The court didn't explode.
It *shattered.*
Steel screamed out of scabbards.
Guards surged like a black tide.
Nobles scrambled back, silk and jewels turning into panic and fear in two heartbeats.
And in the center of it all—
Prince Shen Rui stood.
Not kneeling.
Not bound.
Not quiet.
The rope that had held him was snapped in two, frayed ends hanging from his wrists like dead snakes.
His chest rose and fell once.
Twice.
His eyes locked on Lin Yue's collapsing body.
The spilled liquid had soaked her collar and throat, darkening the fabric like bruises.
Her lashes fluttered.
Her lips parted—
but no sound came out.
She was falling.
And the world was moving too slowly to catch her.
Shen Rui moved.
A single step.
The guards reacted like trained animals.
"STOP HIM!"
The Crown Prince's voice cut through the chaos—sharp, controlled, lethal.
"Kill him if you must!"
The hall froze for half a second.
Kill a prince.
In the court.
In front of everyone.
That order wasn't meant to be obeyed.
It was meant to *mark* Shen Rui.
A traitor.
A monster.
A mistake.
Shen Rui didn't look at the Crown Prince.
He didn't look at the nobles.
He didn't look at the weapons.
He only looked at Lin Yue.
And when the first guard lunged—
Shen Rui's hand moved.
Not with a sword.
Not with a spear.
With bare fingers.
He grabbed the guard's wrist mid-swing.
There was a sound.
A small, wet crack.
The guard screamed.
His sword fell.
Shen Rui turned, slammed him down, and used the man's body like a shield against the next strike.
Two guards hit the ground.
Three.
Four.
It was brutal.
Efficient.
Not flashy.
Not heroic.
It was the kind of violence that came from a man who had been forced to learn survival in silence.
The officer—still holding the bowl—staggered backward, eyes wide.
His smile was gone.
Now he looked like a man watching his own plan rot alive.
"Your Highness!" he shouted, voice cracking. "You can't—!"
Shen Rui's gaze snapped to him.
The officer froze.
A predator had noticed him.
Shen Rui took one step toward him—
and the officer flinched so hard he almost dropped the bowl.
"Don't," Shen Rui said, voice low.
It wasn't a warning.
It was a sentence.
The Crown Prince descended another step, eyes cold.
"Brother," he said softly, "you are making this very easy for me."
Shen Rui ignored him.
He crossed the distance to Lin Yue in three strides.
The guards tried to intercept—
but they hesitated.
Because Shen Rui wasn't fighting like a prince.
He was fighting like a man whose heart had already been cut out.
He reached Lin Yue just as her knees gave out.
He caught her.
Her body was warm.
Too warm.
Her skin was flushed, damp from the spilled drug.
Her breathing was uneven, shallow, like she was drowning on land.
Shen Rui's hands trembled as he held her face.
"Lin Yue," he whispered.
Her eyes fluttered open.
For one second, she looked at him.
And in that second—
he saw it.
The white page inside her.
He saw the emptiness creeping up like fog.
Her lips moved.
He leaned closer, desperate.
"Say it," he begged.
"Say my name again."
Her mouth opened.
A breath.
A whisper.
"…Sh…"
His chest seized.
He held her tighter.
"Good," he whispered, voice breaking.
"Good. Stay with me."
Her lashes trembled.
Her eyes searched his face like she knew it, but didn't know why.
Like her soul was holding onto him while her mind was being erased.
A guard lunged again—
Shen Rui turned his shoulder, shielding Lin Yue's body with his own.
Steel bit into his back.
Pain flashed.
But he didn't fall.
He didn't even flinch.
He turned and struck the guard's throat with the edge of his palm.
The man collapsed, choking.
The hall screamed.
A noblewoman fainted.
Someone cried, "He's gone mad!"
The Crown Prince's voice rose, calm as death.
"Arrest him," he ordered.
"Bring Lady Lin Yue to the Inner Palace immediately."
Inner Palace.
Where people disappeared quietly.
Where women became rumors.
Where truth was buried with perfume.
Shen Rui's jaw clenched.
He looked at the Crown Prince for the first time.
His eyes were dark.
Not angry.
Not wild.
Just… finished.
"Don't," Shen Rui said.
The Crown Prince's lips curved faintly.
"You can't stop the palace," he replied.
"You were born inside it."
Shen Rui's voice dropped into something sharp.
"Then I'll break it from the inside."
A ripple went through the court.
Even the ministers looked shaken.
The Crown Prince's eyes narrowed.
"Do you know what you're doing?" he asked softly.
Shen Rui's gaze flicked down to Lin Yue.
Her breathing hitched.
Her fingers twitched weakly against his sleeve like she was trying to hold on.
He swallowed.
His voice came out low.
"I know exactly what I'm doing."
Then he turned.
Not toward the throne.
Not toward the doors.
Toward the officer.
The man holding the bowl.
The man with the drug.
The man who had washed her mind clean.
The officer stumbled back.
"Your Highness—wait—this is not—"
Shen Rui walked toward him with Lin Yue in his arms.
Step.
Step.
Step.
The court parted like water.
No one dared stand in his way.
The officer's face went pale.
"Stop!" he shouted, voice cracking. "Guards! GUARDS!"
No one moved fast enough.
Shen Rui reached him.
The officer lifted the bowl like a shield.
Shen Rui's hand moved—
and slapped it aside.
The bowl shattered against the floor.
Dark liquid splashed like spilled ink.
The officer gasped.
Shen Rui grabbed the officer by the collar with one hand.
Lin Yue's head lolled against his chest.
