The blazing midsummer sun hung high overhead, baking the Blue Stone Slabs before Xianxian Tower until they were scorching hot.
In the steaming heat, the kneeling crowd seemed to be roasting over charcoal, their clothes soaked through with sweat.
Madam Liu, the madam, lay prostrate on the searing ground, her forehead pressed against the stone slabs.
The rough stone grain ground painfully into her knees, yet she did not dare shift even a fraction.
The summer heat mingled with the cold sweat continuously seeping down her back. The clammy sensation slid along her spine and into her collar, making her tremble uncontrollably.
Madam Liu furtively glanced at the approaching hem of a deep violet robe. Under the glaring sunlight, it gleamed with indescribable nobility.
Scenes from yesterday flashed before her eyes.
At noon, a group of Eastern Palace secret guards clad in chainmail had approached the rear courtyard beneath the vicious sun, sunlight reflecting off their armor so brightly that it was impossible to keep one's eyes open.
That very figure in deep violet had crushed the scorching sunlight beneath his feet and roughly dragged courtesan Chen Qingran from the rattan lounge chair where she had been cooling herself.
"This commoner welcomes His Highness the Crown Prince."
Madam Liu's voice was hoarse and dry, her crimson-painted nails digging deeply into her burning palms.
Her heat-reddened skin had nearly blended into the bright red nail lacquer.
Lu Xuan's footsteps suddenly stopped before her, the hem of his deep violet robe lightly curling in the heat waves.
"Speak. Who ordered you to do this?"
That refined voice carried a pressure more scorching than the blazing sun. It made the hairs on the back of Madam Liu's neck stand on end, as though she had fallen into an ice cellar.
Trembling, she raised