Moonlight poured down, faintly illuminating the two figures embracing. The terrifying screams cut off abruptly, and Jun Suining lifted her head from his arms.
"Am I… really that useless…" Jun Suining felt somewhat dejected. Even after living a second life, she was still as timid as ever.
Yue Tingyu stood with his back to the moonlight, his face shrouded in shadow, so Jun Suining could not see it clearly. In contrast, every one of her movements and expressions was reflected plainly in Yue Tingyu's eyes.
When no answer came after a long while, Jun Suining knew what it meant. She stepped back out of his embrace and suddenly said, "Yue Tingyu, take me to the source of the screaming, will you?"
"Is Your Highness certain you wish to go to the prison?" Yue Tingyu looked at her quietly. Seeing her nod with a resolute expression, a trace of complexity surfaced on his face. "Why?"
"If I don't face my fear, I will remain afraid forever." What Jun Suining feared was not merely the midnight screams, but the bloody slaughter her imagination conjured from them. Only by overcoming it could she walk out of her Inner Demon.
When the words fell, the room fell utterly silent.
Yue Tingyu pressed the lantern's handle into Jun Suining's hand. The moment she instinctively took it, the man before her turned and stepped out the door. She hurried to follow—only to watch, dumbfounded, as he walked straight back into his own room.
???
What was this supposed to mean? Hand her the lantern and make her find her own way?
Jun Suining looked up at the moon with some helplessness. The crescent moon hung leisurely in the night sky, coldly watching her hesitation and embarrassment.
Creak. The door next door opened again. Yue Tingyu had changed back into his black robes, his steps steady. The dark cloak in his hands gleamed in the moonlight. He handed the cloak to Suining, his deep voice echoing in the night. "Make do with this."
In the faint light, his features were wreathed in a soft halo, no longer as cold as in the daytime.
Jun Suining stared, stunned, and involuntarily raised the lantern high, trying to see the look in his eyes at that moment. The next second, the lantern was snatched from her hand without a word, and she heard him repeat stiffly—
"The night is cold. If Your Highness's illness worsens, this servant will have no way to explain it. Please cooperate, Your Highness."
Her attempt to peer into his eyes thwarted, Suining could only give up in disappointment. She draped the thin velvet cloak over her shoulders and hurried after him with small steps.
The prisons of Nanxingsi held those awaiting interrogation and coerced confessions; those who had already given their statements were sent elsewhere.
The dark prison admitted no outside light. Braziers lined the spacious, damp corridor, lighting the inner chambers brightly. Suining followed closely behind Yue Tingyu. Cries rose and fell all around, along with the sound of whips striking flesh…
The moment she turned her head, she saw a prisoner with mangled flesh in one of the cells. The stench of rotting flesh drifted into her nose, and her stomach churned with nausea.
The man ahead seemed to sense it. He stopped, turned, and gazed at her. Seeing her face pale, he frowned almost imperceptibly. "The assassin from today is being interrogated. Do you wish to see him?"
Jun Suining nodded, covering her mouth and nose, and walked on with him.
The male assassin who had struck that morning had his mask removed, revealing a face nearing forty. His limbs were bound with iron chains to a wooden post, his black clothes whipped to tatters, and he muttered over and over, "No one sent me…"
The assassin wearily raised his head. When he saw that a man and a woman had appeared in the prison, his gaze fixed on Jun Suining's face for an instant, and his bloodshot eyes cleared somewhat. "You…"
"Me?" Suining took two steps forward, her gaze locked on the assassin. "What is it you want to say?"
"Your Highness," Yue Tingyu strode forward, passing Jun Suining and positioning himself in front of her. "Do not get too close to him."
"Your… Highness? You… are a princess?" The assassin's voice was faint as a dying breath, gazing at her in disbelief. The light in his eyes flickered out in an instant, and he lowered his head in resignation, saying nothing more.
Jun Suining was baffled by his attitude. Her intuition told her that this assassin knew her.
"What exactly are you trying to say?" she pressed.
…He kept his head lowered, as if he hadn't heard.
Suining felt that some enormous secret was hidden here—one she had missed in her previous life, and this time she could not afford to miss it again. Urgency crept into her voice as she tempted him: "Tell me what you know, and I will spare your life."
"Hah." The assassin gave a cold laugh. Having attempted to assassinate a prince, he had never planned on leaving alive in the first place.
Seeing this, the Nansi Guard who had been conducting the interrogation picked up a triangular copper iron glowing red-hot from the furnace, ready to sear it into the assassin's unmarked flesh. "Rest assured, Your Highness. This subordinate will make him talk."
