Dinner was very quiet.
Rowan put down the spoon, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and obediently slid off the chair.
“Good night, sister. Good night, big brothers,” the little one said politely, greeting everyone in turn before toddling upstairs on short legs.
The adults downstairs exchanged glances.
Tinia leaned back in his chair, twirling a dinner knife between his fingers; the blade caught the light with a cold glint. “That kid really doesn’t need supervision? Not even a nanny bot?”
“He said he didn’t want one,” Jiang Lijin finished her last sip of water and stood up. “Let him be alone for a while. It’s a new environment; too many people will just scare him off.”
This houseful of killers, politicians, and tycoons couldn’t muster a shred of parenting experience combined.
Suddenly, a muffled thud came from the second floor.
The sound wasn’t loud, but it stood out sharply in the quiet villa. Along with the thud came the noise of something heavy hitting the floor.
Tianyan reacted the fastest. By the time Jiang Lijin processed it, he had already dashed up the stairs.
Jiang Lijin followed closely, while Tinia and Chiron also set down what they were holding.
The sound of running water from the bathroom was loud and continuous.
Tianyan stood at the bathroom door, his hand still on the handle. He didn’t go in—just peeked inside. That single glance made him freeze in place, his green pupils contracting sharply.
“What’s wrong?” Tinia came up from behind, his long legs ready to barge in.
“Don’t come in.” Tianyan spun around and blocked Tinia at the door, then turned to Jiang Lijin, who had just reached the hallway. “Boss, you go in and look. The little one fell.”
His tone had shed its usual flippant edge for once.
Jiang Lijin walked over; Tianyan sidestepped to let her through and then blocked the door again.
At the doorway, Chiron and Tinia exchanged a glance but said nothing, waiting obediently in the hallway.
The bathroom was thick with steam.
Rowan was curled up on the tiles next to the anti-slip mat. The showerhead had fallen to the floor, spraying warm water everywhere. The little one hugged his knees, shrinking into a tight ball like a shrimp, both hands clutching his body.
His shoulders trembled in tiny jerks, but he made no sound of crying.
“Rowan.” Jiang Lijin walked over, turned off the shower, grabbed a towel from the rack beside her, and crouched down.
Rowan looked up. His golden eyes were full of moisture, and his eye rims were stark red, but he still didn’t make a sound. When he saw it was Jiang Lijin, his tense little body relaxed slightly.
In the palace, baths were always handled by dedicated maids. Tonight, alone and unfamiliar with the place, his short legs had slipped, and he’d fallen flat.
“Where did you hurt yourself? Let me see.” Jiang Lijin wrapped the towel around him.
Rowan bit his lower lip, his golden eyes flickering with struggle. After a long moment, the small hands clutching his body slowly let go.
The air went quiet for two seconds.
She was a female.
No wonder.
No wonder the old emperor had guarded this child so fiercely, made sure even her personal maids were handpicked, no wonder Graven, the “sole” heir who had already secured his position as crown prince, was taking such desperate risks with human experiments and drugging his own mother—he was racing against time.
Chiron had said it before: in imperial succession, females have absolute priority.
The old emperor only had three children, but she also had a princely younger brother. The cabinet had been cozying up to that prince. If Rowan were just a regular male imperial prince, the cabinet could collude with the prince, using the excuse that “a child monarch cannot govern” to overturn the will and force the prince onto the throne.
But if Rowan were female...
Then in legal terms, she was the unshakable sole heir. No prince, not even the gods themselves, could bypass a female crown princess.
Jiang Lijin grabbed a dry towel and gently helped Rowan dry her hair.
“Your knee is bruised.” Jiang Lijin looked at the small bruise on Rowan’s knee, her tone calm. “Does it hurt?”
Rowan shook her head.
“Besides your mother and her personal staff, who else knows?” Jiang Lijin asked.
“No one,” Rowan said very softly. “Mother said if anyone found out, I would die.”
That’s why, even after falling, she didn’t dare call for help.
