Who said the eldest daughter is crazy? She's clearly a woman of high rank and influence in the

Xi Yueli had been sitting in the east wing room for less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea when someone knocked on the door from the outside.

She didn't answer, but the door had already opened a crack by itself.

Helian Jing squeezed in sideways and closed the door behind him, his movements as natural as if he were walking into his own bedroom, completely unaware that he had been turned away.

Xi Yueli sat on a wooden stool by the window, holding a cup of warm water she hadn't drunk from yet. She glanced up at him, then lowered her gaze again. "Your Highness, this room is mine."

"I know." Helian Jing stopped two steps away from her. "I'm here to explain."

"Explain what?"

Why did we leave you at Cien Temple?

Xi Yueli's fingers tightened slightly as she held the water cup. Seeing her motionless expression, Helian Jing felt a weight lift from his heart.

He had seen her put on an act in front of him all along, pretending to be weak, pretending to be crazy, pretending to know nothing, but this attitude of hers now was something he had never seen before, containing both Fu Yuan's coldness and Xi Yue Li's own stubbornness.

"If they find both you and Fu Yuan at the same time, neither of you will be able to escape. But if they think Fu Yuan is still in that underground chamber, they will concentrate their forces in the direction of the underground palace, leaving the side door open for me to take the real Fu Yuan away."

"If you stay in that underground room and survive the initial search, Liu San Niang will come to meet you in the backyard."

As he finished speaking, her eyelashes finally fluttered, and she gave a cold laugh. "You know you only survived the initial search."

Helian Jing took half a step forward, reducing the distance between them from two steps to one and a half. "I won't leave you alone next time."

Xi Yueli turned her head away to avoid his gaze.

Helian Jing watched the curve of her head as she turned to the side. Moonlight streamed in through the window cracks, falling on her chin and the side of her neck. He suddenly felt a half-inch of the knot in his heart loosen. Her angry expression was more like her than her calm one.

"Are you angry with me?" he said softly. "Are you that concerned about me?"

Xi Yueli turned to meet his gaze. Her eyes, clear and dark as ink in the moonlight, shimmered with a light that she then suppressed. "Who cares? I understand there was no safer choice back then, but understanding is one thing, but whoever is left behind..."

Helian Jing looked at her, who was clearly sulking but spoke logically, and finally couldn't suppress the slight smile on his lips.

He took another half step forward, bringing the distance between them down to just a fist's width. He lowered his head slightly, bringing their eyes level, and said with a faint smile, "It's good that you remember. I have another question for you—"

Xi Yueli leaned back, her back pressed against the window frame, and puffed out her chest, looking quite self-righteous.

Helian Jing's gaze fell on her face, lingering on her slightly pursed lips: "When you came out of Fu Yuan's room just now, were you feeling a little sad?"

Xi Yueli paused for a moment: "What nonsense is Your Highness talking about?"

"I am not talking nonsense." Helian Jing moved even closer, one hand on the window frame beside her, leaning slightly to trap her between the window frame and himself.

"After Fu Yuan's memories merged into your body, you learned that she stitched up my wounds and stayed by the fire all night. Then you started hiding from me."

Xi Yueli's ears turned red the moment those words were spoken, but she dared not show it on her face. Only the light in her eyes flickered slightly.

"Your Highness is overthinking it," she said, her voice rising half an octave. "Fu Yuan is Fu Yuan, and I am me. The person Your Highness found is Fu Yuan, and she is also Your Highness's savior. If Your Highness wants to repay the favor, take her back to Bei Shuo, or take her back to Daying—Your Highness doesn't need to tell me these things."

As Helian Jing watched her speak faster and faster and her ears turn redder, the knot in his heart that had only been half-untied suddenly opened completely.

She truly cared, cared about Fu Yuan's place in his memory, and cared whether the person he was looking for was her. The moment this realization came to her, Helian Jing felt as if his heart had been gently squeezed.

"Xi Yueli." When he called her by her full name, his voice was half a tone hoarseer than before. In that half tone of hoarseness, there was no smile, only a layer of certainty.

"You remember that dilapidated temple now, and so do I. Whether we look for the person or not is no longer important."

Xi Yueli's breathing became shallow as she spoke these words. Her gaze was fixed on his chest, and she didn't look up at him, but her voice escaped softly from between her teeth: "...So what does Your Highness want to confirm with me now?"

"I am before you," Helian Jing said in a low, almost whispered voice, "tell me what I need to confirm."

Xi Yueli's eyelashes trembled suddenly. His breath brushed against the stray hairs on her forehead, carrying the crispness of the fir trees and a hint of dust from the night wind.

She was trapped by him in the small patch of warm air between the window frame and him, the redness on the tips of her ears spreading to her entire ear, looking like two pieces of thin porcelain that had been scorched through in the moonlight.

When she spoke, her voice was no longer as steady as before, trembling slightly: "Fu Yuan, her poison—"

"I will find an antidote for her. She saved my life, and I owe her one; that's a separate debt."

He lowered his head, bringing his lips close to her ear, his lips almost touching her earlobe, his voice so soft it was as if he were telling a secret only she could hear, "You want me to take Fu Yuan away? And what about you? Are you planning to make me search for a few more years?"

Xi Yueli was pinned to the window frame by him. His lips were so close to her earlobe that she could feel the warm touch of his breath as he spoke.

She pressed her hand against his chest, trying to push him away a little. But the force was too light; the pushing motion lacked any real strength and was more like an attempt to grab onto something.

When Helian Jing felt her hand pressed against his chest, he felt the slight coolness of her fingertips trembling slightly.

"Your Highness is too close to me," she said, her voice becoming a little more steady.

"Is it close?" Helian Jing didn't back down. He looked down at the hand she was pressing against his chest, then looked up at her reddened ears, and the smile on his lips deepened.

Xi Yueli's ears burned completely at this moment, and she finally pushed him hard, pushing him away by half an arm's length.

She stood up and moved half a step to the side, slipping out from the window frame and his encirclement, standing by the table with her back to him: "I need to rest, Your Highness, please leave."

She only heard him sigh softly, with a helpless smile. Before she could turn around, a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind. The moment his chest pressed against her back, she froze.

His arms were crossed over her waist and abdomen, pulling her tightly into his embrace from behind, so tightly that she could feel his heart beating through her clothes.

His chin rested in the hollow of her shoulder, his lips were just behind her ear, and his breath brushed against the thinnest layer of skin on the side of her neck as he spoke.

"You want me to leave? I haven't finished speaking yet."