The Crown Prince’s gaze naturally followed.

Everything seemed calm, as if nothing had happened.

“Auntie, Father just came back tonight, and I want him to sleep with me,” Yuanbao said with delight, his eyes eagerly looking at Rongrong.

Rongrong knew that Yuanbao missed his father.

The past few days, Yuanbao had often mentioned him.

Whenever he enjoyed something, he would say Father would like it too.

At bedtime, he would ask for a story, often recounting one that Father had told him.

“Alright, I’ll go prepare the bedding.”

The Crown Prince’s quilt and pillows had been put away.

Since he was staying tonight, they needed to be set up again, and Rongrong’s bedding would naturally be removed.

“Auntie, tonight I want…”

“Tonight, you should sleep with Yuanbao,” the Crown Prince said, meeting Yuanbao’s surprised gaze with a calm explanation. “Father has a lot of official business to take care of. I need to finish it as soon as possible. I’ll spend more time with you once the old tasks are cleared.”

“Okay.” Yuanbao didn’t expect his father to change his mind suddenly.

Seeing the ugly scar on his father’s hand, he nodded obediently.

After finishing their game of chess, they had dinner.

Once the Crown Prince had dined with Yuanbao, he went straight to Yuhua Palace to handle state affairs.

Seeing Yuanbao’s disappointed expression, Rongrong felt a bit guilty and comforted him, “Your father is very busy. Tonight, let Aunt Rongrong keep you company, okay?”

Yuanbao nodded.

It was fine with him, but Yuanbao didn’t understand why his father suddenly changed his mind.

---

In the study, official documents were piled up like a small mountain.

Because the Crown Prince publicly claimed to have only minor injuries, the cabinet continued its usual work, sending daily documents to the Eastern Palace.

After ten days, this had resulted in a huge stack of paperwork.

Fuqian took one of the documents, spread it out on the table, and handed it to the Crown Prince, who read it and marked it with a red seal.

This was quite a tedious task, and after an hour, he had only managed to process around forty or fifty documents.

Seeing this, Fuqian felt sorry and suggested, “Should we have Miss Rongrong come in to massage your shoulders?”

The Crown Prince set down his seal and gave Fuqian a sideways glance.

Feeling the chill in his master’s gaze, Fuqian quickly slapped himself, saying, “I spoke out of turn.”

“She’s not a servant.”

“Understood. I’ll make sure to serve Miss Rongrong properly in the future.” Fuqian swallowed nervously, relieved to have escaped punishment. “Master, a few days ago, Feicui sent a message. I didn’t think much of it at the time and didn’t respond.”

“What did the message say?”

“Feicui mentioned that Miss Xue’s second brother has a strange scar on his wrist, which she described as looking like a ‘Qilin Fire’. Isn’t that nonsense? The Liang family was wiped out more than a decade ago…”

“Is that true?” The Crown Prince slammed his hand on the table, causing the red seal beside the documents to fall to the ground.

Fuqian’s face turned pale at the sudden outburst.

Great, he’d said the wrong thing again.

After briefing An Yue about the Xue family, the Crown Prince had been busy in the study for two hours.

He finally set down his pen and stretched his tired wrist.

Looking outside, he saw that it was already late at night.

“Has Yuanbao gone to sleep?”

“Yes, Your Highness. Yuanbao went to bed early. After dinner, he went to sleep with Miss Rongrong. Wang An told me that lately, Yuanbao sleeps more peacefully with Miss Rongrong,” Fuqian replied, cautiously glancing at the Crown Prince’s expression. “Where will you be resting tonight, Your Highness?”

The Crown Prince took a few sips of the soothing tea on the table.

Still not feeling very sleepy, he decided to stand up.

“I’ll go take a look.”

Fuqian was unsure who the Crown Prince wanted to check on.

He had already made two mistakes tonight, so he dared not make another.

After the Crown Prince gave his orders, Fuqian silently picked up a lantern and led him to Yuhua Palace.

Yuhua Palace was already dark, with only a few dim lanterns lit by the guards standing in the corridor.

Upon seeing the Crown Prince, the palace attendants silently bowed and did not announce his arrival.

The Crown Prince left Fuqian outside and entered the hall alone.

He had lived in Yuhua Palace for six or seven years, so even in total darkness, he could navigate the hall easily.

Besides, after staying in the dark for a moment, his vision would adjust.

The Crown Prince gently opened the door to the bedroom and saw, by the light of the stars coming through the window, that Yuanbao and Rongrong were snuggled together on the dragon bed, sleeping soundly.

The room was extremely quiet; he could even distinguish their breathing sounds.

Yuanbao, being a bit chubby, had a heavier and more rhythmic breathing. Rongrong’s breathing was light and steady, creating a comforting atmosphere.

The Crown Prince moved closer to get a clearer view of their sleeping positions.

