If no one had mentioned it, fine—but the moment it came up, Jun Yao's brows knitted, and he pulled away from Jun Suining's embrace, saying resentfully, "Imperial Sister had him castrated yesterday! Of course he's recovering from his wounds! What Imperial Sister did was truly beneath contempt!"
…
Oh. Castrated.
But Jun Suining knew perfectly well that even without the castration, he wouldn't have shown up today. Why was that?
Suspicion stirred in her heart, and she gave A-Qi her orders: "Hand the assassin over to Nanxingsi."
Nanxingsi was one of the Nan Sansi. It maintained a private Imperial Prison, arresting royalty and nobility above and corrupt officials below, responsible for pursuit, capture, interrogation, and torture. Its methods were utterly merciless, surpassing even the Ministry of Justice.
And the Commander of the Nan Sansi was Yue Tingyu.
A-Qi didn't move at her words. Jun Suining knew he had heard her—he was just a mute who couldn't speak. She should be understanding.
Just as she was thinking this, A-Qi gave a small nod. Oh? He was even willing to nod. Pretty considerate of him.
After things had settled, the commander of the Imperial Guards finally arrived. "Your Highnesses, your servant begs forgiveness for arriving so late to protect you!"
…
The commander of the Imperial Guards escorted Jun Yao back to the palace, while Jun Suining headed to the Nan Sansi with A-Qi.
The Nan Sansi lay in the south of Shunjing City, in a remote location, but the grounds were vast.
After handing the assassin over to Nanxingsi, Jun Suining sent a Nansi Guard to find Yue Tingyu. The guard's face showed difficulty. "The Commander isn't here today."
"Not here?" Suining repeated. But hadn't he said yesterday that the Nan Sansi's affairs were overwhelming?
So he had been deceiving her!
But Jun Suining was not so easily brushed off. Having made up her mind to wait for him, she would not retreat at the first obstacle.
"Find me a clean room. I'll wait for him here."
Though the Nansi Guard had no idea what business the princess had with the Commander, offending her was out of the question, so he obediently found a small room. It wasn't luxurious, but it had everything one might need.
"This place is nice. A-Qi, you should rest a while too," Suining said. She knew A-Qi couldn't respond, and thought nothing of it.
But when she turned around, she found no one behind her.
A-Qi? Gone?
Truly coming and going without a trace.
Jun Suining had risen before dawn to dress, and had been caught in the rain. Now that things had quieted down, she felt rather drowsy. She removed the heavy pearl ornaments from her hair, letting her damp tresses fall against her shoulders.
She also shed the cumbersome, weightless ceremonial outer robes, leaving her in an elegant inner gown—perfectly decent on its own.
She climbed onto the bed, resolved to wait however long it took, but not a quarter of an hour had passed before she sank into a deep sleep.
Perhaps because it was daytime, she began to daydream.
In the dream, A-Yu was not as cold as in reality—his eyes, when they fell on her, brimmed with restrained love. Outside the window, the snow threatened to block the roads; inside, despite the burning charcoal, the room was cold enough to shiver. So A-Yu held her in his arms, wrapped her in the quilts, and pressed his large palms, warmed to heat over the charcoal fire, against her cheeks, occasionally stroking her small ears.
…
The dream was so lovely that Suining had no wish to wake.
Before the bed, Yue Tingyu, in his dark robes with a thin black velvet cloak over them against the lingering chill of early spring, gazed down at the girl sleeping soundly on the bed.
She looked peaceful and sweet in her sleep, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly—who knew what she was dreaming of?
One more look, and Yue Tingyu sensed something was wrong. He reached out to touch her faintly flushed forehead… She had a fever.
…
Half-asleep, Jun Suining felt something pressing over her eyes, and her whole body seemed steeped in a fire pot, unbearably hot.
As she slowly woke, she reached up to remove the wet towel from her forehead. Her arm fell back without any strength—she was sick, and there was no one else in the room.
Just as she began to feel dispirited, the old door creaked open, and the man from her dream walked toward her holding a porcelain bowl, ordering her in a stiff tone, "Drink the medicine."
Jun Suining took the bowl, held her breath, and gulped down the bitter Chinese medicine in one go. Then she handed the bowl back and, suppressing the bitterness, flashed a sweet smile. "All done!"
Yue Tingyu looked down at her on the bed, his voice low and impossible to read. "What do you need from me?"
It was clearly a question, yet spoken like a statement—probably because he already knew she needed nothing.
But Jun Suining wanted to get close to him, so how could she admit she needed nothing? Her expression shifted, and she murmured, "I was wounded in this morning's assassination attempt! I need to tell you about the assassin myself, or I won't be at ease."
"Wounded?" His crisp voice was like water dripping onto jade—cold and clear, yet Suining detected a hint of desire in it.
Under his oppressive gaze, Suining nodded slightly and shrank further into the covers.
"Heh." He let out a scoff, then said darkly, "Show me. Where are you wounded?"
…
"I have a fever." Jun Suining had meant to rouse his tenderness—wasn't it said that men liked delicate, fragile women? But why was he being so aggressive? She had no choice but to change the subject.
Yue Tingyu suppressed the smile that had unconsciously appeared at the corner of his lips and stopped pressing about where her wound was. He glanced out the window at the darkening sky and said, lips pressed together, "The palace gates are locked. Your Highness will have to endure a night here."
"And you?"
"…Next door." With that, without sparing her a single glance, he turned and left.
Jun Suining's head was still groggy, and a throbbing pain was gradually setting in. Soon she drifted back into a muddled sleep.
However, in the dead silence of night, at some unknown hour, a shrill scream shattered the tranquility—
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
The screams, tearing like knives, rang on and on.
Suining jolted awake from her sleep, heart pounding. All around was pitch black—a night so dark she couldn't see her hand before her face. Only those screams echoed through it, sending chills down her spine.
The moment she closed her eyes, the blurred blood-red image of her own murder from her previous life surfaced in her mind, and the pain in her neck came surging back!
She opened her eyes but could see nothing. Listening to the endless screams, she felt a sinister chill pervading the room, heavy with the stench of blood. Beside her, it was as if some indescribable presence lingered, hovering around her, refusing to leave.
Fear pushed her toward collapse. She scrambled up and, not even bothering to put on shoes, climbed out of bed and groped for the way out from memory—only to keep bumping into the furniture. Porcelain crashed to the floor with ear-splitting shatters.
She was certain the screams were coming from outside, one rising after another, driving a person to the brink of madness!
Outside, a faint light seemed to appear, drawing gradually closer…
Jun Suining stared at the door panel, now faintly lit, her heart tightening. What was coming?
The next instant, the door let out a perfectly timed, terrifying creak.
Yue Tingyu, dressed in dark sleeping robes, entered the room carrying a night lantern, only to see Jun Suining crouching on the floor, her face full of fear and helplessness. Beside her lay shards of broken porcelain all over the ground.
When Jun Suining saw who had come, the fear she had felt moments before turned into grievance. Ignoring the pain in her feet, she rose and ran over in small steps, throwing herself into his arms without a second thought, her voice trembling: "What kind of godforsaken place is this…?"
"You—" Yue Tingyu had no time to stop her; the girl was already in his arms. The lantern in his left hand seemed suddenly in the way, and his right hand froze in midair.
The girl in his arms was truly frightened. Yue Tingyu had been about to extend his right hand to push her away, but as it came down… as if possessed by some impulse, it covered her left ear instead.
"It's all right."