And yet the way Yu’er had behaved today — that was not it at all. He had watched Yu’er grow up from infancy; did he not know his own son’s character?

Ye Jian let out a muffled grunt of pain.

“This subject begs Your Majesty’s forgiveness.” Panic stirred in the depths of Ye Jian’s eyes.

He had known His Majesty would never bring himself to lay a hand on the Crown Prince — and so the unlucky ones were always him and Ye Chen.

“Please calm your anger, Your Majesty.” Ye Chen lay flat against the ground, cold sweat seeping continuously from his brow.

The Crown Prince had rushed off to see the second young miss of the Yan family and still dragged all of them along — how had he managed to forget them both?!

“Speak — what did Yu’er do with Yan Yunning?” Prince Xuan’s face was taut.

“In reply to Your Majesty, His Highness… His Highness would buy food for the second young miss of the Yan family.” Ye Jian’s voice trembled with instability.

He had carried the second young miss on his back along the mountain paths — that he absolutely could not say. His Majesty cherished the Crown Prince like a jewel in his palm; if he knew the Crown Prince had carried the second young miss over difficult mountain terrain, the second young miss would be in mortal danger.

“What else?” A thread of cold intent passed through Prince Xuan’s eyes.

“His Highness would also… would also lend the second young miss silver.” After much deliberation, Ye Chen managed to produce a single sentence.

“Your Majesty, this subordinate believes that compared to the second young miss, His Highness cares far more about the first young miss — His Highness was even wounded while protecting the elder miss of the Yan family.” Ye Chen added the remark with a trembling hand.

Beside him, Ye Jian closed his eyes. That fool — to shield the second young miss, he didn’t need to throw himself into the fire with her.

“You two have remained at Yu’er’s side all this time, and yet you still allowed him to be injured.” Prince Xuan’s face hardened, and he bellowed in fury: “Drag them out and flog them each fifty strokes!”

“Your Majesty, please show mercy.” Ye Chen was pressed down to the ground by the guards, his expression stricken with fear.

Fifty strokes — would they even survive?

“This subject implores Your Majesty’s forgiveness. From this day forward, this subject vows to guard His Highness the Crown Prince with his life. Should this ever happen again, Your Majesty may punish both of us accordingly.” Ye Jian’s hands turned to ice.

“Your Majesty, these two have long served the Crown Prince and are well accustomed to his ways. If they are injured, His Highness will be left without servants he trusts — and then he will be the one making things difficult for Your Majesty.” Eunuch Feng gently counselled.

Ye Chen kept swallowing, over and over. When the Crown Prince ascended the throne, he would no longer prevent His Highness from banishing Eunuch Feng from the palace.

Prince Xuan’s expression remained dark and cold. “If this happens again, there will be no mercy.”

“This subordinate is grateful to Your Majesty.”

“This subordinate is grateful to Your Majesty.”

Ye Jian and Ye Chen exhaled with relief.

“Continue — tell Us what else Yu’er has done.” Prince Xuan’s dark eyes fixed on them like weights.

Ye Jian: “……”

Ye Chen: “……”

Was His Majesty never going to let this go? Why did he keep asking?

Why did he not go and question the Crown Prince himself instead of cornering them with relentless questions?

A glint passed through Ye Jian’s eyes. “Your Majesty, His Highness also… shared a room with the second young miss of the Yan family for the night.”

Prince Xuan’s eyes brightened ever so slightly, and the chill in his voice softened a fraction. “Is that so?”

Heaven knew how desperately he wanted a royal grandchild right now.

Though he hoped his eldest legitimate grandchild would be born of the Yan family’s first daughter, it was becoming clear that would not be possible. Having a grandchild later adopted under the first daughter’s name would amount to the same thing.

“This subordinate would not dare deceive Your Majesty. His Highness shared a room with the second young miss of the Yan family on more than one occasion.”

He had not lied — they had indeed shared a room. The only thing he omitted was that one had slept in the bed, and the other on the small couch. The Crown Prince had been the one sleeping on the small couch. He remembered his shock that early morning when he had gone in to fold the bedding.

Prince Xuan gave a short laugh. “Rise, both of you. Go attend to Yu’er.”

“This subordinate thanks Your Majesty.”

“This subordinate thanks Your Majesty.”

