Hearing Li Rong’s words, Jing Lan hesitated slightly. “Your Highness, your feet are still injured…”

“That’s why I’m having you prepare a carriage.”

Li Rong pushed her gently, urging quickly, “Go on.”

Seeing Li Rong’s firm resolve, Jing Lan no longer hesitated. She quickly had a carriage prepared, and Li Rong hurriedly left the mansion with her through the back gate.

Once in the carriage, Li Rong pondered how she would explain this matter to Pei Wenxuan after rescuing Su Rongqing.

She didn’t want to help Li Chuan anymore.

Actually, Su Rongqing hadn’t been wrong. Given Li Chuan’s nature, no matter how many times they repeated this, as long as he became emperor, conflict between them was inevitable. Sooner or later it would be a fight to the death. Why should she risk her life for him now?

Rather than assisting Li Chuan, better to prop up that fake Li Cheng. Li Chuan owed her a life. He had killed her for power in the previous life—now it was time for him to repay that debt.

She had spent her entire previous life as a fool toiling for him. In this life, she wouldn’t trust anyone except Pei Wenxuan.

She was formulating her explanation when the carriage hadn’t traveled far before she heard the driver urgently call out “Whoa!” and forcefully halt the carriage.

Li Rong’s body lurched forward. Fortunately, Jing Mei steadied her. Li Rong composed herself and asked in a lowered voice, “What happened?”

“Your Highness,” the driver’s tone carried some hesitation, “it’s… Lord Pei.”

Hearing this, Li Rong was quite surprised. A moment later, Pei Wenxuan’s steady voice came from outside the carriage. “Your Highness, tonight the wind is cold and the dew heavy. It’s not suitable to go out. Please return, Your Highness.”

His tone was very gentle, just like usual, without any difference.

However, such gentleness made Li Rong suddenly realize that Pei Wenxuan actually knew everything.

When he said he was going out, perhaps he had been waiting here for her all along.

She sat in the carriage in silence for a long time before slowly speaking. “Have your people bring him here. I have something I want to say to him.”

There was no need to specify who “him” was—both understood.

“The Su clan has already dispatched people,” Pei Wenxuan replied respectfully. “After this humble official’s men noticed Your Highness’s people nearby and informed this official, this official already ordered them all to return. His life or death need not concern Your Highness.”

“This palace is not concerned about his life or death,” Li Rong knew Pei Wenxuan was blocking her and coldly explained. “This palace wishes to see him.”

Pei Wenxuan remained silent for a long time. Just when Li Rong almost thought he would compromise, he suddenly spoke. “Return.”

As soon as the words fell, Li Rong heard the sound of swords being drawn outside. She never imagined Pei Wenxuan’s people would dare draw weapons on her. Sitting in the carriage, she laughed lowly. “Pei Wenxuan, what do you mean by this?”

“Today Your Highness will not see Su Rongqing,” Pei Wenxuan’s voice was very calm. “And until the Crown Prince ascends the throne, Your Highness will not see Su Rongqing.”

“The Crown Prince ascends the throne?”

Li Rong heard this as if hearing an enormous joke.

“Fine,” she responded. “Let’s return. Presumably Lord Pei has many questions he wants to ask me, and many things he wants to say to me.”

They hadn’t even traveled half a street’s distance, so returning was quite easy.

Once they entered the room, Li Rong couldn’t wait. She turned immediately and asked, “What do you want?”

“I should be the one asking—what does Your Highness want?”

Pei Wenxuan stood guard before the double doors, hands folded in his sleeves.

No lamps were lit in the room. Only the dappled light falling through the window allowed them to vaguely see Pei Wenxuan’s features in the darkness.

His expression was very cold, like the Chancellor Pei who had argued with her countless times in the previous life. Seeing Pei Wenxuan like this made Li Rong’s heart clench.

She turned away, sat down, and poured herself tea while masking all her emotions. “I know you’re a good friend of Chuan’er’s. You’ve always supported him. So let’s talk frankly today.” Li Rong filled her teacup. The room fell into complete silence. After a long while, she finally spoke. “I don’t want to help Li Chuan anymore.”

