Jing He silently cried to himself, unable to pick himself up and leave the seat in front of the dressing table, not even remembering to close the water mirror. It still quietly showed his appearance, just that with Jing He in this state, it was a desolate image.

When Tian arrived at the palace, this was the picture he saw. He did not speak and simply waved his hand, recalling the water mirror by himself. Seeing it would only upset Jing He more and now was not the time for that.

He kept quiet and finally stepped closer, stopping only three steps away from him. “I see you have finally realized.” Although, truth be told, he was slightly surprised that it had taken a look in the mirror to do so. The pain of shattering the soul wasn’t small. It was what left freshly fallen gods in a weakened state, causing many of them to die under somebody’s attack. Only after the last remnants of the pain passed and they slowly figured out their gifts did they become the almost indestructible existence they were feared as.

For Jing He, it seemed that all the pain had passed before he woke up. But then, maybe this was to be expected. This was the same person who had engraved his own soul stroke by stroke with the soul-engraving dagger. For his lover, he could bear almost anything. Since he had fallen because of something related to him, maybe the remnant pain felt like little more than heartache to him.

Jing He flinched when he heard a voice close by. He lowered his hands and then hastily got to his feet, retreating a few steps. His head hung low as well, hoping to cover the mark between his brows in shadows. He just … had no face to see anyone. Even though he knew that the supreme sovereign had already seen him like this yesterday, it didn’t lessen his shame.

Tian didn’t say anything and just quietly looked at him. Jing He’s behavior made it obvious what he thought but even without that, he would have been able to guess. This current crown prince of the Nine Heavens had barely passed the age of a child and his mind was so simple to see through that he very much seemed as if he hadn’t yet. In the same vein, it was also easy enough to figure out what could change his perspective.

“I presume you received your lover’s letter.” He turned away, not looking at Jing He any longer so he would relax a little.

As expected, this sentence did get his attention.

Jing He raised his head, looking at Tian in confusion. It only took a moment for him to realize what was going on: Qiu Ling’s letter had stated that according to Tian, they couldn’t see each other for the time being. Since this was the case, he obviously hadn’t delivered this letter himself. Instead, that confession of his must have gone through Tian’s hands first and he was the one who had put the letter where he finally found it.

Thinking of the letter, Jing He also realized that Qiu Ling had to be aware of his situation. This was likely what he had meant when he wrote ‘after what happened’. Yes, he had referred to his fall and instead of cursing him for his weakness, he had still worried about whether he was in pain or felt alone.

Jing He suddenly fell into a daze. He had read that letter over twice because he didn’t understand and even though he had still been puzzled by much of it, he had felt the deep feelings from it and the urge to be honest with him. Now, he seemed to understand: Qiu Ling worried about him because he had fallen and he might feel that his not telling him the full truth earlier had contributed to this fall. Thus, he wanted to make up for it and ensure that his lack of honesty would never have any negative consequences again. This was why he suddenly confessed to all of those things. He understood but, at the same time, he didn’t understand after all.

Knowing that he was a fallen god, why would Qiu Ling do all this? Should he not despise him? Should he not turn his back on him and find somebody else instead, forgetting about this disappointing person he had once called his love?

He didn’t know what to make of this and for a while, his thoughts simply pulled here and there, making him unable to come to any conclusion.

Tian turned back to him when he didn’t receive an answer even after several minutes. He took in Jing He’s expression, glanced at the black crescent between his brows and finally sighed. To have this person recover, it was simultaneously very simple and extremely hard. On the one hand, his feelings for the dragon king were so strong that reminding him of the person could break through many obstacles. On the other hand, the state of his mind and soul had never been good even before he met that person.

To help someone like that recover could not be called easy. If one wanted to do it, they needed to unravel his issues one by one. Of course, that wasn’t such a simple matter either considering that his convictions were complicated and often opposed to each other. Thankfully, at least one of them was easy to deal with.

He turned fully back to Jing He and took a step closer, reaching out and grasping his chin. He tilted his head up so Jing He had to look at him and finally raised his brows. “Seeing that you have fallen, do you feel ashamed of yourself?”

Jing He’s face flushed. Ashamed? Of course, he did. Even more so when asked this directly. But with the supreme sovereign asking, he also did not dare to refuse to answer or lie. Thus, he could only lower his eyelids and force himself to admit it. “Yes, I do. I feel that … my whole existence is shameful.”