“Go look somewhere else.” Feng Jiu’er had always paid close heed to her sixth sense.

Some things could simply not be explained, and yet they were undeniably real.

The defenses of the inner palace were truly far too relaxed — not a shred of what a palace ought to look like. Along an entire long corridor, only two guards ambled past, guards who were plainly short on actual defensive capability even at a glance.

Xue Gu, when it came to Feng Jiu’er’s words, trusted them instinctively and without reason.

The two of them turned and made their way toward the direction of the Yurhe king’s chamber. The moment they left the boundaries of the inner palace, the difference was immediately palpable — a atmosphere of strict, unyielding vigilance closed around them.

Just as she had thought — it was an entirely different world here. The guards on this side were what a palace’s defenses ought to look like.

Patrol after patrol of guards cycled through without a gap — almost no opening in the surveillance at all. It was not much different from what Feng Jiu’er had seen at the Bei Mu palace.

“There are skilled fighters lying in ambush nearby,” Xue Gu said quietly. “We cannot go any further — we’ll alert them.”

Feng Jiu’er immediately stopped her steps. Her own inner cultivation was not as deep as Xue Gu’s, and of course she knew to heed her.

Skilled fighters whose presence she could not even sense — they must truly be formidable. Jiu’er turned it over in her mind for a moment, and then her expression shifted slightly. “This is bad. Lian Consort may be in danger tonight!”

Feng Jiu’er took the lead, hurrying back in the direction of the inner palace. Xue Gu followed close behind.

Lian Consort’s chamber was unusually quiet tonight as well. Lian Consort sat alone inside, staring blankly at the window.

The servants attending her had been replaced — the palace maid from before was gone. But now that she bore the weight of guilt upon her, regardless of who waited on her, Lian Consort seemed not to care.

Seeing that Lian Consort paid no attention and gave no instructions, the young palace maid quietly withdrew of her own accord and went to sleep.

No one could have anticipated that not long after the maid left, Lian Consort would be strung up by someone — very nearly losing her life.

“Don’t blame us. If you want to blame anyone, blame yourself for your improper conduct and for incurring the king’s wrath.” The two eunuchs hauled Lian Consort up with great force, their eyes cold and utterly without mercy.

Lian Consort struggled with all she had, but it was no use — she could not break free at all.

“The king has issued no decree ordering Lian Consort’s death. On whose orders have you come to harm Lian Consort?”

With a sharp sound, the white silk strip that had been used to string Lian Consort up was cut by something unseen. Lian Consort let out a sharp cry and plummeted from above.

Xue Gu moved instantly, catching her with both arms and setting her steadily on the ground.

The two eunuchs, still in shock, saw that someone had come to interfere and immediately made to flee.

But before they could reach the door, their ankles suddenly gave way beneath them, and both men crashed to the floor at the same moment — unable even to crawl back up.

“Jiu’er, come take a look at her quickly.” Xue Gu called out in a low voice.

It was rare to see Xue Gu’s expression change. Feng Jiu’er’s heart lurched, and she thought that beyond being strung up, Lian Consort must have also been made to swallow poison or something of the sort.

But when she went over, she found that what had so startled Xue Gu was Lian Consort’s pregnancy — she was more than nine months along!

“You…” Even Jiu’er was taken aback by the sight of that belly. The Second Prince had not mentioned this at all in his letter. It turned out Lian Consort was already more than nine months pregnant — she was nearly due.

“Hurry, help her to the bed to rest.” Nine months along, and she had just been strung up — if it hadn’t frightened her to death, it had certainly given her a terrible shock.

No wonder that despite such a grave offense, the Yurhe king had not punished Lian Consort — only placing her under light house arrest within her chamber.

It turned out it was because Lian Consort was carrying the Yurhe king’s child.

All these years, the Yurhe king had only two sons, both of whom had already grown to adulthood. Now, at long last, another child was on the way — of course he would not want any mishap at a time like this.

Even if Lian Consort was guilty, the child had to be born first before she could be punished.

The two eunuchs tried to slip away in the chaos, but their legs, for reasons they could not fathom, had gone completely limp and would not cooperate — they could not even manage to crawl.

One of them, terrified that he would not even keep his life in this place, was about to open his mouth when suddenly something small made a sharp sound and landed squarely inside it as his jaw parted.

It was clearly a pill. It dissolved the moment it touched his mouth and slid smoothly down his throat.

The eunuch was so frightened he nearly shrieked: “You… you — what did you give me to swallow?”

“A pill that will take your life at any moment if you fail to cooperate.” Feng Jiu’er cast a sidelong glance at him, then extended the same warning to the other man. “The king issued no order for you to harm Lian Consort — if he were to find out what you’ve done, you would not escape with your lives.”

The two men’s expressions changed. The other one said furiously, “It was the king himself who ordered us to secretly put Lian Consort to death. What nonsense are you talking?”

“Very well then. Let’s go to the king together and sort this out.” Feng Jiu’er stood up.

She simply did not believe it. The Yurhe king, having endured all the rumors pressing down on him, had still chosen to keep Lian Consort here in this chamber — and now, at the turn of a hand, would have her put to death? That was simply not possible.

The two eunuchs saw that she was truly going to drag them away. The one who had swallowed the pill could hold out no longer and finally begged for mercy: “Great hero, spare me — great hero… it was not, it was not the king’s order. This servant deserves death, this servant deserves death!”

The other one, seeing this, still seemed to want to say something. Jiu’er suddenly struck out with her palm.

The man immediately spat up a mouthful of blood and crashed to the floor with a thud — seeming as though… as though he were dead!

The eunuch who had swallowed the pill was so frightened his eyes rolled back, and he fainted dead away.

Lian Consort, upon seeing someone cough up blood and collapse, could not catch her breath and nearly fainted herself.

Jiu’er quickly returned to the bedside, her long fingers settling lightly upon Lian Consort’s pulse point. “Don’t panic — that eunuch is not dead. It was only to give the other one a fright.”

With Feng Jiu’er’s guidance, Lian Consort breathed deeply, and gradually managed to settle herself.

“You… who are you? Why… why did you save me?”

The Yurhe court was not as bound by rigid propriety as the Bei Mu palace, and Lian Consort spoke freely and without constraint — which suited Feng Jiu’er perfectly.

“We… are the Second Prince’s people.” Jiu’er fixed her gaze on Lian Consort’s eyes, and sure enough — she saw a flash of something: delight.

Delight, not alarm. Which meant Lian Consort still held some measure of feeling toward the Second Prince.

But this also gave Feng Jiu’er some cause for worry. If there truly were deep feeling between them, then the child in that belly…

“The child is the king’s.” Lian Consort, seeing her expression, understood at once. Her face went white. She said urgently: “I and the Second Prince have never done anything improper. The Second Prince has been wrongfully accused.”

“Mm.” Jiu’er nodded. For the time being, she would take their innocence on trust.

In matters of the heart, who could say anything with certainty. Even if there truly had been something between them, Jiu’er would not have thought it wrong.

The Yurhe king had been the one to take another man’s love by force to begin with. And with the Yurhe king keeping so many women in the palace, if a man was faithless, a woman too had every right to be — Jiu’er did not hold the thinking of this era.

In the era where she came from, men and women were equal. Where was there room for so many instances of one man and many wives?