Pei Wenxuan said nothing. Li Rong relayed to him what Su Rongqing had told her.

“Cui Qinghe is Su Rongqing’s man. He’s likely already met with misfortune. We can’t count on Qin Lin’s fifty thousand troops. This means the total forces we can use amount to no more than sixty thousand at most.”

“Su Rongqing raised a body double for Li Cheng. Whether the real Li Cheng is dead or alive, Prince Su will remain alive. If we join forces with Su Rongqing and install a false Prince Su on the throne, to protect his own secret, this Li Cheng will inevitably cede much power to us. Given time, we kill him and select another young emperor.”

“This way, we essentially make enemies of Father Emperor and Su Rongqing, though the Shangguan clan is only concerned with interests and can still be won over. In the end, the one sacrificed…”

“Would be none other than His Highness the Crown Prince.”

Pei Wenxuan completed Li Rong’s thought. He stood in the darkness, watching Li Rong. Li Rong couldn’t bring herself to speak of Li Chuan’s death. Her throat felt painfully constricted. She took a long time to collect herself and feigned calmness. “Chuan’er is a capable child with his own ideas. If he ascends the throne, he’ll likely be difficult to control.”

“Did Su Rongqing tell you this?”

Pei Wenxuan’s voice was very low. Li Rong nodded. “Yes. Actually, right now, placing our bets on Li Chuan is not as good as placing them on Li Cheng. Li Cheng needs to rely on others, but Li Chuan is different. As long as he’s willing to abandon Mother Empress and me, abandon the Shangguan clan, he can gain the support of other noble families and Father Emperor and ascend the throne smoothly.”

“Wenxuan,” Li Rong raised her eyes to look at him, smiling slightly, “right now both Li Chuan and I are making choices. He’s choosing whether to abandon me. I’m choosing whether to abandon him.”

“And you chose to abandon him.” Pei Wenxuan calmly stated the conclusion, emphasizing, “Before he abandoned you.”

Actually, his tone carried no particular emotion.

But somehow, Li Rong felt as if she’d been slapped hard across the face.

If anyone else had said this, she might not have cared. After all, those people had long since abandoned her.

Her father emperor, mother empress, younger brother, friends, lovers—when faced with a choice between power and her, none of them had chosen her.

And Pei Wenxuan was the only one who had persisted to the end, who had continued to believe in her.

Yet now he was saying she was wrong.

She stared at the figure in the darkness, her tone tinged with mockery. “You blame me too?”

These words made Pei Wenxuan’s breathing pause. For Li Rong, such a pause felt like a heavy hammer crashing down repeatedly on her heart.

She couldn’t help but stand up, staring fixedly at Pei Wenxuan. “You also think I shouldn’t do this?”

“I shouldn’t fight for the power I want,” she raised her hand to her heart, “I shouldn’t abandon Li Chuan. I should charge through fire and water for him, I should die for him, give my heart and soul for him, be shattered to pieces for him, give everything for him without asking for anything in return, right?!”

By the end, her voice was nearly hoarse from shouting. Pei Wenxuan watched Li Rong before him in such disarray, watched as she stared at him as if questioning fairness itself, questioning heaven’s way.

“But why?!”

“I already married you, someone from a humble clan, for his sake back then! I worked myself to exhaustion for him for thirty years! I gave him my entire life. Can’t I live for myself in this lifetime?!”

Pei Wenxuan said nothing.

He stood in place. After a long time, his voice hoarse, he asked, “So, marrying me was shameful?”

Li Rong didn’t speak. She clenched her fists, restraining her tears.

Pei Wenxuan stood in the shadows like a divine statue, lofty and transcendent. His every question felt like an interrogation from heaven itself.

“Working yourself to exhaustion for him for thirty years, becoming the Regent Princess for him—was that painful?”

“In your heart, the life you devoted to us—it wasn’t worth it, was it?”

Hearing Pei Wenxuan’s questions, Li Rong laughed.

“Yes.”

