cut her clothes open—at this moment, she was like fish on a chopping board…

She could no longer find Lian Yu’s calming eyes, because he had changed position, now sitting on the bed, helping her sit up with her back against his chest, supporting all her weight to make it convenient for Lian Jie to work. She couldn’t see any of his expressions…

When that refined Seventh Prince’s eyes flashed with solemnity and the sharp look unique to physicians, gripping scissors to cut around the dagger in her clothing, she panicked and suddenly sat up straight, crying out before fainting.

Lian Yu’s muscles tensed as he held her tightly, but immediately after hearing Lian Jie’s scissors clatter to the ground and the shocked exclamations from everyone in the room, his heart jolted.

Staring deadly at the skin beneath her clothes and that unspeakable secret, even though he had experienced countless situations since childhood and could remain unshaken in the most perilous circumstances, his breathing now roughened, his fingers curved as he gripped her collar tightly—not to mention Huo Chang’an and the others. Lian Qin’s face turned red, his eyes bulging from what he saw.

As if awakening from a dream, Lian Yu’s gaze darkened. With one palm he knocked down Lian Jie, who was half-bent over the bed with fine beads of sweat on his smooth forehead.

He stood up, placed the person in his arms down, yanked down the bed curtains to conceal them both within, then through the curtains addressed all the people outside with lowered heads: “Seventh Brother, immediately summon Zhuque to see me. Also, what was just seen must all rot in your hearts. Do you all understand?”

He didn’t speak harsh words about what he would do if this matter leaked, nor was his voice anything but steady as a calm lake, but everyone saw the veins slightly bulging on the back of his hand as he pulled the curtains.

Lian Jie and Lian Qin exchanged glances, both seeing unprecedented shock and complexity in each other’s eyes. Wuyan clenched her hands, her delicate brows furrowed tightly. Huo Chang’an’s eyes swept over her, a strange smile crossing his lips.

“Suzhen, I’ll take you away from here.”

Looking intently at the youth before her who smiled like clear wind and bright moon, Suzhen smiled and nodded, slowly placing her hand in his warm, generous palm.

Stars above, fragrant grass all around—looking ahead, there was a deep cliff under the stars and moon. Once fallen, she would be shattered to pieces, yet she wasn’t afraid, letting him lead her forward.

However, he suddenly stopped and looked ahead, mist rising in his eyes as if focusing on something.

She looked in alarm and saw two people had appeared at the cliff’s edge at some unknown time.

A man and woman—one in dark blue robes, one in lake-colored dress, standing there.

Under the moon, the woman was incomparably beautiful, the man handsome and elegant.

The man beside her suddenly released her hand and walked toward that beautiful woman. She was shocked, calling out: “Zhaoting, don’t go!”

In white robes with sleeves slightly billowing in the wind, he seemed deaf to her words, walking until he reached the woman’s side.

She wanted to chase him but saw the blue-robed man raise his eyebrows with an evil expression, walking toward her.

She was startled, stumbling backward. He approached step by step with a conquering expression until her back hit a tree with pain. She looked at him in panic. The man smiled slightly, his sleeves fluttering as he slowly reached out his hand.

She clenched her hands tightly, refusing to touch him, but he smiled even more wickedly, suddenly grasping her hand boldly and wrapping it tightly.

She was confused and at a loss, but suddenly saw a short sword slide from his other sleeve. Instinctively looking down, she saw four corpses lying on the ground, staining the fragrant grass blood red.

Though the corpses were bloody and mangled, she shivered, somehow knowing who they were: Father, Mother…

Her chest felt as if something had struck it hard, the dull pain extraordinary. She cried out in alarm and sat up—

Wait, sat up…

Blurry focus slowly formed images. Suzhen stared in panic at everything before her.

This wasn’t under the moonlit cliff.

Around her were half-drawn gauze curtains, elegant antique tables and chairs outside the curtains, incense burners, small couches, dressing tables—this was an exquisite room. From the corner of her eye, she slowly gathered herself, hearing a light cough. Though terrified, her gaze could no longer avoid returning to the face of the man who was squinting slightly as he observed her.

“Whose name were you calling in your dream just now?”

The man’s face was calm and waveless, but his voice held a trace of coldness. He was gently playing with something in his hand.

Suzhen jolted—all her blood seemed to rush to her head at once. Damn it, that was her hair.

The bun on her head had come undone, black hair falling loose over half her collar.