Outside, shouts of slaughter erupted everywhere. The carriage rapidly accelerated. Inside, the three young women were tossed left and right by the violent jolting, each finding a protruding surface to grip and stabilize themselves.

Jing Mei and Jing Lan’s faces had already turned deathly pale with fear, yet they still forced themselves to remain composed. Arrows struck the carriage walls one after another, as if ready to pierce through at any moment.

“Your Highness,” Jing Lan said with a trembling voice, “will the carriage… will the carriage be shot through?”

Just from listening to the sounds of arrows pounding against the outside, one could imagine the rain of arrows they faced. If this weren’t a specially made carriage, those inside would have already been turned into sieves.

Li Rong braced herself, listening to the sounds outside, and said calmly, “Don’t panic. The carriage can’t be penetrated. In a moment it might overturn—hold steady.”

The words had barely left her mouth when a horse’s agonized cry rang out. Inside the carriage, the world turned upside down. Li Rong gripped hard, steadying herself to avoid rolling wildly with the carriage’s momentum, but she was still struck by tremendous force and slammed violently against the carriage wall.

Li Rong caught her breath, then saw a guard lift the curtain and urgently say, “Your Highness, get out quickly.”

Li Rong had no time to worry about decorum. She scrambled out in a panic and ordered Jing Mei and Jing Lan, “You two run in another direction.”

Having said this, Li Rong followed the guard to the side, leaped onto a horse, and galloped toward Butterfly Gorge.

Jing Lan and Jing Mei climbed out of the carriage and ran frantically toward the other side of the forest.

Shangguan Ya had long ago positioned people in ambush on both sides of Butterfly Gorge’s mountains. They needed to hurry and find Shangguan Ya.

Under her guards’ protection, Li Rong drove her horse in a mad dash toward Butterfly Gorge. The guards fought while retreating with the assassins behind them, luring those killers to charge in. Shangguan Ya stood at a high vantage point, watching as the assassins were drawn by Li Rong into Butterfly Gorge. Seeing that more than half had rushed inside, Shangguan Ya shouted loudly, “Release the rocks!”

As soon as the words fell, stones were pushed down from both sides of the gorge, cutting the assassin force in half.

Pei Wenxuan was adjusting the qin strings when he heard urgent hoofbeats. He looked up to see Li Rong in red robes, protected by guards, galloping wildly toward him. Pei Wenxuan’s pupils constricted. Then he heard a thunderous boom. The entrance to Butterfly Gorge was blocked on the spot by massive boulders, stirring up billowing clouds of dust. Li Rong then drove her horse trampling through the stream and the peonies covering the ground, charging straight toward him while shouting loudly, “Pei Wenxuan, move!”

The assassins behind her clashed with the guards, turning into a chaotic melee. Two groups of horses fought all the way through the sea of flowers. Pei Wenxuan could only watch as peony after peony was trampled under their feet, as blade after blade was swung down on the flowers. Petals danced through the air. Li Rong on her crimson steed charged toward him from the sea of flowers.

Pei Wenxuan’s face turned deathly pale. He looked at these peonies he had spent a fortune searching throughout the areas surrounding Hua Jing to find. He watched as these peony flowers were transformed into petals scattering in all directions during the fighting, while those people remained completely oblivious, locked in fierce combat.

He trembled with rage, unable to speak.

Li Rong drove her horse to his side, leaped down, pulled him up and said, “What are you standing there for? Run!”

With that, Pei Wenxuan was dragged by Li Rong in a mad dash forward. The assassins chased after Li Rong and charged over. The guards blocked the assassins from behind. Li Rong turned to look at her guards and shouted loudly, “Retreat! Take everyone and retreat!”

“Your Highness,” Pei Wenxuan finally reacted. He realized what was happening. He looked up at Li Rong, urgently wanting to speak the words he had prepared for so long. “I’ve been waiting here to…”

“Hold your breath!”

Before Pei Wenxuan could finish, Li Rong shoved him into the icy lake with one push.

Li Rong’s push was decisive and resolute, as if she had used all her strength. Pei Wenxuan was unprepared and was directly pushed down by her.

Lake water surged into Pei Wenxuan’s nose and mouth. Fortunately, he had instinctively obeyed Li Rong’s words and held his breath.

After falling into water, the most important thing was to stay calm. Pei Wenxuan panicked only for a moment before calming down. He adjusted his position, then felt someone grab him and pull him forward.

