The lamps in the Prime Minister's residence burned through the night.
Nan Rao's clothes were stained with blood, and the marks of strangulation still lingered on her neck. Beyond that, there was no telling how many bruises she had sustained from collisions.
In just a single day and night, she had endured so much.
While the female physician tended to Nan Rao's wounds, Pei Ling remained by her side the entire time.
His dark gaze rested on her face, his thin lips pressed tightly into a line, his thoughts inscrutable.
When the physician moved to examine the injury at the back of her head, Pei Ling personally reached out and lifted her by the waist, settling her against his chest with her head resting near his heart.
The physician gently parted her black hair.
There was a large swelling there, with clotted blood in the strands.
"Is it serious?" Pei Ling asked, having seen it clearly.
The physician said in a low voice, "It doesn't look like a major wound, but since it's at the back of the head, it's far more delicate than other places. For now, we can only see whether the lady can wake up. If she wakes with clear consciousness, there should be no great danger."
But she had not yet woken.
Pei Ling's brows knitted tightly. After a long moment, he said, "You may go."
"Yes."
The physician bowed respectfully and withdrew.
The room fell silent in an instant. Pei Ling stood by the bed for a moment, then walked over and sat down, gathering the supine figure back into his arms.
His fingertips tucked her soft hair aside, his chin resting against her forehead as he murmured to himself, "Are you so afraid of me?"
In the past, she had loved chasing after him.
Back then, he seemed to have acquired a little tail out of nowhere—chattering endlessly day and night, impossible to shake off.
Now, she avoided him like a snake or scorpion, not even daring to bid him farewell face to face.
Pei Ling held Nan Rao quietly. The bright moonlight filtered through the window lattice, casting mottled shadows into his dark, sunken eyes, as if falling into a bottomless abyss.
Suddenly, two soft knocks sounded at the door.
"Enter."
Yan Zhan hurried in, not daring to look up much, and bowed to report: "Prime Minister, Yang Zhao has been bound and brought over." Mindful that Nan Rao was asleep, Yan Zhan instinctively lowered his voice.
Pei Ling let out a silent, cold laugh. Yang Zhao had dared to touch Nan Rao—he still had a score to settle with them. He was about to set Nan Rao down and rise to leave when, at that very moment, the person in his arms let out a soft whimper—whether from being touched at a painful spot or something else.
His movements froze.
When he lowered his gaze, he happened to meet a pair of misty eyes.
Their eyes met.
"…M-My Lord?" Her lashes fluttered as she stared at him dazedly.
The scene fell into dead silence. Everyone seemed frozen in place. Pei Ling, who had been calm and composed, was caught off guard by her gazing up at him so plaintively. The emotions in his eyes shifted rapidly for a moment before he ultimately remained silent.
No one had expected her to wake so suddenly—and now he was holding her. How was he to explain such an intimate gesture?
But before they could speak, crystalline tears spilled down with her trembling lashes.
With a soft patter, they landed on Pei Ling's palm.
"Was it you who saved me, my Lord?" Nan Rao's voice was weak and faint, her eyelids heavy as she forced herself to ask.
Pei Ling saw her wet lashes, her panicked gaze, and her fingers gripping tightly at his robes.
Compared to how she had desperately avoided him before, she now seemed exceptionally fragile and pitiful—like someone who had been frightened out of her wits and had yet to recover.
He lowered his eyes again, curling his fingers to clench that tear in his palm.
He let out only a nasal sound. "…Mm."
The knuckles resting at his side unconsciously clenched. He wanted to stroke her back but forcibly held back, his jaw tightening slightly.
Such a tense demeanor made him seem even colder than usual.
Nan Rao looked at Pei Ling and said nothing.
"No need to be afraid." After a brief silence, Pei Ling added.
That was what he said, but the man's gaze was too cold and oppressive, causing her spine to tremble. She unconsciously released her grip on his robes and tried to shrink backward.
But her waist tightened.
The arm around her waist had never loosened, holding her like an iron clamp.
She looked at him again with fearful eyes. Pei Ling lowered his lashes, concealing the emotions beneath.
His Adam's apple bobbed. He knew he should let go now.
"No need to fear."
Pei Ling hardly knew what he was saying anymore, merely repeating those words. As if possessed, he still did not release her.
He was usually composed, orchestrating schemes with ease, but it seemed that after the chaos of this entire day, he could no longer keep himself steady.
Nan Rao turned her face slightly away.
Seeing that Pei Ling was detained by her, Yan Zhan understood that this would not settle anytime soon, and quietly withdrew, leaving the room in stillness.
In the nearly frozen air, the woman's shoulders trembled slightly. Pei Ling raised his eyes in a daze and realized she was silently sobbing.
He fell silent.
Humans are born with joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure—the seven emotions and six desires. But once bound by the shackles of power and ambition, it becomes difficult to vent them.
That was how he was.
But the Nan Rao before him reminded him of that little princess from years ago who had comforted him, saying, "I don't have a mother anymore either." From beginning to end, she had remained pure and untainted.
"Don't cry." He sighed with a softening heart, lifted his sleeve, and gently wiped away her tears, explaining in a warm voice: "The reason I sent people searching everywhere for you was simply out of concern that something might happen to you. Although the Duan family case has been closed, it has still aroused suspicion in others. Otherwise, why would you have been knocked unconscious and kidnapped the moment you went out?"
—He was still lying.
Her purity only made his many schemes and machinations seem all the more vile and contemptible by comparison.
