Servants in the cold palace murmured under the biting wind.
"His Highness, Prince Yun, has come back."
"I heard he suffered a slight in Chenzhu."
"They say he returned in a fury."
"I heard the Prince of Chenzhu *cheated* on him."
"Our poor prince..."
Somewhere deep in the palace, specifically in the prince's quarters, the sound of crashing porcelain rang out. Prince Yun stood there, hurling dish after dish at a painted portrait on the wall.
"Insensitive! Spineless! Lowlife! Scoundrel! Intolerable bastard!"
Little Prince Jin, his younger brother, sat nearby watching in silence—until his head began spinning from trying to follow Yun's frenzied pacing.
A servant quietly entered, bowed, and swept away the shards.
Finally, Prince Yun sighed, scooped up his dizzy brother, and sat down, placing the boy on his lap like a lazy cat.
"I'm Prince Yun," he muttered, half to himself. "The kind, sensitive, merciful Prince Yun. The one who brought forth better harvests. The one who saved the poor from starvation. The one who abolished slavery. The one who discovered how to make humans fly… *in two different ways*, no less."
Prince Jin hissed—more like a kitten than a person—as Yun's grip on his head tightened with each word.
Yun blinked, released him, and Jin instantly bolted from the room.
"…Bowen probably thought I'd be too meek to seek revenge," Yun muttered darkly. "I should teach him the **hostility** of a broken heart."
---
Later that week, Prince Yun paid an unexpected visit to the Kingdom of Li.
Its ruler, King Ruo Yan—critically wounded during the war with Xilei—lay bedridden and pallid. Rumors said the wound was close to his heart.
As Yun stepped into the royal chamber, he spoke coldly.
"King Ruo Yan, you're known far and wide as a despicable man who takes what does not belong to you. But for the sake of peace in Suntze—and my reputation—"
A soldier cut him off, stepping forward with a blade to his throat. "How dare you insult our king!"
Yun didn't flinch. With a flick of his wrist, he used a hair-thin needle to gently nudge the blade away.
His gaze shifted to Princess Rui Yan, who stood to the side, observing sharply.
She raised a hand. "Stand down. He's here to save the king."
Yun nodded. "Bring me a clean cloth, a basin of hot water, and your strongest sleeping drug."
The princess hesitated, but eventually obeyed. Still, she lingered nearby, unwilling to leave.
When she saw Yun begin to *poke* the king's open wound with needles *threaded through*, her hand shot out to stop him.
"Wait—"
"Do not interrupt me," Yun snapped, without even turning. "A single mistake on my part could result in a needle lodged in his blood vessel. And then he'll die."
Rui Yan froze.
The operation took five incense sticks to complete. When it was over, King Ruo Yan's chest was neatly sewn shut.
Yun stood and handed Rui a small bottle.
"Wash the wound with this every day. In two weeks, the stitches should dissolve on their own."
She blinked. "Forget the dissolvable thread for a moment—*what is this liquid*?"
He answered flatly, "Alcohol."
He turned to leave.
"I don't recommend drinking it," he called over his shoulder. "It's seventy percent. It won't taste good."