She answered without hesitation, but before Pei Wenxuan could speak, she added, “But it’s not that the life devoted to you all wasn’t worth it—it’s that the life devoted to them wasn’t worth it.”

“But what has His Highness the Crown Prince done to wrong you?” Pei Wenxuan’s words carried no discernible emotion. “Just because he can’t give you power now? Because he killed Su Rongqing’s entire family in the previous life?”

“But he didn’t just kill Su Rongqing’s entire family!”

“Then who else did he kill?” Pei Wenxuan asked instinctively, but having spoken, he froze.

Lightning streaked across the night sky, instantly illuminating everything in the room and allowing him to clearly see Li Rong’s face, already soaked with tears.

“Me as well.”

Li Rong’s voice was very soft, mingled with the rumbling thunder. Pei Wenxuan’s eyes widened in shock. Seeing his expression, Li Rong couldn’t help but laugh. “Me as well—his own older sister, the Regent Princess, Li Rong.”

“Are you happy now? Are you satisfied?”

“I failed to judge people correctly, invited wolves into my home, was betrayed by everyone.”

“Everyone I gave to betrayed me. Everyone I loved hated me. My entire life was a joke. Now I’m telling you—you see it, you know it. Are you satisfied?!”

Pei Wenxuan couldn’t speak. Li Rong was like a hedgehog completely stripped of its skin. Her entire body trembled with pain, yet she still showed fierce eyes, trying to drive away everyone who approached her.

Li Rong looked at Pei Wenxuan, still in shock, and turned her head away in humiliation.

She knew her own loss of composure. She took a deep breath.

“Pei Wenxuan, I thought you were the only person who could trust me unto death.”

Li Rong’s tone carried undisguisable disappointment. “Now it seems I was wrong about that too.”

“If you think Li Chuan is more suitable to be emperor, then go help him. But in this lifetime, I won’t help him again.”

“I’ve helped enough.”

Having said this, Li Rong turned and walked toward the bed. Watching her retreating figure, Pei Wenxuan finally reacted and hurriedly said, “I don’t want to help him. I’m afraid you’ll regret this.”

Li Rong stopped, her back to him.

“I have no regrets. I’ve thought this through very clearly.”

Li Rong’s tears wouldn’t stop, but she stubbornly continued, “He owed me a life in the previous lifetime. He killed me for power. Now it’s time for him to repay that debt.”

“What about Shangguan Ya?” Pei Wenxuan couldn’t help but ask urgently. “The Shangguan family won’t abandon the Crown Prince. If you oppose Li Chuan, you’re also opposing her and your mother empress.”

“So what? Mother Empress only has the Shangguan family and Chuan’er in her heart. Shangguan Ya could watch me die for the sake of power. Not taking action against them is already merciful of me. What more do you want?”

Hearing Li Rong’s words, Pei Wenxuan suddenly had a terrifying suspicion. He couldn’t help but soften his voice, testing the waters. “So, in the previous life, who actually killed you?”

After these words were spoken, deathly silence hung between the two.

As if waiting for hundreds of years, Pei Wenxuan finally heard Li Rong’s voice drifting through the room.

“Li Chuan,” Li Rong said hoarsely, “feared I would harm him and the new emperor. He poisoned the chess pieces during a game with me.”

“Shangguan Ya,” Li Rong closed her eyes, “had an affair with Su Ronghua and bore his child. Afraid I would discover this, she colluded with Su Rongqing to prevent me from detecting the poisoning.”

“Su Rongqing,” Li Rong laughed, “personally brought that bowl of poison to my hand and watched me drink it.”

Hearing Li Rong’s words, Pei Wenxuan instantly understood the source of her breakdown.

No matter one’s age, no matter how many storms one has weathered, when a person’s familial love, friendship, romantic love—essentially all emotions, all devotion—are completely betrayed, no one can remain rational and composed.

She had already done very well.

She hadn’t let anyone detect her vulnerability, her suffering. She had silently licked her wounds alone, just like in the carriage when she bit her hand in his embrace, refusing to cry aloud.

