“Then this time, why did you kill the Crown Prince?”

Uh!

Ji Yunshu’s question was asked very calmly.

Kong Yu was neither nervous nor did she deny it.

She only said: “Miss Ji is indeed very clever. I said nothing, yet you know everything.” She paused, smiling bitterly: “Perhaps this is the will of heaven. When a person has done unforgivable evil deeds, there is no way to hide them.”

“You never planned to hide it, did you? Otherwise, you would not have asked me to enter the palace.”

Kong Yu took a light breath and met Ji Yunshu’s eyes.

“Miss Ji, you are not me, so you would not understand. When you want to protect someone, even if it means going to death, I would do so willingly. Regarding the great fire at Chengqing Hall, I knew it could not possibly have been done by the Crown Prince, but this crime, he must bear. Only in this way could Arong be rescued. Therefore, only with the Crown Prince’s death would he have no chance of turning things around, and this incident would be forever pinned on the Crown Prince.”

An absurd reason for murder, yet so sincere it was moving.

Ji Yunshu’s eyes moistened, her chest aching fiercely. She turned to look at the bluestone slabs dampened by fine rain.

For a long while—

Only then did she say: “You clearly knew that if you did these things, you could never turn back.”

Kong Yu was frank: “I know. From the moment I accidentally killed General Yuchi with that dagger, I knew I could never turn back.”

Her bright red lips curved into a moving arc.

Her tone also grew weaker and weaker.

And those clean eyes, as if carrying an innate haziness, gradually tightened and then spread to the surroundings, making it impossible for anyone to discern her thoughts from her gaze.

Ji Yunshu’s nose tingled: “Then, do you regret it?”

She smiled and shook her head!

“No regrets.” Continuing, she said: “Miss Ji, can you promise me two things?”

She looked at Ji Yunshu sincerely, her calm eyes carrying a plea.

Ji Yunshu did not hesitate and nodded.

“Speak.”

Kong Yu said: “I hope you can help me bring Juan’er out of the palace. I don’t want her to spend her entire life in the imperial palace.”

This was the first matter.

Ji Yunshu: “Alright.”

“If one day Arong falls deeply into an endless struggle, I hope you can help him and make him turn back.”

This was the second matter!

Kong Yu was indeed a clever person. She seemed to have foreseen what would happen in the future.

And Ji Yunshu likewise nodded: “I promise you.”

“Thank you.”

Kong Yu finally felt at ease.

Suddenly—

She pressed her chest, her fingers tightly grasping the fabric at her breast. Her curved brows furrowed tightly, and dark red blood flowed from the corners of her lips.

Her body also instantly fell downward, caught by Ji Yunshu.

Kong Yu collapsed to the ground, leaning against her arm. The corners of her mouth pulled into a smile streaked with blood, her eyes weakly drooping.

“Why?” Ji Yunshu asked her in shock.

“This was… my own decision. I will not regret it. From the moment I… married the Crown Prince, I made this decision. I must make a final reckoning for the mistakes I have committed.”

“But you need not do this.” Ji Yunshu choked up.

“Apart from this choice, there is no other choice. Miss Ji, can you… can you promise me one more thing?”

She exerted all her strength, tightly grasping Ji Yunshu’s hand.

“Speak.”

On Kong Yu’s pale face, reflected a red halo. She said: “Please… tell Arong that if… if there is a next life, I would still love him without hesitation, and I would still… quietly… accompany him. Also please tell him not to… not to feel he has wronged me, not to feel guilty. Everything… everything was done willingly by me.”

“Miss Kong…”

Ji Yunshu’s tears fell drop by drop, her throat tightening with grief.

She could not speak a single word!

Kong Yu’s misty gaze looked toward the hazy fine rain and smiled faintly.

The blood in her mouth continued to overflow, flowing toward her delicate neck and bright red wedding gown.

“I seem to… seem to see a peach blossom forest. There is someone… sitting beneath a peach blossom tree, head raised, looking at the falling peach blossoms. He seems… seems to be waiting for me, so I desperately… desperately run toward him. Gradually… I can see his eyebrows, eyes, nose, lips, and also…”

Her voice grew weaker and weaker, more and more indistinct.

Until—

Her hand slipped from the back of Ji Yunshu’s hand and fell onto the cold ground.

Her eyes also slowly closed, while the smile at the corners of her mouth remained throughout.

“Miss Kong?”

The sound of rain grew louder and louder, almost drowning out Ji Yunshu’s calling voice.

And Kong Yu had no reaction.

Ji Yunshu cried until her eyes were red. The pain surging up in her heart at this moment nearly made her lose all reason. Her mouth opened and closed, faintly trembling.

When she shifted her gaze away, she happened to see Muruo standing at the doorway.

He stood there rigidly, a pair of disbelieving eyes staring at Kong Yu in her red robe. His body, having lost its center of gravity, first retreated several steps backward before walking over through the fine rain.

Crouching down, he gently took Kong Yu from Ji Yunshu’s hands into his own embrace.

He immediately exposed her wrist and took her pulse.

“Crane’s crest red!”

Muruo’s eyes revealed an unprecedented despair, yet he did not cry hysterically, nor did he make any other excited movements.

His fingers moved away from Kong Yu’s wrist, carefully touching Kong Yu’s deathly pale face.

For a long while—

He raised his blood-red eyes and looked at Ji Yunshu.

“Why?”

Ji Yunshu sniffled, swallowing back all the tears in her eyes.

Standing up, she said: “The Crown Prince is dead. She probably did not wish to live either.”

Yes, Ji Yunshu lied!

The matter of Kong Yu killing Yuchi Lin, the matter of killing the Crown Prince—she was determined to conceal it all.

“Then, what did she say to you?”

She shook her head and retreated backward.

In the end, she said nothing.

She did not even glance at Muruo before turning and leaving…

Fine rain fell from the sky. She entered the rain, leaving the Eastern Palace and the imperial palace as if she had lost her soul.

She walked stumbling along the main street.

Everything before her eyes was blurred. Combined with the rainwater invading her eyelids, she could not see the direction clearly at all. The coming and going crowds holding umbrellas passed by her side, bumping against her thin shoulders again and again.

Until—

Her body could not support itself anymore. When a force collided fiercely with her, her weakened body also tilted backward along with this force.

Unfortunately—

Her back collided fiercely with another person, and so the two fell to the ground together.

“Ah!”

The person Ji Yunshu knocked down cried out loudly, seemingly calling her distracted self back to consciousness somewhat.