The mad princess forces love upon him, and the aloof imperial advisor trembles every night.

Chu Qingyue stared at him blankly, a complex emotion surging deep within her phoenix eyes. After a long while, she softly asked:

"You're acting this way now... is it because you know about what happened in Beiming seven years ago, and you feel guilty and want to make it up to me?"

Si Chen was stumped by the question.

For over four hundred years, before breaking free from the Path of Ruthlessness, he had never tasted the sweetness of love. He was truly heartbroken by her suffering and genuinely wanted to spend the rest of his life making amends.

He nodded honestly: "Yes. You suffered too much in the seven years in Beiming... I will make it up to you in the years to come."

Chu Qingyue stared into his eyes.

Eyes facing each other.

Her pair of purple eyes were open and sincere, like clear glass, reflecting the starlight and her pale face.

Her phoenix eyes suddenly dimmed, and disappointment and anger surged up like a tide, only to freeze into ice in an instant.

a long time.

Chu Qingyue gave a very light and cold chuckle, turned her face away, and said nothing more.

Time flows on in silence.

Si Chen could clearly feel the change in the person's aura in his arms—the sudden cooling of temperature, the abrupt change in demeanor. He wanted to say something, but feared that saying too much would only lead to more mistakes. In four hundred years, he had learned to deduce the ways of heaven and comprehend life and death, but he had never learned to... understand a woman's heart.

Chu Qingyue, on the other hand, was waiting.

When he came to his senses, when he understood—what she wanted was never compensation, never guilt.

What she wanted was his unwavering devotion, knowing she was stained with blood and burdened with sin. She wanted his most primal and passionate love as a man, stripped of his divine veneer.

But Si Chen remained silent until the eastern sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn.

Chu Qingyue's last bit of expectation finally cooled completely.

She suddenly didn't want to watch the sunrise anymore.

This piece of wood. A piece of wood that has lived for four hundred years.

She propped herself up, her movements slightly unsteady due to her injuries. Si Chen quickly helped her: "Are you going to the palace? You're injured, let me carry you."

Chu Qingyue should have been happy to hear these words. But the thought that this tenderness stemmed from guilt made her heart feel suffocated.

She pushed his hand away, her voice turning cold: "No need."

Si Chen paused for a moment: "Then... I'll have Chi Xiao prepare the carriage."

Chu Qingyue was furious.

She took out her bone whistle and blew it, and the Azure Axe swooped down from the clouds. She leaped onto its back, her red robes and white hair fluttering in the morning breeze. When she looked back at him, her phoenix eyes held only a frozen, distant indifference.

"I will take my leave now. See you at the palace."

Before Si Chen could respond, Cang Yue had already flapped its wings and soared into the gradually brightening sky.

Si Chen stood alone on the cliff top, watching her departing figure, his purple eyes filled with incomprehension and bewilderment.

He stood silently for a long time, then finally murmured to himself, "I should... go back and ask Zesheng."

After speaking, she waved her red sleeve, and her figure transformed into a stream of light, disappearing into the thin mist before dawn.

--------Royal Palace-------

The morning light pierced through the clouds and shone on the majestic Xuande Gate tower.

Officials filed into the palace, their crimson, purple, and blue robes rustling as they dragged along the stone path. Suddenly, the distant, heavy clatter of iron chains dragging on the ground sent shivers down one's spine.

What was that sound?

"Look over there—"

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and gasped in shock.

A squad of black-armored guards were escorting ten blood-soaked corpses. Even more horrifying was the figure at the front of the squad—a handsome man with a heavy yoke around his neck and covered in blood.

In the center of the procession, four guards carried a bamboo couch.

A person was lying on the bamboo couch.

Her white hair, as white as snow, was scattered across her tattered, blood-stained clothes. Her exposed skin was covered with gruesome wounds, some so deep that the bone was visible. Her face was as pale as paper, except for her phoenix eyes—which shone with a terrifying light, like cold stars coated with poison.