Pei Wenxuan looked at Li Rong not far away. She seemed utterly exhausted, her back showing an extra degree of frailty, like an illusion from a dream that would dissipate like smoke with a gust of wind.

“Pei Wenxuan,” her tone calmed down, “no one believes a Princess cares about emotions. No one believes I would give them a way to live. So all of them together…”

Li Rong found that word too difficult to speak, but the harder the road, the more she had to walk it. The more the words hurt, the more she had to say them.

“Killed me.”

“You don’t need to say anything more to me,” Li Rong wiped away her tears and strode forward. “I have no family, no friends, and I can do without you too. I only need to grasp power—that’s enough. I don’t care about any of it.”

As she spoke, she climbed onto the bed and let down the bed curtains.

“Go find Li Chuan.”

The bed curtains completely separated the two people. Pei Wenxuan couldn’t see the person inside clearly. He only heard her muffled voice. “I don’t want to see you. Leave.”

Hearing these words, Pei Wenxuan stood for a while. After a moment, he walked to the bed.

He hesitated before the bed for a moment before finally lifting the curtain.

Behind the curtain was Li Rong. She sat inside, leaning against the wall with her knees drawn up, hugging herself like a child.

Feeling light enter, she raised her eyes to look at him. Her eyes were cold as knives. “What else is there?”

Pei Wenxuan gazed at Li Rong. After a while, he suddenly smiled. “This humble official understands now.”

“What do you understand?”

“This humble official should apologize to Your Highness.”

“No need. Leave.”

Li Rong clenched her fists, as if enduring something. Pei Wenxuan contemplated for a moment and slowly spoke. “This humble official had no intention of offending. I simply thought Your Highness would want me present.”

“I don’t.”

Li Rong spoke decisively. “Go.”

“But I wish to accompany Your Highness,” Pei Wenxuan smiled helplessly. “I cannot leave Your Highness. Is that acceptable?”

Li Rong fell silent. Pei Wenxuan raised his hand to secure the bed curtains, elegantly removed his outer garment, and climbed onto the bed.

With Li Rong’s tacit permission, he approached her. The two remained silent for a long time before Li Rong spoke softly. “You don’t need to humble yourself. Do what you must. It was my loss of composure. It has nothing to do with you.”

“How could it have nothing to do with me?” Pei Wenxuan raised his hand to embrace her, his voice very soft. “Today I was wrong—blaming you without asking for reasons. Please be understanding, my wife.”

Hearing these words, Li Rong inexplicably felt somewhat wronged and hugged herself without speaking. Pei Wenxuan chuckled softly. “But you can’t entirely blame me either. I thought my wife was about to run off with someone. Naturally I panicked.”

“Don’t brush me off with irrelevant words,” Li Rong raised her hand to wipe away tears. “You simply want me and Li Chuan to remain bound together forever to avoid putting you in a difficult position.”

“That’s truly unfair to me. I haven’t even thought about Li Chuan’s matter.”

“Then what were you arguing with me about?” Li Rong looked at him coldly, reminding him, “You even had your people draw swords on my people.”

“I…” Pei Wenxuan choked momentarily, but also detected the improvement in Li Rong’s tone. He thought for a moment and spoke honestly. “I thought you had reached some agreement with Su Rongqing and were going to leave with him.”

Li Rong’s face showed mockery, clearly disbelieving. He grew serious. “Actually, when I smelled the scent from the sachet on Xie Chunhe at the training grounds, I knew Su Rongqing wasn’t your killer. But before I could tell you, you fell off the cliff together with him.”

“So what?” Li Rong didn’t understand.

“Su Rongqing isn’t the killer, and he has deep feelings for you. When you jumped off the cliff, he could jump after you without hesitation. You two spent a night together in that cave. From the moment you emerged, I’ve been waiting for you to give me an explanation.”

“But you said nothing. You cried alone, made decisions alone. I, your husband, seemed not to exist at all.”

Hearing his words, Li Rong couldn’t help but feel somewhat stunned.

