Remarried to a top-tier playboy, her reborn ex-husband is filled with regret.

Kyoto Inspectorate Prison.

This place is incredibly gloomy.

Because it was dark for years, a musty, damp smell seeped from the cracks in the walls.

Around midnight, fog suddenly rolled in outside.

Several dark figures crept over along the alley wall.

The leader was a slender middle-aged woman.

She wore a black veiled hat and a dark cloak, covering only half of her face.

Although he did not hold a knife, he exuded an indescribable murderous aura.

More than a hundred men in black followed behind him.

They were all dressed as assassins, their faces covered with black cloth, and they were armed with swords and bows.

They didn't use the main entrance.

He climbed over the wall from the side alley and first dealt with the two jailers on night duty.

Someone stepped forward, fumbled around in the jailer's waist for a while, and pulled off a bunch of copper keys.

The cell door was pushed open very gently.

A damp smell, mixed with the stench of blood and mildew, hit me in the face.

The woman paused for a moment, then went inside anyway.

The prison passage was long and narrow.

In the cells on both sides, many prisoners had already been awakened by the noise outside.

Someone peered through the wooden fence, but was glared at by the man in black and shrank back into the corner.

They went deeper and deeper.

The prison lights were dim.

In the innermost room, only a half-burnt oil lamp was lit.

Long Yuanming was leaning against the wall when he heard footsteps and suddenly looked up.

A man in black stepped forward, tried several keys, but none of them worked, so he simply smashed the lock open.

"Your Highness, come out quickly!"

Long Yuanming was stunned.

He saw the woman behind those men and immediately stood up.

The woman lifted her veil, revealing a pale yet familiar face.

"Yuanming".

Long Yuanming trembled all over.

"Mother!"

His voice cracked with excitement.

"You're alright! You really are alright!"

Zhao stepped forward and pulled him out of the cell.

"Don't say anything more. Come with Mother."

Long Yuanming's eyes reddened, and he nodded repeatedly.

"Okay! Let's go! We're leaving now!"

He followed behind Zhao, protected by a group of assassins.

The group ran outside quickly.

The cell door was kicked open.

The night was deep outside.

Long Yuanming stepped out of the prison and was about to take a deep breath.

Suddenly, torches lit up one after another on the walls.

The firelight was as bright as day.

Countless archers stood on high ground, arrows already nocked.

Several rows of shield bearers in the courtyard stepped forward at the same time.

With a "bang," the shield wall closed, completely sealing off the exit.

Zhao's expression changed drastically.

Long Yuanming's legs buckled, and he almost fell.

Lin Hui slowly walked out from behind the shield wall.

He wasn't holding a knife, but only a quiver, as if he were picking out something that suited his taste.

"Consort Zhao, you're really good at hiding things."

He curled one corner of his mouth into a smile.

Xiao Fang said that Long Yuanming should not be moved.

At first I didn't quite understand, but now I finally get it. Xiao Fang was fishing.

I didn't expect you to actually dare to come.

Zhao gritted her teeth and shouted sharply.

"Charge! Protect His Highness and rush out!"

"Kill these archers! Quickly!"

She shouted as she shrank back.

Long Yuanming held on tightly to her, desperately trying to back away.

The assassins swarmed forward in a flash.

But before they could take two steps, arrows came flying down from the wall.

"Whoosh whoosh-"

The arrows rained down densely and rapidly.

The assassins swung their swords to block the arrows, but the rain of arrows was too dense and they couldn't stop them at all.

Someone was shot through the neck by an arrow and fell straight down.

Someone had just rushed to the shield wall when he was shot through the chest.

One by one.

Like wheat that has been cut down.

The arrows were aimed directly at them, and not a single one landed on Long Yuanming and Zhao Shi.

Long Yuanming was shielded behind him, trembling all over.

He watched helplessly as fewer and fewer people remained around him.

Even Zhao was hit by two arrows, one in the shoulder and one in the calf.

She screamed and fell to her knees.

"Don't panic! All of you, get on top of me! Go!"

There's no one left.

