Shu Mingye opened his eyes slowly, blinking against the soft light and the sharp, bitter scent of medicine hanging thick in the air. His head throbbed. His body felt like it had been trampled by an entire herd of very rude elephants. When he tried to sit up, pain flared in his chest—hot, sharp, and persistent. He let out a quiet cough. Half of it came from the pain, the other half just to be dramatic. Slowly, he pushed himself up until he was sitting on the edge of the bed.
The door slammed open so hard it nearly bounced back off the wall. Boyi stumbled in, almost tripping over his own boots in his hurry. His face was flushed with relief. "Lord! You're awake!"
Shu Mingye didn't waste time. His voice was quiet but steady. "Where's the princess?"
Boyi froze. That… was the first thing the lord asked? Not "What happened after the battle?" Not "Is Princess Han rotting in a cell yet?" No, the very first words his lord chose after nearly dying were, "Where's the princess?"
"Should I… call the princess to see you?" Boyi asked cautiously.
Shu Mingye's eyes narrowed. His voice came quiet and low. "How long?"
"Six days," Boyi replied quickly. "You've been unconscious for six days."
Six days. Shu Mingye's jaw tightened as he stared down at his hands. That was longer than expected. Too long.
"Did she come?" he asked.
Boyi's head bobbed in a quick nod. But there was something off about it. A little too hesitant. A little too much sweat on his brow. "Yes. The princess came here once."
A slow, tired smile tugged at Shu Mingye's lips.
She came. Even once, just once, she came to see him. He could already picture it in his mind—her standing at his bedside, arms crossed, frowning at his wounds like they were some bothersome stains on her day. She probably sighed, maybe muttered something sharp and practical, then left before anyone could make her stay longer. But still, she came. That was enough to make waking up worth it.
"She came to ask for Shanjun," Boyi finished weakly, his voice dropping to a whisper like even he knew he was treading on dangerous ground.
Silence.
The smile that had barely formed on Shu Mingye's lips vanished. Gone. Burned away. Reduced to fine, bitter ash.
Shanjun? She came for Shanjun? Not him?
Shu Mingye's head turned toward Boyi very slowly. His dark eyes sharpened, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees.
"Why?" Shu Mingye asked, his voice low and cold.
Boyi straightened on instinct, sweat already sliding down the side of his face. "I—I didn't know the details, Lord. The princess… she asked Shanjun to come to her… chamber."
"…Her chamber?"
"Yes. Her… private chamber." Boyi's voice cracked.
Shu Mingye's fingers twitched against the blanket. His jaw tightened until the veins in his neck stood out. "Why…" he muttered again, this time to himself.
His thoughts raced faster than his pulse. Why would she call him there? In private? Behind closed doors? For what? Strategy? Tea? Secret martial arts lessons? Or—
His expression darkened further. What exactly had gone on in those secret, unguarded, Shanjun-infested minutes? Shanjun was still alive, wasn't he?
Probably. For now. But that situation could always be corrected.
"Call her here," Shu Mingye said at last, his voice low and dangerous.
Boyi swallowed hard. He had the sudden, uncomfortable feeling that he was not summoning the princess for the lord's recovery… but for Shanjun's funeral. Still, he had no choice.
"Understood! I'll bring the princess right away!" He bowed so fast it was a blur, then scrambled out.
Unfortunately, for everyone's sanity, the next person to walk in was not the princess.
It was Shanjun.
Shanjun stepped inside, his posture perfect as always, and he bowed politely. "Lord. I came to give a report—"
He stopped. Because Shu Mingye was staring at him. Not just staring. Burning holes through his soul. Shanjun blinked, unsure why the temperature in the room had suddenly dropped to glacier levels. "...Lord?"
"Why did she come looking for you?" Shu Mingye's voice was low, dangerous, and too calm.
Shanjun tilted his head slightly. "Pardon?"
"Why. Did. She. Come. To you?" Shu Mingye repeated, each word sharp and heavy.
