8.3

It didn't take long for Qiao Chen to fall asleep. Dawn arrived and the palace servants were already up and busy. However, the guests and the owner of the palace had yet to awaken. Therefore, each servant did their best not to make any noise.

It was a very quiet morning. A particularly harsh sound of glass shattering disturbed Qiao Chen from his slumber. He didn't allow himself to sleep so deeply in this room and immediately opened his eyes.

A little 10 seconds after the sound of glass breaking, a shrill scream cut through the morning silence. It was like a knife had cut through a calm and beautiful oil painting. The seemingly quiet and peaceful morning was ruined.

"Farley! Farley!" A voice yelled out in panic. The voice didn't have a low sound like that of a man. It wasn't as high pitched or shrill as a woman's scream either. It wasn't difficult for Qiao Chen to deduce that voice was from a gher.

The cry echoed throughout the palace like a sonic book. Nearly all the guests in the main building woke up from it. A servant soon came over to check on the situation.

Mandy stood by the window and screamed and sobbed. He immediately ran out to the balcony. Mandy's body was precariously hanging off the balcony railing as he sobbed out Farley's name loudly. He seemed very flustered and didn't seem to notice the state of his undress nor did he realize that the traces of last night's deeds littered and dripped off his body. Mandy was in a panic. Farley suddenly slammed through the glass balcony doors and jumped off the balcony and Mandy didn't understand what was happening.

When the butler arrived, he saw Farley faced down on the lawn. His body was scratched by all the glass from the balcony. The butler didn't know whether Farley was alive or not. Cold sweat quickly covered his body. He immediately had one servant bring a first aid kit and the other servants bring Farley back into the room for treatment.

Everything happened very suddenly and quickly. The guests who took too long to get up only had time to reach their own balconies and see the image of a naked Farley being carried back into the palace. The ones who were more alert, like Tang Ao for example, were already stood at the balcony or floor to ceiling windows when they heard Mandy's initial screams. This group was able to witness Farley fall from the balcony to the grass below. They were also the ones who immediately went downstairs to take a closer look at the situation.

The onlookers weren't very concerned about Farley's injuries per say. However, they needed to know whether or not he had died. If the crown prince and sole heir to the empire had died, then they'd have to make a new plan or switch their initial intentions.

Tang Ao was also naturally concerned about whether or not Farley had died, so he personally went to check on the situation. However, he also had another motive. There was still that person that had snatched his heart the day before. Tang Ao looked up at the balcony and was relieved to find that the person sobbing and half hanging from the balcony was not Jovin.

Tang Ao shifted his gaze to look over at Farley's master bedroom. There was a vague figure of a person standing behind the curtains of the French windows.

Qiao Chen had been standing by the French windows the entire time and watched as everything unfolded. He was about to turn around to get ready for the day once the servants brought Farley's body in, but noticed that Tang Ao's line of sight suddenly shifted over to him. Their eyes met.

Qiao Chen thought, 'No way. Without even mentioning how far apart they were, I'm even hiding behind the curtains. How can he see me?' However, Qiao Chen didn't have that much time to think about such matters. Farley would be brought back to this room soon and he needed to pretend he had no idea what happened. Qiao Chen lay back down on the bed to pretend that he had just woken up.

The doctors in the palace quickly rushed over to treat Farley. Qiao Chen sat on the sofa and looked coldly at the busy doctor, rushing servants, and Mandy as he stood by the bed and cried.

The doctor was nearly finished with the treatment by the time the Queen arrived. She looked at the still unconscious Farley and asked anxiously about his wellbeing.

The doctor assured the Queen that Prince Farley was not in a critical state and that he had just fallen from a high place. In addition to the cuts from the glass, he also injured his internal organs and fractured some bones. Farley was prescribed bed rest and further treatment was needed before he could fully recover.

The Queen was relieved to know that Farley's life was safe, but her face was still dark. She looked at Mandy by the bed and Qiao Chen by the sofa. As she turned to exit the room, she had them both follow behind.

"What the hell happened? How did Farley fall out of no where? What happened before he fell?" The empress looked at Qiao Chen and angrily interrogated.

"My apologies, Your Royal Highness, but I don't know what happened." Qiao Chen replied in a calm manner. His tone was neither subservient nor oppressive. His facial expression was blank as usual, but looked like an emotionless porcelain doll because of it.

"Yesterday was your and Farley's wedding night. What happened to you? How could you not know what happened? And how come you didn't have any issues either? "

The butler already informed the Queen everything that had happened, so she knew what had occurred. Jovin had nothing to do with Farley's fall because Farley had been with Mandy the entire night. However, seeing Jovin's indifferent attitude and expressionless face infuriated the empress. Mandy was beside him in tears. He was nearly hyperventilating from crying so much. Even if Jovin didn't care, he should have at least pretended to show some sort of concern shouldn't he?

