Smooth Road

Seven days after the "Burning Heart" poison was cured, Xie Wuqi was able to get out of bed and walk slowly. Although his vitality was severely damaged and he needed long-term recuperation, the long-lasting aura of death that had lingered around him for years was gone. Between his brows was a sharp and deep vitality that belonged to him.

The tense atmosphere inside and outside Prince Jing's mansion, which had been tense for nearly two months, finally melted. The Crown Prince's guards withdrew silently, and the wrinkles on Steward Yan's face seemed to smooth out a little. The servants walked with a sense of relief, a sense of relief after surviving a disaster. The mansion, a giant ship that had nearly capsized, finally entered calm waters after the turbulent waves.

While everyone was celebrating and planning for the future, Xu Xianyue remained remarkably quiet. She remained in the west wing of Jinglan Courtyard, spending most of her time in the workshop, as if the life-or-death, exhausting extermination were merely ordinary labor. She hadn't even visited Xie Wuqi once.

It was not until dusk that day that Xie Wuqi dismissed everyone and walked into the West Wing workshop alone.

Inside the workshop, candlelight was just beginning to burn. Xu Xianyue, with her back to the door, was arranging the colorful silk and various tools on the shelves. Her movements were unhurried, like her person, with a sense of detached tranquility. When she heard footsteps, she didn't turn around, but paused slightly.

Xie Wuqi paused at the door, his gaze fixed solemnly on her slender, straight figure. She was wearing only a simple, moon-white dress today, her dark hair loosely tied up with a simple wooden hairpin, a few strands draped down her neck, outlining a graceful yet fragile curve.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked. His voice was a little deeper and hoarse than usual because he had just recovered from an injury, but it was particularly clear in the quiet workshop.

Xu Xianyue then slowly turned around, her face devoid of any surprise, as if she had anticipated his arrival. Her gaze rested calmly on his face, taking in his still pale but spirited complexion, and she nodded slightly, "It seems the prince is alright."

The tone was indifferent, as if greeting an unrelated stranger.

The nameless anger that had been bubbling in Xie Wuqi's heart since the night she broke free from his support now flared up again. He took a few steps forward, closing in on her. His own oppressive aura, tinged with the smell of medicine and a hint of coldness, instantly enveloped the small space.

"I can stand here thanks to you." He stared into her eyes, trying to see some ripples in the calm lake. "Xu Xianyue, what do you want?"

This was the second time he asked her this question. Last time, she replied, "It's up to each of us."

Xu Xianyue met his penetrating gaze without the slightest flinch. She even curled the corners of her lips slightly, her smile light yet carrying a cold, knowing look. "Does Your Highness feel that saving my life requires a generous reward?"

"That's not what I meant!" Xie Wuqi frowned, his tone filled with a hint of anxiety that he himself didn't even notice. "You know..."

"I know nothing." Xu Xianyue interrupted him, her voice still steady, but like a cold chisel, shedding all the ambiguity. "I only know that marrying into the palace was not my original wish. Staying in the palace and helping the prince detoxify was for my own protection, but also to fulfill a deal. Now that the poison has been cured and the crisis is temporarily over, this deal should also end."

Xie Wuqi's pupils suddenly shrank, and the aura around him instantly became dangerous: "End? How do you want to end it?"

Xu Xianyue raised her eyes, her gaze clear and frank, almost cruel: "Prince, let's get a divorce."

Divorce!

Those two words, like thunder, exploded in Xie Wuqi's ears. He almost thought he had misheard! He had never imagined that one day, a woman, especially his princess, would ask for a divorce so calmly and so naturally!

An indescribable rage, mixed with a stinging pain of being offended and belittled, suddenly surged to his head. He took a sudden step forward, almost nose to nose with Xu Xianyue. His tall figure completely enveloped her in shadow. His voice, squeezed through his teeth, carried a chilling chill: "Xu Xianyue, what do you think the Prince Jing's Mansion is? You can come and go as you please?!"

A powerful sense of oppression washed over her. Any ordinary woman would have been paralyzed with fear. However, Xu Xianyue simply tilted her head slightly, her neck curved in a stubborn arc. Her eyes remained unwavering, instead adding a touch of icy clarity and pride.

"Why is Your Highness so angry?" She even chuckled softly, her laughter like the sound of broken ice hitting jade, clear and pleasant, yet devoid of warmth. "To Your Highness, I am nothing more than an unexpectedly useful chess piece, a pill that solved an urgent problem. Now that the chess game is paused and the pills are gone, what benefit does Your Highness gain from keeping me here? Does Your Highness still want to keep a useless piece like me around as an eyesore?"

"You're not a chess piece!" Xie Wuqi growled, his chest heaving violently with excitement, causing a dull pain in his unhealed injuries. However, he ignored it and just stared at her intently, "If it weren't for you, I would have already..."

"If it weren't for me, the prince might have died, or perhaps there would have been other opportunities." Xu Xianyue interrupted him again, her tone calm and almost cruel, "But this has nothing to do with my leaving. Saving you is the path I chose. Leaving is also my choice."

She paused, looking at the storm surging in Xie Wuqi's eyes that was about to swallow him, and said word by word with incomparable clarity: "Xie Wuqi, I don't belong here, I don't belong to Prince Jing's Mansion, and I don't belong to you."

