After that one round of medicine on her hands, Li Shu had lost all strength. She lay in a half-dazed, half-sleeping stupor on the bed.

All at once she felt something tickling softly at her face — like a feather drifting across it, rather pleasant. Li Shu was on the verge of sinking into deeper sleep, but she became aware that the feather was drifting toward her neck.

She was fully awake in an instant. She pushed herself up and reached for her neck with both hands.

Cui Jinzhi saw her bolt upright so abruptly and with such a large motion that he immediately pressed down on her hands and said, “Mind your hands — lie back down!”

Yet the more he pressed her hands, the more Li Shu resisted with some force she seemed to find from nowhere. Even so, Li Shu was a woman, and already not lightly wounded — how could she compete with Cui Jinzhi?

Cui Jinzhi pulled her hands away from her neck with almost no effort at all.

Li Shu had lurched in such a wide, sudden movement, and she had been lying flat just moments before, so her inner robe collar was already loosened. A jade pendant on a black cord swung out into the open.

But she immediately tucked it back beneath the neckline.

Even so, it had been only an instant — but Cui Jinzhi was a man of martial discipline, with sharp eyes. And what was more… what was more, he knew those markings on the jade ornament better than anyone. How could he possibly fail to recognize them?

Cui Jinzhi went utterly still. His throat tightened. He asked, “What is that?”

Li Shu said coldly, “Nothing.”

But Cui Jinzhi kept his gaze fixed on her, pressing: “Answer me. What exactly is that?”

She had always been the most cautious, most careful of people. All these years, so many visits to Qianfu Temple, and not a single incident had ever occurred — so why had last night, of all nights, been the one time she fell from a cliff? Last night… the very night he had discovered her betrayal of the Crown Prince.

And why, ever since she was brought back, had she been deliberately, repeatedly covering her neck?

Cui Jinzhi was not dim-witted. Following the thread of clues, he could piece together the whole picture. He almost despised himself for being so quick — he had understood everything so rapidly, so completely, so clearly.

Yet he was only clinging to resistance, refusing to believe it.

Cui Jinzhi’s voice had gone rough. “Little Sparrow — tell me how you fell from the cliff last night.”

He was searching for one last shred of hope, however impossible.

Li Shu’s voice was perfectly cool. “I slipped.”

This should have been the answer he most wanted to hear — it would mean he did not have to face a brutal choice.

Yet… yet how could he believe it?

Cui Jinzhi suddenly swung one leg up onto the bed. He leaned in close to Li Shu, his breath falling directly on her face. “Tell me the truth.”

Li Shu leaned back slightly and looked up at him with a wholly indifferent expression.

She said nothing, remaining in silence.

Cui Jinzhi suddenly exploded with fury, grinding out each word through clenched teeth: “Tell me — how exactly did you fall from the cliff?!”

Li Shu saw his rage flare up so abruptly, and suddenly let out a laugh.

The gaze she turned on him even carried a trace of pity.

“You already know. Why ask again.”

Before Li Shu’s smile, Cui Jinzhi collapsed backward a step.

The color drained from his face in an instant.

It was the Crown Prince…

The Crown Prince had tried to kill her…

The Crown Prince he was loyal to had tried to kill his own wife…

Cui Jinzhi suddenly let out a laugh — and then the laughter seemed to break loose like a floodgate. He staggered backward, laughing and laughing in a way that bordered on derangement.

The Crown Prince he was loyal to had tried to kill his own wife.

At this moment someone came through the door.

Hong Luo had caught a chill from the rain, and the physician had told her not to attend the Princess for fear of spreading the illness. So it was another maid who brought the medicine, stepping over the threshold with the bowl and saying, “Princess, please drink this while it’s hot. The servants have finished packing and are only waiting for you to rest, and then we may return to the mansion.”

The maid saw the prince consort inside the inner chamber and was thoroughly startled. What was wrong with the prince consort? He was behaving rather strangely — as if half-mad with something.

His face wore what seemed to be extreme pain, and yet he was smiling.

“Return to the mansion?”

Cui Jinzhi heard those words and came to himself at once.

Why was she in such a rush to return? She could perfectly well recover from her injuries at Qianfu Temple for a few more days.

Cui Jinzhi wheeled around and fixed Li Shu with a hard stare. “Are you returning to the mansion — or going to the palace?”

