After who knows how long, Xie Anci felt like a small boat drifting on the sea.
He seemed to have lost consciousness for a while in the middle, only to be awakened again by pain.
The white bedsheet was dotted with traces of blood, and Xie Anci’s face was flushed.
Gray-white light shone through the small window into the dark dungeon. Xie Anci knew that dawn was coming soon.
Watching Li Jinchen laboring over him, Xie Anci knew that the man would soon regain his senses, and the Li Jinchen who despised him would return.
“Jinchen…” Xie Anci lifted his head, his expression tender. He wanted to kiss Li Jinchen’s lips.
Even just once…
But just as Xie Anci was about to touch Li Jinchen, Li Jinchen closed his eyes and turned his head away, dodging him.
“Jinchen.”
Xie Anci’s face went pale. Had Li Jinchen come to his senses?
Li Jinchen turned to look at Xie Anci, his previously dazed eyes gradually clearing.
Upon seeing the situation before him, he raised his hand in fury. Xie Anci flinched back in fright, which pulled at Li Jinchen, whose face turned livid.
The slap never fell in the end. Li Jinchen rose without hesitation, picked up the crumpled clothes from the ground, and walked away without looking back.
“Jinchen! Jinchen.” Xie Anci reached out, trying to grab him. He was afraid when the man was like this.
This silent treatment hurt more than any scolding.
After a night of torment, Xie Anci was exhausted in body and mind, and grievance surged up in his heart all at once.
Two lines of clear tears slid down his beautiful cheeks as Xie Anci covered his face.
What a failure he was. He, who had always been so strong, was actually hiding in a dungeon crying.
After a while, Xie Anci calmed himself down. Just as he was about to get up, he pulled at his wound, and the pain made his vision go black.
His whole body ached,
It hurt as if he had been beaten.
Xie Anci struggled to his feet, picked up his clothes, which were stained with a bit of dust, and slowly put them on.
It wasn’t fully light yet. Surely no one had seen Li Jinchen in that state just now?
Xie Anci couldn’t help but sneer. Wasn’t Li Jinchen ending up like that entirely his own doing?
And now he was actually worrying about him?
What self-indulgent sentimentality. Wasn’t he himself the villain here?
Xie Anci dressed meticulously, fastening his belt.
But the wrinkles on his clothes and his somewhat disheveled long hair made it obvious at a glance that something had happened to him.
Xie Anci left the dungeon. Everyone here had already been dismissed by him. The path was deserted, and Xie Anci breathed a long sigh of relief.
Although his reputation was already terrible, he still wanted to preserve a bit of his dignity.
Limping through the imperial palace, Xie Anci dared say this was the first time he had ever been so wretched.
Xie Anci kept his head down, enduring the pain in his body.
Right now, all he wanted was to hurry back to his manor. He wanted to go back and bathe.
His eagerness made him quicken his pace unconsciously.
Bang!
A cold, clear fragrance wafted into Xie Anci’s nose as a wall of flesh slammed into him, knocking him to the ground.
Xie Anci’s face went pale, and he hurried to get up.
“Are you alright?” A cool, gentle voice sounded above his head.
Xie Anci looked up and met a pair of eyes devoid of sorrow or joy, deep as an ancient well.
The man before him carried a cold fragrance, his long white hair flowing down to his waist, his phoenix eyes slightly upturned, his white brocade robes immaculate.
He was like a deity fallen into the mortal world.
“Regent.” The man was clearly a little surprised when he saw Xie Anci, though it wasn’t very noticeable.
Xie Anci recognized him, the current Imperial Preceptor, Pei Xuan.
Xie Anci had little contact with him, only seeing him occasionally when major matters needed discussion.
Pei Xuan also kept to himself and rarely went out; he was almost never seen in the palace, so no one knew why he would appear here.
Xie Anci frowned. He didn’t like dealing with this sort of person in Xie Anci’s own words, they always seemed eerie and mystical.
Perhaps Xie Anci had done too many wicked things, because seeing preceptors and the like always made him feel a twinge of guilt.
“Are you all right?” Pei Xuan found it strange to see Xie Anci with disheveled hair and clothes covered in wrinkles.
Xie Anci was always meticulous; he had never lost his composure like this before.
“I’m fine.” Xie Anci frowned. His body felt truly uncomfortable, and he had no mood to exchange pleasantries with Pei Xuan here.
“I have matters to attend to. Excuse me.” With that, Xie Anci hurried away.
Pei Xuan turned to look at his retreating figure. There seemed to be a strange scent in the air.
Pei Xuan was by nature cold and aloof, not one to concern himself with others, so he didn’t dwell on the matter. He walked off to find Li Jinchen.
Xie Anci only truly let out a long breath of relief once he reached the palace gates and boarded his carriage. “Back to the residence.”
With that, Xie Anci collapsed onto the carriage seat. The carriage was spacious enough to seat six or seven people.
Xie Anci’s face was flushed as he curled up on the seat.
Though he had used despicable means to take Li Jinchen, he knew that from now on, Li Jinchen would despise him even more.
Fortunately, the carriage was very private, and besides, no one would dare touch the Regent Prince’s carriage. Xie Anci closed his eyes in peace.
Once his eyes closed, he fell straight asleep.
The carriage rolled along slowly until it stopped in front of the residence.
“Your Highness, we’ve arrived.” The driver’s voice was tense as he quietly called out to Xie Anci inside the carriage.
But the carriage was utterly silent. No one responded.
“Your Highness.” The driver looked troubled. The Regent Prince was notoriously ruthless should he wake him, or not?
He was afraid that if Xie Anci was in a bad mood, he might have him cut down on the spot.
The driver stood there for a while, at a loss for what to do.
“What’s wrong? Where is my adoptive father?” A deep-voiced man came up beside the driver and asked with a frown.
“Young Master, His Highness is inside.” The driver gestured toward the carriage.
This young man was Xie Anci’s adopted son, whom he had raised from childhood. Xie Anci was nearly thirty, yet had neither wife, nor concubines, nor heirs.
After all, while no one said it openly, everyone knew that Xie Anci was in love with the current Emperor.
Xie Anci’s parents had died protecting the country at the frontier when he was in his teens.
So people sighed with regret such fine old Prince and Princess Consort, how could they have produced something like Xie Anci?
For Li Jinchen’s sake, he had harvested power within the court, and now more than half of it was in Xie Anci’s grasp.
The power in Li Jinchen’s hands was pitifully small.
The public’s eyes were sharp, someone had once recited a denunciation of Xie Anci’s crimes in the street, and now the grass on that person’s grave was taller than a man.
From then on, no one dared openly speak ill of Xie Anci again.
The young man before them, Xie Anci’s adopted son Xie You, had been picked up off the street by Xie Anci.
Perhaps it was a sudden burst of kindness, or perhaps a momentary whim, but he had simply been raised at Xie Anci’s side ever since.
“You go on ahead. I’ll take a look.” Xie You found it strange. His adoptive father never lost his composure like this, and had never fallen asleep in the carriage before. Why would he be sleeping now?
Moreover, his adoptive father hadn’t returned home all last night, so why was he back this morning?
“No court session today?”
“Ah, good thank you, young master!” The driver, as if granted a pardon, hurried away.