Huo Qing was unhappy with her and unhappy with how she had allowed Xiao Qingyan to become Huo Chengwang’s study companion.

  Huo Chengwang’s heart ached. He had never felt his heart ache so much before. Ning Shu sighed and said, “Imperial Mother had brought back the puppy’s corpse. Once you get better, let’s bury it.”


  Huo Chengwang stared at Ning Shu and asked slowly, “Imperial Father also keeps a little fox. Imperial Father keeps a pet, but he said that triflings destroy the will and beat the puppy to death. Why can Imperial Father do it, but not this subject son?”


  “Chengwang wants to know why?” Ning Shu looked at the child. He was now different. However, anyone that suffered pain would come to understand more of the world.

  Even though he had the honored status of crown prince, in reality, this status was very flimsy.

  Ning Shu laughed softly. “Why? Because your imperial father is the emperor. He holds the lives of all citizens in his hands. He holds our fates in his hands. No one can provoke him. He has the absolute power to protect what he loves and he can snatch away what’s important to others. No one would dare to say anything.”


  “Imperial Father is the emperor so he has the power to protect the things he cherishes?” Huo Chengwang stared blankly at Ning Shu.

  Ning Shu hugged him and said softly, “Chengwang, there’s nothing that’s absolute in this world. Every person must pay the price for his actions. Imperial Mother hopes that Chengwang can be happy, but don’t long for ordinary parental love from your imperial father. Your imperial father is the emperor. He dictates our fates. When our lives belong to him, it’s even more important that we don’t foolishly seek his affection.”


  “Imperial Mother, what should Chengwang do to stop this pain?” Huo Chengwang’s tears kept falling as he looked up at Ning Shu. “This subject son wants to protect Imperial Mother and the things that this subject son cherishes. This subject son doesn’t want something like what happened today to ever happen again. Imperial Mother, this subject son’s heart hurts. It hurts so much.”


  Ning Shu’s heart ached and she wiped away his tears with a handkerchief, then patted his back. “Chengwang, become happy. Happiness is something that your imperial father will never be able to take away. Imperial Mother hopes that Chengwang will be happy. Imperial Mother will definitely get you justice for what happened today.”


  “Imperial Mother.” Huo Chengwang threw himself into Ning Shu’s arms and started bawling.

  Ning Shu sighed in relief when she saw this. Letting things out was much better than keeping everything bottled up inside.

  There were still tears on Huo Chengwang’s face, so Ning Shu wiped them with a handkerchief.

  “Your Imperial Highness, have some food.” Qing Zhu looked a little haggard since she had stayed up the entire night with Ning Shu.

  Ning Shu carried the clear porridge over and said, “Chengwang, eat a little. You’ll recover faster that way.”


  Ning Shu fed Huo Chengwang one spoon at a time. Huo Chengwang asked, “Imperial Mother, did Imperial Father come by? Did Imperial Father come see this subject son?”


  “No.” Ning Shu shook her head. “Chengwang, Imperial Mother said before that you shouldn’t have too much hope towards your imperial father.”


  “This subject son just wants Imperial Father to feel that what he did was wrong and see that he had hurt this subject son a lot. I’m his son, this subject son wishes to see that Imperial Father feels even just a little guilt,” said Huo Chengwang.

  Ning Shu smiled. “Imperial Mother’s Chengwang has grown up. But there are some people that won’t feel anything even when they hurt others. Even when they realize that they had hurt someone, they still wouldn’t care.”


  Huo Chengwang finished the bowl of porridge and lay back down to rest. However, Ning Shu saw that he was still crying under the blankets.

  She sighed. After eating a little, she sat by the bed to keep him company.