Pei Wenxuan knew it was Li Rong. He hurried to follow her forward. The two swam forward less than a hundred meters before Li Rong pulled him upward to surface. Just as they emerged, they felt the earth shake and mountains tremble. Pei Wenxuan grabbed Li Rong with one hand and the shore with the other. Then the two rapidly climbed up onto the bank.

It was cold in winter. As soon as the two reached shore, they felt a bone-piercing cold sweep over them.

Before Pei Wenxuan could ask what had happened, he saw Li Rong shivering as she hurried to the side, grabbed a bundle, pulled out clothes, and threw one to Pei Wenxuan, saying through chattering teeth, “Change.”

Having said this, she paid no mind to Pei Wenxuan’s presence and directly began removing her clothes.

Pei Wenxuan hastily turned away, not daring to look at her. Everything had developed too quickly, catching him completely off guard. Pei Wenxuan had no time to think much and could only quickly change clothes along with Li Rong.

After changing clothes, their hair was still wet, but the warmth allowed the earlier sense of tension to ease slightly. Li Rong turned around, looked at Pei Wenxuan, and smiled. “Did I frighten you?”

Pei Wenxuan didn’t speak. He pressed his lips tightly together, staring at Li Rong.

“Your people should be fine,” Li Rong said, seeing his apparent displeasure and assuming he was worried about the safety of those outside. She comforted him, “I just had people direct your men to withdraw first. These explosives all have a safe zone. When I came earlier, I gave instructions that unless absolutely necessary, everyone must enter the safe zone before the explosives could be ignited.”

Pei Wenxuan said nothing. He nodded, seeming somewhat disheveled.

Seeing his strange expression, Li Rong couldn’t help but ask, “What were you trying to tell me just now?”

“Nothing.”

Pei Wenxuan turned his head away, concealing his expression, and looked toward the bright opening of the cave. “Was today all Your Highness’s arrangement?”

“Didn’t you already know?” Li Rong smiled. “Don’t be angry either. I had everything under control. I just divided their forces into two sides. A small portion are blocked outside. I had Shangguan Ya capture the portion outside alive, so the evidence of the Chen family’s assassination attempt is secured.”

“Your Highness used herself as bait.” Pei Wenxuan’s voice was very low. Li Rong laughed coldly. “I have no patience to waste time with them. With them making attempts from time to time, I can’t possibly guard against them every day. It’s better to lure them out and catch them all in one net.”

“Too risky.”

Pei Wenxuan suppressed his voice. He seemed somewhat distracted, trying hard to control himself. Li Rong could see this as well. She hesitated for a while, finally only saying, “It won’t happen again in the future. Don’t worry.”

Pei Wenxuan looked outside the cave, remaining silent the entire time. Li Rong glanced at his disheveled hair and the clothes he had removed. Only then did she notice that today, Pei Wenxuan was wearing white robes.

He hadn’t worn white robes for many years.

Li Rong didn’t know why, but her heart felt somewhat panicked. She wanted to say something, but with Pei Wenxuan silent, she didn’t know where to begin.

Outside, the sounds of killing gradually diminished. After a moment, Shangguan Ya’s voice came from outside, calling loudly, “Your Highness, are you alright, Your Highness?”

“I’m here.”

Li Rong immediately called out in response. Shangguan Ya followed the sound and led people inside. Her face showed joy, as if she had encountered some good news. She bowed to Li Rong, then nodded toward Pei Wenxuan. “Lord Pei.”

Pei Wenxuan returned the greeting silently. Only then did Shangguan Ya turn to Li Rong. “Your Highness, today we captured twelve alive. Ten on our side were injured, but everyone else is fine.”

“First take them back for interrogation.”

Li Rong immediately said, “Bring the corpses back too, and examine them one by one.”

“Yes.”

After Shangguan Ya finished speaking, she looked Li Rong up and down. “You should go back first. Don’t catch cold. Leave the rest to me.”

With that, Shangguan Ya looked at Pei Wenxuan and smiled. “The Prince Consort has rendered great merit this time. Your Highness said she will reward you handsomely.”

Pei Wenxuan’s expression didn’t change. He only said respectfully, “Thank you, Your Highness.”

Li Rong nodded. Not knowing what else to say, she could only raise her hand and point outside.

“Let’s go.”

