Shen Yunjiao's expression hardened, and she reached out to pull off Xiao Huaijin's clothes.

By the dim candlelight, Shen Yunjiao saw that the snow-white satin inner garment was stained with mottled bloodstains.

"Yun Jiao, I'm fine," Xiao Huaijin said in a hoarse voice.

Shen Yunjiao ignored him and instead unbuttoned her inner garment, revealing a thick layer of gauze wrapped around it.

It was obvious that the owner of this body didn't care about the wounds on his body at all; the gauze had already been soaked with blood, and it looked extremely horrifying.

Xiao Huaijin was unaware that the wound on his chest was still bleeding, and blinked blankly for a moment.

Shen Yunjiao's heart ached. If she had known Xiao Huaijin was injured, she wouldn't have pushed him so hard.

The knife wound in his abdomen took a long time to heal, and now, he has a wound in his chest as well, with bruises all over his chest and above.

Shen Yunjiao remained silent, her thin lips pressed into a straight line. After a long while, she finally said, "Lie down on the bed, I'll take a look at you."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Huaijin was initially overjoyed, but then he remembered what Shen Yunjiao had just said to him, and immediately said with a stiff face, "I don't want it. You don't want me anymore, so why do you care whether I live or die?"

Shen Yunjiao was so angry she almost laughed. She wanted to push Xiao Huaijin away, but then she remembered that he was injured, so she could only stomp on his foot angrily: "Then go, go back to your Feihua Palace."

Xiao Huaijin held Shen Yunjiao tightly and patted her back gently, saying, "Don't be angry, it'll hurt your health."

Shen Yunjiao: "..."

Xiao Huaijin leaned close to her ear and said, "Don't worry, I won't marry Luo Lan, nor will I marry anyone else. The only person I want to marry is you."

"Could you please stop pushing me away?"

Shen Yunjiao's mind was in turmoil, but Xiao Huaijin kept showering her with sweet words.

She was also worried about his chest injury, and after weighing the options carefully, she could only frown and say, "If you sit there obediently and let me treat you, I won't send you away."

As soon as the words were spoken, Xiao Huaijin immediately became obedient. He lowered his eyelids, straightened his body, and said gently, "Let's go to bed."

Shen Yunjiao glanced at him and noticed that there was no ambiguous expression on his face when he said this.

She gave a slight smile. "Sit down first. I'll go get someone to fetch water. Don't make a sound."

Xiao Huaijin sat quietly on the bed. Through the screen and beaded curtain, no one outside could see the furnishings inside the room, so he sat openly on the bed without fear of being discovered.

Shen Yunjiao brought a basin of warm water into the room, and then took out a small jade bottle, a roll of white gauze and a pair of silver scissors from a hidden compartment under the bed.

The room was stuffy and hot, so Shen Yunjiao had the windows opened early in the morning and placed ice blocks inside. The three-legged jade incense burner inside was filled with floral and fruity incense, which was dispersed by the wind, and the room was immediately filled with a faint, cool fragrance.

As Xiao Huaijin smelled the fragrance and listened to the rustling of leaves in the courtyard in the evening breeze, his heart gradually calmed down.

Sure enough, as long as he was with Shen Yunjiao, his headache would be cured immediately.

Just as Xiao Huaijin was carefully tracing Shen Yunjiao's delicate features with his eyes, Shen Yunjiao had already skillfully changed and bandaged her wound. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at Xiao Huaijin: "Weren't you busy receiving the Northern Hu delegation these past few days? How did you get such a serious injury?"

The peach-colored bed curtains made Xiao Huaijin's originally pale face appear slightly red, and he looked very peaceful. He said in a low voice, "Yesterday, when I went to Yelü Qi's inn, I encountered a group of assassins."

He spoke casually, but Shen Yunjiao knew that the scene must have been extremely thrilling.

She just couldn't understand why Xiao Huaijin, despite being the crown prince, was always being plotted against.

Shen Yunjiao couldn't recall any details about the political intrigue in the book she had been reading.

I guess I was so eager to see the "wife-chasing-after-the-cremation" scene that I overlooked the descriptions of the crown prince's ascension to the throne in the novel.

Seeing her lost in thought, Xiao Huaijin's eyes flickered slightly. He casually asked, "What? Are you asking if Yelü Qi is injured?"

Yelü Qi?

Shen Yunjiao was stunned for a moment, trying to discern the intention behind Xiao Huaijin's question from his face.

Unexpectedly, he grabbed Shen Yunjiao's wrist, pushed her down onto the bed, and said coldly, "When you're with me, you're not allowed to think about other men."

Shen Yunjiao was suddenly slammed onto the bed by Xiao Huaijin, and the back of her head throbbed slightly. She frowned and whispered to Xiao Huaijin, "Keep your voice down, Fuxia and the others aren't asleep yet."

“Yelü Qi is dissolute by nature. I saw him frolicking with other women yesterday.” Xiao Huaijin said to himself. Shen Yunjiao was afraid that he would support himself on one side of her body and his wound would reopen, so she quickly said, “I know he is dissolute. Get up first.”

"You knew he was like this, yet you still hugged and cuddled him?"

"Where did I get entangled with him? He was the one blocking my way and not letting me leave. I originally wanted to use the poisoned needle to prick him, but I didn't expect him to be so skilled in martial arts that he defeated me instantly. Your Highness, why don't you use your brain? Even if I were bold, I wouldn't hug and kiss someone in broad daylight. Do you think I have no shame?" Shen Yunjiao replied irritably, her temple throbbing with pain.

Sometimes, when Xiao Huaijin gets really stubborn, he can be as unreasonable as a three-year-old.

A brief, deathly silence fell over the room.

Xiao Huaijin silently buried his face in Shen Yunjiao's neck, "You are mine, mine alone..." His voice had lost its previous coldness and hardness, and instead carried a hint of suppressed grievance.

He gave his heart to Shen Yunjiao, hoping that she would reciprocate with the same devotion, while simultaneously fearing being hurt and suffering a tragic end.

Shen Yunjiao understood the affection in those words and was momentarily at a loss for words.

Xiao Huaijin released Shen Yunjiao's wrist, sat up straight again, and after a long while asked in a low voice, "If you had saved Yelü Qi instead of me, would you have been so good to him?"

Why is it Yelü Qi again?

Shen Yunjiao felt utterly powerless; she only now realized that Xiao Huaijin was truly a jealous man.

If this continues, he'll probably ask even more outrageous questions.

Shen Yunjiao rubbed her temples and decided to remain silent.

In Xiao Huaijin's view, this silence was tantamount to escapism, and he immediately became displeased: "Are you afraid to answer?"

As he spoke, he grabbed her leg and said with a stern face, "Would you really be good to him too?"

Shen Yunjiao was startled by the tug, and Xiao Huaijin pressed down on her, relentlessly saying, "Do you know that in terms of martial arts, looks, and family background, he is inferior to me in every way?"

As he pressed down, most of his hair slid down his back, its cool strands tickling Shen Yunjiao's cheeks.

Looking up at him from below, Shen Yunjiao found a captivating beauty in his disheveled appearance. She couldn't resist reaching out, gathering his long hair behind his back, her fingers inadvertently brushing against his earlobe.