Chapter 108 - The Fox Spends A Night Out In The Cold

It was a good thing Xiao Zai had taken a single horse instead of the carriage, because Chu Yun didn't want to arrive at the royal palace looking desperate. Even though he was feeling it.

He could see Hua Nanyi shooting him worried looks from the opposite seat, and he wanted to snap at her to cut it out.

It didn't take a large stretch of the imagination to guess that Xiao Zai's arrest wast related to the mysterious attack on Xiao Yuan's concubine.

According to Fan Jiang everything happened yesterday. Which meant that if Xiao Yuan reported the incident on the same day, it took only a few hours of investigation for the King to decide Xiao Zai was to blame.

They arrived at the palace under the cover of darkness and weren't stopped from crossing the gates. Chu Yun went directly towards the building on the farthest corner of the palace compound. It was a squat, whitewashed building, with a scooped black tiled roof typical of Zui. It was a far less grander building than all others in the royal complex. The thick iron bars in the crude square windows gave away its purpose.

Chu Yun marched towards the prison doors, which were flanked by two unfriendly looking guards.

Both their right hands flew to the hilts of their swords when Chu Yun got too close.

"No one can enter the royal prison except his Majesty himself and the members of the court of justice," the more stern-faced of the two guards said.

"My husband, his Second Highness, has been detained and I wasn't informed," Chu Yun said, spiting out the words. This wasn't the time to play at meekness. Along with the steel of his glare, Chu Yun would have sent out a debilitating wave of pheromones if that wasn't useless against two beta guards. "I demand to see him."

The two guards were resolute. "His Grace will have to get express permission from his Majesty. No visitors are allowed in the royal prison."

Chu Yun was about to launch into another tirade, when he saw Hua Nanyi shake her head from the corner of his eye. He shot the two guards one last glare and left with her.

Once they were a good distance away from the prison building she said, "you won't get anything by arguing with them. They probably have specific orders to keep you out."

He knew she was right, but that didn't make him any less furious. What exactly was the King trying to do here? Was the whole matter with Chu Hean only a stepping stone leading up to this?

Chu Yun couldn't see the full picture yet, but he had a terrible feeling about what was yet to come.

---

After ascending the stairs leading up to the central pavilion where the King's private quarters, throne room, and offices were located, Chu Yun was met with the unusual sight of several guards in a row on both sides of the stone steps up into the pavilion's landing.

He took one step in their direction, and immediately their swords came out of the scabbards, blades crossing with metallic clinks, preventing Chu Yun from going up the short steps.

"No one may enter the main hall at this time," one of the guards said, not even looking in Chu Yun's direction.

"I need an audience with the King," he demanded, staying his ground.

"No one may enter the main hall at this time," the man repeated.

"I'm the husband of his Second Highness the Prince Xiao Zilang, I demand an explanation as to why my husband is being held under custody in the royal family prison!"

The Guards didn't waver, all of their steady gazes were fixed on invisible points in the middle distance.

"His Majesty isn't holding audiences at this time."

Chu Yun balled his hands into fists to keep them from shaking. "Fine," he spit out, "I'll wait until his Majesty deigns to see me."

Hua Nanyi shot him a confused look when he turned around and walked back towards the the top of the stairs they had just climbed. Her eyes widened, large as small moons, when she saw him kneel at the top of the stairs, facing the steps up to the pavilion and the stone-faced guards.

He knelt with his back ramrod straight and his chin held high.

Flustered, Hua Nanyi knelt at his side too. "What are you doing?" she hissed under her breath.

"I'm going to stand here regardless of how long it takes, until someone tells me what's going on," Chu Yun said. "Let's see if the King can ignore the humiliation of a member of the royal family being denied an audience and having to kneel for an entire night."

Hua Nanyi was immediately alarmed. "You can't kneel here all night, it's cold, and," she lowered her voice even more, "you're pregnant."

