"Your Highness!" the palace servants cried out urgently.
The little eunuch lay sprawled by the bed, his eyes wide open, the light in them vanishing in an instant.
Yun Zhuo sat on the bed, gripping a dagger tightly. His face was stained with bloodstains, making his face appear even paler, giving him an indescribable eeriness and bewitching charm.
The palace servants' fingertips were as cold as iron, and their blood seemed to rush to their wildly beating hearts.
"It's good that Your Highness is alright!" Someone reacted quickly and knelt down with a thud: "This servant will go and inform the Emperor right away that Your Highness has woken up!"
"You all want to kill me, but I won't let you have your way. No one here will leave."
Yun Zhuo's voice was like a poisoned blade. Before the palace servants could react, he had already charged forward with a blood-stained dagger in hand, as if the King of Hell himself had descended upon them.
A palace servant collapsed to the ground, his legs weak and unable to stand. He could only desperately shuffle backward, crying out, "Your Highness, this servant didn't mean to kill you! That person... that person is a spy! This servant was just trying to save you..."
Yun Zhuo stabbed with his dagger, and the other person bled profusely and collapsed to the ground, it was unclear whether he had fainted or was already dead.
The other palace servants were terrified at the sight and stumbled as they fled. Zhuang Xin and the others in the side hall were awakened from their slumber by the commotion.
Upon exiting the courtyard, one would see Yun Zhuo, his white robes stained with blood, the dagger in his hand still dripping blood, his eyes bloodshot, his entire being appearing deranged, as if he intended to kill everyone with his dagger!
"What happened? Your Highness was perfectly fine, why did you suddenly become like this?" Zhuang Xin asked, stepping forward to protect the two palace servants.
The palace servant stammered, her voice trembling with tears, "This servant didn't know! A spy took advantage of His Highness's sleep... to try to assassinate His Highness. When His Highness woke up, he killed the spy and then assumed... assumed we were spies too, so he wanted to get rid of us!"
Yun Zhuo was about to attack again when Zhuang Xin rushed to block him, shouting in a deep voice, "Your Highness!"
They tried to restore Yun Zhuo's senses, but to no avail.
Yun Zhuo continued his attack, so Zhuang Xin had no choice but to shout to his companions, "Knock His Highness unconscious!"
Yun Zhuo was knocked unconscious.
Not long after, the emperor arrived at the East Palace with his men, accompanied by skilled warriors such as Cui Shao, who were there to protect his safety at all times.
The imperial physician took Yun Zhuo's pulse, even lifting his eyelids to check his condition, before kneeling before the emperor.
"Your Majesty, His Highness is alright. It seems that he suffered too much during his time on the run, and too many people wanted to kill him. He just woke up and was then assassinated, which made him mistakenly believe that this place was not safe enough, which is why he acted so frantically."
"He was just trying to protect himself. As long as His Highness feels safe and that no one dares to assassinate him again, the situation just now should not happen again."
Other imperial physicians reported: "Your Majesty, apart from the person who assassinated His Highness who is dead, the remaining palace servants have only suffered minor injuries and are not in life-threatening condition."
The emperor frowned deeply, and upon hearing this, he sighed deeply: "He has indeed suffered during this time."
Kneeling to one side, Zhuang Xin said, "Your Majesty, His Highness barely escaped death to return to the palace to see you. Even so, when he was being assassinated and thought he was in grave danger, he still did not kill all the palace servants. This shows that he was always kind at heart."
The emperor said in a deep voice, "Investigate thoroughly! Who sent this assassin? How dare they attempt to murder the Crown Prince right under my nose!"
The eldest prince.
Everyone present silently memorized this name.
Cui Shao agreed: "This subordinate will immediately send someone to investigate!"
The emperor then asked the imperial physician, "When will the eldest prince be able to wake up again?"
The imperial physician said, "This humble servant can administer acupuncture to the Crown Prince. Since he has already woken up once, it shouldn't be too difficult for him to wake up again."
The emperor nodded slightly, and the imperial physician began to administer acupuncture to Yun Zhuo. Not long after, Yun Zhuo regained consciousness.
He looked around for a long time before finally realizing where he was. He propped himself up from the bed and knelt before the emperor.
"Yun Zhuo greets Your Majesty."
He did not refer to himself as "your subject" nor did he address the emperor as "father emperor."
The emperor was silent for a moment, then said, "Your past crimes were likely framed. I have already sent people to investigate. If the situation is true, you will still be my son!"
He added, "I am aware of your actions in protecting the villagers of Taoxi Village. You have done well and are worthy of being a prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty."
"Stay in the East Palace until the truth is revealed, and don't go anywhere else."
Yun Zhuo said, "...Yes."
The emperor choked up, thinking that after Yun Zhuo woke up, he would have a lot to say to him, at least some rebuttals, or a cry of injustice. But Yun Zhuo said so little.
The emperor asked, "Don't you have anything to say to me?"
Yun Zhuo said, "Yun Zhuo deeply regrets escaping the palace on the night of the Lantern Festival."
"During this time, Yun Zhuo often thought that if he hadn't run away that night, the Eastern Palace wouldn't have been stained with blood, and no innocent people would have been killed because of Yun Zhuo."
"No one would use the name of the deposed crown prince to kidnap Princess Rongqing and twice try to slaughter the people of Qingfeng Town and Taoxi Village!"
"Yun Zhuo is innocent, but they were all implicated because of him. Yun Zhuo is guilty! But at that time, Yun Zhuo had never experienced such a thing. He was only filled with resentment and unwilling to be falsely accused..."
“It is Yun Zhuo’s duty to protect the people of Taoxi Village with his life. If they are all slaughtered, Yun Zhuo will be guilty of a thousand deaths!”
"Fortunately, His Majesty is wise and powerful, and has keen insight, which saved so many people at the critical moment!"
The emperor fell silent, his gaze fixed intently on Yun Zhuo, who was kneeling before him and had not raised his head.
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