He walked to Jiangjiang’s side and slowly crouched down, extending a slightly stiff hand toward her. “Don’t cry.”
The little girl’s sobs paused as she lifted her head, looking at him pitifully for a moment. “Big brother, it hurts…”
Xiao Hanjin was used to her calling everyone “big brother” by now. He bent down, picked her up, and wiped her tears. “Why are you out here alone?”
Jiangjiang sniffled, her nose red. “Master said Daddy’s gone, and Mommy’s really sad. I wanted to cheer Mommy up, so I came to pick flowers for her.”
Xiao Hanjin’s eyes darkened slightly. “Mm, very good girl.”
Jiangjiang pouted. “Big brother, I don’t want Mommy to be sad. Can you help me find Daddy?”
Daddy?
Xiao Hanjin’s gaze flickered with complexity as he patted her head. “I’ll help you find Mommy, okay?”
Jiangjiang looked at him in surprise. “But Mommy’s in the palace. It’s Daddy who’s missing… Big brother, you’re so dumb.”
A pang flashed through the man’s eyes. He tugged his lips into a self-mocking, obscure smile, his voice hoarse. “If your Mommy’s there, why are you out here alone?”
If this was truly Empress Ronghua’s daughter, where had she gone?
What could make her abandon her child entirely, leaving her to Su Miao?
[“Don’t you know perfectly well? She’s already dead.”] That’s what Su Miao had said.
Xiao Hanjin abruptly shut his eyes, his breathing heavy with an indescribable suffocation and blockage. Some things he didn’t dare dwell on, for to think too deeply was to plunge into another abyss, another death.
“Master!”
Fan Jiang rushed over in a panic, a rare sight of disarray after all these years.
Xiao Hanjin narrowed his eyes, casting him a faint glance. “What is it?”
Fan Jiang’s face was fraught with alarm as he fumbled to hand over a note. “A… a carrier pigeon message. Princess殿下 has been spotted in Beixi’s capital!”
Xiao Hanjin jolted sharply.
…
Without even time to bid farewell to anyone, Xiao Hanjin left Xiliang.
He rode hard, exhausting several horses to death, racing back to Beixi.
The horse galloped down the road, its speed forcing pedestrians to scatter, but suddenly, he yanked the reins…
“Whoa!”
Amid the crowd, a figure in red stood out, seizing all attention.
Xiao Hanjin’s pupils constricted. Ignoring decorum, he dismounted and ran to her side, gripping her hand tightly.
Ronghua…
His thin lips parted, but the words stuck painfully in his throat, unable to form a single sound.
The woman’s figure paused slightly, slowly turning her head.
Before him, inches away, was Empress Ronghua’s beautiful, radiant face, her delicate features unchanged, the visage he’d longed for in countless midnight dreams yet could never see.
Empress Ronghua…
Xiao Hanjin froze in place, his pupils shrinking even further.
He saw her.
He actually saw her.
For over four years, every image of her last moments buried deep in his heart, every memory of her leaping off the cliff on her birthday, had become an unshakable demon haunting him.
Yet even if it were a nightmare, even if waking brought deeper, lonelier despair, he’d desperately wished to see her just once.
He missed her too much.
But she was too cruel, even in his dreams, she refused to appear.
She must… despise him to this extent.
The man’s eyes darkened as if ink might spill from them, his gaze—brimming with longing and anguish—locked unwaveringly on her face.
His fingertips trembled, his arm rigid for a long moment before lifting slowly, painfully. His thin lips murmured, “Ronghua…”
