Luo Sheng remained silent without answering.

Si Nan could no longer maintain his desperate calmness and asked in a trembling voice: “How exactly do you know this?”

Luo Sheng took another step forward, almost touching his body.

She lowered her voice even more, so soft it was like a gentle breeze passing by: “A’Li, do you believe in rebirth through another’s body?”

Si Nan’s eyes contracted as he stared unblinkingly at Luo Sheng.

“I am Princess Qingyang, so I know you’re called A’Li.” Luo Sheng said word by word.

Facing Xiu Yue, she hadn’t spoken of it. Facing Divine Physician Li, she still hadn’t spoken of it. But facing Si Nan, she could no longer remain silent.

Si Nan was trapped in prison, his life hanging by a thread—she couldn’t afford to take her time with him.

She could only speak out and gamble on whether he would believe or not.

“Such an absurd thing—you think I’ll believe it?” The depths of Si Nan’s eyes were profound, yet the flickering light revealed his inner wavering.

Luo Sheng smiled bitterly: “I also think it’s absurd, yet it happened. I can’t stay here long, and I’m afraid there won’t be another chance to come again. There’s one thing I must ask you.”

She had just invited a divine physician to revive Grand Marshal Luo. Making a fuss about seeing the male companion who had harmed her father, though somewhat willful, was human nature.

But Si Nan was after all a major criminal. It would be difficult for her to come again afterward. No matter how much Grand Marshal Luo indulged his daughter, he couldn’t possibly let her treat the Jinlin Guards’ Imperial Prison like the Luo manor’s back garden.

“Speak.” Unknowingly, Si Nan’s contemptuous attitude when facing Luo Sheng had quietly disappeared.

He still couldn’t believe it, didn’t dare trust it easily, yet deep in his heart he vaguely hoped it was true.

If she was the princess, could she avenge Prince Zhennan’s manor?

“Bao’er… is he still alive?” Luo Sheng asked with difficulty, the question nearly exhausting all her strength.

The form of address “Bao’er” strengthened Si Nan’s wavering by another degree.

He looked at Luo Sheng for a long time before finally shaking his head.

With that shake of his head, Luo Sheng’s heart completely plummeted, so much so that she could barely hear his voice.

“The young prince died, fell to his death on the street in front of the manor…”

Luo Sheng closed her eyes as tears streamed down.

Si Nan gazed at the teardrops hanging on the young lady’s lashes and became somewhat convinced.

If she was only asking this, then he was willing to believe she was the princess.

“You… don’t cry anymore.” Si Nan suddenly didn’t know how to address her and finally used the word “you.”

Luo Sheng opened her eyes, the depths filled with undissolvable pain.

Si Nan was familiar with such pain.

This was what he felt most after the manor’s downfall.

After that day, there had been no joy in his life—only pain and hatred remained.

“Do you have anything else you want to ask?” Si Nan asked this question, his heart growing tense.

If she asked the same questions as those interrogators—whether he had contact with survivors of Prince Zhennan’s manor—then he could only consider everything this woman said to be an elaborately fabricated lie.

Actually, even if it was a lie fabricated to extract information from him, it didn’t matter. He truly didn’t know if anyone else from the manor had escaped by luck.

When the disaster occurred, he had been merely a child of ten or so years.

But still, it was regrettable. More than anyone, he hoped the person before him truly was the princess reborn, come to demand the lives of those who had destroyed the manor.

Luo Sheng shook her head: “No more.”

Nothing more to ask.

If her younger brother had died then, what else was there to ask?

What would be the point of asking about those survivors? Would she drag them into the abyss of revenge?

Si Nan’s eyes gradually brightened as he gazed at Luo Sheng for a long time.

The young lady before him seemed to overlap with his memory of the noble yet gentle princess.

“I’m sorry, I can’t save you.” Saying these words, Luo Sheng’s heart felt bitter.

Even as Miss Luo, there were still things she couldn’t do.

As Princess Qingyang, there were even more things she wasn’t allowed to do willfully.

Si Nan seemed not to take Luo Sheng’s words to heart at all, looking at her with a smile.

This smile held no contempt, nor did it carry the bewitching charm his appearance granted him—it was simply the purest of smiles.

“I want to ask you to help me with one thing.” Si Nan said softly.

He still couldn’t call out the words “Princess,” yet he hoped she was.

“Speak.”

“Kill me.”

Luo Sheng’s hand trembled violently as she asked: “What did you say?”

Si Nan’s smile gained a trace of bitterness: “Nearly every torture instrument in the Imperial Prison has been used on me. Every moment, I wish for death rather than this life. If you’re willing to help me, then kill me.”

Luo Sheng’s gaze moved downward to Si Nan’s wrists.

His wrists were firmly bound by iron manacles, the white bones almost visible. The unrecognizable color of his clothing was tattered and worn, wound after wound gaping hideously.

She was very close to him and could smell that faint putrid odor.

Si Nan wasn’t wrong—living like this truly meant wishing for death every moment.

The Jinlin Guards would never let Si Nan go. In the end, whether they extracted information or got nothing at all, Si Nan faced the same outcome.

“Help me find release—is that acceptable?” Si Nan asked softly, those exquisite and rakish eyes flashing with hopeful light.

Luo Sheng was silent for a long while before gently nodding: “Alright.”

This was probably the only thing she could do for him.

“Thank you.” Si Nan looked deeply at Luo Sheng, as if wanting to firmly remember her appearance, then slowly closed his eyes.

Luo Sheng reached into her robes and withdrew a dagger, biting her lip as she forcefully thrust it into Si Nan’s heart.

Since she had promised him, hesitation would only be torture for him.

Si Nan opened his eyes in pain as fresh blood snaked down from the corner of his mouth.

“Prin—” He moved his lips and lowered his head.

Luo Sheng stepped back two paces, her fingertips trembling slightly.

Hearing the commotion, Yun Dong came in and, seeing the scene before him, couldn’t help but exclaim in shock: “Third Miss!”

Luo Sheng turned her head, her expression somewhat dazed.

Yun Dong strode over and, checking Si Nan’s breath, his expression changed: “You killed him?”

Luo Sheng reached out to grasp Yun Dong’s sleeve, murmuring: “He said my father deserved to die. I couldn’t bear it…”

Yun Dong didn’t know what to say anymore.

The jailer who had followed him in was at a complete loss: “Fifth Master, what should we do?”

Yun Dong came to his senses and looked coldly at the jailer: “The prisoner died under torture—remember that, understood?”

The person was killed by Adoptive Father’s precious pearl. The Jinlin Guards from top to bottom had no choice but to help cover it up.

However, Pingli would have to swallow this bitter pill.

Of course, so would he.

Yun Dong stared at that jade-white hand grasping his sleeve and sighed: “Third Miss, let me escort you back to the manor.”

Looking at this hand alone, one could imagine its owner was a frail young lady, but who would have thought she could kill so efficiently?

That dagger had precisely pierced Si Nan’s heart. The man must have had little reaction before expiring.

He truly feared this Third Miss.

“Mm.” Luo Sheng released Yun Dong’s sleeve and nodded obediently.

She followed Yun Dong slowly out of the cell, never once looking back.

She wanted to wipe the fresh blood from the corner of his mouth, to straighten his tattered clothing, but in the end she couldn’t.

A’Li, in your next life remember to be an ordinary person with no connection to royal power and wealth, and live well with your whole family.