Shanjun coughed lightly into his fist, resisting the urge to slowly back out the door. "I… I will explain."
"You'd better explain well," Shu Mingye said, his tone low and dark.
Shanjun had faced many horrors in his career—bloody wars, relentless assassins, exploding soup pots—but nothing quite prepared him for this: the furious, half-injured King glaring at him because the princess chose him over tea time.
He stood tall and braced himself. "First," he began carefully, "we've cleaned up the northern palace. Every rebel has been caught. Prince Han… didn't make it."
Shu Mingye said nothing. Not even a flicker of reaction. His face was perfectly blank—blank in that very specific, terrifying Shu Mingye way that meant something deep inside him was definitely on fire and probably planning vengeance.
Shanjun cleared his throat. "Queen Shen was captured and executed. Crown Prince Shen… is now the ruler of the state."
Shu Mingye's brow twitched. "How?"
Shanjun straightened. "The princess asked Prince Lu to report the experiments Princess Han did. The emperor couldn't ignore it, especially since Prince Lu was almost turned into a living puppet because of it."
Shu Mingye's stare remained flat and cold.
"They brought the scrolls from the underground lab. Under the creepy doll store. And…" Shanjun's face twitched slightly. "They also brought all the dead bodies as evidence. A lot of dead bodies."
Shu Mingye still didn't speak. He just stared, like he was trying to decide whether to throw Shanjun out the window or just smother him with a pillow.
Shanjun cleared his throat again and continued. "Princess Han was sent to the imperial palace for investigation. She confessed Queen Shen gave the orders. Queen Shen, of course, denied everything."
"Of course," Shu Mingye muttered.
Shanjun's survival instincts screamed at him to keep talking before his lord's imagination filled in too many dangerous blanks. "But then Crown Prince Shen submitted more evidence. He brought in Queen Shen's personal guards. They testified against her. About the kidnappings, the experiments, even the human sacrifices at the cave."
Shu Mingye said nothing. His silence stretched long. Shanjun took that as permission or possibly as a countdown to his own execution and kept going anyway.
"Then the princess asked me to… secretly send a letter to the emperor." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "It was… one of Queen Shen's old love letters for the emperor."
That got a reaction. Shu Mingye blinked. Just once. But for a man like him, that was practically screaming in shock.
"And that's not all," Shanjun blurted quickly before the silence became lethal again. "The princess also asked me to, uh… spread some rumors."
Shu Mingye stared at him. "What kind of rumors?"
"Well… casual things. Like how Queen Shen was sacrificing people at the cave, how the dolls were made of real human body parts, and, uh… the emperor's romantic relationship with her."
Shu Mingye's expression was now somewhere between thundercloud and impending war.
"But it worked!" Shanjun added hastily, his voice rising a little in panic. "The people were in uproar! I mean, you should've seen it. There were aunties on the street yelling about haunted dolls, throwing vegetables, and cursing the imperial palace. One old man even fainted when he heard about the dolls' eyes being real."
"Anyway," he said, forcing his voice steady, "since everyone literally saw the dead bodies being carried out from under the creepy doll store, the evidence was basically screaming in their faces. If the emperor hesitated, people would think he was hiding something especially with that, uh… rumor about his relationship with Queen Shen."
Shu Mingye's expression didn't change, but the silence got thicker and heavier.
Shanjun swallowed and straightened. "So the emperor issued the death penalty. Queen Shen has been executed. And the soldiers she stationed at the Shulin–Shenlin border have been called back by Crown Prince Shen himself."
Shu Mingye's sharp gaze locked on him. "Why?"
Shanjun scratched the back of his neck. "Uh… maybe because he submitted the evidence? It shows he wasn't involved in her schemes. Maybe he's trying to make peace."
Shu Mingye's eyes narrowed further. "Or maybe he threw her under the carriage to save himself."
"…That's also possible," Shanjun admitted, blinking a little faster.
Then something else popped into his memory. "Oh! The princess also told me to send an urn to the emperor."
"What?!"