The moment Xuan Yanyu finished speaking, Xiao Wan, Xiaoyue, and the others were brought forward by Ye Chen.

Xuan Yanyu looked at them and suddenly lost all restraint, his voice erupting in a furious roar. “You will all be severely punished. Even if Ningning asked you not to keep night watch, the rules still require you to stand guard nearby at a distance.”

Xiao Wan and Xiaoyue trembled and dared not say a word in reply. They had not imagined that the Crown Princess would send them away only to slip out of the estate herself.

Xuan Yanyu paced back and forth in place, looking on the verge of collapse. His eyes were red at the corners as he fixed them on the attendant who had been on duty in Condensed Fullness Pavilion at the time. “Go to the darkened chamber and receive your punishment.”

The attendant dared not utter a sound. His legs shaking beneath him, he stood and made his way obediently to the darkened chamber.

It wasn’t as if His Highness himself had been muttering about the Crown Princess going to the palace…

The man felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. He ran out through the estate gates, and gradually his head began to clear. “Go… go check the inns. This palace will stop at the Grand Commandant’s estate first.”

If Ningning was not at the palace, then within all of Xuanzhao, the only other places she might have gone were an inn or the Grand Commandant’s estate.

“Understood, Your Highness.” Ye Chen took a portion of the guards and set off at a run toward the administrative office.

The local administrative office kept records of all the shops and establishments in the city, and each day’s revenue was reported to the office as per the Crown Prince’s standing orders. The number of guests checked into every inn each day would naturally be on record — by asking the administrative office to produce the day’s register of all the city’s inns, they could find the Crown Princess far more quickly.

——

The gates of the Grand Commandant’s estate were knocked for the second time that night. The gatekeeper yawned and pulled the door open — and at the sight of a group of guards with long sabers at their hips, he snapped instantly, wide awake.

“Has the Crown Princess come here?” Xuan Yanyu’s voice carried the faintest tremor, hoarse and low.

The oppressive force the man was radiating bore down on everything around him. The gatekeeper felt it like a weight and crumpled to his knees, shaking, barely managing to get out a word. “The… the… the…”

Ye’an tugged at his own master’s sleeve, then crouched down in front of the gatekeeper and put on a gentle smile. “Do not be afraid. Has the Crown Princess come by?”

The gatekeeper clutched at the hem of his clothing, trembling. “She… she did come, but the Crown Princess… only stayed for a short while… then… then she left.”

Before Xuan Yanyu could even feel relieved, he pushed past Ye’an, loomed over the gatekeeper still kneeling on the ground, and with eyes gone a deep crimson, growled in a low, restrained voice, “Where did the Crown Princess go?”

“I… I don’t know.”

Xuan Yanyu clenched his jaw, a suffocating ache pressing in on his chest.

“Your Highness, wait just a moment — this subordinate will go and ask the Grand Commandant’s wife.” Ye’an offered a word of reassurance to Xuan Yanyu and immediately ran inside the estate.

The night wind was growing stronger. Xuan Yanyu tilted his face upward to the sky — an immense, unbroken expanse of blackness, not a single star to be seen, so oppressively dark it was almost hard to breathe.

She was not particularly bold by nature. Where could she have gone?

At this hour, she might be frightened and unable to sleep properly…

“Your Highness.” Ye Chen came running up with the inn register in hand. “The Crown Princess left the estate and went to an inn — she asked for a private room. This subordinate sent a guard with the command token to make inquiries, and the innkeeper said the Crown Princess only stayed a short while. She paid the cleaning fee for the room and checked out.”

“The innkeeper said that when the staff went to clean the room, the only thing they found in the waste basket was some vomited food. The rest of the room needed no cleaning. When the guard came asking, the innkeeper returned the extra silver as well.”

Hearing that Ye Chen said she had gone to an inn and vomited up some food, Xuan Yanyu’s hands, hanging at his sides, would not stop shaking. His throat felt as though it had been stuffed with cotton — he could not get out a single word.

The thought of her retching alone, with no one there for her, sent a searing, bone-deep ache straight through the center of his chest.

“Your Highness, the Grand Commandant’s wife’s maidservant says she too does not know where the Crown Princess has gone. She only said the Crown Princess stayed for a while and then mentioned she was returning to the Crown Prince’s estate — naturally, they did not dare stop her from going back…”

Ye’an relayed what he had found out, his voice laced with unease.

