Shen Yangge dutifully escorted the Crown Prince to the palace gates.
The palace gates were tightly shut. It was hard to imagine how the Crown Prince had gotten out.
"Your Highness, dawn is almost here. Please hurry back."
Shen Yangge jumped down from the carriage, only then noticing someone sitting at the front. "Su Shang?"
"Long time no see, Lord Shen."
No sooner had Su Shang spoken than the Crown Prince stepped down from the carriage.
"Shen Zhuanxie, come back to the palace with me."
"Your Highness, that would be improper. If someone with ulterior motives reported me for violating palace regulations, no amount of explaining could clear my name. My crime would be unforgivable!"
Every word sounded utterly sincere. To make it even more convincing, he even drew on his "very limited" acting skills, hoping to sway the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince said, "It's fine. Simply come with me, and no one will dare convict you, Shen Zhuanxie."
[-All right, all right, I know you wield immense power right now, and sometimes you don't even give a damn about the emperor in private...]
[-But this is still the emperor's realm. You're a crown prince, and one who's about to be deposed at that. Going too far with certain things is bound to have some very nasty consequences, isn't it?]
Shen Yangge was busy scheming inwardly about how to send this august nuisance on his way when Su Shang said:
"His Highness left the palace specifically to be with you, Lord Shen. If you won't return with him, he won't go back either."
What the hell was this bastard's obsession with him? Whenever he went mad, he just had to stick to him.
[-I just want to die in peace, but I can't even fulfill such a tiny wish. Sigh.]
After spending half an hour deliberating outside the palace gates, Shen Yangge finally admitted defeat. He refused to return to the palace with him, but he was willing to take the Crown Prince back to the residence where he currently lived.
After all, dawn was still some time away. Standing outside the gates like this was no solution, and if anyone discovered that the Crown Prince had slipped out of the palace at night, they would be in trouble.
The three rode the carriage toward the southern part of the capital. The night was deep and silent. Apart from the occasional calls of a night watchman, the place was practically like the legendary Ghost Market.
Desolate and gloomy, without a soul in sight.
As they passed an alley, the sound of a baby crying suddenly drifted out, alternately faint and loud.
Shen Yangge's hair stood on end again. His palms were covered in sweat, damp and sticky.
The baby's cries suddenly grew louder again, as though it were chasing after them.
In a dry, hushed voice, Shen Yangge asked, "Su-Su Shang, do you hear anything strange?"
"Yes."
Thankfully, he wasn't the only one who could hear the baby crying.
Otherwise, he would have thought he was trapped in a nightmare.
The carriage wheels kept rumbling onward. When they reached the darkest alley, something seemed to snuff out the lantern at the front of the carriage in an instant.
Shen Yangge sprang up in fright and slammed his head against the carriage roof. His face twisted with pain as he clutched his head with both hands and hissed.
"What happened?"
Shen Yangge waited for a reply, but no answer came from Su Shang. His heart lurched.
Just as he was about to call out again, the carriage jolted and then stopped. The momentum sent Shen Yangge falling back onto his seat, landing hard on his backside.
"Ow..."
System 615: [...] When people had bad luck, they had bad luck no matter what they did. Good thing I'm not human (^-^).
Without the lantern's light, everything inside and outside the carriage was pitch-black. He couldn't even see his hand in front of his face.
To make matters worse, there wasn't a sound around them. Shen Yangge grew even more nervous. His face pale, he asked softly, "Your Highness, are you there?"
In the darkness, the Crown Prince's deep eyes quietly watched the young man jumping about. He had done nothing all this time, sitting upright with a languid hint of a smile, one hand resting casually on his knee.
Watching the young man panic seemed to have become his sole amusement. He neither answered nor intended to make a sound.
Then the young man's slightly dry voice slowly broke the silence. "Your Highness, are you asleep?"
Shen Yangge swallowed. When he received no response, he decided to feel his way toward where the Crown Prince was sitting.
He had barely moved when something cold brushed against his foot. His expression changed drastically, and he immediately quickened his steps, throwing himself at the Crown Prince.
When he crashed into the Crown Prince's arms, he distinctly heard a muffled grunt. There was something indescribably strange about the sound, but Shen Yangge didn't dwell on it. The moment he made contact with the Crown Prince-
He clung tightly to him like an octopus.
His arms locked around the Crown Prince's neck, his chin resting on the Crown Prince's shoulder.
His warm breath washed over the Crown Prince's neck, slightly moist.
The Crown Prince felt a tickle at his neck, but it wasn't unpleasant. He even wanted the person breathing against his neck to come a little closer, especially those soft lips.
"Your Highness... I-I felt something inside the carriage just now. It was ice-cold. You must be careful."
The Crown Prince let his arms hang down without making a move. He lowered his eyes toward the carriage floor, but with no light, he couldn't make out the thing the young man had described at all.
After a moment's thought, he lit the lantern beside him with a fire striker.
The lantern illuminated every corner of the carriage, and Shen Yangge finally confirmed what had brushed against his foot.
It was a white snake.
The snake was coiled into a little mound, flicking its tongue at the two of them from time to time as though threatening them.
Whoosh-
A longsword pierced straight through the snake's head, pinning it dead to the floor!
Shen Yangge froze in the middle of his embrace. He suddenly remembered that the snake wasn't the most dangerous thing in the carriage.
The most dangerous one was the person he was currently clinging to.
He immediately scrambled off the Crown Prince and returned to his own seat, still shaken. A long while later, he finally asked softly, "Your Highness, are you lucid now?"
The answer remained the same. "No."
Yet he didn't look remotely like someone who wasn't lucid. Still, the Crown Prince had no reason to lie to him. After all, he was only a lowly official.
There was no need.
Shen Yangge tucked his feet beneath the hem of his robe like a little quail and stammered, "Your Highness, I offended you just now. If you mind..."
The Crown Prince said, "Hmm?"
Shen Yangge abruptly raised his head and said earnestly, "Then use the sword that killed the snake to kill me too!"
[-Come on, do it!]
[-While there's still blood on the blade, why not add a little more?]
The Crown Prince fixed his sinister gaze on Shen Yangge. Somehow, displeasure crept into his voice. "Shen Zhuanxie, may I ask why you want to die?"
Shen Yangge said, "You jest, Your Highness. Why would I want to die? My offense is simply unforgivable, worthy of ten thousand deaths. I am willing to atone with my life."
He was certain now: the Crown Prince sitting before him was his normal self. As for why the Crown Prince had lied and said he wasn't lucid, it was probably because he was puzzled by why Shen Yangge had asked such a question.
Before you continue