Princess, she is the one who facilitated the extradition.

The Crown Prince endured another grueling night.

The Empress had originally agreed to accompany him, but the Emperor's metaphor of half a dragon made her say that the Crown Prince was fearless.

Since there was no fear and the crown prince was not seriously ill, and given the strict separation of men and women, the empress could not stay overnight in her adult son's palace.

As soon as the Empress left, the Crown Prince used the excuse of eye discomfort to cover his eyes with black satin.

But these ghosts can make sounds, and when those sounds reach his ears, all sorts of terrifying scenes he saw during the day appear in his mind, especially those filthy things.

The crown prince wished he could just faint right then and there.

He even considered having the palace servants give him some sleeping potion, but he was afraid the emperor would find out.

All I can do is endure it.

The Empress felt sorry for her son and came over early in the morning. Strangely enough, as soon as she arrived, the spirits of the dead fled.

The Crown Prince quickly caught up on his sleep, but the Empress, who managed all affairs of the harem and had to deal with the daily greetings of the concubines, could not stay for long.

After the prince fell asleep, he had someone light some calming incense and then left.

The calming incense failed to soothe the prince. Not long after she left, a mournful and eerie cry once again startled him awake.

Looking at the female ghost hanging on the white silk and the eunuch crawling out from the crack in the wall, the prince was on the verge of collapse. Suddenly, he remembered that Aye Niang could not see the sun.

He turned and ran out the door. The sun was rising, its rays shining on him, and everything before him was clean.

"Bring over a deck chair."

He dared not go inside the house again.

He curled up in the chair, basking in the sunlight. He was sleepy and tired, and wanted to take the opportunity to get a good night's sleep.

Having replenished his energy, he still needed to go and see his father, the emperor, so that his father wouldn't think he wasn't the true heir to the throne.

He didn't know how long he had been asleep when he suddenly heard cries for help, "Brother, brother, save me..."

"Zhuzhu'er?"

He opened his eyes in confusion; the voice belonged to Zhuzhu'er.

Is Pearl back?

He sat up and saw the palace servants standing quietly beside him, showing no signs of anything amiss.

But the voice continued, even with a sob, "Brother, it hurts so much, they gouged out Zhuzhu's eyes and pulled out Zhuzhu's spine."

"It hurts so much, brother! Zhuzhu'er's limbs are nailed to the coffin, and they're going to peel off Zhuzhu'er's face! Brother, save Zhuzhu'er..."

"Did you hear anything?"

He asked the eunuch beside him.

The palace servant shook his head. "Your Highness, there is no sound. Please rest assured."

His actions over the past two days have made his close attendants vaguely understand what's going on.

The prince's ability to see ghosts was activated, and he was possessed by evil spirits.

Fearing that he might be bewitched by evil spirits, the palace servants tacitly moved closer to him so that they could stop him if he wandered off.

He tried to persuade her, saying, "The princess's return to court is a major event. If she were to return, His Majesty would have informed you long ago..."

"My mother was afraid that my secret of going to war in place of my brother would be exposed, so she drugged me on my way to Nanyao."

Baozhu's voice rang out again, mentioning such a secret matter as going to war.

The crown prince quickly raised his hand to interrupt the palace servant.

Knowing the secret, and hearing his sister's voice, coupled with the fact that he had only seen and heard ghosts these past two days, he was deeply troubled.

Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he panicked. "Zhuzhu, where are you?"

"I don't know where this is either. My brother went to ask Mother, and she found out."

Brother, I am in so much pain every day. Mother is torturing and harming me. Please save me...

The cries for help were filled with sorrow and despair. The prince got up and took a few steps.

"Your Highness, you mustn't!"

The palace attendants stopped him, saying, "Whatever Your Highness hears or sees is not true."

Outside the door, Bai Yunshu glanced at Gui Yao, who was shouting from behind a tree, and whispered to Mi Po, "Weren't you here to scare the Crown Prince?"

That's not enough to scare you.

Mi Po sighed softly, "In the end, she is still kind."

The princess is giving the crown prince a chance.

If the Crown Prince hears his sister's words and leaves the courtyard, it means he still cares about their sibling relationship; otherwise, the princess will not need to be so polite in the future.

On her way here, Bai Yunshu heard from Mi Po about Gui Yao's true identity and understood what she meant by this.

