Ning Chen did not touch the wine.

A fall in the ditch makes you wiser.

He had been played by the Wu Kingdom's woman emperor last time.

A thing like that happening once can be put down to carelessness. Twice is stupidity.

Prince Duan smiled slightly and let it go.

"Ning Chen, you are a genius. Brimming with talent, skilled in arms and in stratagem. This prince has read those poems of yours many times over and has them by heart... This prince thinks very highly of you."

Ning Chen smiled. "Your Highness flatters me."

Prince Duan set his cup down, and then asked, suddenly and very seriously, "Is there bad blood between us?"

That stopped Ning Chen for a second. He thought about it and shook his head slightly.

"Then since there is no grievance and no feud, why fight it to the death?"

"You are making difficulties for this prince for no other reason than to save the daughters of Yan Wenbo and Liu Zhichen... You had only to say so. This prince could have helped you. Why go to all this trouble?"

Ning Chen looked at him and said nothing.

Prince Duan smiled. "Ning Chen, you are very clever. But you believe too much in your own ability, and too much in His Majesty, and neither is a good thing."

"If you bring this prince down, your own end is not far off."

Ning Chen raised an eyebrow. "Meaning what?"

Prince Duan poured himself another cup and said evenly, "Prince Fu. The Empress. The Left Chancellor. The Grand Tutor. All of them died at your hands, directly or otherwise."

"The Third Prince was dragged down with them. The crown prince was deposed—not killed yet, but in a cell... And the crown prince was the heir His Majesty had set his hopes on."

"You cut your way clean through the North Royal Court and took the King of the Left Court alive, and now you have taken Mangzhou and recovered the frontier... You made a Wu army of a hundred and fifty thousand withdraw with nothing asked in…