The two became entangled uncontrollably. Lin Yanxi panted softly beneath him, like a bullied little rabbit.
"Mmm..." She accidentally pulled at her wound, letting out a pained whimper.
Shen Muzhou was startled awake and quickly released her. His breathing was rough and ragged, his eyes clouded with desire. Seeing the pitiful look of the young girl beneath him, a sliver of clarity returned.
"Did you hurt your wound?" he asked nervously.
Lin Yanxi's lips were exceptionally red and alluring. She moved them, as if wanting to steal the sweetness from his lips again.
She didn't speak, only shook her head.
The wounds were all superficial. Fortunately, he had arrived in time. They looked gruesome with blood and flesh, but no bones were broken.
The two were so close they could feel each other's warm breath on their faces.
She frowned and pushed the man on top of her. Shen Muzhou seemed to snap back to reality, released her, and sat upright on the edge of her bed.
The ambiguous atmosphere in the quiet darkness gradually dissipated.
He turned his head and his gaze fell on Lin Yanxi. She was all huddled in the quilt, with most of her face buried beneath the brocade covers.
"Zhao... Yanxi," he called out.
The young girl, hidden in the quilt, made no sound.
"Yanxi," he called again.
"What, what else do you want?" she stammered back.
Shen Muzhou smiled faintly and leaned closer.
A hint of unnatural blush finally appeared on Lin Yanxi's porcelain-white, bloodless face. She only revealed her eyes, blinking them anxiously, her eyelashes fluttering.
She flung the quilt aside, pushed him away, and said with a stern face, "Your Highness, please conduct yourself with propriety!"
Shen Muzhou was amused by her demeanor and chuckled. His fingers slowly caressed her soft cheek, his eyes earnest as he said, "How about we make our pretense real, my Princess Consort?"
Make their pretense real?
Her eyes widened slightly, and she stared fixedly at the person in front of her, her mind a little dazed, blurred...
Details of their past interactions replayed in her mind.
But she also clearly remembered him saying he didn't like her.
"Then what about the person you like?" she asked almost subconsciously.
"Who do I like?" he raised an eyebrow, a smile playing on his lips.
Her face shrunk back into the quilt. "How would I know?"
After a moment, she added, "You ask when you already know."
"Mmm." Shen Muzhou actually climbed onto her bed, squeezing in beside her.
She felt it was a bit like returning to when they first met, when he had a cold ailment and needed her talisman power to relieve it, so he would sneak into the Grand Tutor's mansion every night.
"You said in the Imperial Garden that you didn't like me," she frowned slightly, enduring the pain, and shifted further inside.
He held her body down and said, "Don't move around, rest your wound properly."
"Some words were spoken out of necessity, but liking or disliking has already been revealed in actions. You're so sharp, you must be able to feel it."
"Then do you like me?" he asked back.
Lin Yanxi felt her cheeks grow hot, as if cooked. She had secretly thought about this question, but couldn't come up with an answer.
It was the same now.
However, after her rebirth, she had already decided that after settling affairs in the capital, she would take the people of the Grand Tutor's mansion and leave the capital. She didn't want to be confined to the palace for her entire life, living a life of constant scheming and apprehension.
And Shen Muzhou was destined to be the emperor. His ambition for governing could not be abandoned because of her.
Shen Muzhou understood the answer from her reaction. His gaze became even darker, his smile slightly stiff and restrained. He lowered his expression and looked at her quietly, expecting something on her fair face.
"I... don't like you."
Her voice was soft and melodious, but her words were enough to plunge someone into an icy abyss.
A complex and desolate emotion flickered in his eyes. He looked into her eyes with a calm expression. After a long pause, he managed a bitter smile and said, "Then I'll have to try harder."
They slept in their clothes that night, neither speaking.
The next day, Li Zi came in with a basin of water. Seeing Shen Muzhou on the bed, she was so startled that she dropped the basin, making a loud clang.
"Pr-pr-prince." She swallowed hard, too scared to speak.
Shen Muzhou glanced at the young girl who was still fast asleep. He made a gesture, and Li Zi picked up the bronze basin, hurriedly walked out of the room, and closed the door.
About half an hour later, she rubbed her eyes and opened them to see a cold and handsome face magnified before her. He was leaning against the head of the bed, gazing at her intently.
"Awake?" he asked, gently moving a strand of hair from her face.
Lin Yanxi looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you... still in my bed?"
Shen Muzhou deliberately teased her. "Still where? I can't hear you clearly."
She cleared her throat and said, "I mean, why haven't you gone to court?"
He lowered his head and leaned closer. The young girl suddenly remembered their ambiguous kiss from yesterday. She quickly retracted her neck and covered her mouth, saying, "Your Highness, please conduct yourself with propriety."
"Mmm?"
He drew closer and closer. Lin Yanxi frantically didn't know where to look, her heart pounding. She simply closed her eyes.
After waiting for a moment, she felt a coolness on her body and slowly opened her eyes. She saw Shen Muzhou applying medicine to her scabbed wound.
She murmured, "Applying medicine?"
He smiled, his eyes completely devoid of their usual sternness. "What else did you think?"
Her face immediately turned red again, like a ripe apple. She stammered, "I mean, I can apply the medicine myself. How can I trouble Your Highness?"
Shen Muzhou's smile always carried a touch of noble youthful spirit. "Aren't I trying hard right now?"
