The Crown Prince swept a suspicious gaze over him from head to toe before finally saying, "Your offense does not warrant death."
[-I knew you bastard were up to no good. You just want to torture me slowly instead of letting me die happy.]
Shen Yangge said, "...But I offended Your Highness."
"I am no cruel man. Shen Zhuanxie merely made a careless mistake. Holding you accountable for it would hardly be magnanimous of me."
Well, damn. Why did hearing his own earlier praise repeated back to him make him want to punch the man so badly?
[-No cruel man? Who are you kidding? Do you think I don't know what you've done?]
[-Just look at what you did to those enemies who poisoned you. Besides personally branding them with hot irons and skinning them alive, you had all sorts of inhuman...]
Right. In the Crown Prince's eyes, death was the lightest punishment.
Shen Yangge emptied his mind. Knowing his attempt to seek death had failed, he could only cup his hands and bow. "Thank you for your mercy, Your Highness."
The Crown Prince nodded, then asked after a moment, "Where are you taking me, Scribe Shen?"
His sharp brows lifted slightly. In the lantern light, his cold, handsome face seemed to gain a hint of mystery. He was sitting right there, yet somehow felt impossibly distant.
For some reason, Shen Yangge suddenly thought of the Crown Prince when he had not been lucid.
Were they really not two separate personalities?
"To my residence..."
Then he reconsidered and added, "Since Your Highness has already..."
Before he could finish, the Crown Prince interrupted. "In that case, sorry for the trouble."
Shen Yangge forcibly swallowed the rest of his sentence: since Your Highness has regained your senses, you might as well return to the palace on your own, and I will take my leave.
Just then.
"Whoa-"
Su Shang reined in the carriage. "Your Highness, Lord Shen, an assassin was following us and attempting to strike, so I went to deal with them. Did anything happen?"
"...No."
Su Shang said, "Please sit tight. I'll continue driving."
They returned to the residence in the dead of night, and Shen Yangge dragged his exhausted body along as he led the Crown Prince into the courtyard.
The guest room was piled high with miscellaneous clutter and could not accommodate anyone, so Shen Yangge had no choice but to put the Crown Prince in his own room.
Then he changed the bedding for a clean set and lay down on the bamboo chair he often slept in, yielding the bed to the Crown Prince.
Despite how "considerate" he had been, the Crown Prince did not seem particularly pleased.
Although this place could not compare to the Eastern Palace, it was still a respectable room by the capital's standards.
Who was he pulling that long face for?
Shen Yangge no longer even wanted to earn his favor. He simply lay down on the chair and closed his eyes.
Getting back to sleep was what really mattered.
Yet for some reason, he tossed and turned that night, unable to sleep. Perhaps the fright he had received on the way back had left him unusually alert.
As for the Crown Prince lying in his bed, he seemed to have fallen asleep long ago.
[-I should've left him to sleep on the street. Why did I even bring him back?]
The next day, Shen Yangge opened his eyes and discovered that he was nestled in the Crown Prince's arms. His mind filled with question marks.
[-Fuck, how did I end up in this asshole's arms?]
[-Do I sleepwalk too? Impossible...]
If he really had been a sleepwalker, someone would have brought it up as an after-dinner joke ages ago. Why would he only discover it himself now? If he did not sleepwalk, then the problem must have been with this body's original owner.
[-Is he still not planning to kill me this time?]
[-This wasn't just a hug. I actually woke up after sleeping in his arms!]
System 615: [Host, you had better get up quickly. The system fears the male lead may sew your mouth shut, chop off your limbs, strip off your skin and flesh, and leave you soaking in a wine jar.]
Shen Yangge: !!
Sure enough, the body's original owner had been a sleepwalker!
Sleepwalking was one thing, but apparently he had said something too?
[-What did I say last night? What did I do?]
System 615: [You climbed into the male lead's bed and clung tightly to him while singing at the top of your lungs, "Here I sit at home, a lonely little lady."]
Boom.
Shen Yangge felt as though his face was hot enough to fry an egg. Bracing himself with both hands, he quickly scrambled off the Crown Prince. "I...I am guilty, I..."
The Crown Prince raised a hand, stopping the words "of a capital offense" before they could spill out. "It is nothing. You were merely frightened, Scribe Shen, which caused some unusual symptoms. I will not blame you."
With his crown clasp undone, the Crown Prince's long hair fell straight down, every strand glossy and jet-black.
Soft rays of sunlight filtered through the lattice window into the room.
They scattered over the edge of the bed and the Crown Prince's reclining figure, lending him an imposing air.
Very few patches of light touched the young man, as though they had deliberately been kept away from him.
His earlier frantic movements had left his fair skin rather "indecently" exposed, but that did nothing to diminish the disheveled beauty he exuded.
The young man stood there helplessly, bowing with his eyes lowered in studious restraint. Suddenly realizing he had no shoes on, he bent even farther and hid his rosy-white feet, with their beautifully shaped toes, beneath the hem of his robe.
The Crown Prince withdrew his gaze from those rosy-white toes, sat up, and put on his clothes with a soft rustle. "Do you behave as you did last night every time you are frightened, Scribe Shen?"
"No!"
Shen Yangge denied it at once. He neither sleepwalked nor talked in his sleep. Last night had clearly been an accident; he could not yet control the original owner's body properly.
"Your Highness, last night was an accident. I do not sleepwalk or talk in my sleep."
The Crown Prince glanced at him. "Is that true?"
Shen Yangge said, "It is. I would never dare deceive Your Highness."
"Then raise your head. There is no need to keep it lowered."
At the Crown Prince's languid command, Shen Yangge slowly raised his head. He acted as though he hardly dared look the Crown Prince in the eye, only stealing an occasional glance before quickly directing his gaze elsewhere.
"Shen Zhuanxie, look at me."
[-Who wants to look you in the eye, you asshole?]
[-Besides, what do I get out of it? Execution on the spot, or sentencing today?]
[-If neither of those is on offer, I'd rather look at Ruhua next door.]
As Shen Yangge silently grumbled, he failed to notice the dark look in the eyes of the Crown Prince, who had risen to his feet-a fierce gaze that seemed intent on swallowing him whole.
"Your Highness, it is already late in the morning. Would you like to return to the palace as soon as possible, or...?"
[-Hurry up and get the hell back there, asshole. I haven't had a decent night's sleep. Sure, they say there's no need to sleep so much while alive when you'll sleep forever after death, but under the present circumstances, eternal sleep is beyond me. So just let me get some proper sleep, okay?]
The Crown Prince said, "I hear there is an entertaining place in the capital these days."
[-Don't tell me you want to...?]
The Crown Prince said, "Why don't you accompany me there, Scribe Shen?"
[-Fuck, are you sure that's a question and not an order, you bastard?!]
Shen Yangge nearly ground his back teeth to pieces. "Your Highness, I may not be able to accompany you. I feel dizzy and my vision is blurred. Perhaps I caught a chill last night."
As he finished speaking, he even made a show of "swaying."
The Crown Prince watched the young man put on an act of being unwell while listening to him curse him inwardly with boundless energy.
He pressed his lips together, and the corners curved upward:
Before you continue