Even if Feng Xuanyi was willing to swallow his bitterness in silence, Feng Xuanzhen could not bear to watch the imperial brother who had never before suffered such humiliation suppress every grievance and swallow his own blood along with his broken teeth. Still furious, he wanted to say more, but Feng Xuanyi’s cold, warning gaze forced the words back into his throat.
“Don’t think you’re the only one who was hurt. Don’t think you’re the only one who compromised, and don’t think you’re the only one who sacrificed anything! Taking advantage of another person’s tolerance and love to act however you please because you know they’ll endure it—when it comes down to it, the two of you aren’t so different. Why are you in such a hurry to draw a line between yourselves?”
Leaving behind those ambiguous words, Feng Xuanzhen turned and walked away, unwilling to remain there another moment.
Under Feng Xuanyi’s protection and Feng Xuanzhen’s arrangements, Nalan Xuan once again returned to Fengyi Palace, a place he had never truly regarded with any importance. Just as no one had known the position of empress had remained vacant all this time, no one knew that its rightful occupant had now returned.
It was a gilded cage. Every furnishing had been selected with extraordinary care, treasures most people beneath heaven had never even heard of, yet Nalan Xuan regarded them as little more than dirt. Everything inside Fengyi Palace remained exactly as before. Even the palace servants were the same people who had once attended him in Moon-Embracing Palace, not one missing—including Xiao Dezi, though perhaps that was no longer the name by which he should be called.
“Ji Yu.” Nalan Xuan sat casually in the chair, eyes half narrowed as his fingers idly traced the armrest, feeling the patterns countless craftsmen had exhausted their skill carving into it. From the corner of his eye, he saw exactly the reaction he expected: Xiao Dezi, kneeling on the floor to pay his respects, suddenly trembled violently. He lifted his head in excitement, joy overflowing across his face.
“Master, you—you remember everything?” Ji Yu asked, his eyes widening.
“Remember?” Nalan Xuan raised a brow, the corner of his lips curving into something cold. “Yes. I remember what I should remember and what I perhaps shouldn’t. As for you, enduring humiliation and swallowing every grievance while remaining inside this palace for my sake all these years… it truly hasn’t been easy for you.”
How much of those words was genuine and how much false did not matter. What mattered was that Nalan Xuan knew exactly what to say and when to say it, and what result each sentence would produce. Winning hearts mattered; sincerity itself was often optional. Those who truly stood high enough to see far were not the ones burdened by loyalty and affection, but the ones who understood how to make use of them. Nalan Xuan understood that principle perfectly, just as Feng Xuanyi did. Both were masters at calculating several moves ahead and keeping everything within their grasp.
So now, speaking neither too heavily nor too lightly, as empress and as Ji Yu’s benefactor, Nalan Xuan needed no material compensation and no promises about the future. A single sentence that would have seemed utterly ordinary in any common household was enough to achieve the result he wanted—and even surpass it, as Ji Yu’s reaction demonstrated.
“Master speaks too seriously. To serve Master, this servant would willingly sacrifice everything, even his life. It’s only that this servant has little status and little influence. In the end, I still failed to help Master. I couldn’t save the marquis.” His face was full of guilt, his loyalty absolute. That was exactly what Nalan Xuan wanted.
“You needn’t blame yourself. I underestimated His Majesty and overestimated myself. Things have reached this point; nothing can reverse them, and the imperial will cannot be defied. How could either of us have changed it? But at least I’m still alive, and at least you’re still willing to remain loyal to me. Whatever is owed to me, I’ll make him repay a hundredfold, a thousandfold. Whatever was taken from me, I’ll make sure he can’t swallow it so easily!” His voice was gentle, almost like a lover whispering into another’s ear, yet every word he uttered carried the venom of a curse.
Ji Yu naturally understood what Nalan Xuan meant. Though his master appeared calm and composed now, the storm raging beneath the surface needed no explanation. And this—this was the Nalan Xuan Ji Yu actually knew, the true second son of Marquis Dingbei who had always remained obscure in the eyes of the world. Yet for some reason, if Ji Yu had been given the choice, he would rather have chosen that unfamiliar Ning Xuan instead: reckless and impulsive, but cheerful and simple.
