"Madam, it’s well past midnight; why aren’t you asleep yet?" The maid attending to Madam Ru fought back her drowsiness, but if Madam Ru didn’t sleep, they wouldn’t dare to either.
"You all go to sleep, I’ll sit for a while longer," she said, gently stroking a sash in her hands.
How could she sleep when her son was right in the next room?
What sort of potion had they fed him to make him act like a fool?
The night wind was strong, blowing open the decrepit window, and a pale silhouette stood by it in the moonlight, staring straight into the room.
A maid shielded the candle flame while another rose to close the window that the wind had blown open.
She screamed in fright upon seeing the person outside.
Startled by the scream, Madam Ru inside and another maid turned their heads, and the sash Madam Ru was holding dropped to the floor.
The two maids, confidants of Madam Ru, quietly exited the room upon seeing the situation.
Jin Ziyuan leaped in from the window and shut it behind him.
"Why are you here?" he asked.
Madam Ru’s shock turned into joy as she replied, "Are you better?"
Jin Ziyuan furrowed his brow; he knew he had been drugged, and when the drug took effect, he even lost his memory.
He didn’t answer her but looked at her intently, awaiting her response.
Madam Ru seemed uncomfortably evasive as she said, "I... I had learned of your father’s whereabouts a few days ago, and I was just about to bring him back."
"Bring him back where?" Jin Ziyuan sneered derisively, "To Jin Mocong’s place? To have your current husband help bury your former one?"
Madam Ru’s face turned ashen, her eyes welling up with tears.
Jin Ziyuan scoffed mercilessly, "Save your tears; they’re worthless to me and only make me despise you more."
"It’s not what you think," Madam Ru said weakly in her defense, "In that situation back then, I had no choice. If I hadn’t done that, we would not have survived."
"But so many women in the Prince Residence would have bravely faced death; why was it just you who feared death so much? Father loved you the most, and yet it was you, the only one who betrayed him."
Hate filled Jin Ziyuan’s eyes, and his words felt like an invisible hand strangling her, leaving her with no room for rebuttal.
"It was you, the noblest woman in the Prince Residence, who was the first to betray us when trouble befell us. Instead, the other women, lowlier than you, even the humble maids, hanged themselves within the Prince Residence to avoid disgrace. But you? To this day you’re still making excuses for your cowardice?"
"No... it’s not what you think; I’m not like them; I couldn’t die, I..."
"Silence," Jin Ziyuan interrupted, "If you had any dignity, you should have hanged yourself right then. But your cowardice led you to offer up to Jin Moning the imperial edict, once treasured by our father as his prized possession. The edict left by our imperial grandfather was the only thing that could have vindicated us, but you traded it for your own glory and riches."
"I had no choice; I couldn’t die! You can’t hate me for that reason..."
"I really want to kill you with one strike!" said Jin Ziyuan, "And how dare you now say you wish to retrieve Father’s remains? Let me tell you, there’s no need; I buried Father with my own hands, and I’m sure he would never wish to see you again."