Once Ye Jian and Ye Chen had gone far enough, Eunuch Feng smiled warmly: “Your Majesty, this second young miss has received His Highness’s favour — shall we send a formal proposal to Qilan?”

“No need. When the time comes, after the elder Yan girl weds into the family, the second young miss will enter as secondary consort alongside her.” Prince Xuan narrowed his eyes, a deep, considering look settling in his gaze.

For now, it was still unclear whether she carried any child. Given how much Yu’er favoured her, if she entered first, Yu’er might refuse to marry the elder Yan girl at all. If he forced the marriage, knowing Yu’er’s temperament, his son would likely grow distant and cold toward him.

He would wait and observe. If Yu’er proved unable to see reason, he would approach the Qilan Emperor himself — the elder Yan girl must be Xuanzhao’s Crown Princess and, in time, its Empress.

……

Ranle Palace.

Xuan Zhaonan led her maidservant out of the great hall and, with characteristic thoughtfulness, pulled the doors shut behind her.

Yan Yunning lowered her gaze, her long lashes fluttering in slow thought. She was calculating how to perform her surprise convincingly enough that Xuan Yanyu would not suspect she had known all along he was the Crown Prince.

“Lost your wits?” The lazy amusement in Xuan Yanyu’s voice curled around her ears.

Yan Yunning’s eyes went wide with an expression of theatrical shock. “You… how can you be the Crown Prince?!”

Xuan Yanyu asked with perfect composure: “Why can I not be the Crown Prince?”

Yan Yunning pressed her lips together. How was she supposed to answer that?

Xuan Yanyu flicked her on the forehead. “Where is the token I gave you?”

Yan Yunning pressed a hand to her forehead and stepped back, then retrieved the token from her purse and held it out to him.

Xuan Yanyu’s long, elegant fingers took hold of the jade piece and turned it over idly, his manner seemingly casual. “How did you know this token could get you into Xuanzhao?”

Yan Yunning let out an exaggerated cry of surprise. “How was I supposed to know? I only thought — your surname is Xuan, so perhaps your token would come in handy. I never imagined it would actually work.”

Xuan Yanyu gave a soft laugh; the hand toying with the token paused ever so slightly. “Yan Yunning, this Crown Prince is no fool.”

Yan Yunning dropped her gaze. Her mind raced. Perhaps she should simply knock him out with the incense Sister Wen had given her — she still had it on her.

The problem was, if she rendered him unconscious, she couldn’t exactly walk out of the Prince Xuan’s palace on her own.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince — honourable, esteemed Crown Prince — it truly was a coincidence.” Yan Yunning narrowed her eyes into a smile, and quietly slipped around to stand behind him, placing both hands on his shoulders and beginning to knead them.

Xuan Yanyu reclined against the chaise longue and closed his eyes with languid ease, his quiet laugh repeating her words: “A coincidence?”

“Yes.” Yan Yunning nodded earnestly. “How could this humble woman ever deceive Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Xuan Yanyu’s eyes snapped open. His neck tilted back slightly, and his deep black eyes regarded her with an expression caught between a smile and something else — then, with a silent concession, he let it go. What was the point of quarrelling with her?

Yan Yunning’s gaze fell, resting on the man’s prominent throat. She pressed her lips together hard. Light spilled through the latticed window and fell across his face, casting a drowsy, languid outline — the entirety of it so handsome it made one’s heart stammer out of control.

Xuan Yanyu extended a hand and curled it around the back of the young woman’s neck, drawing her down toward him. Yan Yunning stared at the magnified, striking face before her and swallowed nervously.

Too… too close.

“Yan Yunning — stay in Xuanzhao.” The man’s palm cradled the back of her head, his voice low and soft, edged with a faint roughness.

Yan Yunning looked at him and said nothing.

“Yan Yunning — stay by my side.” Xuan Yanyu’s voice was a deep, resonant murmur.

Yan Yunning felt the heat rise up her cheeks in a sudden rush, warm and flooding.

The man raised his hand and brushed it across her faintly flushed cheek. His slender fingertip lingered seemingly without intent on her lips.

Yan Yunning knocked his hand away and scrambled to her feet, exhaling a long, slow breath.

He was the future Prince Xuan. To have only one woman in the imperial harem was clearly not a realistic expectation — even if he held no affection for them, for the sake of binding the allegiances of powerful factions, for the sake of winning over ministers, he would inevitably take consorts.