A’Luo leaned against Liu Jue’s chest, and upon hearing that palace messengers wanted him to bring her into the palace, she opened her eyes gently to look at him. His face was set in a scowl, clearly still in the grip of anger. She sighed inwardly, thinking that this trip into the palace would likely bring more ill than good. Why hasn’t Zili arrived yet? If this act goes on much longer, even if it doesn’t kill me, it’ll take half my life.

“Inform Chancellor Li that the Third Young Lady was abducted and injured — this king is taking her back to the manor to recuperate.” Liu Jue ignored the palace messenger and instructed Xuan Yi to go to Chancellor Li’s residence.

“You’re Zhong Youshan, aren’t you?” Liu Jue finally addressed the palace messenger slowly.

“This lowly one is indeed. Prince Pingnan has an excellent memory,” Zhong Youshan replied with a smiling bow.

“The scoundrels who abducted the Third Young Lady have already been executed. The Third Young Lady is deeply frightened and injured. Report back to His Highness the Crown Prince — this king is bringing her back to the manor. Once her body has recovered, she will go to the palace to offer thanks.”

“This — this is—” Zhong Youshan looked quite troubled. The Chancellor’s Third Young Lady was completely wrapped and hidden within Liu Jue’s cloak, motionless, curled up in his arms. He couldn’t see how badly she was hurt, yet how was he supposed to go back and report this?

Liu Jue paid him no mind, gently drawing his horse’s reins and moving to his side, then pausing. “This king is bringing his future consort back to the manor to recover. What, does Attendant Zhong wish to take over that duty?”

Zhong Youshan flinched in fright. “Please proceed slowly, Your Highness, this lowly one will go report back at once!”

Liu Jue grunted and let slip a remark as he rode past. “I hear this place belongs to Prince Li — who knows when it became a den for scoundrels like this. Attendant Zhong, do trouble yourself to seal it off.” With that, he rode past the palace guards and headed for the manor.

Along the way, his heart churned with both frustration and resentment — how was it that he still ended up protecting her? Once inside the palace, as long as she dared to have anything more to do with Prince Li, she wouldn’t be allowed to set foot outside the palace gates again — she’d end up as a sacrificial pawn in Liu Fei’s bid for the throne. He knew Liu Fei was well aware of how things stood with A’Luo; whatever happened, Liu Fei would never let her sacrifice her life. But then — why did she still cling to Liu Fei? She’d said she regretted it, that she’d fought him and declared she’d rather die than go with him. The fire in Liu Jue’s chest flared up again, and he spurred his horse on hard, riding straight into Songfeng Hall.

He carried A’Luo into the bedchamber and said to Qing Ying, “Tell the Qing Squad — twelve hours a day on guard. Anyone entering Songfeng Hall without permission — kill them.”

Qing Ying, who had taken over command of the Qing Squad after Liu Ying left, hesitated somewhat. “That — the old Prince—”

“Stop him. If you can’t stop him, then let him walk over your corpse to get in!” Liu Jue thought, the old man had better not barge in and get A’Luo killed — best to guard against him too. “Xuan Yi, go find out why word reached the Eastern Palace so quickly!”

“This subordinate obeys!” Qing Ying and Xuan Yi answered crisply.

Liu Jue carried A’Luo into the inner chamber and tossed her onto the couch. A’Luo, her head spinning from the fall, took a while to recover before crying out, “Let go of me! My hands hurt!”

“Hurt? Now it hurts? Do you even know what pain is? Hm?” Liu Jue lifted her chin, his eyes fierce. “Do you know how much pain I’m in?”

A’Luo instinctively tried to shrink back. Liu Jue held her face still, not letting her move. “I forgot — three years ago I should have already understood. You’ve always been like this, drifting and uncertain, you’ve never once given me a clear answer. You’ve never even once lied to me and said you liked me! Now I finally understand — you’re pining for him, for your Zili, aren’t you? How deeply devoted! On your wedding day he abandoned his own bride to come chasing after you at the Chancellor’s residence! He wants the throne, he’s in a difficult position, and you feel for him so much you’re willing to help him get what he wants, is that it? You still can’t let go of him, can you? So there really is someone else in your heart!”