That jade ornament… it was evidence of the Crown Prince’s attempt to murder his own sister.

She was rushing to deliver the jade ornament to the palace. The moment the Emperor saw the evidence, the Crown Prince would…

A brother and sister turning against each other — the Emperor Zhengyuan would certainly have the Crown Prince deposed.

That was why she had been covering her chest all along — she was afraid he would see it.

But the Crown Prince had tried to kill her — how could he possibly expect her to repay grievance with virtue?

Yet if the Crown Prince was deposed… what would become of the aristocratic families like his? Would they simply wait for the Emperor to take them down one by one?

No. The Crown Prince could not be deposed. He was the standard-bearer the great families had raised — he had to ascend the throne.

Cui Jinzhi stared fixedly at Li Shu, his expression shifting violently.

After a long silence, he closed his eyes and made up his mind.

“Little Sparrow.” Cui Jinzhi’s voice was hoarse. “Give me the jade ornament.”

Li Shu looked at him coldly.

So this was his choice.

Even though she had long since considered this possibility, when he actually made the choice, she still felt… a pang of sorrow.

What was there to be sorrowful about? She should have given up on him long ago.

From this moment on, she and Cui Jinzhi were nothing but political opponents. Beyond that, there could never be any other relationship between them.

Li Shu pulled her gaze from Cui Jinzhi’s face and fixed it on the maid, calling out sharply: “Go call the guards!”

The maid had no idea what was happening, but she was above all obedient. Seeing Li Shu’s expression so grave and the prince consort so agitated, she set the medicine bowl down and turned to run for the door.

Cui Jinzhi turned his head and watched her sprint to the doorway. Then he raised his voice suddenly: “Cui Lin — seize her! Have the Ministry of War men take control of the Princess’s guards!”

Then he turned slowly back and advanced on the bed, extending his hand. “Little Sparrow, give me the jade ornament.”

Li Shu’s eyes could have cut Cui Jinzhi into a thousand pieces. She sat on the bed and shifted back one step, one hand pressed over her chest.

Cui Jinzhi swung a leg up onto the bed, pressing closer. “Give it to me.”

His frame was so tall. The morning light poured in through the window, and his shadow fell over Li Shu entirely — like a shadow she could not escape.

Li Shu had nowhere left to retreat. Her back was to the wall, and she clutched the jade ornament at her neck with both hands.

She could not overpower him. Outside were his people from the Ministry of War.

She had never once shown weakness — yet now she wished he could see it.

She had nearly died.

She tilted her face up toward him, looking at him in a posture that was almost supplicating — or perhaps despairing.

“Cui Jinzhi. He wanted to kill me.”

Cui Jinzhi heard this, and his whole body visibly stiffened for a moment. He immediately replied, “It won’t happen again. He won’t. He truly won’t.”

He said “won’t” three times, rapid and forceful as a vow. “I will protect you.”

After he returned to the city, he would settle accounts with the Crown Prince. This was his wife — he would not allow the Prince to touch a single hair on her head ever again.

He leaned down and looked at Li Shu, dropping his voice, his face filled with tender expression. “Give me the jade ornament. I will get you justice.”

Every last shred of Li Shu’s hope extinguished in an instant. She looked at Cui Jinzhi, and the light in her eyes went completely cold.

All the fury from the night between life and death surged up in that moment. Li Shu raised her voice: “What justice can you get me? You are his dog. Do you have the guts to bite him?”

She grabbed the pillow and flung it straight at Cui Jinzhi.

Cui Jinzhi batted the pillow aside and also raised his voice in return: “But you are the one who betrayed first!”

“Why did you plot the grain seizure? And why did you betray him? If none of that had happened, last night would never have happened either!”

Cui Jinzhi stared at Li Shu. “You and I were supposed to be on the same side.”

Li Shu let out a cold laugh. “You chose to be a dog. But I am no longer willing.”

Cui Jinzhi was taken aback.

Before this very moment — even after Li Shu had masterminded the grain seizure — Cui Jinzhi had still convinced himself that if he talked to her, he could pull her back. That they were still in the same camp.

But now, looking at the expression on Li Shu’s face — that look of utter ice — he finally confirmed it with absolute certainty: it was impossible. She would never again stand on the Crown Prince’s side.

His wife was going to ruin his superior. His superior was going to kill his wife.

