The men went at Luo Wei’s body in turns.

Luo Wei finally passed out. He did not wake up even as the red hot needles entered his chest.

Ku Liu instructed his minions, “Let’s wait for two hours and then get back to taking care of this one.”

When he woke up next, Luo Wei woke from the pain.

“Are you awake?” Ku Liu’s face appeared as expected in front of Luo Wei’s eyes.

Luo Wei groaned, but there was nothing he could do for himself right now.

While he was passed out, Ku Liu had used jade plugs of different sizes to push open Luo Wei’s lower body. From thin to thick, gradually increasing in size. Right now, the one that woke Luo Wei was not the thickest one, but it was big enough to be the same size as a child’s arm. Bright red blood quickly stained Ku Liu’s hands. Luo Wei was almost about to faint again, but Ku Liu moved his hand with some force, and Luo Wei’s drifting consciousness was dragged back.

“Don’t be scared,” Ku Liu said to Luo Wei, “It’ll feel good soon.”

His body was tearing, bit by bit. The organs inside his body felt as if they were being pushed out by the size of the plug. But as he struggled in pain, a sort of heat rose from within him. It appears that while he was passed out, Ku Liu had administered higher doses of drugs. The pain was quickly overtaken by a sense of pleasure that was hard to describe. Luo Wei felt like a dried leaf in moving water, other than going with the flow, he could do little else.

As Luo Wei was struggling through his hardships, the palace was overtaken with another storm under the news of Long Xuan’s confinement.

When Consort Liu heard about the news, her first reaction was to go to the Hall of Literary Transcendence to see Long Xuan, but she was stopped by the guards outside the hall. Without Emperor Xing Wu’s direct permission, no one could enter the hall to see the second prince.

Consort Liu didn’t know what to do, her only option was to kneel outside of the Hall of Eternal Light, refusing to get up. She didn’t expect that anyone to do with the Liu family was the people Emperor Xing Wu wanted to see the least. With one command, Eunuch Zhao Fu had “invited” Consort Liu back to her hall with guards in tow.

Not long after, the fifth prince, Long Xiang, arrived at the Hall of Eternal Light as well to beg on his knees. He knocked his head against the ground so hard that his forehead bled.

“Tell him to get out of here!” Inside the Hall of Eternal Light, Emperor Xing Wu was furious.

“Imperial Father!” Long Xiang shouted from outside the hall, “Why are you doing this? Even if you wanted us dead, shouldn’t you at least let us know why?!”

“Get him out of here!” Emperor Xing Wu roared with anger, “If he wants to die, then take him to his brother so they can die together!”

A few of the guards from the Hall of Imperial Light arrived, and “invited” Long Xiang back to the Hall of Literary Transcendence to be confined with Long Xuan.

With two of her sons confined, Consort Liu lost her nerve. Her birth family was already lost, and if she had lost her sons to, what else did she have left? Consort Liu ran, looking almost unkempt with the rush she was in, as she headed to the Hall of Longevity. The Empress Dowager was the last straw she could grasp at to save her from drowning.

“Imperial Mother, I’m begging you, please save Xuan Er and Xiang Er,” Consort Liu begged in tears as she kneeled in front of the Empress Dowager, “They’ve done nothing to deserve this!”

“Don’t worry,” The Empress Dowager thumbed at the jade on her Buddhist prayer beads, “Even a vicious tiger won’t eat their son, His Imperial Majesty won’t do anything to those boys.”

“Imperial Mother!” Consort Liu was even more anxious as she heard this. Even if a father couldn’t kill his own sons, would Long Xuan have a chance at the throne after this? Now that Long Xiang was under suspicion by his Imperial Father too, what chance did they have at all at court in the future?

“I alone will shoulder the wrongdoings,” The Empress Dowager knew what Consort Liu was thinking. How could she not? “You are excused.”

Consort Liu stumbled out of the Hall of Longevity, feeling as if she’d lost her spirit, her soul. It was already dark in the palace. In the depths of the halls and the chambers, the only sound was the wind rushing through the greenery, swishing through the leaves. There were no sounds of the living. Consort Liu’s entourage all followed her with their heads lowered, afraid to even breathe too loudly. Consort Liu asked herself inside: Who is truly alive in this palace?