Luo Wei approached Long Xuan slowly, step by step. Has this person ever waited for him in the past life? And even right now, as he closed in on Long Xuan, step by step, his heart was screaming at him to leave. He didn't want to be alone with Long Xuan.

But as Luo Wei finally got close to him, Long Xuan opened with a question, “Do you want me to die?”

“How could I, your humble servant, dare to harbour such thoughts?” Luo Wei quickly put on a fearful affect, “Your Imperial Highness is a prince, exalted in status, I am merely a servant. These words from Your Imperial Highness is cause for execution for someone like me.”

“You? Afraid of me?” Long Xuan responded, “No one's afraid of me now. You're a confidante of the emperor, why are you still pretending to be weak?”

“Your Imperial Highness…”

“I only want to leave. I wish for nothing else beyond that. Can I not even have that?”

“I don't understand the second prince's words,” Luo Wei didn't believe that this was what Long Xuan believed at all. As long as Long Xuan wasn't dead, the throne will always be his ultimate goal, “The second prince will be an imperial Grand Prince in days to come, where else would he want to go?”

Long Xuan answered, “The south. Don't you want me to be as far away from here as possible?”

Luo Wei lifted his brows, as if exasperated, “So long as His Imperial Majesty says yes, who would dare stop you from going south? Grand Scholar Zhou?”

Long Xuan looked at the snowscape beyond the gallery hall, and laughed, self-deprecating, “If I could go, what else would you do? Are you just going to leave the Qi Lin Shadow Guards there and not use them? Luo Wei, the crown prince is honourable and forthright, I'm not as good as he is, but do you really think he would make a good emperor?”

“Is the second prince not afraid that I might report this conversation to His Imperial Majesty?” Luo Wei's expression didn't change, but he was shocked inside. Long Xuan dares to say this aloud in front of him, this was treason.

“No, I'm not,” Long Xuan answered, “A few words won't kill me, you won't do something as useless as that.”

“The wind was so loud just now, I really couldn't quite hear what the second prince was saying,” Luo Wei tightened the drawstring on his cape. It's only been a few moments in the hall of this exposed gallery and he already couldn't stand the cold, “Grand Scholar Zhou said that there are many vagrants and refugees in the south. If the second prince were to go, is he there for charity to sway the heart of the populace? It seems that the crown prince isn't the only one with an honourable and forthright heart, the second prince seems to have it as well.”

Long Xuan's true intentions have been read loud and clear by Luo Wei, but he only pulled the corner of his mouth as a response, “Just as you said, Luo Wei, if worse comes to worst, I'd still be a Grand Prince in the future, but what about you? Why are you spending so much energy on this? Are you planning to take over your father's role?”

“No,” It was only with Long Xuan's question that Luo Wei had even begun to think about what he would do after everyone was safe. In a pa.s.sing thought, Wei Lan appeared in his mind. If possible, he would be happy to go traveling with Wei Lan, see the sights of the nation of Greater Zhou. At this thought, Luo Wei revealed a small smile. What wonderful days those would be.

Long Xuan was transfixed by the sudden smile on Luo Wei's face. How long has it been since he'd seen this person smile, for real? It felt like forever ago, “You,” Long Xuan wanted to ask, second guessing the smile, but suddenly realized that this person's smile couldn't possibly be for him. The rest of his question died on his tongue.

“If the second prince needs nothing else from me, this humble servant shall take his leave,” Bringing himself back to reality, Luo Wei cooled his expression again to ask Long Xuan for a chance to exit.

“Well, in any case, you should be careful,” Long Xuan didn't want to have Luo Wei linger any longer, so he ended with that. If he didn't want to fight for the throne, there'll naturally be others who would. How long could you really protect the crown prince, Luo Wei?

Luo Wei was about to leave when he heard this little reminder from Long Xuan. Caught off guard, he turned his head to look at Long Xuan one last time. Did he actually mean it? But thinking for a moment, Luo Wei realized that Long Xuan could only stand behind Long Yu at the moment, and let Long Yu protect him for the time being. If something happened to Long Yu, then Long Xuan's life would become exponentially harder. With this thought, Luo Wei made a gesture of respect at Long Xuan, and turned to leave.

“Big brother,” Just at this moment, Long Xiang arrived, having searched for Long Xuan. He saw Long Xuan and Luo Wei talking from a distance, and was afraid that they were going to argue, so he picked up his pace and jogged over.

“Xiao Wei,” Long Xiang arrived before his older brother and Luo Wei, and addressed Luo Wei in the way he was used to, quietly, with Luo Wei's nickname.

“Fifth prince,” Luo Wei made a gesture of respect to Long Xiang as well, but was determined to leave.

But Long Xiang asked, “How are you doing?”