More than a hundred suicide soldiers were shot dead in the blink of an eye.

Blood flowed freely across the blue bricks.

The last person also fell.

The courtyard was littered with the corpses of men in black.

Lin Huiyin took an arrow from the quiver and slowly nocked it on the string.

"Long Yuanming".

He aimed the arrow at Long Yuanming.

"I know you're no good."

But I still want to see just how bad you can be.

After saying that, he shot an arrow.

Long Yuanming's pupils suddenly contracted.

Without even thinking, he grabbed Zhao and pulled her over.

With a "thud," the arrow pierced Zhao's heart.

Zhao's eyes widened, as if she couldn't believe it.

She opened her mouth, and blood spilled from the corner of her lips.

"Yuan...Ming..."

Long Yuanming relaxed his hands.

Zhao lay on the ground, her eyes still fixed on him.

Lin Huiyin shook her head, clicking her tongue.

"You're really something."

My arrow was only aimed at your shoulder.

As long as you don't move, neither you nor your child will die.

But what you did was use your own mother as a shield.

He tossed the bow aside, a half-smile playing on his lips.

"Even among beasts, you're a rare sight."

Long Yuanming slumped to the ground, wanting to say something, but his throat felt blocked.

He stared blankly at the person on the ground; it was his mother, the one who had risked her life to save him.

But just now, it was he who personally pulled his mother in front of him.

Long Yuanming was dragged back into that cell like a dead dog.

He lay on the ground for a long time before he managed to sit up.

"Even though this bait has been bitten once, I wonder if it can still catch anything."

Lin Huiyin muttered to herself as she walked away.

Long Yuanming laughed when he heard this.

"What's the point of fishing? The Zhao family is gone, and so is Mother Consort."

I've run out of cards.

Who will come to save me?

Upon hearing the words "Mother Consort," Long Yuanming's throat tightened.

The man who, just moments before, had his bodyguards risking their lives to protect him.

The mother he used as a shield, who ended up being shot in the chest by an arrow.

He dared not think any further, burying his head in his knees, his shoulders trembling.

"I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to..."

"I panicked, I didn't mean for you to die..."

"Mother... I'm sorry..."

But even he himself didn't believe that.

After that, Long Yuanming spent his days in prison, never seeing the light of day again.

The walls were so damp that water could seep through.

He huddled on the pile of rotten grass, shivering from the cold.

The prison robe he was wearing was so worn that its original color was no longer visible, and Zhao's blood was still stained on the front.

It was patchy, black and red, and hardened.

He smelled even worse.

His hair was a messy clump, and the smell of sweat, blood, and feces and urine were mixed together.

Even he himself felt a tightness in his throat from the smoke.

Every day, all that was delivered was half a bowl of cold rice and a bowl of stinky water.

The rice was mixed with sand and pebbles, and the bottom of the bowl was so black that it couldn't be scraped clean.

He couldn't taste anything anymore.

Sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night and feel as if he were already dead.

Otherwise, why would I be in a place like this?

Even after being demoted to a commoner by his father, he still believed that there was always a chance to survive.

Nowadays, even "living" has become an extremely difficult thing to endure.

He even thought about dying.

But unfortunately, I don't have the guts.

He would often cry his heart out, and then fall asleep when he was tired of crying.

When he woke up, he cried and called for his mother.

Later on, she didn't even have the strength to cry anymore.

Every day, he would just huddle in the corner, like a rotten piece of skin, and no one would bother to give him a second glance.

Late that night.

It was very quiet in the cell.

Occasionally, a breeze would blow close to the ground outside, sounding like a ghost's panting.

Long Yuanming opened his eyes groggily.

In the dim light, he saw a man standing outside the cell.

The man was wearing a black cloak with his hood pulled low.

She is very thin.

She just stood there quietly, watching him for who knows how long.

Long Yuanming felt a jolt.

He practically tumbled and crawled to the railing, his fingers gripping the iron bars tightly.

"It's you! You've come to save me, haven't you?"

His voice was hoarse and urgent, as if he had grasped at the last straw in the darkness.