With a warehouse full of supplies, I stood alone as king in this chaotic world, gun in hand.

That evening, Li Cheng brought back bad news. The Seventh Prince Nangong Hong's mother, Consort Shu, had committed suicide by poisoning herself in her palace.

"Princess, this is a letter that Consort Shu wrote to you before she passed away."

"How could this be? What exactly happened?" Nangong Wu took the letter.

"It was the Seventh Prince who went to the palace to see His Majesty..." Li Cheng told her the whole story.

It turned out that after Nangong Wu returned to the Prince's Mansion, she told the Seventh Prince about what happened at the birthday banquet and her plan to move to Jianggang Prefecture. After all, she was leaving and would settle down in Jianggang Prefecture in the future, so she made things clear to him.

After hearing her words, Nangong Hong immediately went to the palace to see Emperor Mingde and asked him for a fiefdom, Runan Prefecture, which was adjacent to Jianggang Prefecture.

When Emperor Mingde heard that the Seventh Prince wanted to leave with Nangong Wu, he was furious, thinking that the Seventh Prince also wanted to betray the court. Not only did he refuse, but he also ordered that the Seventh Prince be confined to the capital for three months and that he would not be allowed to leave the capital without his permission.

"Father, why won't you let me leave? Do you want me to die in the capital before you're satisfied?" the Seventh Prince asked, his eyes red.

Emperor Mingde was furious that the Seventh Prince dared to speak to him like that: "You scoundrel, how dare you speak to me like that! You've grown too big for your britches!"

"Father, have you ever treated me as your son?" The Seventh Prince was heartbroken and deeply disappointed in Emperor Mingde.

"Your subject was poisoned in your tea. You knew who was trying to harm me, yet you chose to protect that person, and the matter of your subject being poisoned was left unresolved."

I was fortunate enough to be saved by Princess Runing this time. If I stay in the capital, how many more times can I withstand that person's attempts to poison me?

"Your Majesty, I only beg you to grant me a way out, so that I won't stay in the capital and get in his way, Father! Your Majesty, I only want to live, I beg you!" The Seventh Prince knelt down before him.

Emperor Mingde was so angry that he picked up the inkstone and was about to smash it down, but seeing his frail body, he ultimately did not.

Just then, Consort Shu rushed over and, seeing her son kneeling there, hurriedly embraced him. "Seventh Prince, you haven't fully recovered yet, why did you come here!"

Upon seeing her, the Seventh Prince immediately burst into tears: "Mother, Princess Runing is leaving. There will be no one to protect me anymore. I don't want to die. I only want to ask Father for a fiefdom to leave with. If I don't leave, I will be poisoned. I'm scared..."

Consort Shu was heartbroken upon hearing this and knelt down before Emperor Mingde to plead, "Your Majesty, the Seventh Prince's body still harbors some poison. If he is poisoned again, his life may be in danger. I beg you to grant him a fiefdom so he can leave!"

"Since you are so eager to leave, then go to Meizhou. Once you are there, do not return without my decree," Emperor Mingde said.

Meizhou was located in the northeast of the Western Yan Kingdom, bordering the Eastern Jin Kingdom. It was several hundred miles away from Lindong Pass. Because wars frequently broke out there, it was sparsely populated. It was thousands of miles away from Jianggang Prefecture, one in the south and the other in the north.

"Mother..." The Seventh Prince hugged Consort Shu and wept bitterly. Emperor Mingde had told him never to come back, which meant he would never see his mother again in this life.

"Seventh Prince!" Consort Shu hugged her son, also heartbroken. "Go! Your mother will be fine in the capital, don't worry."

The seventh prince shook his head, crying, "Mother, I don't want to leave. I'll stay and keep you company."

"Don't talk nonsense, you'll leave tomorrow." Consort Shu pulled her son up and was about to leave.

That Nan Qichengkun is extremely vicious; he's practically a psychopath. He'll kill whoever he wants to kill.

If he fails to kill the Seventh Prince the first time, he will try again.

"Your son doesn't want that! If you grow old and sick in the future, and pass away, your son won't be able to come back to see you or be there for you in your final moments. Your son would be unworthy of being a son!"

The seventh prince was still young, and suddenly he had to go to such a far place and never come back. He couldn't bear to part with his mother.

He suddenly knelt down before Emperor Mingde again, "Father, please let Mother go with me!"

"Absolutely impossible! Consort Shu is my consort, and she can only stay in the palace for the rest of her life, and she can never leave until death," Emperor Mingde said angrily.

If the Seventh Prince hadn't said he wanted to go with Nangong Wu, perhaps he would have agreed to his request.

Now send him to Meizhou, never to return to the capital, never to see his mother again—this is his punishment.

"Mother, I don't want to leave! Even if I die, I don't want to never see you again," the Seventh Prince cried like a child.

Consort Shu was startled when she saw Emperor Mingde's gloomy face. She quickly took her leave and left with the Seventh Prince.

That evening, Consort Shu committed suicide by poisoning herself.

After listening to Li Cheng's words, Nangong Wu read the letter that Consort Shu had written to her.

In her letter, Consort Shu said that the Seventh Prince refused to leave because of her, but if he did not leave, the Crown Prince would still try to poison him. She was afraid that her son would be in danger, so she had no choice but to sacrifice herself. Once her son had no more worries, he would leave.

In her letter, Consort Shu also said that the Seventh Prince was only a teenager and might not survive if he went to Meizhou. She asked her to protect the Seventh Prince and to take him to Jianggang Prefecture as well.

"Your Highness, what's wrong with Emperor Mingde? Is he really going to force his other sons to their deaths for the sake of one crown prince?" Li Cheng found it unbelievable.

Nangong Wu's eyes turned slightly cold. She didn't answer his question but instead ordered, "We won't leave tomorrow for now."

"Understood," Li Cheng replied.

He knew that Nangong Wu was waiting for the Seventh Prince.

The next day, Consort Shu was buried in the imperial mausoleum instead of being interred there.

Nangong Wu also went to the funeral.

Seeing that the funeral procession had already gone back, the Seventh Prince was still kneeling in front of the grave, staring blankly at the tombstone, his eyes red and swollen from crying, looking as listless as if he had been hit by frost.

"Go back! Don't let Consort Shu leave in peace." Nangong Wu came over to persuade him.

"Sister Prince Runing, it's all because of me, I'm so useless..." The Seventh Prince's voice was hoarse from crying.

"That's why you must live well so that she can rest in peace!" Nangong Wu advised him.

"I will live on." The seventh prince looked at the tombstone, his eyes suddenly sharpening.

"My mother gave me the chance to live, and I will not let her down. I will wait and see how that person dies."

"Mm." Nangong Wu patted his shoulder. "Go back to the palace and sort out the Empress's belongings. I'll wait for you for one more day. I'll leave the day after tomorrow."

You will have another chance to come back and pay your respects to the goddess in the future.

"Alright." The Seventh Prince kowtowed three more times before standing up. "Mother, rest in peace. Your son will come back to see you again."

The next day, Consort Shu's father asked Emperor Mingde to let him retire to his hometown. His younger brother, who was the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, also resigned from his post to take care of their parents. That afternoon, the father and son left the capital with their families.

After seeing off his maternal grandparents, the seventh prince arrived at the Zhenyuan Prince's Mansion.

Now only Nangong Wu can protect him.