Chapter 6.1

“Meal delivery!”

A rough and impatient voice suddenly rang out in the quiet courtyard. Xie Yan immediately stopped what he was doing and looked toward the door.

Changlin went to meet the visitor from beneath the covered walkway, a smile on his face.

“Many thanks, Guard brother.”

The sword-bearing guard let out a cold snort, not even sparing Changlin a glance, and hurled the food box in his hand onto the ground.

“Waste of time.”

The box clattered and rolled in a circle, its lid flying off, soup and food spilling out all over the ground.

The guard turned and walked away without looking back. Changlin saw this and immediately grew anxious.

“Brother, what is the meaning of this — everything has been spilled, how is our Prince supposed to eat?”

Xie Yan was already running a high fever and his body was weak. The meals at Yongning Hall had always been cold leftovers to begin with, and now they had been thrown on the floor — it was a plain display of intent to starve them.

“How to eat?”

The guard heard this and turned back to glance at the ground, a contemptuous smile curling at his lips.

“Pick it up and eat it the same — or better yet… crawl on the ground and lick it up. That’s not out of the question either.”

“Pick it up? What do you take our Prince for!”

Changlin instantly flew into a fury.

Although he had long known that most of the guards stationed outside Yongning Hall were from Fengyi Palace, such brazenness was something he had never seen before.

The guard gave a fearless, scornful laugh.

“Prince? What kind of Prince — the kind whose own Emperor doesn’t care whether he lives or dies?”

What had happened last night had spread throughout the imperial palace, and everyone knew that the Third Prince had been thoroughly loathed by the Emperor. On top of that, with the Empress’s orders from above, they were naturally all the more emboldened.

“If it were any other Prince, we servants would show a measure of respect. But the Third Prince… if I were him, rather than dragging on like this — limping around on that leg of his — I’d sooner refuse this charity food and leave it to fate.

After all, with a mother of that birth, and having been foolish enough to side with the former commoner First Prince, blind of eye and dull of heart — a lowborn wretch… Ah!”

The guard’s mocking words were not yet finished when a shadow flashed out from the room. Several shards gleamed coldly in an instant, and the guard felt a sharp pain in his palm. Half of a finger, along with a spray of blood, rolled to the ground.

The fingers are connected to the heart — he immediately stumbled and collapsed to his knees, letting out a soul-splitting scream.

“Ahhh — help —”

He clutched his severed finger and slammed his head against the ground, wishing he could die that very moment to end the agony.

A dark silhouette emerged from the room, moving with a halting gait. Changlin rushed forward to support him, but Xie Yan shoved him away with one hand.

He still toyed with the remaining shards in his hand, his pair of jet-black eyes filled with dark malice, as he walked slowly toward the guard. With one hand he seized the guard’s jaw and pried it open. The guard stared up in terror, eyes wide.

“You — Ahh!”

Another sharp scream tore through the air. With mouth forced wide open, a length of red tongue-root came surging out.

Xie Yan released his grip, ensuring the blood did not splash onto himself. The ferocity in his eyes only deepened.

Changlin witnessed this horrifying scene and was all the more shaken. Whether it was the late Consort or the First Prince, both were scars on the Third Prince’s heart — subjects that no one had ever dared raise in his presence. Yet this person had struck both in quick succession today.

“Mm… mm mm…”

The guard whimpered in agony. The refined, handsome face before him now looked like a demon that came up from hell, and he recoiled in terror, scrambling backward.

“Mm…”

As his body retreated, the person before him followed at an unhurried pace. Xie Yan toyed with the shards in his palm, placed one foot down onto the guard’s hand.

Recalling what the guard had said moments ago, Xie Yan pressed the shard against the man’s throat, and in the instant he was about to apply force —

“Xie Yan!”

A voice rang out, trembling and sharp. Xie Yan’s hand stilled.

Su Jiao stood at the threshold, her face drained of all color, her fingers digging hard into her own palms.

She had been startled awake by the guard’s agonized scream, and the moment she stepped out, she saw the severed finger lying on the ground. The overwhelming stench of blood hit her nose, so intense it nearly brought tears to her eyes and made her stomach heave with the urge to retch.

The brutality of a severed finger brought back memories of the past — the year Xie Yan ascended the throne after the palace coup. His temperament had changed drastically, and he had ruled with cruel methods. At the time, the palace and the world outside were rife with assassins — some sent by former brothers and kinsmen, some sent by the great court clans. Xie Yan never simply killed them and was done with it. Once he had identified each wave of assassins, he would order their fingers cut off one joint at a time, then have them rendered down alongside the fat of the ministers’ family members and used as fuel for the lamps in the prison.

The lamps in the prison burned day and night without ceasing. The prisoners would look up to see candles burning with the rendered fat of their kin, and lower their eyes to find bowls made from fused finger bones set before them. On the rare occasions when Xie Yan was in a good mood, he would have water poured into those bowls, letting the prisoners linger on in their wretched survival.

In his prison, death was the most merciful of pardons. His two younger brothers and three imperial uncles were all tormented by such cruel punishments for nearly a month or more before they finally died. Su Jiao had only ever witnessed it once, and even now she did not dare let her mind return to what she had seen then.

Had Xie Yan already possessed such methods back then? And yet, just two days ago, he had clearly been…

The reek of blood before her made her back arch instinctively, and her heart felt as if it would leap out of her chest.

Yet she had no choice but to brace herself and press forward, forcing out words through a throat that had gone stiff and raw.

“The guard offended you — just have him thrown out and reported to Father Emperor for handling. Why must you… step in yourself.”

Xie Yan was crouched in front of that guard, which blocked Su Jiao’s view of the severed tongue. She could only see the severed finger and the man lying on the ground, moaning and wailing without cease.

She had only heard the guard’s screaming before being jolted awake, and upon coming outside, she had seen the overturned food box spilled across the ground. She had assumed the conflict had arisen over the meal.

Thinking back on Xie Yan’s methods of torment in his past life — beyond all of this, he had also favored lighting people on fire like lanterns, draining their blood dry, and on occasion, when the mood struck him, he enjoyed having snakes kept in the pond in the courtyard, then throwing people into the snake pit.

There was no place inside Yongning Hall to fuse finger bones, but there was a pool that could hold a person’s blood.

The moment Su Jiao’s mind conjured the image, her stomach lurched violently, and her legs nearly buckled. But Xie Yan’s gaze had already fallen on her, and she had no choice but to keep walking forward.

When she reached him, she crouched down, and with hands that trembled slightly, she pried the shards out of his grip and tossed them to the ground.

“There’s no need to let anger get the better of you like this.”

The crimson in Xie Yan’s eyes had not faded. He watched her movements in silence.

“The servant delivered the meal improperly — just have Changlin throw him out and report it to Father Emperor for his punishment. There’s no need to… to dirty your own hands.”

Su Jiao didn’t even dare glance at the severed finger lying nearby. Having said this and getting no response from Xie Yan, she quickly turned to Changlin.

“Get him out of here, quickly.”

A flash of fury crossed Changlin’s eyes. Were they really going to let that wretch off after saying something like that?

He looked toward Xie Yan, but the other remained still for a long while, his cold gaze fixed steadily on Su Jiao.

One moment, two moments.

When Su Jiao urged again, and seeing that Xie Yan still said nothing, Changlin stepped forward, took hold of the guard, and dragged him out.