Two weeks after Ying Yue's escape, the crown prince and the royal family finally returned from their successful hunt. With the kingdom in celebration of the royal family's return, the crown princess had forgotten to released Ying Yue who she thought was still in the cold palace. Once, the royal family returned to the royal palace; the crown prince removed his armor and switched into his usual clothing. Grabbing hold of his fan he makes his way towards Ying Yue's residence, the rose palace. The queen happened to be walking nearby and notices her son walking happily away.
" Long Jian! Where are you going?"
"Ah, queen mother, Why I'm heading off to see my concubine, of course."
"You should be seeing the crown princess first! She's to be your future wife!"
"Mother! You know I don't like her, why are you so insistent I take her as my wife?"
"Her father is the prime minister. They will be your strongest backbone in this fight for the throne! Don't be stupid and let feelings sway you from our original goal!"
The crown prince stops smiling. Now, with a cold look in his eyes, he turns to face his own mother and stares into her eyes.
"Worry not, dear mother. I haven't forgotten my goal."
The queen couldn't even mutter a single sound. She could only watch as her own son walked away from her. Knowing she couldn't push him too far, the queen remained silent as the crown prince disappeared from her sight.
After walking for ten minutes, the crown prince was now standing in front of rose palace. After repeatedly knocking on the door with no answer, the crown prince kicked his way in.
"Ying Yue? I'm back!"
Glancing around the empty room, the crown prince can feel his heartbeat fastening. Quickly running around the residence, he quickly realized that Ying Yue hadn't been living in the rose palace for a while. As he turns to leave, he spots the crown princess and her maids walking towards the rose palace. The crown prince storms off and pulls the crown princess by her hand and drags her towards the rose palace entrance.
"Where is Ying Yue?!"
The crown princess remained silent. It was only when the crown prince was going to slap the crown princess did one of her maids come running to her aid.
"Crown prince, she's in the cold palace! She disrespected the crown princess and is currently there repenting!"
"What? Who gave you permission to make that decision?!"
"....."
The crown princess was shivering in fear, she had never seen the crown prince so mad before and didn't know what to do. Taking a long deep breath, he grabs hold of the crown princess right hand and drags her to the cold palace with him. After twenty minutes, they were now standing in front of the cold palace that had been blocked off. The guards quickly noticed the crown prince and greeted him.
"Greetings crown prince! What brings you to the cold palace?"
"Open up this door! Or do you want me to use your dead bodies to break it down?"
"Ri...right away crown prince!"
Once the doors were opened; the crown prince finally let's go of the crown princess and runs right in. He continues to call for Ying Yue as he runs in and out of the cold palace.
"Ying Yue?! I'm back! Where are you?!"
Nothing, but the sound of his own voice echoed in the abandoned residence. He motions for the guards to help check out the cold palace to make sure Ying Yue wasn't hiding. After thirty minutes of searching, everyone could only return to the crown prince and notified him that Ying Yue was no longer inside the building.
The crown prince walks over to the crown princess and grabs her by the shoulders and slams her to a wall. Everyone watched as the crown princess screamed in pain from the impact. With tears strolling down her eyes; the princess never once took her gaze off the crown prince.
"What have you done to Ying Yue?!"
"I didn't do anything! I really did only lock her inside the cold palace!"
"If you locked her up, then where is she?! If you killed her, I will have you beheaded!"
"I didn't kill her!"
"If you didn't kill her, you must be hiding her! Where is she?!"
"I did no such thing! What is wrong with you lately?! You told me she was only a play thing to kill time! So, what is this?! Don't forget I'm still the prime minister's daughter!"
The crown prince punches the wall; leaving a dent only inches away from the crown princess head. The crown princess falls to her knees in shock.
"And don't forget I'm the crown prince! As of today, I am stripping you of your title. Get out of the palace!"
"You....you can't do this to me! His majesty is the only one that can kick me out!"
Without looking back once, the crown prince turns around and leaves the crying crown princess behind in the cold palace. He makes his way to the throne room filled with the ministers, and interrupts his father's meeting.
"What's the meaning of this Long Jian? Who said you could interrupt my meeting?"
"Father! I want you to denounced the crown princess and strip her of her title!"
The queen was more shocked than the king. Her face twisted with confusion and anger as she lashed out at her son.
"What's the meaning of this?! Explain yourself!"
