When Mu Xueshi finally caught up with Su Ruhan, he discovered that Su Ruhan had already reached the corner of the marketplace.
He sat there alone on horseback, waiting quietly—as though he had known all along that Mu Xueshi would come chasing after him.
“Master, why didn’t you follow me?” Mu Xueshi asked between breaths.
Su Ruhan shot him a sidelong glance.
For a long moment he said nothing, yet he made no move to continue on their way either.
A strange tingling crept across Mu Xueshi’s scalp. Uneasy, he looked around in all directions, trying to see if something had gone wrong.
After pondering for quite some time, he finally asked cautiously,
“Master… is it because of the Third Prince…?”
“No.”
Su Ruhan’s reply made Mu Xueshi let out a breath of relief.
And yet—
somehow, a faint trace of disappointment followed that relief.
The two rode back in silence.
The evening sun was already sinking below the horizon.
Night was approaching.
Mu Xueshi suddenly felt that the day had been unbearably long. Never before had time seemed so difficult to endure. In the past, even if he simply sat inside a room watching the Third Prince, he had never felt each passing second torment him like this.
After returning to Linhan Palace, Mu Xueshi immediately began practicing martial arts in the courtyard.
He trained with all his strength, hoping to exhaust himself completely. If he became tired enough, perhaps he wouldn’t lie awake all night again.
After nearly an hour of relentless practice, Mu Xueshi finally collapsed in exhaustion.
Sweat soaked his entire body.
Looking around for water, he searched for a wooden bucket. Without the grand bathing pool he was used to, he could only splash water over himself with a bucket.
At first he intended to strip naked and wash right there in the open courtyard.
Yet somehow, perhaps because he had grown accustomed to life here, Mu Xueshi suddenly found himself embarrassed to undress in front of another man.
He moved beneath the shade of a tree and specifically warned Su Ruhan not to come over. Then he hurriedly rinsed himself clean as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, the cold water only made him even more awake.
Lying on the bed afterward, he began rolling restlessly from side to side.
Nighttime was the hardest part.
Mu Xueshi feared the suffocating quiet that came with the late hours. The moment his mind had time to wander, it would run wild. The more he tried not to think about certain things, the more those thoughts returned to torment him.
A sharp pain pulsed across his back.
Reaching behind, Mu Xueshi felt a swollen lump there.
Earlier, when he had fallen onto the sharp stone, he had ignored the wound so Su Ruhan wouldn’t notice—even though it had been bleeding.
Now the injury not only hurt, it also itched.
It was probably becoming inflamed.
As his fingers brushed over the wound, Mu Xueshi suddenly remembered how the Third Prince used to apply medicine to his injuries.
No matter how small the wound, the Third Prince would always treat it personally.
And no matter how serious the injury, it would heal quickly under his care.
Mu Xueshi didn’t understand why everything had changed so suddenly.
In just a single day, it felt as if the distance between them had grown immeasurable.
He hadn’t seen the Third Prince for two days.
And the prince had shown no concern for his condition.
Mu Xueshi buried his face deep into the damp bedding, holding his breath as tightly as he could.
Only when he felt he could no longer endure it did he raise his head to gasp for air—before plunging back under the covers again.
Surprisingly, the method worked.
After repeating it only a few times, oxygen deprivation made his head grow dizzy.
Before long, he drifted into sleep.
For three consecutive days, Mu Xueshi left early in the morning and returned late at night.
He wandered across nearly the entire imperial capital, visiting every place that looked interesting or entertaining.
During the day, Su Ruhan accompanied him, so Mu Xueshi didn’t dwell too much on his thoughts.
At night, when he was alone, he used his strange self-invented sleeping method and managed to get a passable night’s rest.
But on the third night, sleep refused to come.
Again and again Mu Xueshi climbed out of bed, driven by some inexplicable impulse, sneaking toward the doorway to peek outside.
Su Ruhan had not gone to sleep either.
He stood alone in the courtyard, seemingly occupied with something.
A vague frustration welled up in Mu Xueshi’s chest, and he pushed open the door to step outside.
“Master, why are you still awake so late?”
Hearing his voice, Su Ruhan replied calmly,
“What is it?”
Mu Xueshi’s bright eyes darted about mischievously before he teased loudly,
“It’s going to rain tonight. I came out to bring in the laundry.”
Su Ruhán slowly lifted his head.
He glanced at the star-filled sky.
Then he looked back at Mu Xueshi.
The ridicule in his gaze could not have been more obvious.
Embarrassed, Mu Xueshi immediately retreated on tiptoe back into the room.
He paced around inside several times.
Finally he heard the sound of Su Ruhan entering his own room.
Mu Xueshi’s heart stirred.
He quickly opened his door just a crack—
only to find Su Ruhan’s cold, stern face staring directly at him.
“Uh… Master… why are you scaring people in the middle of the night like that?”
“Do not even think about escaping Linhan Palace.”
After delivering those words, Su Ruhan returned to his room with an indifferent expression.
He was completely different from the man who had indulged Mu Xueshi’s every request during the day.
Mu Xueshi was already someone who struggled with indecision.
After hearing that warning, he obediently climbed back into bed.
Yet in the latter half of the night, Su Ruhan’s words echoed endlessly in Mu Xueshi’s ears.
Why wasn’t he allowed to leave Linhan Palace?
Did it have anything to do with the Third Prince’s recent coldness?
Why had everything changed so suddenly?
Was it really because he had made a single mistake that he deserved such treatment?
If that were the case…
then perhaps it would be better to face everything directly.
Over the past few days, Mu Xueshi had thought long and hard.
Things had already reached this point.
The fate between him and the Third Prince had probably already come to an end.
Even if the Third Prince had once treated him sincerely—
once the prince learned that he had been deceived, that his true identity was not actually Mu Xueshi…
would the prince still allow him to remain?
Mu Xueshi had grown tired of living a life under someone else’s shadow.
He wanted to tell the truth.
Three days of inner torment had made him unwilling to continue clinging to this fragile mixture of happiness and pain.
Perhaps this final confession would be the only explanation he could offer the Third Prince—
and the final result of the feelings he had invested for so long.
No matter how the Third Prince reacted—
whether with anger, curses, or rejection—
Mu Xueshi was willing to endure it.
Because at least then the prince’s reaction would be directed toward him, not toward the original owner of this body.
He had once considered leaving quietly without saying a word.
But in the end, he could not accept that.
Taking a deep breath, Mu Xueshi finally pushed open the door.
Then, moving as quietly as possible—
he slipped out into the night.
Futile Devices Scans 
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