Qiao Chen collected some of his late father's belongings at the van der Woods' estate and brought them back to the prince's palace. His eldest aunt didn't dare to stop him from taking them. Furthermore, they were just some books or things that his father used before his death. Therefore, what was gathered was taken away.
Qiao Chen returned to the prince's palace, but before he had the time to change his attire, Farley summoned him.
Farley wasn't able to leave his bed yet. He wasn't even able to sit up for prolonged periods of time. This was the first time Qiao Chen came to see him after he woke up. Qiao Chen saw that Farley's mental state was recovering quite well and thought that his drugs were a bit weak.
"I've been injured for so long now, but you have yet to visit me. Don't you remember who you are now?" Farley leaned back on his headboard and asked as he watched Qiao Chen come in.
"In order to to prevent Your Highness from getting upset every time you see me, I felt that it was better not to appear before you so you can heal quicker." Qiao Chen replied blankly. He knew that he was summoned here today to be picked on. The prideful look in Mandy's eyes as he stood by the bed just showed how unkind they were.
"Hn. Well you'd quite self aware." Farley said. "The things that you should have been doing were all done by Mandy. You should be grateful for all his hard work and thank him."
"If I recall correctly, Her Royal Majesty the Queen has said that Mandy wasn't allowed to leave his arrest until the cause of your injury was discovered. He's only been temporarily allow out to take care of you and atone for allowing you to get hurt. Therefore, why should I thank him for doing what he should be doing in the first place?"
Farley had told his Queen mother to let Mandy out and take care of him to atone for his mistakes before because he wanted Mandy to be released as quickly as possible. The Queen allowed the excuse and released Mandy in order to have Farley recover as quickly as possible.
Mandy listened to Qiao Chen's words and looked at Farley with and aggrieved expression.
Farley choked up because of Qiao Chen throwing his own words back at him. His face darkened, but returned Mandy's expression with a soothing look.
"Even if Mandy is atoning for his mistakes, does that mean that you don't have to do anything?"
"What does Your Highness request of me?"
"Bring me that bowl of soup." Farley pointed to the servant holding the tray beside him.
Mandy's eyes immediately flashed with excitement. Before Qiao Chen could even walk over to get the soup, Mandy himself took the tray and sent it over to Qiao Chen's hands.
The hot soup was still nearly boiling hot. Farley specifically prepared this soup, but it wasn't for drinking. It was for Mandy to vent his anger.
Originally, Qiao Chen was supposed to walk over with the bowl of soup and hand it to Farley. Then, Farley would pour the hot soup all over Qiao Chen. However, Mandy suddenly felt like that wasn't enough to vent his frustrations. He wanted to pour the soup all over Jovin with his own hand. Only then would he be able to feel satisfaction.
Qiao Chen was still thinking about whether or not to spill the soup all over Farley. If he pretended to drop it, then Farley wouldn't get hurt much since he was covered by the thick blanket. However, Mandy decided to look for trouble, so Qiao Chen to help him find it. He could use this opportunity to stage a nice play.
""Here you go."" Mandy wasn't as tall as Qiao Chen, but he still wanted to look down on him. The way he raised his chin to look through his nose looked completely ridiculous in Qiao Chen's eyes.
Qiao Chen reached out and it looked like he was going to pick up the tray.
Mandy smirked. When Qiao Chen's hand was about to touch the tray, Mandy was about to tilt the tray forward. Unfortunately, he never expected that Jovin would deflect it, so the entire bowl of soup splashed on his own face.
"Ahhh! Ahhh!" Mandy clutched his face and screamed in agony.
Everything happened too quickly. Farley was waiting to hear Jovin's screams, but it was Mandy instead who was wailing in anguish. He was taken aback for a moment before finally reacting. He angrily yelled at Qiao Chen, "What are you doing? How dare you pour the soup on Mandy's face?"
Mandy lay on the floor after the soup scalded him. Several servants who stood nearby watched on nervously. They looked back and forth at a complete loss and didn't know whether or not they should step forward and help.
"He's the one who wanted to pour the soup on me. I deflected the bowl to prevent it from burning me." Qiao Chen replied calmly in the face of Farley's fury.
"If he even wanted to throw it at you, do you think you could throw it back at him? I'm telling you right now that if he wanted to pour it all over you, you still need to bear with it. If not then…."
"It hurts! Ahh! My face hurts! Farley help me! Hurry and help me!" Mandy screamed in agony and interrupted Farley's yelling.
"Go can call the doctor already! What are you doing? Quickly get the doctor!" Farley yelled at the servant next to him. He wanted to get out of the bed and check on Mandy, but couldn't. He could barely move a little before his chest tightened in pain.
"You…" Farley pointed at Qiao Chen. His chest heaved violently. "I'll never let you off for this. Somebody get him right now!"
The rest of the servants were afraid and felt awkward. They didn't dare move.
Right at this movement, the butler rushed over. He looked over to see Farley trying to get out of his bed and Mandy screaming on the floor. The butler had the servants carry Mandy out of the room to get treated. Then he quickly walked over to the bed to appease Farley's anger.
"Have the guards come in. Throw him in the cells. Torture him. Make him wish he was never born!" Farley grabbed the butler's arm and shouted as he pointed at Qiao Chen.
"You Highness, please calm down. You're still injured. You can't get so worked up." The butler persuaded. He tried to get Farley back in the bed, but he was too worked up. The butler wasn't able to move him without causing harm.
"Alright, if you won't do it then I'll do it myself." Farley said. He began to get up from his bed. He wouldn't be able to calm down if he couldn't teach that Jovin a lesson immediately.
The butler stopped him. However, since Farley was still injured, he didn't dare use any force. He wanted to let Farley hit Jovin a few times to release his anger. He couldn't use too much strength right now anyways. If he was injured even worse than he was now because of such violent movements, then the butler was scared he wouldn't be able to explain the situation to the Queen.