Liu Jue’s voice grew louder, his pain deepening; a faint bloodshot tinge rose in his eyes. He was already at the peak of fury. “How could I forget — I remember you sneaking off with him in the dead of night to watch the stars on the grasslands, remember you falling peacefully asleep in his arms! How could I forget the two of you playing flute and pipe together, hearts perfectly in tune! You didn’t even flee to the border city — was it because you were afraid of implicating him? Afraid of ruining his grand plans?”

A’Luo, startled and distressed, shook her head sharply. “It’s not like that!” A mist rose in her eyes, glinting like gemstones soaked in water, clear and lustrous.

“Then how is it?!” Liu Jue roared.

If you trusted me, would you interrogate me like this? If it weren’t to help you fulfill your duty, your grand ambitions, why would I have gone through all this? A’Luo’s heart was full of grievance, tears streaming down in strings, but she stayed silent.

“All these three years I’ve thought of nothing but you, worried myself sick over you, and this is how you repay me? Those tender moments in Linnan City, the ice pendant I painstakingly crafted for you — was all of that just you humoring me?!” Liu Jue grew angrier the more he spoke, and seeing A’Luo silently shedding tear after tear — still crying for Liu Fei? — he let out a great roar and struck out with his palm.

A’Luo only felt a fierce gust of wind bearing down on her, closed her eyes, and thought, strike me dead, then, if you want. The strike veered aside at the last moment, smashing the small side table beside the couch to splinters. She flinched, anger rising within her, and opened her eyes. “Let go of me. I’ll explain everything properly — keep me tied up like this and I’ll end up crippled.”

“Crippled would be fine! I regret not crippling you sooner, so you couldn’t go anywhere at all!” Liu Jue, still in the grip of his fury, was utterly unreasonable. A’Luo rolled her eyes and decided not to bother arguing with him. Never mind — now that I’m at Anqing Manor, that old fox will find a way.

Little did she know that her attitude only made Liu Jue angrier still. On impulse, he untied the rope binding her. A’Luo rubbed her wrists, already bruised dark, thinking irritably — if you hadn’t moved me, I wouldn’t be helping you at all, and now I have to suffer through this? With a temper like yours, no wonder your family’s old fox keeps things from you. Just as she was thinking this, she felt herself lifted off the ground — Liu Jue had already picked her up and was carrying her toward the rear hall. “What are you doing?! Put me down!”

Liu Jue ignored her, turning past a screen into a space draped with heavy curtains, mist rising from the water within. He tossed her straight into the pool. A’Luo let out a shriek as she fell into the water. When she surfaced, she saw Liu Jue standing there with a grim expression, undressing.

Frightened, she cried out, “Don’t you dare, Liu Jue! Don’t make me hate you!”

“Hate me? Suit yourself. I’ve indulged you too much already — that’s exactly why you’ve become so fickle!” Liu Jue said unhurriedly, shrugging off his outer robe and loosening his inner garments.

A’Luo scrambled desperately to the far side of the pool. Her clothes clung to her, soaked through and unbearably heavy — it was still cold in the second month, and the damp fabric weighed on her miserably. She glanced around; the only way out was the door through which Liu Jue had carried her in. “Liu Jue, let me ask you—” Before she could finish, Liu Jue was already closing in. A’Luo, giving up on finishing her sentence, kicked out at him and struck with the blade of her hand. Liu Jue dodged aside, reached out, grabbed the hem of her robe, and yanked hard, sending her tumbling back into the water with a splash.

Wiping the water from her face, A’Luo looked up to find Liu Jue’s solid chest already close before her. His eyes gleamed with a dangerous light, water sliding down his face and body, his sharply carved features striking and vigorous. A’Luo’s face flushed; she shook her head in exasperation, thinking, what kind of time is this to be admiring how good-looking he is, like some lovestruck fool. Liu Jue pulled her close; A’Luo braced her hands against his chest, turning her head aside, and said with forced composure, “Not now. Not like this. I can’t talk to you properly if you keep this up.”