Her gaze was too open, too clear, as if stating an eternal truth. This complete, unconditional rejection, more than any crying or accusation, made Xie Wuqi feel powerless and... panicked.

Yes, panic. He had never felt this way about anything or anyone before. Even when he was poisoned and on the verge of death, he felt only anger and resentment. But now, looking at the woman before him, listening to her calm words about leaving, he actually felt panic.

He suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist. The force was so strong that Xu Xianyue frowned slightly, but she did not struggle. She just looked at him quietly with her icy eyes.

"Xu Xianyue," he said in a hoarse voice, with a tone that even he himself had never heard before, almost a pleading tone, "stay."

Xu Xianyue looked at the powerful man in front of her, who was now showing a vulnerable side, without much emotion. She just shook her head lightly, a small movement that carried a tremendous force.

"Your Highness, there's no point in trying to keep me here." She tried to pull her hand back, but he held it tighter.

"What if I... don't allow you to leave?" The last bit of rationality in Xie Wuqi's eyes seemed to be burned out, and the unquestionable desire for control that belonged to Prince Jing rose again.

Xu Xianyue finally sighed. The sigh was very light, but like a feather, it gently scratched Xie Wuqi's heart, bringing a fine and sharp pain.

"Your Highness," she looked at him, and for the first time, her eyes showed an emotion close to pity, "You can't keep me."

She raised her free hand and gently pointed to her heart, then to the patch of sky outside the window, cut off by a high wall. "Here, and there, are where I should be. The prince's battlefield is in the court and on the frontier. My world lies within the threads and rhythms of that small space. We are not meant to be together."

"What if I insist on asking?" Xie Wuqi looked at her stubbornly, like a trapped beast that refused to give up its prey.

Xu Xianyue met his gaze and suddenly asked an unrelated question: "Your Majesty, if the exorcism fails that day and I die, what will you do?"

Xie Wuqi suddenly froze.

Xu Xianyue didn't need his answer and continued to speak, his tone as calm as if he was discussing the weather: "Perhaps you will regret losing a useful chess piece, perhaps feel guilty for a moment, and then, continue to be your Prince Jing. In this world, no matter who is missing, the sun and the moon will rise as usual."

She looked at his suddenly shrinking pupils and continued, "Similarly, if I stay, for His Majesty, it will just mean that there's another somewhat interesting woman in the backyard. But for me, it's like having my wings broken, trapped to death in this golden cage. Your Majesty, look..."

She exerted a little force, and this time, she easily broke free from his grip. She raised her wrist, which had been tightly grasped by him, and a clear red mark was left on her fair skin.

"You can't even control your own strength, so how can you promise me a future without constraints?"

Her words, like an ice-hardened dagger, precisely sliced ​​through all the glitz and glamour, getting to the heart of the matter. The disparity in status, the divergence in ambition, and his deep-seated, superior desire for control... all stood as a chasm between them.

Xie Wuqi stared blankly at the red mark on her wrist, then looked up at her cold and resolute face. All the surging emotions, like a punctured balloon, were instantly deflated, leaving only a huge, unprecedented emptiness and powerlessness.

She sees too clearly and is too clear-headed.

She doesn't want wealth and glory, she doesn't want the title of princess, and she doesn't even want him.

She just wants freedom.

Xu Xianyue rubbed his wrist gently, took a step back, and widened the distance between them again, as if the fierce confrontation just now had never happened.

"The prince's injuries have not healed yet and he needs to rest. Xianyue will take his leave."

She bent her knees slightly, gave an impeccable salute, then turned and walked deeper into the workshop, picking up another roll of unused silk and lowering her head to sort it out. The candlelight cast a soft halo around her, but it couldn't illuminate the silent ice in her eyes.

Xie Wuqi stood there, looking at her slender and straight back, as if she had merged with this workshop and those silk thread tools, creating a world of her own that he could never reach.

He opened his mouth, but found that his throat seemed to be blocked by something and he couldn't say a word.

He couldn't keep her.

Just like he couldn't catch the quicksand between his fingers, or hold the moonlight in the sky.

For the first time, he experienced complete defeat in front of a woman.

He didn't lose because of power or strategy, but because of her soul, which was tougher and freer than the sword in his hand.

Xie Wuqi said nothing in the end. He looked at her deeply for the last time, turned around, and left the workshop with a staggering step.

Outside the door, the night is all around.

He looked up at the sky above Prince Jing's Mansion, which was cut off by high walls. For the first time, he felt that this cage that had trapped him and protected him for many years was so... suffocating.

Inside the workshop, Xu Xianyue listened to the distant and slightly heavy footsteps, and her fingertips, which were arranging the silk threads, paused for an almost imperceptible moment.

Then, everything returned to normal.

She picked up the now-dead, dark-red datura flower, walked to the window, and prepared to throw it into the incinerator.

Just before the fire started, she looked at the twisted petals and whispered to herself, just as calmly as when she came:

"Xie Wuqi, goodbye."

Maybe, never see you again.

The moonlight flows like water, quietly over the eaves of Jinglan Courtyard, and also flows over two souls going in opposite directions.

The road ahead is unknown and the smooth journey is still far away.