Back in the Nine Heavens, the Fate’s Scribe Shun Tao was pacing up and down in his palace. Hong Bao sat at his table biting her nails, her eyes following every step of his.

What led to this situation was, of course, the aftermath of Leng Jin Yu quietly walking off. Though he himself had already come to a decision in favor of Shun Tao, Hong Bao had arrived at another conclusion. Thus, after freaking out for half an hour by herself, she ran to the Fate’s Scribe and agitatedly told him that Leng Jin Yu had figured everything out.

She didn’t bother to mention that this had only happened because she asked Leng Jin Yu for advice though. How could she? What if Shun Tao blamed her?! Well, he had every reason to blame her but she didn’t want that! She had only tried to help him, hadn’t she? It was for his own good!

Hong Bao pursed her lips. How could she have known that Leng Jin Yu would behave like that?! She had completely misjudged his character! She had thought he was a good guy but he was actually a very bad person.

Shun Tao didn’t have a thought to spare for Hong Bao’s worries. Right now, he was concerned with what would await him now that Leng Jin Yu knew everything. "What to do? What to do?" He muttered this sentence over and over while pacing up and down. Unfortunately, he still couldn’t think of anything.

He was sure that Leng Jin Yu would report this matter. After all, that was what he himself would do if he caught wind of such a scandal. This was, after all, concerning the life and death of their beloved crown prince. Who didn’t understand what a major incident that was? Everyone in their right mind would go and report this to the Heavenly Emperor. That Leng Jin Yu certainly wasn’t an exception.

He couldn’t let that happen! He just couldn’t. He wanted to save the crown prince but he also wanted to save himself. Under no circumstances could the Heavenly Emperor be allowed to know of this before he had found the culprit! He needed some leverage. Something, anything that would convince the Heavenly Emperor of not separating his head from his body.

Unfortunately, even after more than a week, he hadn’t found a single clue. Time was running out. He had to confess soon or things would get even worse if the Heavenly Emperor learned about this from somebody else.

Shun Tao sighed. Ah, this would be so much easier if he was one of those humans he wrote fates for. If one of them was in his stead … he would just have them kill the one who knew their secret. But disregarding the fact that he didn’t even know how that Leng Jin Yu looked, he couldn’t just go and murder him, could he? Especially since things always got worse for the murderers in his fates. No, there was only one way to escape from this.

Shun Tao stopped pacing around and turned to Hong Bao. "I’m going to tell the Heavenly Emperor myself."

"What?!" Hong Bao leaped to her feet and shook her head. "You can’t do that! Didn’t you say he would kill you?! How can you go there?"

"I have to. If I tell him myself, he might be lenient …" Shun Tao furrowed his brow. Okay, no, he wouldn’t be lenient. That was the Heavenly Emperor they were talking about here. He wasn’t lenient. Especially not when it concerned his precious son. The crown prince was obviously the pearl in the palm of his hand. Everyone knew that he loved him more than anything else. Putting this person in jeopardy …

"Well, I could gain some time at least." Shun Tao sighed and shook his head. He knew that gaining time was just as unlikely as being let off. Whatever happened, he had already been doomed since the day the crown prince’s fate diverged from its path.

"Telling him myself is still better than somebody else doing so. At least, I can die with my dignity intact. If he puts lying to the sovereign on my head too, I’ll have an even worse end."

"There must be something we can do!"

"Nothing I can think of." Shun Tao sighed again and pulled Jing He’s scroll of fate out again. None of his counter plans had worked so far and he didn’t have any other ideas about how he could go about this. "I’ll better go now." He turned around, prepared to head to his doom now.

"No!" Hong Bao grabbed his arm and held him back. "Please don’t go!"

"I have to."

"But —"

"Lying to the sovereign is a capital offense already warranting my death. The longer I wait, the worse it gets. At the moment, they might still be able to save the crown prince. That might lessen my punishment slightly." Maybe the Heavenly Emperor would at least leave him an intact corpse? No, wait, he shouldn’t get ahead of himself. Not dispersing his soul so that he may reincarnate as some lowly animal would probably be more like it.

"At least … At least wait until tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow?" Shun Tao smiled self-deprecatingly. "What difference will these few hours make?"

"Who knows? I might find a way!"

Shun Tao smiled and patted her head. "Alright, fine. You’ve helped me quite a lot these days. I’ll wait until tomorrow morning then. Whether I tell him now or then … It probably won’t make any difference."

"Mn." Hong Bao nodded and left the scribe’s palace, wondering what else she could do besides asking Leng Jin Yu for help. Was she really damned to just watch the person she loved die? No, that couldn’t be! There had to be something she could do! And if it was just enough to make sure that that Heavenly Emperor wouldn’t kill Shun Tao. That should be enough for her.