Pei Wenxuan nodded and walked straight out. Shangguan Ya also sensed something was wrong. Walking beside Li Rong, she said quietly, “Your Highness, the Prince Consort looks very unhappy.”

Li Rong acknowledged with a sound, looking at Pei Wenxuan’s slender back, gently tapping her small fan against her palm as if thinking about something.

After walking out, Li Rong saw devastation everywhere. Corpses lay fallen in a sea of flowers. The stream water was stained red with blood. The table, chairs, and qin that Pei Wenxuan had originally prepared were all smashed on the ground. The stove that had been warming wine had rolled to the side.

Looking at this scene, Pei Wenxuan paused in his steps. After a moment, without saying a word, he tucked his hands into his sleeves and walked forward through the sea of flowers.

Dressed in a black cloak with his hair loose, the wind blew the chopped peony petals toward him. Li Rong looked up to see that figure walking toward the gorge exit, growing farther and farther away.

“In the dead of winter,” Shangguan Ya was somewhat amazed, “where did he get so many peonies?”

Li Rong’s gaze fell on the peonies nearby. After being stunned for a moment, she walked to the qin table.

She raised her hand and touched the ancient qin, seeing the two characters “Green Sandalwood” carved on it. She instantly remembered—this was Pei Wenxuan’s most beloved qin.

A mountain full of peonies, his most treasured ancient qin. If he were simply cooperating with her to lure the enemy, why would he go through such tremendous effort?

Li Rong stared blankly at all this. After a brief moment of astonishment, Shangguan Ya instantly reacted. She hurriedly ran to Li Rong’s side, shoved the qin into Li Rong’s arms, and said urgently, “Your Highness, what are you standing there in a daze for? Hurry up and chase after him!”

“Chase…” Li Rong looked up in confusion. “Chase after him?”

“Chase after him! Otherwise, how heartbroken must the Prince Consort be?” Shangguan Ya pulled Li Rong up with a completely serious expression and pushed her. “Hurry! I’ll help you disperse everyone so you can speak freely.”

Holding the qin, Li Rong felt somewhat at a loss for the moment. Shangguan Ya kept pushing her. After a moment, she finally reacted and said coldly, “Stop pushing. I’ll go.”

With that, Li Rong held the qin and walked through the crowd.

She walked extremely fast, yet extremely restrained, like a tightly wound string. Expending tremendous effort, she wanted to catch up with that person, yet feared losing her composure. She hurried to Pei Wenxuan’s back and called out loudly, “Pei Wenxuan.”

Pei Wenxuan stopped, but he didn’t turn around. Li Rong pressed her lips together and said quietly, “Your qin.”

Pei Wenxuan remained silent for a long time, his voice somewhat hoarse. “The qin is broken. Let’s not keep it.”

Li Rong couldn’t describe what she was feeling. She just felt as if this broken qin had struck her heart.

What Pei Wenxuan said he wouldn’t keep didn’t seem to be the qin, but rather…

Li Rong didn’t let herself continue that thought. She only held the qin, her voice cold. “This qin has been with you for a long time. If you repair it, it can still be used.”

“I’ve repaired it too many times,” Pei Wenxuan said slowly. “There’s no need.”

Li Rong gripped the qin body tightly. Pei Wenxuan gently turned his head and looked at Li Rong. Li Rong’s face showed no expression. He gazed at her seriously. After a long time, he smiled. “Your Highness, I prepared for today for a long time. I bought the peonies at great expense. The clothes are also ones Your Highness once praised. Everything was according to Your Highness’s preferences, because I feared Your Highness wouldn’t like them.”

As he spoke, he seemed to find it mortifying himself. He lowered his eyes and looked at the petals on the ground, a smile at his lips. “Your Highness should have informed me in advance.”

“I thought you knew.”

Li Rong spoke very calmly. “You’ve always been clever and observant, able to perceive the subtle. You had just experienced an assassination, yet I took you out. I thought you had already noticed and secretly investigated me, which is why you cooperated by making such a grand show of moving all these flowers to Butterfly Gorge.”

Pei Wenxuan didn’t speak. Li Rong lowered her eyes and said quietly, “It was you who lost your usual rationality.”

“Your Highness is correct.” Pei Wenxuan smiled. “In the past, I never understood why Your Highness so resisted matters of love. Now I understand.”