Yuanbao was sleeping as usual, sprawled out with his limbs in a big “X,” his head resting on Rongrong’s arm. Rongrong was lying on her side, with one arm under Yuanbao’s head and the other resting gently on his belly, holding him loosely.

She must really care for Yuanbao to hold him like this while sleeping.

Yuanbao was no lightweight, and sometimes even the Crown Prince’s arm felt numb after a night of being used as a pillow.

How would Rongrong’s arm feel after a whole night?

The Crown Prince’s lips twitched.

Despite Rongrong’s earlier act of playing dumb and confronting him, he now felt a pang of sympathy for her.

He climbed onto the bed and, using his only functional left hand, carefully supported Yuanbao’s head and gently shifted him to the side, placing him on a nearby pillow.

However, as soon as Rongrong’s arm was freed, she frowned and began to reach out in the air.

This woman was surprisingly alert in her sleep.

The Crown prince pressed down on her wrist, and she immediately settled back to sleep.

However, moments later, when the Crown prince tried to move his hand away, her expression tightened immediately.

She didn’t want him to leave?

The Crown prince sneered, his fingers gently gliding over the back of her hand. Her skin was smooth and well-nourished, feeling like jade under his touch.

Just a few strokes were enough to ignite his desire.

If his right hand weren’t immobilized, he would have already reached out to undress her.

He let out a heavy sigh, grabbed a pillow, and pressed it into Rongrong’s hand before quickly leaving the bedchamber.

…

Rongrong woke up groggily, intending to give Yuan Bao a morning kiss as usual.

As she moved, she felt something soft and luxurious.

Opening her eyes, she realized she was hugging a pillow.

She immediately sat up, wide awake, and noticed Yuan Bao had rolled to the edge of the bed. One more turn and he would have fallen off.

Rongrong quickly grabbed him and pulled him back.

Ever since she discovered Yuan Bao’s identity, Rongrong had been hugging him tightly every night.

He was the son she had struggled to find, and she held him close even if her arm felt numb in the morning.

She wondered how she had ended up hugging a pillow instead of Yuan Bao last night!

She silently scolded herself several times before getting up.

Nowadays, she had her own cabinet in the room, sharing space with Yuan Bao’s clothes, albeit on the lowest shelf.

A few days ago, Wang An had brought in people to change all her clothes, replacing them with garments made from brocade and Shu brocade, and even a set made from cloud brocade, a luxury even some lower-ranking concubines didn’t have.

Although the materials were luxurious, the embroidery was simple and appropriate, featuring designs like blooming crabapple flowers and butterflies, so Rongrong wore them.

What else could she do? Her old maid uniforms had been discarded somewhere.

Besides, the crown prince hadn’t been in the Eastern Palace for the past few days, so these clothes must have been Yuan Bao’s idea.

Since they were from Yuan Bao, she had to accept them.

Rongrong changed into her new clothes and opened the door to find Fu Quan standing outside, which made her nervous.

“Eunuch Fu, why are you here?” The Crown prince should have rested in the study last night; why was Fu Quan at Yuhua Palace early in the morning?

Fu Quan bowed to Rongrong. “Miss Rongrong, the Crown prince hasn’t risen yet, so I’m here to serve him.”

“The Crown prince…” Hearing that the prince had stayed at Yuhua Palace last night, Rongrong instinctively felt nervous, not noticing that Fu Quan had bowed to her, “The Crown prince stayed at Yuhua Palace?”

“He came late last night. You and Prince Yuanbao were already asleep. The study is quite far from Prince Yuanbao’s room, and if he woke up in the middle of the night, it would be difficult to attend to him. Since there’s a couch here, the crown prince decided to stay.”

This room was more of a small study filled with miscellaneous books, mostly for Yuan Bao.

Besides the bookshelves and chairs, there was a couch, though it wasn’t very large.

It might just fit Rongrong, but the prince… would likely find it cramped.

“Isn’t it a bit unfair for you to stay in this room?” Fuqian said with a smile.

“It’s a bit inconvenient,” Fuqian continued, “but since you were so tired yesterday, you agreed to make do. I’ll have a bed moved in here shortly.”

A bed? That’s good.

Rongrong breathed a sigh of relief.

She was worried Yuanbao might insist on all three of them sleeping together if the bed wasn’t moved.

The fact that he was setting up a bed in the room next door meant he was willing to let Yuanbao stay with her tonight.

And if they ever wanted to sleep together in the future, she could use this room and stay close to Yuanbao.

Rongrong nodded to Fuqian and was about to leave when the door suddenly opened.

“Master, are you up?”

Not only was he up, but he had also changed his clothes.

However, since the Crown Prince didn’t style his hair, it hung loose down to his shoulders, naturally curling at the ends due to usually being tied up.

Rongrong was familiar with this appearance of his. She was used to seeing him like this, not only with his hair loose but also covered in sweat.

She was also used to his gaze when he looked at her now.

Avoiding his gaze, Rongrong lowered her head and greeted him.

“Your Highness.”