She whispered, "I hope the Crown Prince will come out."

The hurt from loved ones is excruciating; the less hurt there is, the better the girl will feel.

Gui Yao's cries continued, filling the Crown Prince with both fear and distress. He snapped at the palace servants, "Get out of the way!"

"Your Highness, it may be a wandering spirit bewitching you and bringing you harm."

The palace maids continued to persuade them.

Princess Baozhu was perfectly fine in Nanyao, so why is she here? There's clearly something strange going on.

If anything happens to His Highness, they will all lose their lives.

But now the Crown Prince knows that ghosts truly exist in this world, and he also remembers that when he sent his sister to Nanyao, his mother secretly followed them...

but.

He glanced outside the courtyard, not ruling out the possibility that an evil spirit was disguised as Zhuzhu'er's voice, trying to harm him.

The thought of this possibility filled the prince with fear. He did not want to die, much less die at the hands of those filthy ghosts.

But the sound of her sister's crying still echoed in her ears. If what she said was true, how much suffering had Zhuzhu endured?

His sister, who always took care of him and risked her life for him, was so healthy and brave that even he was a little jealous of her. If she were really harmed like that, could he really leave her alone?

The crown prince closed his eyes.

"Why aren't you out yet?"

Bai Yunshu stared intently at the courtyard gate; she didn't want the princess to be disappointed.

Gui Yao, standing on the tree, could clearly see the Crown Prince standing there, looking conflicted.

This internal struggle lasted for a long time. Finally, she lowered her eyes slightly and uttered her last words, "Brother, save me..."

She pursed her lips, about to transform into a terrifying form to frighten the Crown Prince, when the Crown Prince appeared.

He gritted his teeth and hurried toward the Phoenix Palace.

A group of palace servants followed behind, whispering words of advice.

Mi Po looked at Gui Yao, "Princess, please wait here. We'll go and check on her for you."

The palace is heavily guarded, and Gui Yao would need to expend a lot of spiritual energy to hide himself without being discovered.

Mi Po was even more worried that the Queen would say something cruel.

She harmed her own daughter, and when questioned by her son, she had no choice but to say things about her daughter's faults to persuade him.

Gui Yao saw the reluctance in her eyes and nodded, "Thank you for your trouble."

But after the two ghosts left, she secretly followed them.

When the Crown Prince arrived at Fengyi Palace, some concubines had not yet left. Upon seeing him, they all asked him how his eyes were.

The crown prince did not attend court, and the empress claimed that he had an eye ailment.

When the Empress saw her son arrive suddenly, she knew something must have happened. She had no time to care about anything else and quickly dismissed the women.

"Everyone, get out."

The Crown Prince gave these instructions.

The Empress waved her hand, signaling the palace servants to leave, and asked her son with concern, "What happened?"

"Mother, Zhuzhu is dead."

The Crown Prince looked at the Empress, trying to glean something from her face.

"Dead?"

The letter from the Southern Yao court agreeing to the princess's return to the capital has not yet arrived, so why has the plan been brought forward?

Could it be that something happened to Nan Yao that caused her to fake her death and escape?

Her face showed only surprise and confusion. The Crown Prince's heart sank. "My sister is dead. Isn't Mother sad?"

The Queen realized what was happening. "That's impossible! Where did you get that information?"

"Three years ago, the Empress Dowager asked me to personally escort my sister. We had just reached the next city when you appeared. You said you couldn't bear to part with your sister and wanted to see her one last time. But when we returned to the palace, you said you were ill. I had no choice but to escort you back to the palace, leaving my sister to go to Nanyao alone."

The crown prince clenched his fists tightly. "Mother, did you send your son away to drug my sister?"

The Empress avoided eye contact. "Who told you that nonsense? It's not true."

But her panic did not escape the Crown Prince's notice, and his heart sank to the bottom. "Zhuzhu told me herself, her ghost told me herself."

The crown prince was somewhat distraught. He knew his mother well; her reaction clearly showed that she felt guilty.

"Mother, she is my younger sister who has been with me since childhood, and she is your own daughter. How could you gouge out her eyes, pull out her bones, break her limbs, and peel off her face?"

I was jealous of her, and I feared her, but I only wanted to send her to Nanyao as a hostage, to remove her from the center of power before I consolidated my rule. I never intended to take her life. How could you be so cruel to her?