He was the finest beauty in the imperial city — and the most mysterious existence within the entire imperial clan.

Unrivaled looks beneath the heavens, strategies both ancient and unparalleled, a temperament as unpredictable as it was inscrutable, and supreme, boundless power!

No one knew why he had appeared in such a place — in the bed of the Feng Family’s Ninth Miss.

Yet with a face like that, with a bearing so transcendent and otherworldly, even with his robes in disarray and his hair disheveled, one could not conjure a single improper thought in connection with him.

“Ninth Imperial Uncle!” Zhan Yuheng started, then immediately his expression changed, and he strode forward to bow in greeting.

Prince Shezheng! The man on Feng Jiu’er’s bed was none other than Prince Shezheng, Zhan Qingcheng — the very man before whom even the current Emperor would show deference!

Feng Junzhuo panicked. He rushed forward and dropped to his knees with a resounding thud: “This subject pays his respects to Ninth Prince!”

Most of the others had never even seen the true face of the legendary Ninth Prince. The moment they heard Feng Junzhuo’s cry of obeisance, who among them dared to be negligent? One by one they knelt, voices trembling as they called out: “We pay our respects to Ninth Prince!”

Feng Qingyin had been so frightened she could not even find her voice — only after Feng Junzhuo snapped at her in fury did she jolt back to her senses and drop hastily to her knees.

“We pay our respects to Ninth Prince!”

The entire room held its collective breath, not daring to exhale even once.

Only Zhan Yuheng still dared to raise his eyes and look.

The man on the bed was deathly pale, and at the center of his brow, a faint dark purple tinge was visible — unmistakably the mark of someone who had been drugged!

Ninth Imperial Uncle had been wounded!

Zhan Yuheng moved to step forward, when suddenly a black-robed figure swept in like the wind, and in an instant had planted himself squarely in Zhan Yuheng’s path.

“My lord, this subordinate has failed you — the assassin has escaped!”

Yu Jingfeng, the personal guard at Ninth Prince’s side, swept his large palm outward, and the curtains dropped immediately back into place, concealing Zhan Qingcheng’s face — that face so beautiful it would make even women envious — from view in an instant.

Yu Jingfeng inclined slightly toward Zhan Yuheng: “Prince Yuheng, His Highness requires this chamber for the night. Please withdraw.”

“Very well.” Zhan Yuheng asked no further questions — matters concerning his Ninth Imperial Uncle were not his place to pry into.

He bowed once more toward the man behind the curtain, then turned and departed.

“This…” Feng Junzhuo hesitated, his expression troubled. With Ninth Prince here, then… where was Feng Jiu’er?

Yu Jingfeng’s expression darkened. “Get out!” he snapped.

In the blink of an eye, the entire room cleared out completely. Not one person dared to linger a moment longer.

Ninth Prince had requisitioned this chamber — who would dare stand in the way? Even the Emperor himself would raise no objection, let alone the likes of them.

But where was Feng Jiu’er? Had she not been said to have been meeting a man in secret? Where was she now?

Could it be that the man she had met in secret was actually Ninth Prince?

Ridiculous! Impossible! Ninth Prince possessed the bearing of a celestial being. With a face like that of Feng Jiu’er — so hideous as it was — even if she were stripped bare and presented before him, she couldn’t earn so much as a sideways glance from him.

“Search! Scour every inch of Feng Manor if you must — find her!”

Only once he was far enough from the chamber did Feng Junzhuo dare unleash his fury and shout: “Quickly!”

“Yes!” A group of servants immediately scattered in all directions to search.

……

Inside the chamber, Yu Jingfeng bowed his head, not daring to glance even once toward the bed. “My lord…”

There was clearly still another presence on the bed — a woman. Had Prince Yuheng taken even a few more steps closer, he would certainly have sensed it.

Feng Jiu’er struggled to pry away the hand covering her lips, but before she could break free, her body suddenly went light again.

She had been hauled up by someone!

In an instant, those two figures had vanished into the deep and endless night…