Lan Wangji knows that, or he ought to know it, at least. He thinks of his brother -- the one back in Gusu, voluntarily caged by the walls of the hanshi. Lan Wangji still aches to think of how deeply Lan Xichen was betrayed, but he also recalls the tender gratitude he felt for his brother's trust when he first visited upon returning home and they spoke for the better part of a day, Lan Xichen wounded and still clutching his love for Jin Guangyao.

"I recovered another memory," he says. As ever, he knows Claudius will trust him to bring this around to its point in time. "I recall the day I met Aornis, and that it came after a cruel dream I was sent."