When the Crown Prince was imprisoned, he once declared that his body was a sacred temple, not to be defiled by any impurity.
Naturally, such unhealthy carbonated beverages were among the forbidden.
Yet now, the warden forcibly pressed the smooth, rounded mouth of a glass bottle between his lips.
The Crown Prince was furious, attempting to turn his head away and reject the intrusion of this foreign object.
But his hair was yanked back, his entire head held firmly in place, rendering his resistance futile.
The fizzy liquid rushed violently down his throat, nearly choking him.
At the same time, he tasted the flavor of the soda—sharp, overly sweet, with a faint, unpleasant aftertaste.
That odd flavor, masked by the intense carbonation, might have gone unnoticed by most.
But he was different. As royalty, his palate was refined—he could even distinguish salt from different regions with ease.
The Crown Prince’s eyes widened. This bastard actually dared to mix some unknown drug into the drink and force it down his throat.
Shen Ying poured nearly half the bottle down his throat before finally pulling it away, looking down at him with a smirk. "That should be enough."
Freed from her grip, the Crown Prince coughed violently, his struggles causing some of the clear, sparkling liquid to spill.
It left his lips glistening, their color deepening.
Shen Ying spoke lazily, "I’m not entirely sure what kind of cleaning agent was used for this temple’s purification, or what its intended effects are."
Her smile widened. "After all, I’m just an ordinary janitor. I have no say in what solutions are used to maintain sacred temples."
"The temple itself issues the orders based on its own needs."
The Crown Prince nearly exploded with rage. Was she mocking him for setting a trap only to fall into it himself?
He hadn’t expected her to appear lazy and indifferent, yet still be in control of even the smallest details—like two employees stealing medicine.
Even less had he anticipated her daring to confront him without a shred of evidence.
Was this lunatic truly so reckless? Even if he died here, she would be the first to take the blame, thrown to the wolves by all sides.
She had only one path to survival, yet she acted with utter disregard.
He had met fearless people before, but someone courting death for no reason, with no grudge or gain at stake—this was a first.
He couldn’t decipher her motives, but that didn’t lessen his humiliation.
"Bastard!" he snarled at Shen Ying. "You’ll pay for what you’ve done today."
Shen Ying tilted her head, feigning confusion. "Is the drug slow-acting? What were they thinking? If I noticed something was off before it took effect and activated my defenses, what then?"
She gestured, and a metal sphere the size of a ping-pong ball floated toward them.
The Crown Prince paled at the sight. "What are you doing?"
Shen Ying grinned. "Just reviewing the temple’s cleaning records."
"We should observe the effects of this cleaning agent. What if it causes irreversible damage to the temple?"
The Crown Prince didn’t need a mirror to know how wretched he looked—his hair disheveled from the rough handling, liquid still clinging to his lips, his eyes red and watery from coughing.
When had he ever been seen in such a state? Even when accused and imprisoned, he had carried himself with unshaken dignity.
"You dare!" the Crown Prince bellowed. "Filming the royal heir without permission is a crime!"
Shen Ying shrugged nonchalantly. "Your Highness seems to have forgotten that your punishment, in addition to serving time, includes the revocation of your political rights during this period."
"In other words, recording inside the 'Sacred Temple' for sightseeing purposes isn’t illegal right now."
The way she kept referring to it as the "Sacred Temple" was laced with mocking amusement, infuriating the Crown Prince even more.
He tried to speak again, but his expression suddenly shifted. The drug was taking effect—his body grew weak, his muscles slack, and his mental energy scattered, impossible to focus.
His consciousness blurred, though he didn’t pass out entirely. Yet his emotions spiraled out of control, leaving him vulnerable.
A smile curled on Shen Ying’s lips. "Has the cleansing tonic taken effect?"
"Let’s see… What exactly does this potion do? Maintenance and upkeep? Purification? Or perhaps guiding divine will, opening the mind to hear the gods’ whispers?"
The Crown Prince weakly raised an arm, pointing at her. "You—you gave me—"
Shen Ying didn’t respond, watching him expectantly for a moment before frowning in confusion. "This doesn’t make sense. Just losing mobility slowly won’t accomplish anything."
"The guards in the Sky Prison are elite officers selected from across the planetary systems. They wouldn’t be this foolish."
Ignoring him, she pulled open a drawer, retrieved an empty vial, and scanned it with her terminal.
Instantly, the vast database retrieved all the drug’s uses.
"Suppresses mental energy, relaxes muscles, amplifies the urge to confess…"
"Ah." Shen Ying turned back to the Crown Prince. "So it’s a truth serum."
For the first time, the Crown Prince realized—
He had mentioned that outright killing this woman wasn’t an option. Controlling her would be safer, more convenient for securing the Sky Prison from within.
And now, someone had stolen this very drug to target him, exposing his intentions in one stroke.
The Crown Prince sneered. "You think you can turn the tables? Extract my plans and strategies from me?"
"Ridiculous. If one path is blocked, I’ll take another. Let’s see how much you manage to pry out of me today."
Shen Ying tilted her head. "Why waste such a precious opportunity on trivial matters I can already see through at a glance?"
The Crown Prince stiffened. Was this bastard so arrogant she believed he’d never escape?
