Punishing Them with the Crown Prince

After a few stunned seconds, Shen Yangge emerged from his daze.

Still bewildered, he lifted his chin, his almond-shaped eyes meeting those vicious eyes in the dim light.

[-Fuck, fuck, how did this bastard get out of the palace? Isn't leaving forbidden after nightfall?]

[-What nerve! Ignoring the rules completely-just what I'd expect from you. Wait, what are you carrying me for?]

[-Put me down right now! Two men holding each other like this-where's your sense of propriety?]

The person carrying him was none other than the Crown Prince, who had left the palace by "illicit means."

Tonight, the chill radiating from the Crown Prince seemed even stronger than usual. Shen Yangge had no idea what had happened. Had he talked in his sleep?

Had he cursed the Crown Prince up and down?

Before Shen Yangge could make sense of it, he was carried out through the bedroom door.

"Your Highness, where are you taking me?"

The Crown Prince said nothing. He thrust the lantern into Shen Yangge's hand and said, "Hold this."

He didn't look like the Crown Prince when he was out of his senses, so why were his actions even more incomprehensible than outright madness?

Still, it would be best to test him.

After a fierce internal struggle, Shen Yangge faltered out a quiet question. "Your Highness, are you in your right mind?"

The moment he asked, the Crown Prince's steps faltered slightly as he continued carrying him outside. His calculating eyes narrowed a fraction, and he said, "No."

Shen Yangge wasn't entirely convinced. Generally speaking, when the Crown Prince was out of his senses, there was something stiff about both his movements and his speech.

Everything the Crown Prince did now was far too smooth, nothing like the way he had been that night.

Shen Yangge shifted uncomfortably, accidentally knocking his forehead against the Crown Prince's jaw. He immediately went still, then asked softly, "What game did we play before?"

The Crown Prince's eyes flickered.

"Chase."

His tone was noticeably stiffer this time. Hearing it, Shen Yangge relaxed a little. Sure enough, the Crown Prince wasn't in his right mind.

Relieved that he didn't have to face the normal Crown Prince, Shen Yangge began chattering away about what had happened yesterday afternoon.

"You have no idea how terrified those two men were when they got caught. They even wet themselves! Tsk, tsk. Villains get what they deserve. Traffic children, and sooner or later you'll be sentenced for it."

Under the moonlight, the young man's clear face seemed bathed in a soft white glow. He held the lantern, resting quietly in the other man's arms.

He was perfectly docile. Occasionally, when the movement jostled his wounds, he would grimace and say, "Slow down. It's not like you're rushing off to your next life."

Though the young man's words weren't pleasant, he seemed to mean them for the Crown Prince's own good.

The Crown Prince slowed his steps. After leaving the courtyard, he settled the young man inside a carriage, then climbed in himself.

"Huh? Your Highness, where did you get a carriage?"

"Stole it."

Shen Yangge paused, then a faint smile curled his lips. "Did you? Then remember to return it."

"Mm."

There was no way Shen Yangge didn't know whether it had really been stolen. Much of the credit for the Crown Prince sneaking out of the palace belonged to those hidden guards.

Clearly, those guards had also secretly arranged for this carriage to be waiting for him.

"Can you tell me where we're going now, Your Highness?"

Shen Yangge tilted his head slightly. His unbound hair spilled onto his knees, a few strands veiling his cheek. He raised a fair hand and carelessly tucked them behind his ear.

His loose collar hung askew, revealing the clean, lovely lines of his Adam's apple in the yellow lantern light.

The Crown Prince's gaze darkened slightly.

He spoke. "Outside the city."

Outside the city?

What for?

Even now, Shen Yangge had no idea how serious the situation was. Bewildered, he turned it over in his mind and decided that this mad Crown Prince probably wanted to show him something or take him somewhere to broaden his horizons.

Perhaps it was simply a whim.

Shen Yangge had so many questions, but before he could ask them, the Crown Prince closed his eyes to rest.

With his belly full of questions, Shen Yangge left the city with the Crown Prince.

They continued along a road. In the dead of night, he couldn't make out any of the surrounding scenery, and with the carriage jolting over the uneven ground, Shen Yangge felt increasingly uneasy.

"Your Highness, are we almost there?"

The Crown Prince opened his deep-set eyes, glanced at him, and said, "Mm."

No sooner had he answered than the carriage stopped.

Holding the lantern, Shen Yangge carefully lifted the carriage curtain.

He instantly recognized the dilapidated little hut he had visited during the day.

His heart jolted, and delight nearly lit up his face. Had the Crown Prince brought him here... to kill him and silence him?

That couldn't be right. When the Crown Prince was out of his senses, he had said I couldn't die. That meant he wouldn't kill me...

While he was still puzzling over it, the Crown Prince stepped ahead, clasped Shen Yangge's hand, and led him toward the shabby hut.

The crisp sound of shoes striking dirt and dry branches rang especially clearly in the night.

Crack.

The little wooden door was pushed open. The Crown Prince raised Shen Yangge's hand in his grip, letting the lantern's yellow light spill into the room.

Two men in ragged clothes lay on the ground, constantly making muffled cries.

Shen Yangge recognized them at once as the two men who had kidnapped him that day!

Hadn't they already been taken to the government jail?

"Mmph, mmph..."

He had been regretting that he couldn't punish these two himself. Now, at last, he had his chance.

Shen Yangge approached them and glanced around. His gaze settled on two burlap sacks, and he went over gleefully to fetch them.

Then he slipped one over each man and tied them securely with rope.

Next, he looked at the Crown Prince. "Your Highness, give me a hand?"

The Crown Prince nodded.

Shen Yangge began ordering around Great Chu's future emperor.

"Carry them up a little hillside. I want to watch them roll down."

He would make them taste the suffering he had endured that afternoon.

"Mmph! Mmph!"

No matter how the two men struggled, they couldn't resist the Crown Prince's forceful movements.

The Crown Prince set them on a level patch at the top of the slope. Shen Yangge assessed the height. It didn't look like a fall would kill anyone, so he raised his foot, narrowed his almond-shaped eyes, and muttered, "Fuck you." Then he shouted, "Off you go!"

Rumble, tumble...

The two men rolled down the hillside like a pair of beaten dogs.

His revenge complete, Shen Yangge dusted off his hands, the sly glint fading from his eyes. He turned to the Crown Prince, who had been standing behind him the whole time.

"Your Highness, shall we head back?"

"Mm."

"Will someone take them back to the authorities later?"

"Yes."

Shen Yangge nodded and continued, "Your Highness, I'm truly moved to tears that you've avenged me like this."

Then he grumbled softly, "Your Highness, you really look after your own. Too bad you're not in your right mind."

The Crown Prince fell silent for a moment. In the end, he said nothing.

He knew that if he spoke, the young man would no longer show him his truest self as he did now.

A little longer...