Qiao Chen saw the butler's hesitation and immediately understood his intentions. Too bad for them that Qiao Chen would never let Farley even lay a single finger on him. He took out a dagger from his sleeves. This was one of the things his father left behind.
"Your Royal Highness, what are you doing?" The butler exclaimed once he saw Qiao Chen take out the knife. He immediately went in a defensive mode as he stared at Qiao Chen with shock.
Qiao Chen pressed the dagger against his chest right over his heart and said, "I have offended the prince today. Therefore, I must atone for this sin with my life."
Farley immediately stopped struggling and stared at the dagger. It looked like he wanted to will the dagger to sink into Jovin's heart. He didn't care about Jovin's life before. He couldn't care any less now. He just wished for Jovin to be dead. He didn't need a child with that stupid true emperor energy. He'd be able to govern his nation even without that damned prophesies anyways.
Qiao Chen could see Farley's thought from his face. It was ridiculous. This person couldn't even control his own palace, but wanted to rule over an entire nation? Delusions of grandeur.
Just because Farley didn't care whether or not Jovin died didn't mean that the butler didn't either. The Queen specifically said that Jovin could not be harmed before he gave birth to that child.
"Your Royal Highness, please put the dagger down first. You can say what you need to say without it." The butler motioned to the servant next to him to control Farley. Then he slowly walked towards Qiao Chen.
"Stop right there!" Qiao Chen said loudly. "I'd rather do this then have his Royal Highness do it. I will never let other people touch me."
"Please calm down. The Prince won't ever do anything to you. Please trust me." The butler said gently. He stopped moving once he saw Qiao Chen's emotions start to rise.
"Can you guarantee it?" Qiao Chen asked as he looked straight at the butler's eyes.
"Of course. I swear it." The butler said confidently.
Qiao Chen lowered the dagger pointed at his heart and walked out right before Farley's eyes.
Naturally, Farley was incensed. He started to throw another tantrum. The butler had no choice but to call the doctor to administer a tranquilizer to help calm Farley down.
The Queen was the true master of the prince's palace. Within half an hour of the incident occurring, Qiao Chen received the Queen's summons.
"I heard that you burnt Mandy's face and attempted to commit suicide." Sure enough, the Queen's first words were to interrogate him the moment she saw Jovin.
"You Royal Majesty, I think you should already know the entire story. I am the Prince's Head Consort, but I have to avoid him everywhere I go. Even then, he still doesn't allow me to avoid him. I can't stand such torture. Please allow me to divorce His Highness Prince Farley." Qiao Chen cried. His expression was serious and tears welled up in his eyes. It looked like he had suffered a great grievance.
"You cannot get a divorce. Even Farley cannot decide to have once either let alone you." The queen knew how prideful Mandy acted in Farley 's palace. She initially didn't want to take care of these matters, but she still needed Jovin to bear Farley's child quickly. She could only say, "Don't worry. I promise that these situations will not continue to happen after you give birth to the child. Your relationship with Farley will only grow with the child present. This is something that he cannot compete with you."
Qiao Chen sneered inwardly while his face looked melancholy, "I don't mind too much, but I know that my dearly beloved parents would never have wanted me to live my life or be wronged like this. I know I can't change anything, but I should be able to decide my own life. Instead of living like this, I think it's better just to join my parents in the afterlife."
"Are you threatening me?" The Queen's face darkened sharply and asked with anger in her eyes.
"I think Your Royal Majesty should know by now that I don't have any attachments to this world. It doesn't matter to me whether or now I'm alive or dead. As a matter of fact, I personally believe that it's better just to find my release over living such a difficult life."
The Queen naturally knew that Jovin's parents had long passed away. She knew that he didn't have much affection for any of his relatives. There weren't even any friends or lovers that he cared for either. As long as there was even one of these things, then the Queen would be able to control Jovin to live as she willed.
Unfortunately for her, there were none. There wasn't a single person she could use to control him. Therefore, she was currently in a more passive position in the face of Qiao Chen's threats.
"I will have someone send Mandy out of Farley's palace. Furthermore, I won't allow him to appear in the palace in the future. Are you satisfied with this?" The Queen compromised.
"Your Royal Majesty, you must choose one: my life or Mandy's life."
"You want Mandy to die?" The Queen asked with surprise.
"I don't want him to die. I want to be able to control his life. Since His Highness Farley hates me so deeply right now, I think it would be very difficult for me to live well if Mandy's fate is not dependent on my whims."
"What do you mean control his fate?" The Queen frowned and asked.
"I heard there is this poisonous substance called the Silver Snake Grass. If you ingest this plant in small portions every so often, then you wouldn't die immediately. However you must also take the antidote every now and then. I want to use this poison to control Mandy's life." Qiao Chen clarified for her. He knew that the Queen would be able to get her hands on said poison.
Before the current emperor was bedridden, he was loose man. He had many lovers. However among his countless lovers, not a single one bore an illegitimate child. This was because the Queen was not only a ruthlessly talented individual, but she was also very versed in poisons. Therefore, through all these years, the emperor only had one child, Farley.
"You're quite knowledgeable. However, have you ever considered that if you do this, then Farley will hate you even more than he does now?"
"I don't care whether he hates me or not. However, if Mandy's fate was decided by me, then he will definitely not be able to harm a single hair on me." Qiao Chen put his hand on his stomach before continuing, "I don't think You Royal Majesty would want any accident to befall me once I'm with child, would you?"
The Queen's eyes stirred with emotion. However, she couldn't immediately promise Qiao Chen this because Farley would definitely bother her about this decision. "I want to think this over carefully. You should return first."