Before his indignation could settle, she continued, "I’m far more interested in the secrets of the 'Sacred Temple' itself."
At first, the Crown Prince didn’t understand what she meant.
His focus was slipping, his breaths coming hot and uneven. Then the warden roughly grabbed his chin, forcing him to face the spherical camera.
She asked a single question:
"Your Highness, has your 'Sacred Temple' ever allowed anyone inside to… pray?"
A jolt shot through the Crown Prince’s nerves, his scattered mental energy sharpening abruptly.
He stared at Shen Ying, his face flushing crimson. "What the hell are you implying?"
Shen Ying’s tone was light. "It’s just curiosity. From the moment you arrived, you’ve emphasized the sanctity of your 'Sacred Temple.'"
"But the more sacred and exalted a place is, the more people yearn to uncover its mysteries."
"Now that the 'Temple' has graciously opened itself—thanks to this tonic—to let us hear the divine whispers…"
"I’m simply wondering about this."
The Crown Prince nearly choked on his fury. "You insolent—! Using drugs to humiliate me—"
Shen Ying pressed on. "So, Your Highness, has anyone ever been allowed to enter… or use the 'Temple'?"
"—!"
Under the drug’s influence, the Crown Prince almost blurted out the answer.
With sheer willpower, he resisted, gritting his teeth and refusing to speak.
He had made up his mind not to cooperate.
Shen Ying, seeing the Crown Prince's defiance, sighed. "This won't do, Your Highness."
"While I have no interest in your plans, you were caught conspiring with workers to escape. This is now an interrogation."
"Regardless of the subject, as a prisoner, you must comply unconditionally to lessen your punishment."
The Crown Prince lifted his chin arrogantly, closing his eyes in silent refusal.
Shen Ying sighed again. "Very well. For uncooperative prisoners, I must resort to necessary measures to extract information."
The next moment, the Crown Prince's eyes flew open, his voice laced with panic for the first time. "What are you doing?"
Shen Ying replied calmly, "Since Your Highness refuses to cooperate with the interrogation, I’ll have to deduce the truth myself."
The Crown Prince, furious, snapped, "Bastard! Stop! Is this even an interrogation?"
"Do you dare call this an interrogation?"
Shen Ying maintained a professional demeanor, addressing the metal surveillance camera. "Rest assured, the interrogation is being fully recorded."
The Crown Prince’s face flushed with humiliation. He wanted to resist, but between the inhibitor collar around his neck and the drugs sapping his strength, he couldn’t muster even a shred of defiance.
In the end, he could only endure the indignity of Shen Ying inspecting his sacred temple, under the pretext that traces would remain if intruders had trespassed.
The Crown Prince gripped the armrests of his chair so tightly they nearly splintered.
After what felt like an eternity, the bastard finally nodded. "It seems no one has been here."
By then, the Crown Prince’s breathing was ragged, sweat soaking the hair at his temples and forehead.
The inspection left his body simmering with an increasingly unbearable heat.
Eyes burning with fury, he spat, "You—how dare you!"
Shen Ying remained unfazed. "Your refusal to cooperate is on you, Your Highness."
"The recordings won’t show anything more undignified than this."
The Crown Prince seethed but conceded inwardly—there was no point in enduring further humiliation for the sake of pride.
Yet just as he relented, Shen Ying asked, "If no one has used Your Highness’s sacred temple, do you cleanse its impurities regularly?"
The question left the Crown Prince momentarily bewildered. Seconds later, realization dawned, and his face burned crimson as he glared at Shen Ying. "You—!"
Shen Ying shook her head regretfully. "It seems Your Highness still refuses to cooperate."
By the time the Crown Prince left the warden’s office, he was struggling to maintain his posture. S~eaʀᴄh the NovelZone.fun website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
Chin raised, expression haughty, spine rigid—he refused to be dragged back to his cell in disgrace, unlike that lowly wretch Lien.
Even as his muscles ached and his body trembled with exhaustion, he clung to the dignity of royalty.
But—
His teeth ground together in fury. That bastard had done it on purpose. Whether he answered or not, she demanded a demonstration of how his sacred temple expelled its impurities.
And she didn’t stop there—each subsequent question grew more unbearable than the last.
Never in his life had the Crown Prince suffered such humiliation. Being imprisoned was already the greatest disgrace he’d known, but now—
By the time he returned to his cell, it was late. The prison lights were out, most inmates already asleep.
Including Lien next door—the wretch had likely waited, hoping to gloat over the Crown Prince’s misery.
The afternoon's punishment had left him thoroughly exhausted, and not long after lying down, he unknowingly drifted off to sleep.
By the time he opened his eyes, it was already the next day. When he stepped out of the prison cell, Lien came face-to-face with the Crown Prince, and the tension between them was palpable.
Lien took one look at the Crown Prince's visibly weakened state and immediately knew the man had suffered no small amount the day before.
He burst into laughter. "Well, well, if it isn’t His Highness the Crown Prince, with all his privileges! What’s the matter? You look awfully drained today."
The Crown Prince had initially planned to ignore this troublemaker, but the memory of the chaos Lien had stirred up made his blood boil.
Without hesitation, he lifted his foot and aimed a sharp kick straight at Lien’s head.
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