Since he was already here, he might as well settle himself. Rather than screaming, struggling, and resisting to the bitter end, Nalan Xuan chose composure and calm acceptance. It was merely a change in method; the ultimate objective remained the same. But the people Nalan Xuan intended to take revenge upon did not end with Feng Xuanyi. Anyone who had betrayed him, even in the slightest, would not be forgiven. And if someone had forcibly taken something from him, Nalan Xuan would make certain that person suffered until living was impossible and dying was equally beyond reach.
“Don’t you have anything you want to tell me?” Nalan Xuan lifted his teacup but made no hurry to drink. Instead, he slowly inhaled the fragrance, looking almost as though he were somewhere amid mountains and rivers, surrounded by clear streams, birdsong, and insects, his expression filled with longing.
Facing the Ning Xuan of the past, Ji Yu could speak without restraint and say whatever entered his mind. Facing Nalan Xuan, however, even absolute loyalty could not stop him from carefully measuring his master’s thoughts and weighing every word. Unable to determine where Nalan Xuan was leading him, Ji Yu could only remain silent and await instructions.
“I’ve been away from the palace for quite some time. You’ve remained here all along. Are you telling me you haven’t heard even the slightest rumor?” Nalan Xuan’s phoenix eyes narrowed, a faint dangerous light flowing through them. Though he kept every edge carefully concealed, the pressure remained impossible to ignore. “About my child. About why I lost that child.”
Nalan Xuan did not doubt that Imperial Physician Liu had tampered with the medicine intended to preserve his pregnancy and caused him to lose the child. Nor did he doubt that Feng Xuanyi had secretly authorized it, because no one would dare throw himself directly onto the point of a spear and still somehow walk away unharmed. Yet precisely because of that, Nalan Xuan had to wonder what had caused everything to change. If Feng Xuanyi had intended from the beginning to kill the child, why had he previously gone to such extraordinary lengths to protect the pregnancy? Blood was thicker than water. Nalan Xuan had once dismissed the saying, but after truly becoming a father and feeling the life connected to his own blood growing inside him, even he had been moved by it. So he did not doubt Feng Xuanyi’s attachment to that child or believe his joy had been false. Now that circumstances had changed so abruptly, Nalan Xuan could see what Ning Xuan had once failed to see: someone had been hiding behind everything, provoking matters at every turn.
“Th-This servant doesn’t understand what Master means.” Ji Yu’s expression flickered. Knowing Nalan Xuan’s temperament all too well, he understood that the slightest clue would be enough for Nalan Xuan to pursue the matter to its very roots and stir up a bloody storm. A suspicion Ji Yu might once have shared with Ning Xuan, simply to make him more vigilant and cautious, was something he did not dare say to Nalan Xuan. Because if there were even a possibility, Nalan Xuan would turn that “possibility” into something concrete and eliminate it at the root to prevent future trouble. This was Nalan Xuan: a man who would rather wrongly kill three thousand than let one guilty person escape. In Ji Yu’s eyes, the true Nalan Xuan was not inferior to Feng Xuanyi in the slightest.
“You don’t understand?” Nalan Xuan gave a cold laugh, only for his expression to dim in the next instant as though grief had overtaken him. “Of course. I have no power and influence now anyway. There’s no reason to drag another person into the water with me. Wanting to protect yourself is only natural. You may leave.”
Nalan Xuan made no attempt to force an answer. Instead, he retreated in order to advance.
“Master, please don’t misunderstand! This servant has only heard a few vague rumors. I can’t be certain whether they’re true. Once I’ve obtained definite proof in a few days—” Ji Yu hurried to explain himself, walking directly into the opening Nalan Xuan had prepared.
“Rumor or hearsay, true or false, I’ll verify it myself. You only need to tell me what you heard.” Nalan Xuan’s expression changed immediately, and a beautiful smile appeared upon his face. “Ji Yu, I never realized that after all this time, you had become someone with such strong opinions of your own. You even know how to make decisions on my behalf now.”
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