"No, mother, it's me who doesn't deserve Yunyu. I don't deserve him because I have such a horrible family.

Huang Shu's chest was filled with rage and disappointment. He stared at his nonchalant mother. Even after she accidentally killed an innocent old man and hurt her son's sincere love, she didn't show any remorse. 

"Your mind is muddled. You can't think straight," Imperial Concubine Ai sighed. "This is what happened when you're out to the Capital City for so long. Your mind got muddled by those peasants' life and their trickery. Trust me, son, they only want your money and your position."

"Just like that Bitch Ger Bai Yunyu, if you are not an Imperial prince, there is no way he would want to date you," Imperial Concubine Ai said. 

"You're wrong, mother. I met him first, disguising as a commoner, a dirty commoner you wouldn't want to approach. But he approached me, helped me, he even wiped my face gently with his handkerchief," Huang Shu said. He wanted to sob like a child again, not because of his mother, but because he remembered Bai Yunyu.

After so much gentleness that Yunyu gave him, there was no way for him to turn back in his idle, loveless life. 

"Do you know what's his reaction when he found out that I am the Seventh Prince? He wants to separate himself because he said there is nothing good to be entangled with the Imperial family, even I have to be the one who forced him to stay," Huang Shu added. He looked around, from his mother, the servants, guards, and also Xi Yue.

"I guess what he said is correct. There's nothing good if you get entangled with Imperial Family. Mother, your action just proves what he said."

Huang Shu was so angry right now, he wanted to bash everyone's head here, but he still had sanity in his head. So there was nothing he could do rather than crying for his failed love with Yunyu, like a child that had lost his favorite doll. 

Imperial Concubine Ai sighed, "Why are you so stupid? Isn't that obvious? He already knows about you being the Seventh Prince. You're literally the most popular and the most handsome Imperial Prince. Get yourself together! He is just tricking you because he wants you to fall in love with him!"

"If that's what he wants, then I will gladly give it to him. Because I've fallen in love with him in the first place," Huang Shu claimed boldly. "Mother, I've fallen in love with a peasant Ger. It was love at first sight. And this feeling only grows each day."

"HUANG SHU!"

Huang Shu turned his back and walked away, "If you think he doesn't deserve me because I'm a prince and he is a commoner. Then let me go down and start from the bottom. Let me pick him up and hold his hand together, even through an arduous road."

"W—Wait, what are you saying?" Imperial Concubine Ai got worried once she heard that. "What do you mean that you want to go down?"

Huang Shu halted his step, he looked over his shoulder towards his mother, and replied, "I will meet Emperor Father, I want my status as the Seventh prince to be abolished, and I will draft myself to the military. From now on, you're not my mother, and I'm not your honorable son, the Seventh Prince anymore."

"Wait! My son, Huang Shu! Huang Shu! Where is your filial piety!? You will leave your mother just like this?!"

Huang Shu didn't care and left the Palace of White Swan with a resolute determination. 

He went directly to his Emperor Father's dragon throne, witnessed by attending ministers, court officials, and the Crown Prince, Huang Bei. Huang Shu walked in front of his father on the Emperor's throne and kneeled. 

"Your Majesty Emperor Father, This Prince, Seventh Prince Huang Shu, has come with a request," Huang Shu said without hesitation.

Emperor Jing frowned when he heard this, "Ah, my son, what is this sudden request of yours? You should tell your brother Crown Prince before meeting me."

"Pardon me, Emperor Father, but this is an urgent yet important request regarding my future," Huang Shu said.

Emperor Jing widened his eyes in surprise. Huang Shu was his talented son. His skill was better than Huang Bei, although Huang Bei deserved to be the next Emperor better due to his family connection and status.

"What is it about, Huang Shu, my son."

Huang Shu closed his eyes for a moment. He steeled his resolute and imagined the first face that he saw when he closed his eyes.

'Yunyu, your face always lingers when I close my eyes. Your smile and your sincerity for me. If loving you means that you're not to my level, let me come down to you first. Let's walk together and see what heaven prepares for us.'

Huang Shu opened his eyes and uttered his request, "Your Majesty, Emperor Father. This son of yours has fallen in love with a peasant Ger. He is the love of my life, and we've been in a secret relationship for a year."

"A Ger?!" Emperor Jing's back straightened immediately as he got interested. "You're in love with a Ger?"

"Yes, and he is the one that visited you an hour ago. He is Bai Yunyu, the national champion for this year."

"Bai Yunyu?!" 

Emperor Jing got surprised after another. First, he got a surprise from Bai Yunyu because he refused to take the honor to work as a high-ranked official in the Forbidden City. Instead, he requested to be stationed at the border to study military strategy. 

And now, his son, Huang Shu, revealed that he had a secret relationship with the national champion. What kind of surprise would come out next?

"Then, what do you want, my son? Do you want me to force Bai Yunyu to stay in Forbidden City?"

"No, he will be suffering if we forced him to stay. Emperor Father, what I want is… for you to strip all my ranks as Imperial Prince," Huang Shu said, followed by the gasps of all court officials and ministers.

"M—My son, you want to leave the Imperial Palace?!" Emperor Jing asked his son. He thought he heard it wrong. 

"Emperor Father, he is just a peasant, and I am an Imperial Prince. He refused to marry someone from the Imperial Palace because he is not suitable to be a mistress who decorates the house like a beautiful lily, to sit around waiting for his husband to come home. Yunyu wants to fight, study, and be free."

"But this prince has fallen in love with Bai Yunyu so deeply, there is no way for another person to enter my eyes now. I would rather strip my ranks and become a regular soldier, just to follow him everywhere."

Huang Shu kowtowed in front of his father and then knocked the floor with his forehead three times, a sign of utmost begging, "Your Majesty, Emperor Father. Your Son, the Seventh Prince Huang Shu, begs you to strip his title as Imperial Prince and draft me together with Bai Yunyu to the border."