In the courtyard, a cool breeze passed through, carrying a touch of chill.

Yet Emperor Qiwen’s heart burned warm. Having seen Long Feiyan’s face once again, he simply could not tear his gaze away from it.

Qing Ye pushed Long Feiyan’s chair straight back to the doorway. Emperor Qiwen finally could not help himself and strode quickly over, blocking their path.

“Your Majesty, is there some further instruction?” Qing Ye asked coldly.

But Emperor Qiwen only stared at Long Feiyan, so absorbed that he seemed to lose himself.

“Do you like what you see?” Long Feiyan even gave him a smile.

Emperor Qiwen was nearly ready to kneel before her. “Long’er, when… when will you be willing to become my Empress?”

Ever since Long Feiyan’s arrival, Emperor Qiwen had had no interest left for any other woman.

Knowing her legs had been injured, he hated himself for not having stayed by her side all these years, guarding her always. If he had been there to protect her, how could anyone have harmed her to such an extent?

He wanted her, wanted her so desperately he felt he might die of it, yet he dared not press her too hard.

Long’er could come and go here entirely as she pleased. He feared that if he pressed too hard and angered her, she might simply leave for good — and he had no idea whether he would ever get the chance to see her again in this lifetime.

Long Feiyan merely offered a faint smile, not answering the question. Instead, with a casual gesture, she pushed the door open.

Emperor Qiwen instinctively stepped aside. In the blink of an eye, Qing Ye had wheeled Long Feiyan through the door, and it closed right before his eyes.

What had that smile of Long’er’s just now truly meant? Had she agreed, or not?

Emperor Qiwen felt deeply wistful, but knowing that Long’er would not be willing to see him again tonight, he had no choice but to leave, helpless.

The Chief Eunuch had been waiting in the courtyard. Seeing Emperor Qiwen return, he hurried forward to greet him, saying quietly, “Your Majesty, I had the guards check just now — Consort Rong died by her own hand.”

“Took her own life?” Emperor Qiwen frowned. He had assumed Long Feiyan had taken her revenge and killed Nanmeng Rong herself.

“Yes, she severed her own meridians and died.” The Chief Eunuch sounded somewhat uneasy. “Your Majesty, these past two days His Highness the Crown Prince has been insisting on seeing Consort Rong. Now that Consort Rong has…”

“Then send the body to him. Tell him she could not bear the humiliation and took her own life.” If even the guards could see the truth of it, then Zhan Yuheng, with his level of martial skill, could hardly fail to see it as well.

That Consort Rong had killed herself was, if anything, even better — she had died of guilt, and it was no more than she deserved.

Now even his son Heng’er would have nothing to say. After all, he himself had not killed her — but it was an undeniable fact that she had brought harm to the imperial bloodline.

Even though Zhan Yuheng was Nanmeng Rong’s son, he could not bend the law too far out of personal feeling. With evidence as solid as iron, could the Crown Prince possibly rebel over this?

Emperor Qiwen believed that his son was, at the very least, still a rational man.

He glanced back once more at that closed door, let out a soft sigh, and finally turned to leave.

Inside the room, Qing Ye poured Long Feiyan a cup of clear tea. Seeing that her face remained entirely without expression, Qing Ye grew a little worried. “Mistress, are you thinking about what Nanmeng Rong said?”

Long Feiyan nodded. Qing Ye said at once, “Mistress, why take that vicious woman’s words to heart?”

“Oh?” Long Feiyan raised an eyebrow, looking at her. “What do you think I’m thinking about — her curse?”

Qing Ye didn’t know how to answer. Wasn’t it Nanmeng Rong’s curse that had upset her mistress?

Long Feiyan drank half the cup of tea before handing it back. She wheeled herself over to the window and gazed out at the moonlight, flowing like water.

“Didn’t you hear what Nanmeng Rong said? Back then, she wasn’t the only one who brought ruin to the Long family.”

“Mistress, you believe that vicious woman?” And yet, back then, it had indeed been Nanmeng Rong’s scheme that framed the Long family and brought charges against them.

At that time her mistress had still been recovering from injury. By the time she returned, the Long family had already been utterly destroyed, and their bodies had never been found, even to this day.

Long Feiyan’s hand rested on the windowsill, her long fingers tracing slowly across it.

Her voice was calm, yet carried a weight that allowed no doubt. “She spent half her life arrogant and overbearing — but what she said in her final moments was, more likely than not, true. Although I wasn’t in the kingdom of Bei Mu during those two years and don’t know the full course of what happened to the Long family, I doubt Nanmeng Rong had any reason to lie at a time like that.”

There must have been others who had brought harm to the Long family back then. If the bandits who destroyed the Long family hadn’t been sent by Nanmeng Rong, then there must be other people who wanted to see the entire Long family wiped out.

Could it have been the one who led death warriors to corner and kill her Long family’s army at Polang Mountain back then? Could it… be her?

“Mistress, what have you thought of?” Qing Ye looked curious. Over these past years her mistress’s thoughts had grown ever more intricate, to the point that even she could no longer fully read them.

Long Feiyan said calmly, “For now, I still have no leads.”

Qing Zhi, who had just come in, closed the door behind her and couldn’t help muttering, “Mistress, you wouldn’t actually be willing to marry that emperor and become Empress, would you?”

Qing Ye shot her a cold, sharp look — wasn’t such talk an insult to their mistress?

Startled by that look, Qing Zhi pursed her lips and grumbled resentfully, “I just feel… that emperor really doesn’t deserve our mistress!”

Their mistress was so wonderful, while he was so ugly — what right did he have to be with her? Their mistress deserved the finest man in all the world.

“Oh? Then tell me, which man would be worthy of me?” It was unclear whether Long Feiyan was genuinely asking or merely teasing.

Qing Zhi thought it over, and surprisingly answered with complete seriousness, “Everyone says the most outstanding man in this whole capital is the Ninth Prince. I think… perhaps only the Ninth Prince could be a match for you, Mistress.”

Qing Ye wanted to scold her — Qing Zhi had really grown too bold lately, daring to joke so carelessly with their mistress about such matters.

Yet Long Feiyan didn’t seem angry at all. She merely shook her head with indifference. “At his age, the Ninth Prince would be better suited as my son-in-law.”

“Mistress…” Qing Zhi blinked. She hadn’t expected her mistress to actually be willing to chat with her like this, and for a moment she felt overjoyed.

“That’s true, the Ninth Prince is too young after all. But Mistress, while you think he’s too young, that Nanmeng Rong had been pestering the Ninth Prince all along — the whole capital knew of it.”

Even with her mistress’s beauty, she had no desire to set her sights on the young Ninth Prince — yet someone with Nanmeng Rong’s looks had actually dared to pursue him. What a peculiar woman.

Long Feiyan said nothing more, continuing to gaze out the window.

Nanmeng Rong was dead, yet she felt not the slightest joy over it — only a deepening sense of doubt. Where, now, were the people who had once destroyed the Long family?

She had been away from the kingdom of Bei Mu for only a few short years, yet upon her return, everything had changed.

That woman, who had injured her that final time, had also vanished afterward, as though she had disappeared completely.

Was she truly dead, or was she hiding in some corner, biding her time?

No — how could she possibly die so easily?

That woman had gone to such lengths scheming for Long Feiyan’s life — she would never rest easy without seeing her die with her own eyes.

Her gaze fell to her own legs.

Ten years now. This debt — it was time to start settling it, little by little.