Her eyes were half-open now.
Empty.
Shen Rui's voice was quiet.
Deadly.
"What is it?" he asked.
"What did you give her?"
The officer's lips trembled.
"It's… it's just a sedative—"
Shen Rui's grip tightened.
The officer choked.
"Liar," Shen Rui whispered.
The Crown Prince's voice rang out.
"Release him."
Shen Rui didn't.
The Crown Prince's tone sharpened.
"Release him, Shen Rui. Now."
Shen Rui's eyes lifted slowly.
He looked at the Crown Prince like he was looking at the end of a road.
"I will," he said softly.
Then he leaned closer to the officer's ear.
And whispered something only the officer could hear.
The officer's eyes widened.
His face turned ashen.
Whatever Shen Rui said—
it wasn't a threat.
It was knowledge.
A secret dragged into the light.
Shen Rui released him.
The officer collapsed to the floor, shaking.
The Crown Prince's gaze sharpened.
"What did you say?" he asked.
Shen Rui didn't answer.
He turned back to Lin Yue.
Her breathing was slowing.
No.
No no—
He shifted her higher in his arms and moved toward the doors.
Guards surged.
Blocking his path.
A wall of steel.
The Crown Prince's voice dropped into ice.
"If you leave this hall," he said,
"you will be declared a traitor."
"You will be hunted."
"You will lose everything."
Shen Rui stopped.
For a moment, he stood still.
Lin Yue's cheek rested against his chest.
Her skin was warm.
Her lashes fluttered.
Her mouth moved.
A whisper, barely there:
"…who…"
Shen Rui's throat tightened.
He looked down at her.
She wasn't asking where she was.
She wasn't asking what happened.
She was asking—
Who are you?
Because she didn't remember him anymore.
The white page had swallowed the name.
Shen Rui's jaw clenched so hard it hurt.
He forced a smile.
A small one.
A broken one.
He whispered against her hair:
"I'm yours."
Then he lifted his head and faced the guards.
His voice rose.
Clear.
Final.
"Move."
No one moved.
Shen Rui took one step forward anyway.
A guard swung.
Shen Rui turned, kicked the man's knee out, and the guard dropped.
He kept moving.
Another guard lunged.
Shen Rui struck him down.
Another.
Another.
The court became chaos again.
Nobles screamed.
Ministers shouted.
Someone knocked over a lantern.
Fire flared.
The hall smelled like smoke and panic and blood.
And through it all—
Shen Rui walked like a man carrying the last thing he loved.
The Crown Prince's voice thundered behind him.
"SHEN RUI!"
Shen Rui didn't stop.
The Crown Prince's voice dropped into something colder.
"If you take her," he said,
"I will erase you from history."
Shen Rui paused.
Just once.
His shoulders tightened.
Then he looked back over his shoulder.
His eyes were dark.
Quiet.
And utterly merciless.
"You already tried," he said.
"And you failed."
Then he walked out.
The doors slammed open.
Night air rushed in like freedom.
Outside, the palace courtyard was lit by torches.
More guards waited.
More steel.
More death.
Shen Rui stepped into the open like he didn't care.
A commander shouted, "Surround him!"
Shen Rui kept walking.
His boots hit stone.
Lin Yue's breath shuddered.
Her eyes fluttered open again.
She looked at him.
Blank.
No recognition.
Her lips parted.
And her voice—small, weak, terrified—
asked the question that ripped him apart.
"Who… are you…?"
Shen Rui's heart cracked.
He swallowed hard.
He forced his voice steady.
"I'm the man who will bring your memory back," he whispered.
"Even if I have to burn the whole world to do it."
Lin Yue's eyes filled with tears she didn't understand.
Her fingers curled weakly into his robe.
Like her body still knew what her mind couldn't.
The commander raised his sword.
"Prince Shen Rui," he shouted, "by order of the Crown Prince—SURRENDER!"
Shen Rui lifted his head.
His voice rang across the courtyard.
"I don't surrender."
Then—
a whistle.
A sharp, clean sound.
From the shadows beyond the torches.
A figure stepped forward.
A man in dark robes, face half-covered.
He held a bow.
And behind him—
more figures.
Silent.
Armed.
Not palace guards.
Not court soldiers.
Something else.
A faction.
A secret.
A lifeline Shen Rui had been hiding all along.
The commander froze.
"What is this—?!"
Shen Rui didn't look surprised.
He looked… prepared.
He tightened his hold on Lin Yue.
And whispered into her hair:
"Hold on."
"This is where we disappear."
Lin Yue's eyes fluttered.
Her breath shook.
Her lips moved.
A whisper, fading:
"…Shen…"
Shen Rui's entire body went still.
He leaned closer.
"Say it," he begged.
Her lashes trembled.
Her mouth parted.
And the name that mattered most—
slipped away like smoke.
"…R…"
Nothing.
Blank.
White.
Lin Yue's eyes rolled back.
Her body went limp in his arms.
Shen Rui's breath hitched.
His chest tightened.
He closed his eyes for half a second—
and when he opened them, they were no longer human-soft.
They were war.
He lifted his head.
And in a voice that made the guards step back—
he gave a single order.
"Kill the lights."
The shadow-archers moved.
Torches went out one by one.
Darkness swallowed the courtyard.
Screams rose.
Steel clashed.
And Prince Shen Rui vanished into the night—
carrying a woman who no longer knew his name.
END CHAPTER 17
Cliffhanger Trigger: Lin Yue fully forgets him again mid-escape; Shen Rui reveals a hidden faction + vanishes.