But Pei Ling had no path of retreat. Whatever means he used, it was all to bring his princess back to his side.
She raised her eyes and asked, "Did you make things difficult for Young Master Lu and the others?"
Pei Ling said, "Rest assured, I will release him."
"Then I…"
"Rest and recover first."
He was doing his utmost to soothe her with tenderness at this moment. Nan Rao was weak and frail; after crying for only a short while, her head began to throb and ache, and she slumped down in a daze, her forehead pressed tightly against his chest, her hand still clutching the corner of his robe.
His breathing slowed, his chest stiff and hard from tension.
She could hear the dull, powerful beating of his heart.
Pei Ling sat still as well, his gaze heavy and deep, like a night shrouded in thin mist, countless emotions churning within. Seated in the moonlight, he resembled a translucent jade sculpture, letting her curl quietly in his embrace.
She did not know when she had completely fallen asleep.
Pei Ling sat alone for most of the night before gently laying her flat back on the bed and tucking the blanket around her.
He still had matters to attend to.
Grand Tutor Yang Jin had three sons and one daughter, all born of the Grand Princess Cheng'an. Yang Zhao was his second son, now twenty-four years old, three years younger than Pei Ling, serving in the palace—a young man of considerable promise. Unfortunately, the man had been dragged here by Pei Ling in the dead of night and had been cursing in the front hall for half the night.
When Pei Ling came out, the man was still being held down on his knees by attendants, his face red from shouting, "Pei Guanqing! I am, after all, a Gentleman Consultant to His Majesty—how dare you humiliate me like this—"
Pei Ling's gaze was icy. "Humiliate you? It seems you'll only behave once I send you to the Commandant of Justice's prison."
Yang Zhao sneered, his arrogance undiminished. "My mother is a princess, and I am, after all, His Majesty's cousin. Even if you send me to the Commandant of Justice, so what? That coward Wang Che—would he dare to interrogate me? Pei Ling… you ruined my sister's plans, and today you even lay hands on me… that woman… I nearly caught her… Are you so nervous because you've done something behind the scenes to deceive His Majesty?"
Pei Ling found it rather amusing—amusing that this man spoke so recklessly, relying entirely on his parents and brothers, and still dared to mention Nan Rao at a time like this. He was truly convicting himself.
He flicked his sleeve coldly and said, "Wang Che."
At the side, Commandant of Justice Wang Che stepped forward upon hearing his name and bowed. "Chancellor."
"Did you clearly record what he just said?"
"Your subordinate has noted it down."
"Did I capture any woman today?"
"Reporting to the Chancellor, no." Wang Che said respectfully, "Today, the Captain of the Capital Patrol saw someone committing murder in the streets and launched a citywide search. The criminal has now been arrested and took his own life in prison out of guilt an hour ago. Moreover, according to the criminal's confession, the one who ordered the deed was Yang Zhao."
Yang Zhao had not expected Wang Che to be right here, nor that he would so brazenly twist the facts and completely erase Nan Rao's existence. He gnashed his teeth in fury and shouted, "Wang Wenchang! What a petty villain you are!"
Wenchang was precisely Wang Che's courtesy name. Wang Che's expression did not change, but inwardly he thought: This Yang Zhao truly has no discernment. Noble Lady Yang was fated by destiny to have no share in the empress position—even the Grand Tutor had accepted that. But this one, instead, still harbored a grudge in secret. Keep making a fuss? If it blows up, it will only disgrace the Grand Tutor and the Grand Princess Cheng'an.
Better to accept the loss quietly. Who told him to meddle in affairs that were none of his business?
If one truly wanted to weigh the matter carefully, the person in this world who could outmatch Chancellor Pei had probably not even been born yet.
…
On the other side.
Not long after Pei Ling left the room, Nan Rao opened her eyes.
Wind from the crack in the window stirred the gauze curtain, and the candle's shadow cast flickering shapes upon the swaying fabric, like a host of ghostly figures.
She stared at those shadows.
In the beginning, when Nan Rao had lost her memory, she had been ignorant of everything—fearing nothing except death, yet afraid of everything else. She feared the dark, feared thunder, feared snakes and insects, and feared the ghosts and evil spirits of folk legend.
In the night, even catching sight of the bed curtain's shadow swaying would make her startle and shake awake the already-sleeping Duan Xun.
The youth would always look helpless. "Why are you so timid?"
Before she could speak, the youth would yawn lazily again, rub his eyes, and mutter, "Forget it. Be afraid if you want—I'm here anyway."
Having woken him to keep her company, she was filled with guilt and whispered, "I want to be braver too, but how can I manage to fear nothing?"
Duan Xun raised an eyebrow, as if he found her question amusing. He glanced at the dejected girl before him, reached up to pat her head, and said with a light laugh, "Why must you be so brave? In this world, everyone has something they fear. Only one kind of person fears nothing—those who have been pushed to the brink of death."
Nan Rao propped herself up and sat upright, her gaze clear.
"——If the Princess still does not believe me, she may personally verify it in the Prime Minister's residence. After your incident back then, many of your old belongings were taken away by him and stored in the Prime Minister's residence, among which there should certainly be a portrait of the Princess."
——"Afterwards, I will find a way to sneak into the Prime Minister's residence. If by then the Princess has confirmed the truth and is willing to leave with me, I will risk my life to rescue you."
These were the words Xie Mingyi spoke before leaving.
Since she had already been brought back, there were some things she had to personally verify.