The Crown Grandson suppressed the anger rising within him and said coldly, “Rongyue — put the letter back.”

His tone was hard as stone.

Jiang Rongyue felt a wave of pain wash over her heart, and all the grievances she had swallowed since their wedding surged up at once.

She bit her lip and, for the first time, pushed back. “No. I won’t.”

The Crown Grandson nearly thought he had misheard. He glared at her with fury. “Jiang Rongyue — what did you just say?”

Jiang Rongyue’s eyes filled with a thin mist, her voice on the verge of breaking — though what showed more was defiance. “I said no. You hid a letter like this inside your sleeve — why should I, as your wife, not be permitted to read it?”

The Crown Grandson, exasperated, shot back, “Stop making a scene. This was a message passed by secret agents from inside the palace —”

“Would Your Highness still be this agitated if this were not a message about Ling Jingshu?” Jiang Rongyue lifted her head swiftly to meet his gaze, her eyes full of accusation.

The Crown Grandson found himself, absurdly, a little stricken by his own guilty conscience. He pressed his lips together and said in a low, heavy tone, “You are being unreasonable.”

“Whether it is I who am unreasonable or Your Highness who feels guilty — that, Your Highness knows perfectly well in your own heart.”

Jiang Rongyue’s words came through tears. “Though I have not been married to Your Highness long, I believe I have been wholehearted and without fault. Your Highness holds another in your heart and has always been cold toward me — though my heart aches, I have no face to speak of it to anyone. I can only swallow the bitterness and keep it within.”

“Your Highness cares for Ling Jingshu. In a year or two, when the time comes to take her as a side consort, I would not stand in the way. Because I know Your Highness does not belong to me alone. Having married into the Crown Prince’s household, I must accept the reality of Your Highness having a family of women around you.”

“But now Ling Jingshu is within the palace walls, and she has received our imperial grandfather’s favor and been kept here at the Palace of Purple Dawn. What this means, Your Highness understands more clearly than I do. Your Highness ought to put this feeling to rest.”

“Your Highness chose to keep that letter — which means Your Highness has not made up your mind. And yet I am carrying Your Highness’s child. Your Highness is consumed with thoughts of Ling Jingshu — when do you intend to spare a thought for me, for the child, for the Crown Prince and Crown Princess?”

Each sentence cut sharper than the last.

The Crown Grandson was already in a state of inner turmoil, and hearing this only sent his fury shooting higher and higher. “Jiang Rongyue — when did I ever say I had no regard for the safety of the Crown Prince’s household or for those around me? Out of consideration for your pregnancy, I do not wish to quarrel with you. Put that letter back. Now.”

Pregnant women are fragile in their emotions to begin with. At the Crown Grandson’s outburst, Jiang Rongyue felt her heart grow even more aggrieved and sorrowful — and without thinking, she tore the letter to shreds.

The Crown Grandson’s fury surged, and in a fit of rage he strode forward, seized Jiang Rongyue’s wrist in a crushing grip, and ground out between his teeth, “Who gave you permission to tear that letter? Jiang Rongyue — you have gone too far!”

Her wrist was seized so tightly it hurt.

But it was nothing compared to the sharp, piercing anguish in her heart.

Jiang Rongyue’s tears poured down freely, and she cried out, “Yes — I am the one who has gone too far. I am the one who tore the letter. I refuse to allow you to go and rescue Ling Jingshu — I want you to forget her —”

Before she could finish, a wrenching pain seized her abdomen. Her face went white, and she lost consciousness and crumpled.

This is bad — the child must be in danger.

The Crown Grandson’s face changed in an instant. He quickly wrapped his arms around her. “Someone come — send for the imperial physician at once!”

Fortunately there were imperial physicians in permanent residence at the Crown Prince’s household. In less than a quarter of an hour, one arrived. After taking the pulse, the physician’s expression was grave, and he wrote out a prescription for stabilizing the pregnancy.