Two walls, pressing in from both sides, bearing straight down on him, squeezing him ferociously — trapping him and crushing him from every direction.

Stabbed in the chest from the front and in the back from behind, as if a bitter wind had blown clean through him. His body felt hollow, as if every drop of blood had drained away.

He was facing an impossible choice.

Taking advantage of the moment Cui Jinzhi was dazed and still, Li Shu immediately climbed off the bed and ran for the door on bare feet.

Cui Jinzhi snapped back to himself at once and stepped forward, seizing her by the arm.

The Crown Prince could not be deposed.

He pulled Li Shu back toward him, securing her against him. “Little Sparrow. I’ll say this one last time. Give me the jade ornament.”

Li Shu tilted her head to look at him, unyielding. “And I’ll say this one last time as well. He wants to kill me.”

The depths of Cui Jinzhi’s eyes darkened at once, like the surface of an ocean churning with a mighty surge. He clenched his teeth. “Don’t force my hand.”

Li Shu immediately pressed both hands over her neck — but Cui Jinzhi reached out his right hand, extremely slowly, and peeled her hands apart, one finger at a time, pinning her wrists behind her back. Then, slowly, he raised his left hand and took hold of the jade ornament at Li Shu’s neck.

Li Shu watched Cui Jinzhi’s movements in despair, and could only repeat the same words: “He wants to kill me, Cui Jinzhi. He wants to kill me.”

Why could he not stand on her side?

Why could he not help her?

Cui Jinzhi said nothing. The cord of the ornament was short, so his hand rested against Li Shu’s skin.

Those deep-set, expressive phoenix eyes of his gazed at Li Shu with dark intensity. Then he closed his hand around the jade ornament.

Powder spilled from his palm, scattering across the floor.

It was as if a wind had blown the powder into his eyes. The rims of his eyes were red.

He looked at Li Shu without blinking once, with the air of one making a solemn vow: “Nothing like this will ever happen again. I will keep you safe.”

The grip clamped around Li Shu’s wrists finally loosened.

Li Shu took a step back, staring at Cui Jinzhi — and then suddenly swung her arm and struck him across the face with all the strength she had left. It was a resounding blow; Cui Jinzhi’s head was knocked sideways.

He held his head at that angle, looking at the powder scattered across the floor, and said quietly, “Well struck.”

Li Shu raised her arm again and struck Cui Jinzhi a second time across the face, just as hard.

There was something damp on his face. Cui Jinzhi reached up and touched the corner of his mouth, and his hand came back stained with blood.

Li Shu raised her arm a third time, about to land another blow — but the moment her arm swung up, Cui Jinzhi caught it.

It was not his blood. The wounds on Li Shu’s hand had split open.

Li Shu looked at the bloody handprint her palm had left on his face. By all rights it should have looked grotesque — yet his bearing was as pristine and composed as ever. Just as he had been on the day she first saw him, standing in a desolate palace, smiling at her.

Cui Jinzhi held Li Shu by the arm. “Wait until your hands have healed, and you can strike me as much as you like.”

The physician had said her hands needed careful tending and must not be used recklessly.

Li Shu heard this and only let out a cold laugh.

She had nearly lost her life — and now he was telling her to rest her hands.

She suddenly spoke. “Cui Jinzhi — what if I had died?”

If I had tumbled off that cliff and died, what choice would you have made when faced with this jade ornament?

Cui Jinzhi flinched as if struck by an arrow straight to the heart; his pupils contracted in an instant with pain. He said through clenched teeth, “You didn’t die.”

Li Shu fixed her eyes on him, as if to nail him to the spot. “What if… what if I had died?”

If she had died…

Cui Jinzhi turned away abruptly, refusing to meet Li Shu’s eyes.

If she had died…

He refused to think through that possibility.

But Li Shu’s voice was so hoarse it seemed to come from beyond the grave, boring through him and driving straight into his heart: “What if I had died?”

Cui Jinzhi’s body began to tremble slightly. “You didn’t die.”

Li Shu suddenly cried out at full volume: “I’m asking ‘what if’! What if I had died?!”

She was relentless, insisting on an answer.

Cui Jinzhi clenched his fist hard. He stood there for a long moment, silent — not a single word.

He tensed his body and walked, step by step, toward the door.

He pushed the door open, stepped over the threshold, and walked out.

He did not answer Li Shu’s question.