Jiang Lijin sighed.
This card—it was enormous.
It absolutely could not leak now. Once news that Rowan was female got out, the cabinet and the prince would go completely insane. Obvious attacks were easy to dodge, but hidden ones were hard to guard against. Even with Tianyan and Tianque, even with Bahr’s fleet, they couldn’t shield against endless assassination attempts.
They had to wait.
Wait until the coronation ceremony. Right in front of the entire galaxy, they’d drop this bomb right in those old bastards’ faces.
“Get dressed.” Jiang Lijin picked up the pajamas that had been set aside and dressed Rowan. “From now on, I’ll help you with baths. With me here, neither of us will die.”
Rowan nodded obediently and reached out to hug Jiang Lijin’s neck.
“Sister, you’re so kind,” the little girl said softly.
Jiang Lijin patted her back.
Kind? She just figured that since she’d taken on this mess, she might as well play big. Pull up those scheming bastards against her and hers, roots and all.
Outside the door, three men stood in a row.
Tianyan leaned against the wall in silence; Tinia frowned with impatience; Chiron was even holding a medical kit.
Only Tianque was calmly cleaning up downstairs in the dining room, since the housekeeper had already left for the day.
When Jiang Lijin came out holding the now-changed Rowan, all three stared at them.
“What happened?” Tinia stepped close, scanning Rowan from head to toe. “Where did she fall? Do we need to take her to the hospital? Is the anti-slip system in this villa broken? Tomorrow, I’ll have it all ripped out and redone.”
Chiron opened the medical kit. “Let me take a look.”
“No need.” Jiang Lijin blocked Chiron’s hand. “The floor was slippery; she bumped her knee, but the skin isn’t broken. Kids are delicate—just a scare.”
Rowan cooperated by shrinking further behind Jiang Lijin, leaving only a pair of golden eyes exposed.
Tianyan smiled meaningfully. “See? That’s what I was saying: kids tend to get into accidents in the bath. From now on, this kind of thing is better handled by you, boss. We big burly men are too clumsy—it’s inconvenient.”
He stressed the word “inconvenient.”
Jiang Lijin gave him a look. Smart people save time on words.
“Alright, everyone scatter,” Jiang Lijin said, leading Rowan toward the bed. “I’ll put her to sleep. You all go do whatever you need to do.”
Tinia pouted in displeasure but didn’t dare make a fuss since Rowan had just fallen. He kept looking back reluctantly as Chiron pulled him away.
The hallway quickly quieted down.
Jiang Lijin tucked Rowan into bed, smoothing the covers.
“Sleep now.”
Rowan closed her eyes.
Jiang Lijin turned off the main light, leaving only a dim nightlight on, then walked out of the room.
Outside the door, Tianyan was still there.
He leaned against the railing at the end of the hallway, his head turned to gaze at the night view outside the window. At the sound of movement, he looked back.
“Boss,” Tianyan said in a low voice. “This deal—it’s riskier than I thought.”
Jiang Lijin walked over and rested her hands on the railing, looking down at the yard lights below.
“What, scared?”
“I’m not scared, exactly. It’s just that this little... little one is hiding a lot more than I thought. And the old emperor was no pushover either.”
He didn’t say it outright, but they both understood.
“Does that mean a price hike?” Tianyan turned his head, grinning like a swindler.
Jiang Lijin turned to look at him, her tone light. “She’ll help clear your name with ‘Gui Xu.’ But Senluo Pavilion... that’s out of our hands. The wanted notices are already everywhere.”
Tianyan’s eyes lit up.
“Will it be her doing the clearing, or you?” he asked.
“What difference does it make? She’s the new emperor, and I’m the regent prince assisting her. Besides, the two spots I promised you by my side still stand.”
Tianyan’s smile froze for a moment.
“I’ll take the night watch tonight. Not even a mosquito will get past this floor,” he said, catching on quickly.
Jiang Lijin nodded and turned back to the master bedroom.
The optical computer on his wrist buzzed once.
