Pan Jingwan stumbled into Lingxi Palace.
Her eyes were red from crying, her tear-streaked face like pear blossoms drenched in rain, and even her fingertips trembled uncontrollably.
At the sight inside, she let out a sudden shriek, dodged the ranks of soldiers trying to block her, and flung herself behind Kan Nianzhen. "Sob, sob... Your Majesty, what is going on? Why are there suddenly so many, so many..."
Pan Jingwan looked fearfully at the soldiers surrounding them, then cautiously swallowed the rest of her words.
Kan Nianzhen turned around. Rather than answer her question, she first asked with apparent concern, "Did you come here alone?"
Pan Jingwan's gaze flickered for an instant, and her hand instinctively reached toward her waist.
She still remembered her father and brother's warning: until they succeeded, she must never reveal where her loyalties lay.
The entire Pan family had split into two camps. At court, father and son stood firmly behind Prince Xin and Prince Jing, while she, inside the imperial harem, held evidence of the Pan Family's treason. Together with several senior officials whose allegiances remained undisclosed, she had prepared forged documents in advance to prove that she had tried to report the uprising to those outside, hoping to secure a reasonably stable future for herself and Jiang Huai'an.
The Pan Family was already too deeply aboard Prince Jing and Prince Xin's ship. Whether this venture succeeded now determined the fate of the entire Pan family... Providing an escape route for her and Huaian was already the most her father and brother could arrange.
Pan Jingwan raised her head and said shakily, "S-several soldiers suddenly stormed into my courtyard. They started seizing people as soon as they entered. Xiwu risked her life to hold them back, and only then was I able to escape-"