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

The moment Chu Xuanche stepped into the East Palace, his legs trembled so badly he could barely stand—not from pain, but from the burning desire that had surged from the depths of his bones for twenty years, which finally exploded at this moment.

He staggered forward, his trembling hand stroking the first golden pillar with a coiled dragon in the hall. The icy touch spread from his fingertips, igniting an even fiercer fire in his chest. His fingertips traced the intricate carvings, each line gleaming with a golden luster under the candlelight, a luster befitting a crown prince.

"It's true..." he murmured.

He stroked the twelve carved jade screens, each engraved with the achievements of past princes. His fingertips stopped at the last screen—a blank one. Left for him.

Chu Xuanche slumped down on the large rosewood couch.

The cold, hard feel of the sandalwood permeated the brocade, yet he laughed maniacally, the sound echoing through the empty hall with a mad, eccentric tone.

"Mother, can you see that?" He looked up at the golden dragon coiling above the dome. "The Eastern Palace! This is the Eastern Palace! It is my Eastern Palace!"

He gripped the armrest tightly, his fingernails digging into the wood grain.

"Twenty years...Mother, I've thought about this for twenty years. Ever since I was ten years old, when Father pointed here and said, 'This is where the Crown Prince will live,' I've dreamed of this place every night! I dream of sitting on this couch!"

The Queen stood quietly three steps behind him.

Her phoenix eyes swept over every glittering detail of the palace, yet a layer of unyielding ice remained in their depths. She raised her hand, her fingertips lightly touching the golden pillar beside her. The coldness was piercing, as if it could penetrate her skin and seep into her very blood.

"Che'er." Her voice was soft, yet it was like a thin blade, slicing through Chu Xuanche's madness.

"Do you know what's buried beneath the warm pavilion of the Eastern Palace?"

Chu Xuanche's laughter stopped abruptly.

He turned his head, his eyes still gleaming with excited crimson: "What?"

"The remains of the former crown prince." The empress approached slowly, her hairpins swaying in the candlelight, casting flickering shadows.

"On the third day after he was made crown prince, he held a grand banquet for guests in this palace. After getting drunk, he boasted that 'the world will sooner or later fall into my hands.'"

She stopped in front of Chu Xuanche, looking down at him:

"On the seventh day, his father, the emperor, personally bestowed upon him a cup of poison. His body could not be placed in the imperial mausoleum, so it was buried beneath this warm pavilion, to be trampled upon day and night by those who came after."

Chu Xuanche's face paled.

The Empress leaned down, her cold fingertips touching his heart:

"When your father moved in, there was a dagger hanging by his bedside. Every night before going to sleep, he would touch it three times—the first time to remind himself how many people wanted this position; the second time to remind himself that his bedmate might offer him poisoned wine; the third time…"

She paused, then lowered her voice even further: "Remind yourself that your own son might come in with a sword on some dark and stormy night."

Chu Xuanche's Adam's apple bobbed, and the fervor in his eyes finally faded slightly, replaced by the sinister look that belonged to royalty.

"Your subject understands," he said through gritted teeth.

"The people we should be most wary of right now are not those old foxes in the court, but that one in the Third Prince's residence, and... that bitch who crawled back from Beiming, Chu Qingyue."

The Empress straightened up and walked to the window.

The night was as dark as ink, and in the distance, the Star-Picking Tower soared into the clouds, its luminous pearl atop emitting a cold light, like an eye overlooking the imperial city.

"She flaunts her military achievements and acts arrogantly; I've tolerated her for too long," Chu Xuanche said through gritted teeth.

"Once I ascend the throne, I will surely carve her into a human pig and place her in the Eastern Palace Garden for my daily enjoyment. So what if she possesses extraordinary martial arts skills? The Imperial Advisor can heal my injuries, so I have no fear of her!"

The Empress did not turn around, but stared in the direction of the Star-Picking Tower, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

"Che'er, you underestimate her." Her voice carried an unyielding chill.

"That bitch Chu Qingyue...she looks just like her mother. Back then, that monster of a mother, even on her deathbed, could..."

Chu Xuanche scoffed, "No matter how powerful you are, you'll still turn into ashes, won't you?"

"But she has that monster's blood in her veins." The queen turned away, the candlelight casting deep shadows on her face.

"Seven years in the Northern Underworld, crawling back from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, yet not a single scar on his body—is that normal?"

The hall suddenly fell silent.

The disdain on Chu Xuanche's face slowly froze.

He recalled Chu Qingyue, whom he had seen at the palace banquet—her face was breathtakingly beautiful, her skin as smooth as jade, and indeed… she showed no signs of having fought on the battlefield.

"And she is still a virgin," the Queen said slowly.

"In a place like Beiming, the price of maintaining chastity is probably a hundred times worse than losing one's purity. The fact that she was able to escape unscathed is no small feat."

Chu Xuanche remained silent for a moment, then a lewd and cruel light resurfaced in his eyes.

"That's perfect. Once I ascend the throne, there's no need to rush to kill her. Cripple her martial arts, imprison her in a dark room... and properly 'examine' the secrets of her body; that would be quite interesting..."

"Che'er!" the Empress interrupted sharply.

She strode back to him, her phoenix eyes revealing genuine fear for the first time: "Watch your words! Do you know how many ears and how many tongues are in this Eastern Palace? A single drunken remark could send you plummeting from this position, shattering you to pieces!"

Chu Xuanche lowered his eyelashes, concealing the fleeting annoyance in his eyes, and bowed, saying, "Your subject misspoke."

The Empress gazed at him for a long time before finally sighing and raising her hand to straighten his slightly disheveled clothes.

"The royal path is fraught with bloodshed. Your mother controls you because she fears you will fall into the abyss before you even reach the summit."

"Your subject will remember this."

As the Empress departed, her silhouette stretched long under the palace lanterns in the long corridor, like a gradually fading ink stain.

The moment the palace doors closed, all the submissiveness on Chu Xuanche's face vanished, replaced by a sinister sneer.

"Old man... I'll deal with you too sooner or later."

He walked back to the rosewood couch, and just as he sat down, a figure gracefully emerged from behind the screen.

The newcomer wore a light red ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), and her delicate features were as gentle as water in the candlelight.

It was none other than the Fifth Princess, Chu Qingyao, the Empress's legitimate daughter, Chu Xuanche's younger sister, and also known as Mei Shiliu.

Chu Xuanche's pupils contracted slightly—he hadn't heard her come in at all.

"When did Yao'er arrive?" He took a half step back without making a sound, his hand already on the soft sword at his waist.

Mei Shiliu covered her mouth and chuckled, her eyes sparkling with a charming naiveté: "Just arrived. Seeing Mother here, I didn't dare disturb her, so I hid to the side and waited."

"Yao'er greets Crown Prince Brother." She bowed gracefully, her voice as sweet as a knife dipped in honey.

Chu Xuanche offered a helping hand, his face regaining its smug expression:

"Yao'er, don't speak nonsense! The position of Crown Prince has not yet been officially conferred... I am not yet the Crown Prince, lest someone find fault with me."

Mei Shiliu rose and walked to the table. With her slender hand, she picked up the teapot and poured a cup of fresh tea. In the candlelight, she flicked her fingertips almost imperceptibly, and a colorless pill fell into the cup, instantly dissolving into nothingness.

"My brother has already moved into the Eastern Palace, and the position of Crown Prince..." She offered a teacup, smiling brightly, "isn't it already a sure thing?"