Pei Wenxuan turned his head and smiled. “I minded it but could do nothing about it. Rongrong,” Pei Wenxuan’s voice carried some hoarseness, “I’m human too.”

Being human meant having emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, happiness. It meant losing composure due to feelings, becoming unlike oneself due to inner fears.

Hearing his words, Li Rong remained silent. Pei Wenxuan, thinking she didn’t want to continue, was about to change the subject when he heard Li Rong speak. “I’m sorry.” Li Rong lowered her voice. “I didn’t think things through.”

“It’s not that,” Pei Wenxuan pressed his lips together. “You’ve done well enough. I’m the one who hasn’t been considerate enough of you.”

Hearing this, Li Rong couldn’t help but smile. She raised her eyes to look at him. “What are we doing—having a mutual self-reflection session as husband and wife?”

“Where’s the reflection?” Pei Wenxuan also smiled. He raised his eyes to look at her with considerable seriousness. “I’m admitting my fault to Your Highness.”

“This isn’t your fault either…”

“Not taking proper care of you,” Pei Wenxuan interrupted her, “is my fault.”

“You really look for trouble,” Li Rong’s tone carried disdain.

“In the previous life, I had no opportunity to accompany you. In this life, I want to walk every road together with you. If you won’t rely on me, that means I haven’t done well enough, haven’t given you peace of mind.”

“Li Rong,” Pei Wenxuan turned to look at her, “don’t always be alone anymore, all right?”

Li Rong said nothing.

She didn’t know why, but hearing these words, she felt as if the suffering accumulated in her heart had finally found a channel, found a destination.

She suddenly understood married couples she hadn’t understood before—why they stayed together despite constant bickering. Because a life walked hand in hand with someone, compared to walking life’s path alone, had an entirely different understanding of storms and trials.

Li Rong lowered her head and smiled, her voice low and hoarse. “Why not? Just don’t find me bothersome.”

“I hope Your Highness won’t find me bothersome either.”

“That won’t happen.”

Seeing Li Rong’s expression improve, Pei Wenxuan didn’t linger on the topic and spoke directly. “Forget it, let’s discuss serious matters. Tell me everything Su Rongqing said to you. Let me see whether he deceived you.”

Hearing this, Li Rong knew Pei Wenxuan knew many things she didn’t. She couldn’t help but smile. “Whether he deceived me or not I don’t know, but I do know you deceived me.”

Pei Wenxuan felt somewhat embarrassed. Seeing his discomfiture, Li Rong smiled and gently rested her head on his shoulder. After organizing her thoughts for a long time, she recounted everything Su Rongqing had told her.

These words had caused her pain and disgust when she first heard them. Perhaps having recalled them many times, or perhaps because Pei Wenxuan was present, speaking to him about it didn’t bring such dramatic emotional swings. She only felt somewhat stifled, somewhat sour, with an indescribable sense of desolation.

“So Your Highness feels they were wrong and wants revenge?”

After hearing her finish, Pei Wenxuan spoke calmly. Li Rong remained silent. After a long while, she smiled. “No.”

“They weren’t the ones in the wrong—I was.”

“It was me. As a Princess, I didn’t do well enough. Actually, in the palace, everyone has their own desires. Having already entered court politics, yet still thinking about emotions like a child—that was my mistake.”

“I should have realized long ago that no emperor can tolerate a Princess who could depose his son at any time. I should have understood that before power, all emotions are worthless. They weren’t wrong—I was wrong.”

“Where was Your Highness wrong?”

Li Rong didn’t speak. After a long time, she smiled. “From childhood, Mother Empress told me that being born into the imperial family, one must prioritize power, not fantasize about emotions, learn to restrain desires, not love anyone, not expect to be loved by anyone. Interests never betray, rules endure—only by being this way can one survive and thrive. I always said this, always thought I acted this way, but in reality, I was the most indecisive among everyone, the one who craved emotions the most.”

“Wanting both power and unable to let go of emotions—that was my mistake.”

“So in this lifetime,” Pei Wenxuan watched Li Rong as she gazed steadily at him, “I will live for myself. I won’t lose again.”

