The more the Eighth Prince thought about it, the harder it became to breathe.
He reached out and rested a hand on his elder brother's shoulder.
"Brother, think about Shen Yangge. In all those days, did he ever truly leave your side? I could tell that he..."
"Loved you."
"A person's eyes cannot lie. Neither can their actions, and their instinctive reactions lie least of all."
At first, the Eighth Prince had thought his elder brother had acquired a little plaything, someone to tease when he was entertaining and cast aside when he was not.
He had also carefully observed how the two interacted. It was obvious that, in the beginning, the little plaything genuinely disliked his brother.
He had even seemed to detest him a little. That was why the Eighth Prince had risked asking whether he could borrow the little plaything for a few days.
Back then, he had known he would be refused, but he had not expected the first person to refuse him to be his elder brother rather than the little plaything himself.
From then on, he had sensed a change in his brother, though he could not tell whether it was good or bad.
The Eighth Prince had thought about it for a very, very long time. Only recently had he finally realized that the change was both good and bad.
But both the good and the bad depended on one person.
That person was Shen Yangge.
Chu Xuanzhen's hand stiffened slightly beneath his sleeve, and he glanced sideways at the Eighth Prince.
"You said... he loves me?"
He asked very softly, almost cautiously.
The Eighth Prince answered with absolute conviction, "Yes, he loves you. Shen Yangge loves you!"
Chu Xuanzhen's lashes seemed to tremble, but the movement vanished in an instant.
Had the