The sunshine at the end of April, with a hint of early summer heat, shone in through the window and illuminated the study. The originally tidy study was now filled with the smell of wine and the floor was in a mess. In front of him, the gentle and elegant Ninth Prince Bai Ye was lying on the desk. He was mumbling something, while Luo Zhiyi sat quietly next to the desk. He watched Bai Ye, after drinking a few more bottles of wine, finally lie down on the table and become silent. Then he stood up carefully and walked over to him. The person beside him called softly: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."
Bai Ye opened his blurred eyes and glanced at Luo Zhiyi. Suddenly he raised his hand and brought the wine glass to his mouth. There was no more drop of wine in the glass. Bai Ye threw the glass away unhappily. Luo Zhiyi frowned slightly. The glass The sound of landing no longer elicited a few words from Zhou Yan outside.
Just when Luo Zhiyi frowned, Bai Ye suddenly grabbed her hand. Luo Zhiyi wanted to struggle, but Bai Ye held her hand tighter.
"Why is this happening?" After a sigh, Bai Ye continued talking to himself. "Am I a bad person? I have been with the emperor brother since I was a child. There has been a bloody storm in the palace for so many years. The emperor brother has protected me all the way. .Protected me to grow up under the Queen. Protected me to enter the military camp. Protected me to gain a foothold in the military camp."
"When I went to the battlefield, I was not as tall as a horse. But I was not afraid at all. Because the emperor said that I was the bravest prince... I could be cruel to that man because he believed in the queen and his mother. The concubine is unfaithful. I believe that the mother-in-law has done something sorry for him. Even if he takes out the edict passing the throne to me, I don't care about sitting in that position. Besides, the emperor's brother is more suitable to sit in that position than me. Without the emperor brother, there would be no me. So, even if I have the edict in my hand, I will not take it out. The only thing I can repay the emperor brother is the throne. I can only help him secure the throne. But. Why. The emperor brother will Don’t believe me. He watched me grow up. How could he not understand what kind of person I am? Why..."
"Ruoshui has been following me since she was a child. She follows me wherever I go. The queen has never stopped wanting to harm me. Ruoshui is very obedient and pleases the queen very much. Therefore, she can secretly save her again and again. I, I owe her so much. Do you know that the cold poison in her body was caused by saving me. She has suffered so hard every winter for so many years. When the cold poison attacks, she is cold and painful. She is the only one. A delicate girl. This has been ten years. Ten years. I promised her that I would give her whatever she wanted. Even if it was the stars in the sky, I would pick them for her... But after all, I am I betrayed her. I thought I loved her. But I don’t understand love at all... In fact, I knew it when Liu Yuner died. She was the one who did it... I knew it. But she Why do you want to attack Ah Ling? Ah Ling is my savior..."
"I don't want to let down everyone. Everyone who is good to me. I want to repay them. I don't want to hurt anyone. Brother Huang is good to me. I will give up the throne to him. I will help him secure the border. I want to complete his unification of Vietnam." My wish is for a truly peaceful and prosperous age without feudal lords. But why doesn’t your brother believe me?"
"I want to be nice to Ruoshui and give her everything she wants. But, I find that the only thing I can't give is the only thing she wants. I can't give her my heart. It hurts me to see her in so much pain. But... I can't control it. This heart is no longer under my control. What should I do so as not to hurt her."
"Although Ah Ling has an arrogant temper, she is someone who dares to love and hate. Whether she likes her or not is shown on her face. I understand her thoughts. But I promised Ruoshui, so I can no longer give her hope. So, I arranged She returned to Western Xinjiang and a good match was chosen for her. I hope she can live happily even if she is not with me. However, I did not expect that she encountered so many misfortunes. In the end, even her death was so painful. ...It was me who harmed her..."
"I want to be good to them. But why do I end up hurting everyone? I don't want this..."
Luo Zhiyi looked at Bai Ye who suddenly said so much. His heart could no longer be calm. He wanted to be good to everyone and didn't want to hurt everyone. But in the end, he hurt everyone instead. Since he gave up the throne, why? He still wants to leave the edict and make the emperor uneasy. Since he promised Lian Ruoshui that he would give her everything, why would he provoke the first, second, third, and even fourth princess like her? Since he can't give it to her. The happiness Ling wanted. Why did he bring her back to the capital? Since he couldn't do that, why did he still promise...
Luo Zhiyi fiercely shook off Bai Ye's hand, only to find that he had already fallen asleep.
Luo Zhiyi looked at Bai Ye who was sleeping deeply. He pushed him gently and found that he had no response. Then he quickly got up and searched around the study room. However, time passed by. Luo Zhiyi After searching for a long time, there was no clue. After searching, sweat had wet the hair on her forehead. Her palms were cold and sweaty. Where was it?
Looking at Bai Ye again, he was still in the same posture as before. She pondered for a long time, and as if she had made up her mind, she carefully rummaged around Bai Ye's body.
But still found nothing.
Luo Zhiyi put one hand on the table and tried to prop himself up. Suddenly, his thumb seemed to touch something...
Luo Zhiyi knelt down and looked again. On the back of the desk, at her finger, there was a square, inconspicuous bump.
I touched it carefully. It was smooth and moist. It seemed that it had been touched frequently.
Could it be here?
Luo Zhiyi was a little scared. If this place was really a trap, would anyone notice if there was any movement when the machine was touched?
He carefully looked outside and then at Bai Ye. Luo Zhiyi gritted his teeth and finally pressed down.
There was a soft "click" sound. The originally flat and mirror-like desktop suddenly cracked from the middle, revealing a square hidden grid.
Luo Zhiyi looked at Bai Ye who was lying on the desk. Fortunately, he was lying on the side and leaned forward. Sure enough, there was a roll of parchment lying quietly there.
Luo Zhiyi carefully took it out and quickly opened it. Sure enough, this is the military deployment map that the second brother mentioned.
On the large parchment, important frontier fortresses and cities throughout Dai Viet were drawn. Each frontier fortress and city was numbered accordingly. On one side of the drawing, the military deployment and defense changes were recorded in detail according to the number.
With such a large base map, Luo Zhiyi didn't have time to think too much. She looked at it carefully and remembered that she only had this chance. This sheepskin map should be firmly engraved in her mind.
After half an hour, Luo Zhiyi was sweating profusely. He carefully gathered the parchment and put it back into the secret compartment.
"Master." Zhou Yan's voice suddenly sounded at the door.
Luo Zhiyi was startled. Seeing Bai Ye suddenly move, he quickly pressed the bulge under the desk and squatted down.
"Ah". Luo Zhiyi cried out in pain, causing Bai Ye to wake up suddenly. This cry of pain covered up the sound of the mechanism closing.
Bai Ye woke up with a start and saw Luo Zhiyi squatting on the ground. He was startled. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing. Zhou Yan called you just now. I wanted to open the door. Unexpectedly, my feet were numb..." Luo Zhiyi said while rubbing his feet.
"You." Bai Ye stepped forward helplessly and distressed. He helped her up and sat her down. He took her feet into his arms and kneaded and massaged them carefully.
Luo Zhiyi fell into a trance. Once upon a time, he also kneaded her numb feet like this. At that time, he was as tender as water...
However, nothing can go back. Luo Zhiyi glanced at the desk that had returned to its original state, and felt confused for a while.