Having gotten a room, Qiu Ling simply leaned back. Anyway, the Heavenly Emperor wouldn’t show him a good face so it was alright to simply wait here until the Heavenly Empress or the God of War arrived. After that, he could come out again and try to bridge the gap.

Qiu Ling wouldn’t have to wait for too long. At this time, Bai Fen had already packed a few things. Contrary to him, she could leave her husband’s palace at any time without causing issues so it wasn’t like she needed to be all that well prepared. Thus, she only grabbed a few robes and the tea she liked before leaving her palace again.

Walking toward her husband’s palace, she finally stopped in the middle of the street, turning to the east. Sighing faintly, she made a turn and first went to her son’s palace. She knew there was nothing to see there and yet, she couldn’t help herself. Right now, this was the only place where she could feel closer to her son.

Stepping into the building and walking past the screen, she stopped again, simply looking around.

Nothing seemed to have changed. There had never been many people around Jing He. At most, there were the guards in front of the door and even when it came to those, there was only a small team that regularly switched shifts, with Mu Kun and Huang Lan being the two who were most often on duty.

It really couldn’t be called surprising to step into the palace and not see another soul. If Jing He was in the garden or behind the screen to take a bath, who else was supposed to be there? It was a pity that she knew exactly that neither of these two was the case. Her son wasn’t there and he wouldn’t be for a long time, maybe never.

Bai Fen took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled before finally stepping further into the palace. She walked around the main room before stepping into the study. There was still a book lying on the table. She picked it up and leafed through it, wondering what her son had been up to before he fell.

It was a travel journal, apparently written by an ascended deity long ago. What it detailed were mostly places in the mortal realm but there were also parts dedicated to their time after their ascension. They seemed to have visited many cities in the Nine Heavens and regularly compared the landscape to that seen in the mortal realm. Toward the end, they had gone to the Southern Heaven and come into contact with the people of the dragon realm living close by.

Bai Fen sighed and closed the book, putting it back on the desk. He had likely read that journal during the three weeks his father tried to keep him away from Qiu Ling. As for the reason … it should be his longing for the outside world. Since he couldn’t fulfill it in his own life, he lived vicariously through the experiences of another.

She could imagine Jing He’s expression as he read about all those places. She could also imagine what went through his mind: He likely thought of going there himself and doing so together with Qiu Ling one day in the future.

Clearly, the dragon king had seen much more of the world than he had. Going with him would allow for his protection, offer a new perspective, and also bring the two of them closer together. How could Jing He not long for that opportunity?

Even though he had come of age nearly two decades ago, he had never left the capital city. The furthest he had ever gone was the outskirts and even that was only thanks to Qiu Ling taking the initiative to bring him there. If not for that, he might never have traveled that ‘far’. His father sure wouldn’t encourage it.

Bai Fen furrowed her brows, left the study behind, and instead went to the door leading to the garden. She stopped on the threshold, looking out at the garden that had only been partially restored so far.

Her child … no matter how she looked at it, he had been deprived of a lot of things. Much had been due to the danger his identity brought with it. But then, why hadn’t things changed after he came of age? As soon as the curse didn’t apply to him any longer, they should have tried to make up for it all. They should have taken him out of the city, let him explore the world, and have all those experiences he hadn’t been able to have so far.

They hadn’t done that though. No, nothing had changed in the seven years since that day. Only when Jing He met Qiu Ling at her husband’s banquet did his life take another direction. The few interesting experiences he had had definitely weren’t thanks to his father or even her. No, they were all thanks to Qiu Ling.

Bai Fen raised her head and looked up at the sky. Somewhere up there, in the dimension that was the High Heavens, her son was now paying for all of their mistakes. Even though she had said that this was mostly her husband’s fault and even though Qiu Ling had said that the two of them shared responsibility, she had to admit that she, too, was not without fault.

All these years, what had she done to help her son? She hadn’t left when he was a child because it was too dangerous. That had definitely been the right choice. But she hadn’t made those new experiences possible for him either and that was her mistake. Yes, she had encouraged him to pursue a relationship and she had helped Qiu Ling out every now and then but she hadn’t fought for him where it was necessary to make him have this relationship at ease.

If she had been more courageous and dared to show him by being a good example that his station did not have to come before everything else, even his happiness … maybe this outcome could have been prevented. In this regard, was she any better than her husband?