The crown prince rode alone for a thousand miles, racing all the way back to the Imperial City.
"Your Highness, His Majesty... has little time left..." Several imperial physicians knelt in the emperor's bedchamber. Seeing the crown prince return, an elderly physician looked at him and sighed deeply.
"His Majesty... has been waiting for you..."
Beside them, Princess Pingle looked at her returning younger brother and shook her head bitterly.
Their father lay bedridden, and her younger brother had returned weathered by hardship. At that moment, the towering walls of the magnificent Imperial Palace seemed like a leaf blocking one's sight.
Those inside could not see out, yet those outside could see in.
As though in a dream, the crown prince slowly approached the imperial bed, step by step.
The emperor's face was pale. No longer imposing and robust as before, he lay there sallow and emaciated, his entire body exuding decline.
"You... came back..." A glimmer stirred in the emperor's lifeless eyes when he saw the crown prince, but his words were like a crossbow bolt at the end of its flight.
"I'm back," the crown prince answered softly.
"What... did you come to understand..." The emperor's gaze was unfocused, seemingly unable to settle on the crown prince.
The crown prince shook his head slightly, then fell silent.
The father and son seemed to have little to say to each other, as though everything awaited its natural course.
One had been waiting for the other to return.
The other had known he was waiting.
What had he been waiting for?
Nothing more than one last meeting!
Clad in a white dress, the crown princess, whose beauty could topple cities and kingdoms, drifted into the hall. Looking at the father and son, she felt a slight wrench in her heart.