A light drizzle fell on the roof of the palace, drumming in a rhythmic way that could lull one to sleep. Every now and then, the water that had gathered at the eaves fell down with an audible plop, landing in a puddle outside.

The eyelids of the person lying on the bed fluttered and finally lifted. He gazed at the familiar canopy in confusion, not sure what to think. He felt as if he had had a long dream but he couldn’t remember any specifics. There was only a vague feeling of pain and then weightlessness before everything was submerged in emptiness. Either way, it didn’t seem to be a good dream.

Jing He carefully sat up. As soon as he moved, he felt dizzy so he continued to sit in silence, his brows furrowing slightly. How long had he slept? He tried to remember but, to be honest, he could not even remember when he had fallen asleep. The last thing he did before … He tilted his head, his brows furrowing even further when he realized that he could not remember.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before slowly exhaling. He might not know what had happened but he did know that he wouldn’t remember it any better if he got anxious. Anyway, what could he have done? Either he had been waiting for Qiu Ling to come and see him or he had been apprehended by his father to prevent him from doing exactly that. Of course, there was also the chance that his father had organized another blind date but this seemed less likely considering that he had seemed rather satisfied with Duan Ming.

Jing He faintly shook his head when he thought of this and turned to the side, slowly stretching his legs over the edge of the bed. He turned to look toward the door to the garden to gauge the time but froze as soon as he did.

The door was open and a person stood in the doorway, watching the rain outside with his back toward him. The man was tall and he stood straight like a bamboo. His figure was wrapped in a black robe, similar to what Qiu Ling usually wore, but even while only looking at his back, Jing He could tell that this was not his fiance.

He silently got to his feet and took a step back. This was neither his fiance nor a family member nor one of the guards he was familiar with. That begged the question … what was this man doing in his palace while he had been sleeping? Naturally, he felt vigilant but he couldn’t put much space between them and was also afraid to call out for fear of making this person attack him in retaliation.

Jing He glanced toward the main door of his palace. The view was obstructed by the painted screen so there was no way to get his guards’ attention without making noise. It was also too far away to get there easily. So far, the man still hadn’t turned around or even moved as far as he could tell but who knew how fast that might change?

His heart pounded in his chest but he felt that he had hardly a choice. He tried to move out of his bedroom silently but just when he had taken a few steps into the main room of the palace, the wood beneath his feet gave a faint sound.

Jing He froze. Certainly, the man had to have heard this. He watched intently, waiting for him to whirl around and attack, but the person continued to stand there and watch the rain as if he truly hadn’t realized what was happening behind him.

Jing He couldn’t tell how to feel. With how silent the palace was, the sound had been obvious. There was no way this man hadn’t heard it which meant that he might have heard his steps as well. In that case, he shouldn’t make even more of a fool out of himself.

He straightened up and tried to put on an unbothered expression. “I am sorry but … might I inquire who you are and why you are here?”

This time, the person finally turned around. His gaze accurately landed on Jing He’s face but his expression didn’t change in the slightest. “Tian.”

“This …” Has to be a joke. That thought immediately shot through Jing He’s mind but he would never say such a thing out loud. On the contrary, he took a closer look now that the person had turned around.

To be honest, the comparison with Qiu Ling earlier had not been without reason: They had a similar stature, the way they dressed resembled each other as well, and this man’s bearing was almost the same as well. If he had to put into words what the difference was, it should be that while Qiu Ling had always seemed awe-inspiring, it was in the way that a king should be. He seemed larger than life, dependable, powerful, and steadfast. He was a person others would look up to and who could lead them in times of unrest, restoring peace to the country, and allowing the people to prosper.

The man in front of him wasn’t like that. He felt … sharp as if he had edges that would cut you if you dared to come too close. His very being seemed to repel anyone who even dared to think of getting close to him as if his essence would not stand being in the vicinity of those beneath him. While he clearly had to be a paragon of strength and authority, he was unapproachable, forbidding. He wasn’t the kind of example you aspired to be like but somebody you glanced at from the distance and then wouldn’t dare to look at again.

Such a person being Tian … maybe it wasn’t impossible to imagine. Not to mention … while Tian had always seemed to be far away from his world, hadn’t Qiu Ling met him? Hadn’t he met him before while on his trial?

When the latter thought suddenly occurred to him, Jing He froze. It seemed … he could remember all of his trial. This … definitely should not have happened.