Liu Jue snorted coldly, seized her hands, and pinned them behind her back, then forcefully pushed her down into the water. A’Luo, unable to move, felt Liu Jue’s head lower and his lips meet hers as the water rose over her; unable to help herself, she opened her mouth to breathe, and Liu Jue sealed her lips with his own, watching with satisfaction as she clung to him, desperate and helpless, for the air he gave her.

A’Luo’s mind slowly grew hazy, her limbs gradually weakening. Liu Jue gazed at her flushed, dazed, beautiful face and did not let go. The feeling of her depending on him like this was so pleasant that he couldn’t bear to release her. The desire to have her surged so strongly that, with a tearing sound, Liu Jue ripped open the outer layer of her robe. The sound of tearing fabric rang sharp and clear. A’Luo snapped abruptly back to full awareness. Her eyes showed a pleading look, gazing at Liu Jue, brimming with water.

He froze for a moment, then lifted her out of the water and pressed her against the edge of the pool, breathing hard. “A’Luo — why?”

A’Luo, weak from his kisses, leaned against him and said softly, “Don’t do this.”

Liu Jue looked at her, a mixture of sorrow and anguish in his eyes. With a single strike, his palm sent up a great splash of water that drenched them both. Liu Jue let out a long, anguished cry, released her, and leapt out of the pool, storming off without even putting on his outer robe.

A’Luo finally let out a breath of relief, sinking back into the warm pool water. Liu Jue would never truly hurt her after all. She sighed, took off her outer robe, and enjoyed a proper, leisurely bath.

Liu Jue snatched up a sword and stormed out of Songfeng Hall, dancing through a flurry of sword strokes in the woods. The blossoming flashes of his blade dazzled Prince Anqing, watching from a distance, into a series of sighs.

Liu Jue couldn’t quite name the feeling churning inside him. He hated himself — hated that even now he couldn’t bring himself to go through with it. Should I let her go? Should I give her up to him? Just the thought tore at him with unbearable pain. Is loving someone supposed to mean suffering like this? He gathered his inner energy and hurled the sword with all his might toward where Prince Anqing stood, letting out a long, sorrowful cry, like a wounded wolf, alone and helpless.

Startled, Prince Anqing dodged aside just in time — even twenty zhang away, the sword still struck the tree beside him with a resonant “thunk,” trembling and humming. Prince Anqing jumped and cursed aloud. “You rebellious son, trying to murder your own father, are you?” He started moving toward the woods. He had only taken two steps when Qing Ying leapt out. “Your Highness, my master has ordered—”

“Bah, ordered me to walk over your corpse, is that it? That fool of a son is just afraid I’ll kill the girl he’s fallen for!” Prince Anqing scoffed. His eyes narrowed.

Qing Ying held back a laugh and lay down on the ground, playing dead in earnest. Prince Anqing kicked him and walked around him into the woods.

Liu Jue lay on the ground, two tears sliding down his cheeks. “Tsk tsk, so this son of mine can cry too.”

Liu Jue rolled over and clung to Prince Anqing, throwing himself into his father’s arms like a child. “Father, I’m suffering, truly suffering!”

For so many years, he had left this son behind at the manor, in the care of the Black-Robe Guard, while he himself went off to the border city. Prince Anqing’s eyes grew moist, an ache spreading warmly and bittersweetly in his chest — his son had grown up, and had finally found himself a bride at last. How proud he was of this son. Not a trace of coldness in him, so passionate, so true to his feelings. Truly like his father! “Son, do you know — you are the son of Prince Anqing, you are Ning Guo’s renowned Prince Pingnan, do you understand your responsibilities?”

“Father, haven’t I done well enough already?”

“Very well indeed. You’ve already come this far, very well done. There’s no need to keep it from you any longer. This bride of yours — your father is very satisfied with her.” Prince Anqing chuckled softly.

Liu Jue froze. “What did you say?”

Prince Anqing sprang back two steps and said seriously, “Come with me to the study.”