Some of the ingredients were kept in stock at the household; one or two were not, and had to be purchased from a medicine shop outside. By the time the ingredients were assembled and the medicine decocted and administered, everything was in a chaotic frenzy.

The Crown Princess and the Crown Prince heard the news and hurried over.

The Crown Princess entered the bedchamber; the Crown Prince could not appropriately enter his daughter-in-law’s room, and called the Crown Grandson outside to ask what had happened.

At this point, there was no possibility of concealment.

The Crown Grandson recounted the events with a dark and brooding expression.

Having listened to the full account, the Crown Prince — who was habitually mild and gentle — let his face grow stern, and delivered a sharp reproof. “Rongyue is right. You are acting with outright recklessness. Matters within the palace — never mind you, even I would not dare to interfere carelessly. Your imperial grandfather, however aged, remains the Son of Heaven upon the dragon throne for as long as he lives. No one may defy his will.”

“To say nothing of a mere Ling Jingshu — even if your imperial grandfather were to reopen the imperial selection and take on a great many new consorts, no one would dare say a word against it, let alone dare stand in the way. You should not presume upon whatever favor you have been shown and think you can contend with your imperial grandfather.”

“From this day forward, put Ling Jingshu out of your mind entirely. If in time she wins favor in the palace and becomes an imperial consort, that is her own fortune and destiny. It has nothing to do with you.”

These words fell like a bucket of ice water poured from above.

Drenching the Crown Grandson head to toe in cold.

The Crown Grandson clenched his teeth and said in a low voice, “Father — is there truly no way at all? If I were to enter the palace and appeal to Imperial Grandfather — speak my heart to him, ask him to bestow Ling Jingshu upon me — Imperial Grandfather has always doted on me. Perhaps he would agree…”

“And you yourself said ‘perhaps.'” The Crown Prince cut him off without expression. “That is only a possibility. The far greater possibility is that your imperial grandfather is angered, and dresses you down. Not only would you fail to have your wish, you would have enraged him.”

“With Empress Xu and Princess Changping having fallen one after the other, Prince Yan has lost all support within the palace. Yet his ambitions are undiminished — he flatters and courts your imperial grandfather on one side while quietly gathering followers and soothing his faction on the other. With such a powerful enemy at your flank, rather than thinking of how to deal with him, you are indulging yourself in romantic whims.”

“With the realm in hand, there would be no shortage of women. Which matters more and which less — can you not even see that clearly? You are a deep disappointment to me.”

The last few words struck like a heavy fist, landing squarely on the Crown Grandson’s heart.

His father had always expected great things of him, and had always held him in particular esteem and affection.

Such hard words — they had never come before. Not once.

Could he truly do nothing but watch helplessly as Ling Jingshu sank into the depths of the palace, and yielded herself to a man old enough to be her grandfather?

The Crown Grandson’s heart was in an agony like the twisting of a blade. Tears glimmered in his eyes.

The Crown Prince, of course, understood his own son’s nature well enough.

The Crown Grandson had been a proud and unyielding boy from childhood, never showing weakness before others. Even when he had suffered a grievous injury and the Crown Prince’s household had descended into desperate straits, he had stood with his chest held high and carried the whole household on his back. That the household had remained stable to this day was in no small part owing to him.

Such a proud and obstinate young man — yet here he was, brought to softness and sorrow over a woman, even to the point of tears.

This was the gravest weakness for one in a position of power.

To care too deeply for another was to create a vulnerability — a soft point through which one could be broken. He was destined in the future to inherit the dynasty and sit upon the dragon throne. How could he afford to be so swayed by romantic feeling?

At this thought, whatever softening had begun in the Crown Prince’s heart hardened once more. He said coldly, “Wipe your eyes. Stand tall. Great deeds cannot be accomplished by those who are ruled by sentiment. From this day forward — put Ling Jingshu behind you entirely.”