Xu Yanli looked at the remains, at the tattered scraps of clothing, at the thin coffin—shabbier than even one found in an ordinary household.
Huo Yuhao's mother, Huo Yun'er.
A maid at the Duke of White Tiger Mansion, Dai Hao's woman, Huo Yuhao's mother.
In life, she had endured contempt and abuse from the Duchess, been mocked by the servants, and finally died of illness and injuries in a dilapidated little room.
Huo Yuhao, Huo Yuhao, how could you forgive that man in the original story?
Xu Yanli closed his eyes. Then he took a golden nanmu coffin from his Storage Soul Tool and set it aside.
He lined the new coffin with white silk, then bent down and carefully lifted Huo Yun'er's bones, one by one, from the old coffin, gently placing them inside the new one.
First the skull, then the spine, ribs, arms, and leg bones.
He moved slowly, handling each bone with care, afraid of breaking anything.
Lezheng Ling stood to one side, watching. It felt strange. Xu Yanli seemed like someone who feared nothing, so why was he being so... reverent toward the remains?
She had never seen the prince like this before. It was as though, for the first time, he stood in awe of something.
"Your Highness," Lezheng Ling couldn't help saying, "let me do it."
"No need." Xu Yanli didn't look up. "I'll do it."
It wasn't Huo Yun'er he was showing respect to, but the remains, and death itself.
He placed the last bone in the coffin and checked carefully to make sure nothing had been left behind. Only then did he gently lower the lid.
The golden nanmu lid shut with a dull thud.
Xu Yanli stood and put the coffin into his Storage Soul Tool.
He glanced back at