"I have no memory past drinking the wine that the butler delivered yesterday night. I didn't wake up until the prince was already being carried back into the room. That's why I don't know what happened." Qiao Chen replied straight forwardly. No emotion or tone could be found from his statement.

The Queen was the one who personally drugged the wine. The butler watched them drink the win with his own two eyes as well. She knew that asking Jovin for details would be useless. This wasn't the time or the place for her to fix Jovin's indifference either. There was nothing she could do at the moment.

The Queen turned her gaze to the still sobbing Mandy. The person who was supposed to cry was as dry as a desert while the person who wasn't even supposed to be here was crying up a storm.  The Queen knew why this person was here and felt a faint headache coming on.

"Stop crying!" The Queen roared impatiently. Mandy was so scared that he immediately stopped his tears and looked that the Queen in a daze.

"Was Farley with you last night?" The empress asked.

"Yes." Mandy nodded.

"Then you can explain everything that happened. Why did Farley break through the window and fall over the balcony?"

"I-I don't know. Farley's facial expression changed at dawn. It looked like he was very uncomfortable. He looked terrible. Then he sudden rushed out towards the window and burst through it. Then he fell off the balcony. I don't know what happened with him." Mandy explained with an innocent face.

"You don't know either?" The Queen slammed her hand on the table and stood up. "You were the one who was with Farley the entire time and even you don't know how or why he suddenly fell like that?"

"I- I really don't know." Mandy looked like he wanted to cry but didn't dare to allow the tears flow.

"Yesterday was Farley and Jovin's wedding night. Why didn't he stay in his room with the bride? Why was he with you instead? You should at least know this, shouldn't you?"

"Yes… It was Farley who arranged the room in the study for me. He said that he wanted to see me once the banquet ended. Then… Then we'd…"

"And then what? What else did you do to him? What did you do to make him suddenly feel so unwell that he went into this manic state? It was bad enough to get him to burst through the windows and fall from such a height." The Queen continued to ask. She knew that the aphrodisiac that she gave was very effective. However, if Farley's accident was due to the medicine, then something would have happened last night not this morning. The drug's effects should have long dissipated by the time morning rolled around.

"I didn't do anything. I really didn't do anything to him!" Mandy quickly defended.

"Lock him up. Don't let him out until we get to the end of this." The Queen ordered.

"Don't lock me away. Please let me take care of Farley. He knows I'm innocent! Your Highness, please…"Mandy pleaded as he was taken away by the Queen's guards.

Qiao Chen stood to the side. He was still expressionless like a porcelain doll. The Queen looked back at Qiao Chen and felt another headache worm its way into her brain.

"You will be the one to take care of Farley during his recovery period. Cultivate and grow your affection for each other. You both are already legal partners after all. It's better to give birth to a child earlier too. Your relationship will naturally get better once you do." The Queen said in a gentle tone.

"Yes." Qiao Chen promised. However, his thoughts were completely different. Ugh. Who wants to cultivate a loving relationship with your son? You even want me to take care of him like a servant? I'd rather kill him off right now by feeding him poison than ever 'cultivate' any sort of affection with him.

As a matter of fact, Qiao Chen had plans to poison Farley to avenge his past life as Jovin. However, he couldn't do that yet. He needed to help save Farley's life for another plan in the future.

Furthermore, with how the Queen was, she wouldn't let Qiao Chen go just because Farley died. She'd hide his death and find someone else from the royal family who she could control. Then she'd force Jovin to have that person's child and raise it as Farley's true heir.

This meant that Farley couldn't die before Qiao Chen escaped. He'd have to die once Qiao Chen got his freedom.

Originally, the morning after the wedding would have been a grand banquet. Farley and Jovin should have had breakfast with the guests who traveled so far away to give the wedding congratulations. Then they'd see their guests off and send them on their way.

However, due to Farley's injury, the banquet was canceled. Jovin was left alone to see the guests out. Qiao Chen felt far more comfortable with sending the guests off this time around. It was much better than seeing everyone off with a half beaten face like Jovin had to in his previous life.

When Tang Ao approached Qiao Chen, Qiao Chen looked at him and said, "Thank you for attending our wedding. You've made a long journey, Prince of the South."

Tang Ao's standard reply should have been ' I wish you both happiness'. However, he didn't reply. He gave Qiao Chen a deep look and turned away. Just as he was about to leave, Qiao Chen called out to him.

"Prince of the South," Qiao Chen stretched his hand out, "Aren't you going to give me your well wishes?"

Tang Ao turned back. He looked at Qiao Chen's hand and grasped it. Then he kissed the back of Qiao Chen's hand, looked up, and said, "I wish you happiness."

Qiao Chen smiled as he watched Tang Ao's back. Tang Ao only said 'I wish you happiness.' He didn't say 'I wish the both of you happiness.'

Tang Ao entered his car and opened his palm. There was a micro chip the size of a fingernail there. This was something that Qiao Chen had slipped into his hand just now.