“Much better,” Luo Wei answered, “Thank you for caring, Your Imperial Highness.”

“Did you know?” Long Xiang continued, “My uncle's last words were ‘Luo Wei killed me', do you still insist that he's lying?”

“The one who issued the edict to exterminate his family was His Imperial Majesty,” Luo Wei didn't expect that after almost a year, Long Xiang was still bent on this question, “Fifth prince, do you believe that the father and son duo of the Liu family shouldn't have died?”

Long Xiang's expression was one of anguish. Naturally they should have been executed, but he couldn't just forget his childhood, how he'd played cute in front of his uncle, Liu Shuang s.h.i.+, he couldn't just forget how that man taught him how to take his first steps while crouched in the courtyard of the Hall of the Blossoming Beauty. So many memories that had already gone blurry and rough at the edges had been suddenly brought into sharp relief because of that man's death. For someone like Long Xiang, Liu Shuang s.h.i.+ was less of an uncle, and more of a father figure. He just couldn't hate someone like that.

“I pray the fifth prince to think upon those who died by Liu Shuang s.h.i.+'s hands,” Luo Wei only felt disgust when he thought of the man, and his words were equally lacking in sentiment, “Who in this world doesn't have family? Your Imperial Highness may mourn your uncle, but are you the only person who's in mourning in this world? I caused his death? He didn't repent even on his deathbed. Did I force him to go and form that treasonous alliance with Northern Yan?”

“Wei…”

“Xiang, if you have to ask yourself something, don't ask who his killer is, ask who he committed treason for! Ask who forced his hand and led him to the gallows!”

Long Xiang looked at Long Xuan. Luo Wei's question wasn't difficult, but he hadn't wanted to think about it.

As the three of them stood frozen, Long Xuan's concubine, Madam Xu arrived with two of her maids.

Luo Wei looked at her large belly. So this woman was already pregnant, and Long Xuan's first son was about to be born.

“Why are you here?” Long Xuan asked, his face obviously devoid of any real care or concern.

“Your humble concubine is here to pay the imperial mother a visit,” Madam Xu said, carefully. Her father Xu Huo had committed suicide in front of the battle lines, and her five older brothers had all been executed outside of the gates. The Xu clan in Shang Zheng has already fallen into ruin, and this lady, the daughter of the erstwhile marquis, still didn't date to show an ounce of sadness in front of Long Xuan.

“Your humble servant shall take his leave,” Luo Wei excused himself. The two little eunuchs were standing guard by the litter. Luo Wei seated himself, and went directly to the Hall of Eternal Light.

“You should go,” Long Xuan said to Madam Xu, “Have a good chat with imperial mother.”

Madam Xu murmured an agreement of some sorts, and left for the Hall of the Gracious Phoenix.

Long Xuan didn't want to stick around for too long either, so he turned to leave, but a few steps later he realized that Long Xiang was still standing there, “What are you doing?” He turned back and asked.

“Big brother,” Long Xiang said to Long Xuan, “Everyone in the world can say that our uncle got what he deserved, but you can't.”

“You think it's my fault?” Long Xuan asked.

Long Xiang ground his teeth. He didn't want for much in this world. As a child he'd always only liked to practice martial arts. He didn't understand Long Xuan. They were already princes, showered with fortune and riches, what else could they still want? Their father was the emperor of all under heaven, but how many happy days has he ever had in his life? Why didn't this intelligent older brother of his understand? Should he hate Luo Wei directly, or hate this older brother of his?

Long Xuan smiled bitterly, “Luo Wei is really something. He only said a few words and now you hate me too.”

“This has nothing to do with Luo Wei,” Long Xuan said, his voice quiet, “What do we still have left now? Xi Yuan's Liu family is all but gone. Even though our consort mother is in this very palace, we can't see her. And our imperial grandmother has been hidden away too. Big brother, what do we still have left?”

Long Xuan lowered his head, silent. He has never laid the turning gears inside his mind out for Long Xuan to see, but he especially can't do it now. Lost everything? Not exactly. At least he was still an imperial prince of Greater Zhou. He hasn't been imprisoned. Long Yu still saw him as a brother. He, Long Xuan, still had a chance to ama.s.s power.

When Long Xuan didn't answer him for a long time, Long Xiang swallowed his anger and stomped his foot, then ran off.

Long Xuan pushed his fist lightly against one of the columns in the gallery hall, and tidied up the mixed up emotions inside. He wanted to leave the palace for a walk, not for anything else, just to relax.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTES:
Hi guys! Sorry for the lack of translator's notes recently. : ) I always like to talk to you guys a little, but a lot has been going on in my life. I have to travel a lot for my new job, and when I'm working I'm usually going from one place to the next, so updates have been slow. Thank you all for your patience and thank you for keeping up with this novel! <>