The room with the flickering light seemed to be either an archive, a meeting room, or perhaps a small library. But as the Crown Prince examined the room, keeping himself on high alert as he used his Qi to search the room, he entertained the idea of this room serving all three purposes.

If the hastily abandoned books and scrolls strewn across the tables and on the floor were anything to go by, this room was seemingly used recently, maybe it was only exited while he’d invaded this place. Slowly, he walked deeper into the room, careful to refrain from leaving any footsteps and being aware of his surroundings.

His impromptu investigation of the room ended once he had searched through it all and found no other presence besides himself. It was only obvious, the Crown Prince heaved a sigh of relief, he could not have been so careless.

Lips twisted into a downward tilt, the silver-haired youth shook his head slowly. Before him, on the table was a dying oil lamp. The amber flames danced weakly as it burned on sparse oil.

Of course, he thought, helplessly, somewhat exasperated at his own baseless worry, the light came from this little lamp. It was almost symbolic, he supposed, if a bit tragic, to be the only moving thing left of what was before.

With a snap of his fingers, the Crown Prince snuffed out the flame, rolling his shoulders, allowing a long exhale to leave through his lips. Then, he turned, having already wasted much of the precious escape time.

When he took a step forward, Liu Mingyun paused, something crunched under his foot. Under normal circumstances, perhaps he would have simply ignored the sound and left without turning back again. But something compelled him to take a look.

He did not know what was making him deviate from his usual countenance. Paranoia, most likely. Caution was a good practice anyhow.

Drawing his foot back, the Crown Prince bent forward to pick up the scroll, frowning.

Thud.

Ears twitching at the distant noise, his eyes narrowed as he rolled up the scroll and tucked it under his lapel. There was no time to linger. In the room plunged into darkness, he quickly saw a window and made for it.

He could take a look at the contents of the scroll later.

...

The following morning, before the break of dawn, the Crown Prince was back with the Heavenly Demon Cult.

Due to the rather inopportune timing of his return, the Crown Prince chose to forgo visiting Li Xinyuan, opting to allow the doctor more rest, his betrothed needed it. Especially after the latest attempt at his life a fortnight ago.

Instead of going to his betrothed, the silver-haired youth chose to barge into the Heavenly Demon’s tent without preamble.

"Has the Heavenly Demon been awake throughout the night, or does he happen to be an early riser?" Raising a skeptical eyebrow, Liu Mingyun sauntered into the tent, taken aback by the sight of Cheon WuHui wide awake. Shame. He was hoping to start the man awake.

Sitting at the makeshift table, the Heavenly Demon looked at him, his silent and judgemental gaze tracing down the Crown Prince’s bloody appearance with ill-concealed boredom.

"The mission is a success, We take it?" He replied instead, voice hoarse from lack of use. "Make yourself presentable, commander. It is disgraceful, the sight of you doused in blood."

Now standing by the table, right across from him, the Crown Prince let out a quiet snort, hands behind his back as he peered down at the map he created, filled with various markings and annotations he could moderately understand with a cursory glance.

"To you perhaps," he hummed languidly, "to myself, this is a reassurance." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

At that, the Heavenly Demon merely scoffed, focusing his attention back to the map as he tossed something at Liu Mingyun.

It was purely reflexive that the Crown Prince caught it, hand shooting out to snatch the object before it could hit him or his mind could process anything.

Barely holding back a scowl, Liu Mingyun lowered his hand. It was a piece of cloth. Stroking the fabric with the pad of his thumb, he noted it was a handkerchief. Of a rather high quality make, not to mention.

Looking up at the crimson haired man, the Crown Prince cleared his throat pointedly, asking for an explanation. Cheon WuHui simply shrugged in return.

"We do not surmise Doctor Li would be so pleased with this sight, make yourself presentable before you meet him."

Liu Mingyun snorted softly but relented, carefully wiping his face with the soft handkerchief. "I am grateful."

"Certainly you are." The Heavenly Demon sneered half-heartedly. "You may leave."

The Crown Prince bristled internally. How arrogant of a man was he?

"Before that," suddenly recalling the scroll he had taken from that place, Liu Mingyun stopped half a step, pulling it out, "this may be of interest to your cult. It appears to be a technique, though it seems nothing special."

Interest drawn Cheon WuHui looked up from the map and at the scroll held in the Crown Prince’s hands, expression showing his doubts. "It was in that place?"

"Among other books and scrolls," Liu Mingyun nodded, tossing the scroll to Cheon WuHui, leveling the doubtful look with a glare, "but this caught my notice."

The Heavenly Demon did not need to know he’d stepped on it.

"It did, did it?"

"Are you imitating a toad? It is a subpar impersonation, This Prince must say."

Cheon WuHui did not deign him with an answer and began reading the scroll.

Sitting down, Liu Mingyun occupied himself with wiping the blood off himself. Though Xin’er could do with seeing him in the blood of the enemies, he did not want it to be the first thing he saw upon awakening from sleep.

He ought to be at least presentable when he meets Xin’er later this morning.

Across the table, the Heavenly Demon issued a surprised sound, making the Crown Prince look up at him and saw the expression on the former’s face.

—Complete and utter bewilderment.