Just as the hot iron was about to touch his skin, Yue Tingyu pulled Suining back a step, away from the burning coals.
"Wait!" Suining cried out.
"Your Highness, mercy will get nothing out of an interrogation," Yue Tingyu said coldly. He didn't know whether she was being soft-hearted or simply afraid, but either way, the interrogation could not be stopped.
Jun Suining drew a deep breath. The air in the cell was far from fresh. She walked to the furnace and, in one resolute motion, took out a fresh copper iron, her gaze fixed on the assassin with earnest determination—
"I'll do it."
She could not be afraid. She had to overcome it. A coward like her could not only fail to protect those she loved—she couldn't even protect herself.
Yue Tingyu was somewhat surprised by her decision, but he did not stop her.
He stood quietly behind her, his tall figure as solid as a mountain, his deep gaze fixed on her like a magnet, following her every movement.
Jun Suining raised the iron, imitating the interrogator, and asked one final threatening question: "Is your body harder than this iron? Will you really not talk?"
…
Silence was still her only answer.
The red-hot iron glimmered with sparks in the darkness. Jun Suining brought it slowly closer to the assassin's torso… The hot iron sank into flesh, and a hoarse scream of agony pierced the momentary silence. Suining's heart clenched.
Heat rose, and a scorched smell filled the cell. Her wrist trembled slightly with each of the man's screams, her arm seemingly no longer able to support the weight of the iron…
Suddenly, a large hand steadied her wrist. Suining looked up in a daze, seeing only Yue Tingyu's sharply chiseled jaw. Without a word, he extended his other hand, his broad palm covering hers, gripping the iron's handle firmly to stop her trembling.
It was not until Suining's legs went weak that Yue Tingyu noticed her state, and he slowly guided her hand down, lowering the iron and extinguishing its glow.
The assassin's face was contorted in pain, beads of sweat dripping from his body. His voice was as hoarse as a rusted iron gate being forced open. "Your Highness… you look very much like my master. Everything else… I don't know."
For some reason, the figure that came to Jun Suining's mind was—Lady Peach Blossom…
"Who is your master? Where is she?" Suining's hands clenched tightly at the hem of her garment, her lips pressed into a thin line as she fixed her gaze on the assassin. "What does your assassination plot have to do with her?"
But he refused to say another word.
Suining's palms were slick with cold sweat. Only when the back of her hand met a warm touch did she realize she had been too anxious.
"That will be all for today," Yue Tingyu ordered the Nansi Guard coldly. "Continue the interrogation tomorrow. Don't let him die."
"Yes, sir."
Jun Suining had gotten nothing out of him, and she was unwilling to accept it, but she still followed Yue Tingyu out of the prison.
It was already past the fifth watch. The hazy dawn light broke through the darkness of night, and the faint glow at the horizon gave everything its outline.
"Your Highness should return to the palace." Yue Tingyu did not look back at the girl behind him, speaking flatly.
"Wait for me, Yue Tingyu—" Suining had to jog a few steps to walk beside him. Though he said nothing, his pace had slowed, deliberately or not. Tilting her head up, she asked tentatively, "Could you help me with something?"
He stopped at once and turned to look down at her, their eyes finally meeting. "What is it?"
"Use the power of the Nanzhensi to investigate my birth mother's whereabouts," Suining said, her voice soft yet utterly resolute, her eyes gazing up at him full of hope. "I was not born of Concubine Shu. My birth mother is Lady Peach Blossom, but there is no such person in the palace at all. Perhaps even Father the Emperor does not wish me to know, so he erased everything about her."
Yue Tingyu looked at her young face, so full of stubbornness. The spring breeze swept past, tousling the stray hairs at her forehead, letting them drift lightly against her cheek. Yue Tingyu's slender fingers curled, clenching into a tight fist behind his back.
After a long while, his thin lips parted slightly, his voice carrying boundless chill. "No wonder Your Highness has been acting so strangely these days. Turns out you wished to make use of your servant."
Acting strangely?
Jun Suining had never imagined he would misunderstand her intentions. Seeing him lift his foot and walk away, his figure growing more distant, panic seized her heart, and her clear, crisp voice rang out with a trace of defiance. "I truly do like you!"
Where Suining could not see, Yue Tingyu's eyes were dark and unfathomable. He halted, and suddenly let out a soft, mocking laugh, his voice full of self-mockery and coldness—
"This servant is nothing but a eunuch. What could Your Highness possibly like about this servant?"