His tone was clearly teasing, yet his peach-blossom eyes were incredibly earnest as they lingered on her.
At first, she didn't understand what he meant. Then she understood. Yesterday, when she said she didn't like him, he had said he needed to try harder.
For some reason, her heart also felt sweet, and a smile involuntarily bloomed on her lips, her eyes curving like crescent moons.
"I've pleaded illness for the morning court today. You mentioned praying for rain yesterday. It seems Nanmin has been suffering from drought for nearly a year, and it won't be resolved in a day or two. I'll take you away from the capital first. I'll speak with the Emperor."
"So you want to elope with me?" she said.
His gaze fell on her as he asked, "Are you willing?"
"To leave this place with me and never return."
Lin Yanxi's heart fluttered. Was she willing?
She knew he was teasing her. He carried the responsibility of the Ningyu Clan and Nanmin, and she had the Grand Tutor's mansion and the Jiang family.
They had to navigate the imperial palace until everything was settled.
She had a moment of distraction and said, "Okay."
Perhaps because she knew it was false, she could truly answer according to her heart.
"Mmm, wash up, and we'll go."
"And then the whole of Yueyou will have wanted posters of you being apprehended and me escorting you to the capital?" She grabbed his sleeve and said, "Trust me, in three days, I will succeed in praying for rain."
"No, it's two days now."
Shen Muzhou looked her in the eye and asked earnestly, "Can't you tell me why this time either?"
Lin Yanxi lowered her gaze, troubled. Her rebirth was too complex; she couldn't tell anyone for now.
As she hesitated on how to explain, he sighed almost inaudibly and said, "You don't need to explain. I believe you."
She had also said many things before that had all come true.
"But there's still one more thing you need to help me with," she said, blinking her eyes. "Evidence against the Crown Prince."
He withdrew his playful demeanor, his dark eyes like an abyss looking at her. "Don't worry about that. Witnesses and evidence have already entered the capital and are under the control of the Dark Night Guard."
After staying with her for a while longer, Shen Muzhou still went to the imperial palace.
Fuan Hall.
After the morning court, the Emperor of Nanmin changed into casual clothes and sat in his sleeping quarters, reviewing memorials. Seeing Shen Muzhou arrive, he folded several memorials he was holding and threw them at Shen Muzhou's feet.
"There are seven or eight memorials impeaching you. Little Nine, what explanation do you have?" He narrowed his eyes slightly, his oppressive aura falling on Shen Muzhou.
Rising from his desk, he slowly paced in front of Shen Muzhou. "You defied the Empress, and forcibly entered Yaohua Palace. You committed murder within the palace, killing several Golden Armored Guards. From a young age, I taught you not to lose your composure for anyone and to avoid placing yourself in a whirlpool."
Shen Muzhou knelt on the ground and asked, "On this point, this son is indeed not as ruthless as Father Emperor. After all, Father Emperor also remained detached when dealing with Mother Consort's matter."
The Emperor of Nanmin lowered his gaze, fixing it on him, then kicked him.
He knelt there rigidly, his shoulder not even flinching. He merely gave a disdainful laugh.
The Emperor of Nanmin looked at him with increased anger. "More than ten years have passed, what else do you want? Your Mother Consort committed treason, it's a fact! What? Do you resent that I forced you to kill your Mother Consort with your own hands back then?"
"Do you know! Under those circumstances, with the blood of a Ningyu Clan princess flowing through you, if you hadn't killed her yourself, you would have been executed along with her."
In Shen Muzhou's dark eyes, a sorrow for the past flickered. His gaze, as sharp as a cold abyss, was as still as stagnant water.
His voice was not loud but extremely firm. "Father Emperor could not protect Mother Consort. At least I will do my utmost to protect the one I love, ensuring her peace and happiness."
The Emperor of Nanmin sneered and sat back at his desk. "Ridiculous."
"Do you know why the position of Crown Prince is not yours? Because Shen Qingyun is not as naive as you. He knows that to remain Crown Prince, he must abandon romantic love, and even familial affection."
"I will never have to worry about how he will decide when faced with a choice between Nanmin and the woman he loves. But you? You are weak."
Shen Muzhou said, "Lin Yanxi has never been a threat to Nanmin, so this son does not need to make such a decision. On the contrary, she is kind, courageous, and upholds righteousness. With her assistance, this son will surely bring a new era of prosperity to Nanmin."
"As for the position of Crown Prince, this son will prove to Father Emperor who is the suitable person."
"This son has come today to inform Father Emperor that I wish to break off my engagement with Luo Jingxin."
The Emperor of Nanmin leaned back in his carved pear wood chair with cloud patterns. This was the first time he had seen Shen Muzhou's desire to contend for the throne. He assumed it was related to that Lin Yanxi.
He remained silent with an inscrutable expression for a while before slowly speaking, "Behind Luo Jingxin is the Anchang Prince's Mansion. I hear that people from the Ningyu Clan are also active in Anchang Prince's border town. Therefore, you must marry Luo Jingxin. Not only must you marry her, but you must also dote on her."
The Anchang Prince's Mansion had become increasingly arrogant towards the court due to frequent border conflicts. If this Luo Jingxin were to provoke the Anchang Prince into harboring dissent, it would lead to internal and external troubles, a disaster for the current Nanmin.
Shen Muzhou was about to refuse.
The Emperor of Nanmin said leisurely, "This is the only chance I can give that little girl to live. If you want her to live, do not anger me further."