With that, Pei Wenxuan looked up at Li Rong. “If there’s someone in your heart, it’s inevitable you’ll lose your composure. I had already noticed Your Highness’s strange behavior, yet I mistook it for Your Highness showing favor toward me. It was I who lost my sense of proportion and nearly disrupted Your Highness’s plan.”

Each sentence Pei Wenxuan spoke pierced Li Rong’s heart. Li Rong clutched the qin tightly. For the first time, she realized that even plain and simple sentences could be so hurtful.

But she couldn’t show it. She listened impassively as Pei Wenxuan spoke. “It was this subject’s error. Your Highness can rest assured, it won’t happen again in the future.”

Having finished speaking, Pei Wenxuan performed an elegant bow, then turned and walked outward.

Seeing Pei Wenxuan leave, Li Rong’s fingers dug into the qin. Watching him walk away, she finally couldn’t bear it and called out to him, “Pei Wenxuan!”

Pei Wenxuan didn’t turn back. He continued walking forward. Li Rong gritted her teeth and shouted, “On what grounds do you get to decide everything? You say we’ll be friends, so we’re friends. Now you say we won’t be friends, so we’re not. You come when you please, leave when you please. What right do you have to throw such a tantrum at me?!”

“Right,” Pei Wenxuan stopped and turned around, shouting back at Li Rong just as loudly. “I have no right. I’ve never had any right. Before, I wasn’t in your heart. Now, no matter what I do, I can’t remain in your heart. Because I’m not in your heart, I don’t even have the right to like you, accompany you, or pursue you anymore. Is that it?”

Li Rong’s eyes widened. Seeing her expression, Pei Wenxuan smiled mockingly. “Are you surprised? Didn’t you already know?”

With that, Pei Wenxuan walked forward. He clenched his fists, controlling himself, and within a range where only the two of them could hear, he said in a suppressed voice, “You clearly understand everything, but you hide it in your heart. You pretend not to know, simply because you hope I can still be like before, maintaining this so-called friendship with you while continuing to treat you well.”

“You’re unwilling to be with me,” Pei Wenxuan’s voice trembled slightly, “but you can’t bear to part with my abilities, can’t bear to part with how well I treat you. So on one hand you show me favor to keep me, and on the other hand when I draw close you reject me. But Li Rong,” Pei Wenxuan’s eyes reddened, “feelings cannot be trampled on like this. You can say you don’t like me, but you must at least respect this affection.”

“Regarding today’s events, if you had cared even a little, it wouldn’t have come to you knowing nothing at all.”

“That I couldn’t guess your conspiracies and schemes—it’s not that I’m foolish. It’s that I was more willing to believe that when you asked me to come out, you truly wanted to go somewhere with me to relax, that it had nothing to do with these conspiracies and intrigues.”

“And though you knew my movements, you couldn’t guess what I was doing. It’s not that you don’t understand either. Rather, in your heart, you were more willing to believe I was playing at conspiracies and schemes, rather than…” Pei Wenxuan paused. He stared at the woman before him who had listened to him say everything without even half a change in her expression.

He suddenly felt exhausted, felt humiliated. He even felt that if he spoke this sentence, he would truly lose utterly and completely, even the last bit of dignity totally lost.

“Rather than what?” Li Rong raised her head and looked at him quietly.

Meeting those eyes calm to the extreme, Pei Wenxuan couldn’t help but laugh. “Your Highness’s chess game is superior after all.”

With that, he turned his head away and said hoarsely, “Your Highness still has important matters to handle. This subject takes his leave.”

“Pei Wenxuan.” Li Rong’s voice held some weariness. She looked at the ground and spoke quietly, “I have never said these things to you before.”

“You’re not the only one who feels their feelings were trampled on. You’re not the only one who felt pitiable.”

Pei Wenxuan froze. After Li Rong finished saying this, she felt she had lost her composure. She took a deep breath, turned around holding the qin, and tried hard to calm herself down. “You should go back first. I still have matters to attend to.”

“Your Highness…”

“Go back!”

Li Rong shouted. Pei Wenxuan said nothing. He quietly looked at Li Rong’s proud, sword-like back. After a long time, he raised his hand and bowed to Li Rong.

“This subject will wait for Your Highness to come home.”

His voice was very low, carrying a few notes of pleading.

Li Rong stopped in her tracks. After a long while, she finally responded with a sound, “Mm.”