Feiyu had already been shaken enough seeing her young lady speak to Song Wuxia like that. Then, after being frightened into fainting, she woke up in the Imperial Medical Institute only to see Liu Qi’s deadpan face. The fright on top of fright was downright terrifying.
Fengguang couldn’t quite understand the trauma the girl had gone through. What she did know was that if Baili Mo just sat quietly across from her with no shared topic of conversation, the atmosphere would become unbearably awkward. So she casually asked Xiao Zhaozi, who was standing off to the side, “That Song Wuxia said he was going to search the Eastern Palace for assassins. How did that investigation turn out in the end?”
Xiao Zhaozi paused. No matter how many times he heard it, he still instinctively felt that a Crown Princess who could call Song Wuxia by name so casually was astonishingly brave. Lowering his head, he replied, “Not long after Your Highness left, an imperial decree came down saying the assassins had already been captured. After that, the people from the Western Bureau withdrew.”
“They didn’t look like the type who’d be easy to deal with…” Fengguang muttered, stroking her chin. “Especially that Song Wuxia. How could he leave so easily?”
After all, Baili Mo’s imprisonment some time ago had been the result of Song Wuxia’s framing. Logically speaking, that eunuch should have been Baili Mo’s sworn enemy. He’d dared to frame the Crown Prince himself—clearly someone fearless and ruthless. How could such a person simply give up stirring trouble and walk away?
As if sensing her doubts, Baili Mo picked up his brush and wrote on the paper:
Although Song Wuxia holds immense power at court, this is not the time for him to openly break with Father Emperor.
“Wait…” Fengguang scooted closer, leaning in toward him. She lowered her voice and asked near his ear, “Does the old emperor know that Song Wuxia framed you?”
Her clear voice sounded right beside his ear; even the warmth of her breath was unmistakable.
Baili Mo’s Adam’s apple moved slightly, though his gaze remained fixed on the paper. After a moment, he wrote:
Perhaps he knows. Perhaps he doesn’t.
“What kind of answer is that?”
“Father Emperor trusts him greatly.”
“More than he trusts his own biological son?” She couldn’t understand it at all. Even though there was little familial affection in the imperial household, compared to an outsider—especially a eunuch—Baili Min should trust his own son more. Lowering her voice further, she added, “You’re the Empress’s son—the legitimate eldest prince.”
She remembered what Feiyu had explained before. Back when Baili Mo became a mute Crown Prince, the entire court had petitioned to depose him, yet Baili Min refused. In a rage, he even dismissed several officials. Didn’t that prove he favored this son? So how could he now place such trust in a eunuch?
Unless… no, no, impossible. Given Song Wuxia’s bearing, he didn’t look anything like Baili Min’s male favorite.
She dismissed the thought almost as soon as it appeared, yet Song Wuxia himself only became more elusive—like a flower seen through fog, impossible to make out clearly.
Baili Mo wrote another line:
People change—especially a ruler of a nation.
Wasn’t there a saying? Serving a ruler is like serving a tiger.
Fengguang stole a glance at him. His face held only a faint smile, with no trace of sorrow or bitterness. For a moment, she felt strangely unsettled, unable to tell whether she pitied him or sympathized with him.
It was like eating a pastry that didn’t taste good, leaving her mood slightly sour.
He set the brush down and took her hand, a gentle, elegant smile touching his lips, calm as a soft breeze. He moved his lips and silently mouthed three words:
“I’m fine.”
In that instant, it felt as though she had heard the most beautiful sound in the world.
Lucien On ABRWF Chapter 34.1