"I'm not an invalid," Chu Yun retorted. He knew she was going to bring the damn pregnancy up. Everything was going to revolve around the damn parasite inside him for the foreseeable future. Chu Yun was so angry he could scream. 

"But-"

"But what? This pregnancy isn't even one month along, how much damage can kneeling cause?"

Chu Yun was prepared to kneel there the entire night if necessary, and the morning too. The more servants saw him there the better. If the King denied to see him until morning court early the next morning even better. Chu Yun would be sure to look extra pitiful and devoted to his husband when all those ministers showed up for court. 

He wanted to be the first thing they saw when they climbed the stairs.

"Please think this through," Hua Nanyi said, making one last appeal.

Chu Yun ignored her. He had made his mind and he was going through with this regardless of what she said.

It didn't look like she was going to give up easily so he decided to give her something to do.

"Go find Gu Wei, and tell him Xiao Zai has been arrested, maybe he doesn't know about this."

Her clever eyes darted towards the guards on the steps. "It's possible no one will let me in."

She was right, both of them were well-known faces from the regular visits he paid to Min Sezhui. "Find another way in, it's night and your robes are dark, you can blend in, if necessary."

It was obvious from the look in her eyes that she wanted to protest, but Chu Yun was adamant.

"Go now, before he goes to sleep."

With a sigh, she got up to her feet. She shot Chu Yun one last pleading look which he ignored, and then finally did as he said and disappeared down the stairs.

Chu Yun returned his gaze to the pavilion's dark wooden doors, steeling his spine for the long hours ahead.

---

Being a prince's first alpha child, and fairly well-behaved (or rather, very good at hiding his indiscretions) on top of being a good student, Chu Yun hadn't been disciplined often. The most he had knelt outside was a few minutes before his mother took pity on him and called him back inside. 

The weather was bitterly cold during the winter in Zui to begin with, but even more so at night.

At least it wasn't snowing, but no sooner had the thought crossed Chu Yun's mind than a snowflake landed on his eyelashes, he blinked it away but a second soon followed.

He tightened his rabbit fur cloak around his shoulders with a dismayed sigh, holding it closed in front of his abdomen from the inside.

Once or twice one of the guards shot him a worried look, after it started properly snowing. One of the few advantages of the snow was that a blanket soon formed on the ground, Chu Yun shifted around so he would at least be kneeling on the soft snow instead of the hard ground. It might be soaking through his robes, but he'd rather feel that than the unpleasant grinding of the little gravel stones on his kneecaps.

Sometime during the night he lost consciousness, or feel asleep. He came to when a gentle hand shook his shoulder.

Chu Yun blinked up in confusion, surprised that he was still kneeling and hadn't toppled face-first into the snow in humiliating fashion. 

A palace servant holding an umbrella and a portable hand-warmer smiled at him. "The weather is really bad, maybe his Grace should return at another time?"

Chu Yun ignored her and kept looking forward. "I'll stay here until I have an audience with the King."

The servant seemed to expect that reply. She held the umbrella over his head and tried to give him the hand warmer. "Then this servant will stay here and shield his Grace from the snow, his Grace should also keep his hands warm."

Her offer was tempting, Chu Yun was so cold he could barely feel his limbs, but he wanted to make a statement. If the ministers saw him half buried in snow, then all the better.

"That's not necessary, I'm fine, please leave."

She looked really startled to be refused but eventually left. Chu Yun closed his eyes with a sigh, and waited.

---

Finally, morning came, Chu Yun could have cried from joy when he saw the sun rays start to break through the darkness over the roof of the palace.

With the break of dawn came the sound of footsteps on the stairs.

"What...what is this? His Grace, Chu Miaoyan?" asked someone from behind him.

Chu Yun didn't recognise the voice but he knew it belonged to one of the ministers. He had fulfilled his goal. He was so tired, and so cold. 

When the first person reached the top of the stairs Chu Yun let exhaustion overtake him and collapsed sideways on top of the fresh snow.