"I merely let Wu see how Xia He plotted against Rong Luo and gave him a sword."

When Gu Lan heard these words from Rong Jing, her mind roared, and every drop of blood in her body froze into icy frost.

Only at this moment did she finally understand what Nian Xia had told her that day at the Magpie Workshop.

"Since we can’t prevent all this from happening, the only option is... to go with the flow."

"She was not just a maid, palace maid, or servant. Her name was Xia He, and she was someone Rong Luo would never forget in this lifetime."

Rong Luo and Xia He were merely a princess and palace maid with no support in this Imperial Palace. Faced with Rong Jing’s suspicion and manipulation of her younger brother, they had no way to stop it and could only go with the flow, using their lives to seek a slim chance of survival.

Rong Jing deliberately found a guard, first winning Xia He’s affection, then allowing this guard to "be with" Rong Luo, thus provoking Xia He, leading her to betray her master. Through this act, he demonstrated to Rong Heng that there were no affections in the palace, only interests and endless desires, while he washed his hands clean of it—

In reality, Xia He and Rong Luo had long guessed Rong Jing’s actions. Xia He pretended to be deeply in love with the guard, and perhaps Rong Luo intentionally became entangled with the guard as well. They feuded as Rong Jing desired, playing out a performance before him.

The price of this act was Xia He’s life;

It was Rong Luo faking death to live in anonymity, no longer the Eldest Princess of Dayan;

It was Rong Heng having to watch his sister suffer torment and personally kill the palace maid who protected him!

From then on, Rong Jing completely trusted Rong Heng.

Indeed, no one would see such a scene and think that the child who killed the palace maid could still be a normal person.

"He was only nine years old at the time," Gu Lan’s dark eyes turned crimson as she glared at Rong Jing, her voice accusatory, "You forced him to kill." And the one killed was the palace maid who was like a sister to him.

Nian Xia had said that after the death of Princess Consort Xiao following the former Emperor, it was Xia He who took care of the orphaned and helpless siblings Rong Heng and Jiu, all four of them living together in the Imperial Court for a year.

Now, like Nian Xia, she would never forget the name Xia He.

Without her presence, Rong Heng might have truly become the person Rong Jing wanted him to be. It was Xia He who used her own life to guard the kindness in Rong Heng’s heart.

Rong Jing furrowed his brow slightly. Seeing the intense hatred in Gu Lan’s eyes, he remained indifferent, even curling his lips at her agitated expression, still as genteel as a noble gentleman.

He said calmly, "Wu is a genius, isn’t he? He’s astute and precocious. What’s wrong with killing a person? When I was twelve, Su Xinyu asked me to kill to gain courage. Moreover, Xia He killed Rong Luo, his own sister. I was giving him the chance to avenge a personal enemy."

"No matter how astute and precocious, he is still human, not a cold, unfeeling weapon. Rong Jing, weren’t you afraid when you first killed someone?"

Gu Lan closed her eyes in grief, concealing the murderous intent in her gaze, her breaths becoming a bit quicker.

She herself was only nine when she first killed, and it was a heinous death row criminal. Yet even so, when that person, incapable of resistance, fell before her and the blood spread beneath, she couldn’t help but vomit instinctively.

It’s precisely because she experienced the same thing, knowing how nauseating it feels, and how terrifying it is for a child, that she hated Rong Jing’s actions even more.

And Rong Luo—

Gu Lan seems to see Nian Xia in a gauzy dress, standing in front of the pavilion, blowing smoke at her, a beauty so captivating as if a goddess had descended to earth.

Such a beauty, once the little princess cherished by the former Emperor of Yan Country, Xiao Ning, and her brothers, was forever trapped in Xia He’s tragedy.

"I... have already forgotten," Rong Jing was momentarily bewildered by Gu Lan’s questioning, then shook his head and said, "What he experienced, I once did, and it wasn’t easier than it was for him. He will understand that everything I did was to help him grow up."

Rong Jing still remembered when he was barely ten, led by Su Xinyu, into a prison.

Su Xinyu made him kill all the criminals in that prison. She said, ’Those who achieve great feats must be ruthless. If you aren’t ruthless enough, you won’t be able to establish yourself in this palace.’

He seemed to be afraid at first, yes; the prison was so dark and cold, and the criminals inside were chained to the racks like dogs, silently pleading for mercy with their eyes.