Pei Wenxuan thought for a moment, then after a pause, he lowered his head and smiled.

“What are you smiling about?”

Li Rong frowned. Pei Wenxuan thought for a moment and raised his head to look at her. “I was just thinking—do people who only care about power, as the Empress described, truly exist?”

“Others may not be able to,” Li Rong pressed her lips together, “but I can.”

“Your Highness,” Pei Wenxuan sighed, “why don’t I tell you a story from the previous life?”

Li Rong turned to look at him. Pei Wenxuan smiled gently. “Perhaps you’ll have a different perspective after hearing it?”

As Li Rong and Pei Wenxuan conversed at the Princess’s mansion, thunder rumbled in the distance.

Hearing the thunder, Su Rongqing slowly opened his eyes in the darkness.

He remembered being pursued relentlessly, leaping into the river, then encountering Su Ronghua coming with people. Just after Su Ronghua intercepted him, he had collapsed unconscious halfway through.

At this moment, he lay on a soft bed. He should already be back at the Su mansion.

He was thinking this when he heard a creaking sound from nearby. He turned his head and heard a familiar voice from the doorway. “Awake?”

Su Rongqing’s gaze moved upward to see a young gentleman in jade-colored formal robes enter gracefully. He studied him, abandoning his usual dissipation, his eyes serious with a trace of inquiry.

“Elder Brother.”

Su Rongqing’s voice was dry. Su Ronghua walked to the table, poured a cup of water, brought it to Su Rongqing, and offered it to him.

“Drink some water,” Su Ronghua said flatly. “After you finish, I have several questions for you.”

Su Rongqing looked at the cup before him. After a long time, he still reached out, grasped the cup, and drank the water as if nothing had happened.

Su Ronghua sat nearby watching him and slowly spoke. “This assassination—you and Huale and Consort Rou plotted it together?”

“Yes.” Su Rongqing finished drinking and placed the cup on the nearby table. Su Ronghua watched him and continued inquiring, “When did you ally with Consort Rou?”

Hearing this question, Su Rongqing remained silent for a long time. He wasn’t surprised Su Ronghua knew these things and had no intention of concealing them. So he answered honestly. “When Princess Pingle established the Constabulary Bureau.”

Hearing this, Su Ronghua closed his eyes. He took a moment to compose himself before finally speaking. “Do you still remember our family’s ancestral instructions?”

“I remember.”

“What is the first rule?”

“The Su clan does not participate in succession disputes.”

Each word spoken felt difficult for Su Rongqing. Su Ronghua slowly opened his eyes. “You colluded with Consort Rou. What should be done—do I need to tell you?”

Su Rongqing remained silent. Su Ronghua stood up. “I will report this matter to Father. You await the consequences.”

“Elder Brother,” Su Rongqing stopped Su Ronghua. “Aren’t you going to ask me why?”

“What Consort Rou has done has already gone beyond what our Su clan can resolve. No matter your reasons, you’ve implicated the entire family. Back during the Hongde case, I protected you. But now, I cannot protect you again.”

“I have my reasons.”

“Who among those who err doesn’t have reasons?”

Su Ronghua lowered his eyes. “Rest well.”

Su Ronghua raised his hand to open the door. Su Rongqing called out to him. “Elder Brother, let me tell you a story.”

Su Ronghua stopped by the door. After a long time, Su Rongqing’s voice was very soft. “I had a dream. It shows the Su clan’s future, and your future too. Won’t you listen?”

Hearing these words, Su Ronghua turned back in shock. He stared fixedly at Su Rongqing. Su Rongqing stood up, walked composedly to the tea table, and knelt down.

He lit the charcoal in the small brazier on the table, raised his hand to take water and place it in a small pot, setting it above. Then he raised his head. Behind the sandalwood table, his hair half-bound, black hair hanging down his back, his white robes making him appear slender as bamboo, he knelt upright and proper.

He raised his hand in a gesture of invitation and spoke calmly with elegant refinement. “Elder Brother, please sit and hear this story to completion before making your decision.”