Xuan Yanyu’s breath caught. He clenched his hand with force. Not at the inn, not at the Grand Commandant’s estate, and she had not returned to the estate either. Where could she possibly have gone…

His mind was buzzing. Where could she have gone…

The deep darkness of night lay thick and still and terrifying. The only sounds were the crackling and spitting of the torches held aloft by the guards.

The wind swept past, carrying dust that stung against Xuan Yanyu’s face. His eyes shifted, and something sharpened in his mind. “Go and see whether the Grand Commandant’s wife is still in the estate.”

Ningning had come to the Grand Commandant’s estate alone. Even if Yu Zhi had not dared stop her from returning to the Crown Prince’s estate, she would not have let her go off into the night by herself at this hour.

“Yes, Your Highness.” Ye’an hurried back into the estate at a quick step.

——

The movements from the Crown Prince’s estate, with nearly all the guards dispatched to search for Yan Yunning, were of no small scale — and news of it would naturally reach Prince Xuan in his palace as well.

He wrapped his outer robe around himself and walked out from the inner hall upon hearing Eunuch Feng’s hushed report.

“Has she been found yet?” Prince Xuan’s expression was grim.

He found himself uncertain whether he ought to fault Yan Yunning for behaving rashly.

It was likely the things he had said to her today that had put her in a sulk, and so she had stolen away from the Crown Prince’s estate to give them all a fright.

“Your Majesty, not yet. His Highness the Crown Prince has not yet found the Crown Princess.” Eunuch Feng replied truthfully.

Prince Xuan’s expression faltered. “Not yet?”

He rose abruptly to his feet and began pacing with agitation, his voice low and urgent. “Have they searched the inns?”

“Your Majesty, all of them have been searched. His Highness also went to the Grand Commandant’s estate — the Crown Princess has a maternal aunt there, and yet the Crown Princess apparently did not go to her either.” Eunuch Feng sighed. “Your Majesty, where else could the Crown Princess possibly have gone?”

“How is Yu’er holding up?” Prince Xuan’s heart was in turmoil.

“Your Majesty, His Highness the Crown Prince is nearly out of his mind with worry. His state is very poor.”

Prince Xuan sank back into his imperial throne with a remorseful air. He should not have raised the matter of having Yu’er wed the eldest princess of Qilan with Ningning — she was already in the midst of pregnancy, her emotions running unsteady.

If anything were to happen to the child she was carrying, then the little treasure he had waited so long for would be lost…

Yu’er would harbor resentment toward him for it, and would no longer obediently follow his wishes and go through with the marriage to Qilan’s eldest princess — in which case, he would have gained nothing and lost much…

At this thought, Prince Xuan could sit still no longer. He gritted his teeth and gave the order, “Quickly, dispatch the imperial guards to search. Bring the imperial physician. Ensure at all costs that the Crown Princess and the child she carries are kept safe.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Wait — the matter of the Crown Princess’s disappearance must not be allowed to spread.” Prince Xuan pressed his fingers to his brow.

“Understood, Your Majesty.” Eunuch Feng acknowledged the order with a nod.

At this very moment, in the courtyard of the General’s estate, the candlelight swayed in the wind. Inside one of the rooms, Yu Zhi watched over the now-sleeping Yan Yunning, and with a look of clear displeasure, she drew Lu Jin’an out of the chamber.

“My Lady, you must be tired as well — do go and rest.”

“Nanny Lu,” Yu Zhi said, her voice carrying a mild reproach, “why did you keep urging Ningning earlier to return to the Crown Prince’s estate first thing tomorrow morning?”

Even though Ningning had said nothing, was it not plain to see?

Her Ningning had been wronged.

Their father had given so much for Xuanzhao — if Ningning did not wish to go back, then so be it. Was Xuan Yanyu going to have them killed for it? Prince Xuan would not allow it either. If he would, then by now Xuanzhao would long since have had a new general, and Prince Xuan would not have kept their family’s estate, leaving it standing here for them to come and stay in whenever they pleased.

Nanny Lu had come a few days after Aci’s arrival, had asked for a few maidservants, and had taken up independent residence in the General’s estate.