“They went to Silla to collect something for Oraboni,” she said and started frantically walking.

Youxian ran after her and stopped when she did.

Outside the courts, Qinghe stood tall, blocking the eunuch’s way.

“Where are you taking him?” he asked nonchalantly.

Mei Yuan ran up to Qinghe. “Ah-He, Oraboni, passed out in the middle of the hearing,” she said.

Qinghe looked down at her. “Okay, but where are they taking him?” Qinghe asked again.

Mei Yuan looked at him, conflicted. Bowing her head, she answered, “I don’t have medical skills, so I asked them to take him to the physician’s pavilion.”

Qinghe sighed, placing his hand under Mei Yuan’s chin. He raised her head to look at him. “What are you going to do when your Oraboni wakes up and kills the royal physician?”

Mei Yuan’s eyes widened. Tears formed in her eyes as she looked at him, “But his wounds need to be attended to.”

Qinghe sighed again. Stepping to the side, he said, “Don’t say that I didn’t warn you when he goes on a killing spree again.”

Mei Yuan watched as the eunuchs carried Changling away, gaining the other servants’ attention, leading them to help carry Changling.

She was about to run after them, but saw that Qinghe did not move. Looking at him, she asked, “Aren’t you coming with?”

He raised a brow. “Will your father be there?”

She looked behind them and saw that her father was coming over, now dressed in other robes. Looking back at him, she smiled helplessly, “But Oraboni will want you there.”

Qinghe chuckled and followed her at a steady pace. The emperor, Dong Woo, Youxian and the others all arrived after them but were not allowed into the room they put Changling in.

Mei Yuan and Qinghe were also not allowed in, but that did not stop them from entering.

The physician looked at Changling with terror in his eyes. He was so young and yet he had so many wounds on his body. Qinghe looked at the physician in disinterest, but knew that he would report this matter to the emperor.

Dressing Changling’s wounds and feeding him pain relievers, the physician sighed in relief. He looked at Qinghe and asked, “How long has it been since he received this wound?”

Qinghe shrugged and did not answer, making the physician frown and Mei Yuan sweat.

She tugged on his sleeve to answer, but she was ignored.

The physician examined Changling for over twenty minutes, then said, “He needs rest, lots of it. His Highness is welcome to stay here for the time being until he is better. I will prescribe medication for him and once he wakes up, he needs to have a herbal soup that I will ask the kitchen to make.”

Qinghe nodded and sat down on the chair beside the bed.

The physician went out to report.

“Dr Kim, how is my son?” Wu Yong asked.

The physician looked at the emperor and bowed. “Answering to his majesty, I have taken care of the wound. His Highness needs rest and should not be disturbed until he can walk again.”

Wu Yong’s brows knitted. “What do you mean by that?”

The physician shook his head, “With that type of wound I am surprised he is walking, a normal human would be bedridden but His Highness he… Your Majesty, if I may, that Qinghe fellow, I asked him how His Highness received the wound but he did not answer and when His Highness received that wound but he still would not tell me. It is also not visible enough to see from afar, but if you look closely at His Highness’s body, you can see similar wounds that have healed before.”

“Similar wounds?” Wu Yong looked at him confused and so did Dong Woo.

Wu Yong turned to look at Youxian and asked, “Is it true?”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Youxian as he was put on the spot. They weren’t dumb and had concluded that he saw Changling naked before.

Hiding his embarrassment with a cough he nodded, “Yes, I’ve seen those wounds too,” thinking for a moment he answered, “If I recall correctly, I asked Rucheng how he got those wounds. She told me that growing up, Prince Changling would always return home bleeding, but would not fill me in on how and who caused them.”

*

Wu Yong, Dong Woo, Youxian and Qiang Wu entered the room.

They saw Mei Yuan wring out a cloth and apply it to Changling’s forehead, who was panting.

They looked over at the visitors and Qinghe’s face turned sour. He was not used to being around the royals for so long, worse now that he would marry into their family—not to mention that his father-in-law looked at him with hatred.

Qinghe stood up and bowed, followed by Mei Yuan.

Wu Yong ignored Qinghe and walked up to Changling’s side.

He caressed Changling’s cheek then looked down at his chest that was moving up and down, reminded of the wound under the sheets. He looked at Qinghe and sternly asked, “What happened to my son?”

Qinghe stared at Wu Yong, stunned. How dare this man claim that Changling was his son?

Mentally shaking his thoughts away, he answered with a bow, “Answering to your majesty, it is all your fault for taking Youxian away.”

“What?” Wu Yong asked, confused.

He looked at Youxian and saw that his godson was looking at Qinghe in shock.

Wu Yong heard Mei Yuan say, “I will go make tea.”

She bowed and walked away.

After watching her walk out of the room and collecting his thoughts, he turned back to Qinghe. “Explain yourself,” he ordered.

“Your majesty, did you not remove Youxian yourself and saw how angry he was? Then told Changling to attend the hearing?” Qinghe asked, equally confused.

Wu Yong glared at his bold words, “I did, but what does that have to do with Changling being in this state?”

Respectfully, Qinghe answered, “Your majesty, it was these actions of yours that made my brother see red. If you had just ordered Changling to attend the hearing, he would have, but you took Youxian away from him. Changling could have killed you and killed Youxian along with everyone that came with you, but he did not because he did not want to hurt Commander Hwan.”

“So you are saying it is because I left?” Youxian asked before Wu Yong could.

Qinghe raised a brow and looked at him. He smirked and said, “I am sure my brother asked you not to leave, but you still did. You could have taken your time to get to know him, but you left his side. You should already know the reason he treated you in that manner, but yet you still left.”

Youxian narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists at his side. “Who would stay with someone who does those things? I left because I did not like it yet. Here you are saying I should have stayed? Stop spouting nonsense.”

Qinghe tsked and shook his head. “I am merely stating the obvious. Commander Hwan, please recall why Changling and I are here. If Princess Mei Yuan did not deceive me, I would not have been accused of having an affair with her and sentenced to imprisonment. It was because of this that Changling chose to live here and be this kingdom’s prisoner. My mother knew that Changling would misbehave and so when Mr Hwan told her about you, she told Changling to keep himself busy with you instead of going after those who hurt her.”

Sighing, he sat down and crossed his arms and legs.

Continuing he said, “To you, it may have seemed as if you were being molested, hence you were, but in fact you were saving everyone in the palace from dying at my brother’s hands.”

Looking at Wu Yong, he added, “I am sure you think he is crazy, but he might actually like you.”