"......."
The crown prince remained silent as his mother lashed out at him. The king finally stands up and motions for his queen to quiet down. Making his way towards the crown prince; with only two feet in between them now, the king asks the crown prince again.
"What is your reason for stripping the crown princess of her title?"
"King...father, I wasn't going to tell you this yet. Seeing as it's come to this, I will tell you everything. Ying Yue was the bearer of the divine sword from the legends. After she had given birth, I was going to officially take her as my wife and notify you then, but now she's missing!"
"Are you certain about this?!"
"Yes! I witnessed it with my own eyes!"
"Why didn't tell me about it until now?! Where is she?!"
"I....I'm not sure. The last person to see her was the crown princess."
"What are you all waiting for?! Summon the crown princess here!"
The king looks over to two guards standing nearby. After hearing the kings order they quickly ran off to go fetch the crown princess. A few moments later the crown princess walks in with her head hanging low and her gaze on the ground. The king was back to sitting on his throne as the crown prince stood next to him.
"Crown princess, do you know of your crimes?"
"I....I do not! I don't understand why I am being treated like this because of some low born woman!"
"That low born women was the wielder of the divine sword. I'm sure even you have heard of the sword."
"Sword?.....sword....."
The princess finally remembers Ying Yue having a beautiful white sword that was always with her.
"But your majesty! How can we even be sure the sword is real?!"
The crown prince walks down from where he was standing and moves closer to the crown princess. Barely able to hold himself back from slapping the ignorant princess, the crown prince takes a deep breath.
"I confirmed myself, that the sword was real. Are you going to say my judgement was wrong?"
"No... no....I didn't say that!"
"Now, I'll ask you again. Where is Ying Yue?"
"I really don't know! I left her in the cold palace as punishment and was going to wait for you to return to release her! No one's gone in or out of the cold palace! I don't know how she's missing!"
"Then explain to me why she's missing! If she was dead, we'd see a body! Ying Yue is missing and so is her maid and no one here has any idea?!"
The crown princess falls to her knees and cries in the arms of one of her maids. The king rubs his eyebrows in frustration and stands back up.
"Seeing as how things have turned out this way, we will be stripping you of your title and banishing you from the royal palace. You will return back to the prime minister's residence today."
"No! Your majesty please! You can't do this to me! I will be shamed for life if I'm banished from the palace! Please have mercy!"
"The crime for hurting someone of Ying Yue's status is punishable by death. Would you rather take that route instead?"
"No.....no...your majesty, I wouldn't dare."
The king motions for guards to help drag the former crown princess out along with her maids. Throughout the whole event, all the ministers remained silent. Once the crown princess was out, the ministers finally spoke out. Duke Lee was the first one, to walk out from the crowd.
"Your majesty, if what the crown prince said is true. Then we must locate this Ying Yue before the other kingdoms find out about the sword."
"What do you suggest we do, duke Lee?"
"I'm almost certain this woman is alive. She must've had help if she was able to escape through the palace and leave Xinjing. To make sure we don't alert other kingdoms, we should send out people to search nearby kingdoms first."
"Hmmm...you have a point. Alright, today's meeting is over. I have things to talk over with the crown prince. You're all dismissed."
Once everyone was out of sight, including the queen. The king finally sits back down on his throne and motions for his son to come closer.
"Look what you've gotten us into? The dragon emperor is looking for his empress and now we also lost sight of her. If they get to her before we do, a war will break out."
"Don't worry father, I have my plans and people watching over the dragon kingdom."
"Long Jian, we are humans. You're trying to mess with gods. If your plans don't work, you have just doomed us all."
"The sword originally belongs to the Xinjing kingdom in the first place! Father, you were the one to teach me of the divine sword legend. Now that's it's come back, you have to help me get ahold of it."
"Sigh....I cannot guarantee this will go the way you want, but I will send out men to look for her. You should call your men to come help as well."
"What? You mean Bai Chun? I can't tell him I lost Ying Yue. He'll just scoff at me and tell me to find her on my own this time. Not to mention, they don't work for me anymore."
"What? You let him go?"
"I gave him what he wanted, and in return he gave me what I wanted."
"Long Jian, don't go making deals with people of the dragon clan."
"They're outcasts, it doesn't matter father. I will be leaving first father, remember to send out men to look for Ying Yue."