"It is... Princess Chu Qingyue, the Guardian Princess!"

"Heavens! What happened to Your Highness?!"

"Those corpses...were South Vietnamese assassins!"

The murmurs rose like a tide and then fell silent in an instant.

Because everyone saw it clearly—beside the bamboo couch, in front of the huge Dengwen Drum, Chixiao slowly raised the drumsticks.

He knelt on one knee, his voice hoarse as a broken gong:

"Your Majesty's Chief Guard, Chi Xiao—"

"Princess Chu Qingyue, acting on behalf of the Kingdom's Eldest Princess, lodges a protest!"

"Thump—!!!"

The first drumbeat startled the crows on the palace walls, causing them to scatter in all directions.

"I accuse the Third Prince, Chu Xuanjing!" Chi Xiao roared, his tiger-like eyes filled with tears, his voice like that of a wounded beast. "He colluded with Nan Yue, raised a private army, and plotted to force the emperor to abdicate and rebel! After the Eldest Princess discovered this, she sent the treacherous minister Zhou Qingchen with eight thousand elite soldiers to surround and kill him to silence him—"

"Thump—!!!"

The stone lion trembled slightly at the second drumbeat.

"His Highness suffered thirty-seven severe wounds, and the poison has penetrated his heart! All three hundred soldiers of the Princess Zhenguo's mansion... have perished in battle! Fortunately, the Imperial Preceptor rescued him, captured the main culprit Zhou Qingchen, and intercepted and killed more than five thousand Nan Yue assassins—today, I bring ten corpses for Your Majesty to examine!"

He kowtowed deeply, his voice resounding through the heavens:

"Your Majesty, I beg you!!!"

"Seek justice for Princess Zhenguo!!!"

"To vindicate the three hundred loyal souls!!!"

"Thump—!!!"

The third drumbeat was earth-shattering.

Inside and outside the palace gates, there was deathly silence.

All the officials froze on the spot, staring blankly at the woman on the bamboo bed, her white hair stained with blood, barely alive—the once powerful and tyrannical princess who had acted with impunity, now reduced to such a wretched state.

Even so, she still stood tall.

She is waiting.

Waiting for her father, the emperor, to make a choice.

---

Deep within the palace, in the imperial study.

Emperor Chu Yin stroked the jade thumb ring in his hand, his face ashen: "Was she... really that badly injured?"

The kneeling head of the guards dared not raise his head: "Yes. Your Highness has thirty-seven wounds, the most severe of which pierced your abdomen. Bei Ming's 'Red Beauty' poison has entered your heart meridian, and you lost all your martial arts skills when the poison took effect... If the Imperial Preceptor had not arrived in time, I'm afraid..."

"Can the Imperial Advisor intervene now?"

"The Imperial Advisor only saved His Highness, without killing a single person. Now, those poisoned assassins... are all under His Highness's control."

The Chu Emperor closed his eyes and tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest of the dragon throne.

The Imperial Advisor Si Chen did not kill anyone, only save people.

This attitude... is ambiguous.

"Heh." The Chu Emperor suddenly chuckled, and when he opened his eyes, a sharp light flashed in them. "My daughter certainly knows how to leverage power."

"Open the palace gates." The emperor opened his eyes, a cold glint flashing in them. "Welcome the eldest princess to the palace—I will personally preside over this case."

The old eunuch Wang Defu asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, what about the Third Prince...?"

"Make him kneel outside the palace." The Emperor's voice was icy. "If this case is true... my blade will not discriminate against a prince."

He paused, then added:

"But what if someone tries to use this opportunity to stir up trouble—"

"I will not let them off lightly either."

-----The Golden Palace----

When Chu Qingyue was carried into the main hall, all the officials held their breath.

"Your subject..." she began, her voice hoarse as if sandpaper had been rubbing against her throat, "pays respects to Father Emperor."

The Emperor of Chu looked at her covered in wounds, his hand trembling slightly in his sleeve: "Qingyue, there's no need for formalities... reply while lying down."