Prince Duan went to sleep past midnight, and as half of the lights in Prince Duan's Mansion were extinguished, several shadows stealthily approached the mansion's most exquisite courtyard. This was not the main courtyard; given that Prince Duan's Mansion was originally a residence from the previous dynasty, Prince Duan, a man of simplicity, occupied what should have been the favored concubine's quarters of the former estate—every piece of foliage, every carving there was far more exquisite than elsewhere.
However, since it was situated too far from the main residence and with the passage of time, those precious trees had become increasingly somber. Prince Duan maintained the place originally for Zheng Nianru, but upon return, he found it too distant and, after a consult with a mage who proclaimed it unsuitable for the Commandery Princess's fate, he decided against moving there.
