“She told me to pay more attention to my rivals in court.”

Zhao Yishi turned around to look at Shen Chong, lowering his eyes with a slight smile. “I only have one rival in court.”

Shen Chong didn’t know what to say for a moment—only silence.

“But that person wouldn’t do this.”

Zhao Yishi said slowly, “This realm is his realm, this territory is his territory. He wouldn’t use something so important to make things difficult for me.”

Shen Chong finally dared to look up at him. “Your Highness, could it be remnants of Prince Han’s faction?”

Zhao Yishi felt in his heart that it was, but thinking again, perhaps not.

“When the tree grows tall, the wind becomes more dangerous. Quite a few people must be eyeing this Crown Prince position of mine.”

He exhaled deeply and said in a low voice, “Even they have become much more distant from me.”

These last words made Shen Chong’s heart skip a beat.

In the past, Third Master and Young Master Pei would always flank the prince on left and right, close and affectionate. But today…

“Your Highness’s status is different now from before. With Miss Yan and the others present today, naturally Third Master and Young Master Pei wouldn’t be as casual as usual…”

“Shen Chong.”

Zhao Yishi interrupted. “In this world, only those two can still call me Huairen.”

Shen Chong: “…”

“Go.”

Zhao Yishi suddenly felt inexplicably weary. “Keep a close watch on the Xiang couple. If anything happens to them, I’ll hold you responsible.”

“Yes!”

Shen Chong didn’t leave, but instead stepped forward and said in a low voice, “What about Miss Yan, Third Master, and Young Master Pei? Should we…”

“No need. They would become suspicious.”

“Yes!”

…

On the road to Duanmu Palace, there was silence.

Returning to the separate courtyard, the journey was also silent.

Everyone was exhausted, all feeling their hearts heavy, as if stuffed with many things. They urgently needed a good sleep to recover.

Pei Xiao couldn’t sleep and ran to Xie Zhifei’s bedside.

“When Yan Sanhe said she didn’t want Huairen’s protection, why didn’t you speak up? Huairen has many skilled people around him. If we freed up our people, we could also investigate the case, couldn’t we?”

Xie Zhifei couldn’t very well say that Yan Sanhe was guarding against Zhao Huairen.

He covered his eyes with his hand. “She has the Great Hero. I have Ding Yi. You have Huang Qi. Why would we need him to send more people?”

“But having more people to protect us would be better, wouldn’t it?”

“Better how? They’d just get in the way.”

Xie Zhifei’s tone was impatient. “Didn’t you notice the Great Hero didn’t even enter the study today? You claim to like her—have you ever considered her feelings?”

“I…”

“Sleep, sleep.”

Xie Zhifei shooed him away like a fly.

“Tomorrow morning I still need to go examine those two night watchmen’s corpses. It’s nearly the fourth watch now—I can barely sleep a few hours.”

Pei Xiao hung his head and returned to his own bed.

His body was exhausted, his eyes wouldn’t stay open, but his mind remained clear. He felt everyone had been acting strange lately.

Yan Sanhe—someone who only ever cared about women’s lives and deaths, not men’s—was actually blaming herself over Chen Pi and two night watchmen?

Not normal!

Xie Wushi worried most about Yan Sanhe’s safety. When nothing was wrong, he’d send Ding Yi to follow her. Now with such a serious situation, he actually wouldn’t let Huairen provide protection?

Not normal!

The Great Hero—someone who would listen even when she didn’t understand—today just waited in the courtyard?

Not normal!

The most abnormal was himself. He hadn’t done anything yet, but whenever he saw Zhao Huairen, he felt guilty.

I haven’t stolen anything, haven’t robbed anyone, haven’t hidden anything from him. What do I have to feel guilty about?

Pei Xiao unconsciously bit his lower lip. Should I just be honest with Huairen and tell him I like Li Buyan?

But what good would being honest do?

She doesn’t like him back. What’s the point of saying it?

In the darkness, Pei Xiao let out a long sigh, thinking to himself that people shouldn’t get emotionally involved. That way they’d have no troubles at all and could sleep straight through till morning.

Not like him now, tossing and turning like he was making pancakes.

…

Tossing and turning like making pancakes—Young Master Pei wasn’t the only one.

Yan Sanhe also had trouble falling asleep.

With an enemy suddenly appearing behind them, disrupting all her plans, what should the next step be?

There seemed to be no path forward. Ahead was a dead end. She could neither turn back nor break through the wall—she could only stand in place.

Was there any breakthrough point?

Yan Sanhe gently turned over. Seeing Li Buyan sleeping soundly while hugging her quilt, she felt somewhat envious.

This girl—when she says she likes someone, she likes them; when she says she’s letting go, she lets go. She only makes things difficult for others, never for herself. What a good temperament.

Yan Sanhe lightly closed her eyes. After a long while, her consciousness gradually blurred.

She didn’t know how long she’d slept when suddenly Li Buyan’s startled cry sounded in her ear—

“Yan Sanhe, come look! Some ash fell from the incense!”

Incense?

Incense ash?

Yan Sanhe jerked awake and rushed to the incense burner without even putting on her shoes.

In the clean incense burner sat a bit of ash.

“I, I saw it fall with my own eyes.”

Li Buyan’s expression was indescribably horrified. “It, it really is counting down.”

Yan Sanhe’s expression was extremely calm. This had been within her expectations all along.

Just then, Xie Zhifei and Pei Xiao rushed in one after the other, one without his shoes properly on, the other without his clothes properly fastened.

Li Buyan hastily called out, “Third Master, Young Master Pei, come look quickly!”

Xie Zhifei and Pei Xiao looked down, their faces turning deathly pale.

Yan Sanhe was right. No matter how slowly it burned, it would eventually burn out. The incense’s length had decreased by a tiny bit.

If this had been yesterday morning, the two men’s faces wouldn’t have turned so ghastly pale. But now…

Behind them, a pair of eyes was watching. Every person they investigated was killed.

Ahead, the incense continued burning, the countdown time shortening bit by bit.

Wolves ahead, tigers behind—they were caught in the middle, unable to move.

Even more deadly—what exactly was this incense counting down to?

Was it as Yan Sanhe predicted—that the nation’s fate would change, the realm would change hands? Or would someone meet with misfortune?

If someone would meet misfortune, who would it be?

Would it be the few of them?

Pei Xiao looked up at Yan Sanhe and asked, heart pounding with fear:

“Yan Sanhe, is there a possibility that when this incense burns out, if the Zheng family case still isn’t solved, we’ll all die one by one?”

“There is!”

Damn it all!

Pei Xiao slapped his forehead. “I’m going to the temple right now to light incense for us and some safety lamps.”

Xie Zhifei turned and walked out. “I’m going to the Eastern City immediately to examine those two night watchmen’s corpses.”

Li Buyan: “I’m going to write a will right now, just in case.”

In an instant, only Yan Sanhe remained in the room.

She sat down on the bamboo bed, her gaze fixed on the burning tip of the incense.

This heart demon had shown its strangeness and danger from the very beginning.

The Zheng family’s courtyard wall had collapsed with a thunderous crash.

She had sensed there was a heart demon in the Zheng residence.

All the warhorses in the Three Great Camps had collapsed.

The incense had inexplicably lit itself.

Whose heart demon was this exactly?

Fine, setting aside whose heart demon it was—the incense lighting meant this heart demon had begun to be resolved, and she was the one truly resolving it.

Was there another possibility—that this incense was counting down for her?

If she didn’t resolve it within the allotted time, would she die?