Chapter 6

The sovereign taking a consort — the imperial edict was only the first step.

The procedures for an imperial wedding were elaborate and complex; even at the fastest, preparations would require over a month.

Simplifying it was not difficult either. The late emperor had been licentious and dissolute, and his custom was simply to set his eyes on whichever young lord or lady of whatever household he fancied, and have them carried directly into his bedchambers. He would favor them for a single night, then casually grant them some title and be done with it.

Never mind a wedding ceremony — whether a consort could even lay eyes on the emperor again was, for most of them, an uncertainty.

But Jinwang was different.

He ordered the Ministry of Rites to select an auspicious date and time, and issued a proclamation to all under heaven: he would take a wife with the full rites befitting an emperor and empress.

As if afraid the world would not know he was getting married.

As for who the bride was — no one knew.

Jinwang's edict taking a consort had not been made public. In truth, the absurd affair of Chancellor Ye faking his death and entering the rear palace was known to no one beyond a few trusted attendants at the sovereign's side; no one knew, and no one dared breathe a word of it.

The sovereign of Changlu had always been unpredictable in his conduct. The people probed from many directions and came up empty, and not daring to court misfortune, they could only let the matter rest for the time being.

Three days later, the treacherous Left Chancellor "Ye Shu," who had plotted rebellion and insurrection, was executed by slow slicing outside the city gates.

Tens of thousands of common people and court officials were forced to witness the punishment.

As for the sovereign of Changlu — it was said that he had sustained injuries from the assassination attempt that day and had not yet recovered, and had been convalescing at the traveling palace all along.

He had not even seen the Chancellor one last time.

All of Changlu knew that Chancellor Ye and the sovereign had grown up together from childhood, close as brothers. Who could have imagined that one who had enjoyed such singular favor would come to such an end.

As the people lamented, they could not help but feel even greater awe and dread at the sovereign's thunderous methods.

While intelligence agents were relaying reports from all quarters, His Majesty the sovereign was lounging with his not-yet-wed little imperial consort, eating fruit.

Jinwang raised an eyebrow, his expression hovering between a smile and not: "Someone still mourns the execution of a treasonous villain. Chancellor Ye, what do you think this one should do?"

The treasonous villain in question was currently peeling lychees for Jinwang. At these words, his hand gave a start, and he nearly flung the fruit away.

"Those who... who plot rebellion and treason should rightly be put to death. Your Majesty... Your Majesty did nothing wrong." Ye Shu finished speaking, and seeing that Jinwang was simply watching him with calm eyes, he steeled himself and pressed on: "The court has long seen factional scheming and the cultivation of private interests — it cannot be permitted to continue."

"Very good."

Jinwang tilted his head and plucked the lychee directly from between Ye Shu's fingers with his lips, then turned his gaze to the intelligence agent kneeling before the hall: "You know what to do?"

The agent replied: "Yes."

The agent received his orders and departed. Ye Shu lowered his head, lost in thought.

Jinwang was... even more frightening than he had imagined.

From nothing more than a public execution witnessed by the streets, even the private words exchanged among the officials were within this man's grasp. Across the whole of the capital, there was probably nothing he did not know.

With those three hundred shadow agents, escaping from his hands would be next to impossible.

He would have to think of another way.

"What are you thinking about?" Seeing that he had been silent for a long while, Jinwang asked.

"...Nothing."

Ye Shu reined in his thoughts, picked up a piece of fruit from the tray, and went on peeling fruit for Jinwang.

Fingers pale as scallion whites moved over the vivid crimson skin, stained with a little glistening juice. Jinwang tilted his head to watch, and suddenly found his mouth rather dry.

He gave a light cough and looked away: "Stop peeling."

"...Ah?"

"This one told you to stop peeling." Jinwang lifted his chin in a command: "Go grind the ink."

Ye Shu: "..."

Weren't you the one who wanted to eat just now???

Wretched emperor.

All he knows is how to order him around.

Jinwang was feigning illness at the traveling palace, yet he had not neglected affairs of state. The sight of so many characters gave Ye Shu a headache, but Jinwang was quite patient, reading through the memorials one by one with care.

This reading went on for nearly two full hours.

The sky had grown dark. Ye Shu, with nothing to do, slumped over the edge of the table, and his stomach let out an involuntary rumble.

The hand Jinwang was using to turn a page paused. He closed the memorial: "Let us eat first."

Dish after dish was set upon the table, and Ye Shu's eyes went wide at the spread. He was just about to lower his chopsticks when Jinwang stopped him.

An attendant presented a brocade box, inside which sat a single small, delicately crafted medicinal pill.

Ye Shu frowned: "What is this?"

Jinwang offered no explanation, and said in a mild tone: "Eat it. It's beneficial to your health."

Ye Shu did not believe a word of it.

What scheme had this wretched emperor cooked up to torment him this time?

In truth, Jinwang had no ill intentions this time.

Since the day Ye Shu's pheromones had spiraled out of control, Jinwang had sought out the imperial physician to examine him. Ye Shu's constitution was unusual — even after being marked, his pheromones were highly susceptible to disruption from external influences or changes within his own body.

This was a Suppressant Pill freshly formulated by the imperial physician, designed to help stabilize the pheromones of a Kun-lord.

It was a pity that the tyrant had too long a history of misdeeds, and his credibility in Ye Shu's eyes stood at absolute zero.

In an instant, Ye Shu's mind flooded with scenes from countless political intrigue novels.

Ye Shu threw down his chopsticks and said, aggrieved: "You want to poison me again?"

Jinwang: "..."

"I've already agreed to stay by your side — how can you still not trust me?" Ye Shu said furiously. "I'm not eating it."

Jinwang pressed his fingers to his brow: "This isn't poison..."

"I don't believe you."

Now Jinwang was angry too: "If you won't eat it, you don't get to eat at all."

"Then I won't eat!"

The attendants who were serving at the sovereign's meal heard all this and trembled with fright, collapsing to their knees in a row, each one hunching their head like a quail, terrified that the sovereign's fury would fall upon them.

Jinwang said: "All of you, out."

Everyone exhaled with relief and hastened away.

Only Jinwang and Ye Shu remained in the hall.

Ye Shu watched Jinwang, his expression wary.

Jinwang felt a helpless resignation inwardly.

In this world, apart from a small number of Qian-lords and Kun-lords, the vast majority were unremarkable people. It was thus not surprising that Ye Shu had not discovered his own differentiation into a Kun-lord.

And moreover... Jinwang did not wish to tell him the truth this soon.

Imperial Physician Feng had been right that day — Jinwang should not have so carelessly marked another Kun-lord.

It was a source of trouble: for Jinwang, and equally for Ye Shu.

Taking this Suppressant Pill regularly would not only help Ye Shu stabilize his pheromones, but would also make his outward appearance seem ordinary to others.

It would save no small amount of trouble.

This medicine — whether he wanted to take it or not, he had to take it.

Jinwang narrowed his eyes: "You truly won't eat it?"

Ye Shu was most afraid of him looking like that; the bravado of a moment ago instantly deflated by more than half: "I... I won't."

Of course he couldn't eat it.

He had read widely, and he knew Jinwang's methods.

Why were those three hundred shadow agents so unswervingly loyal to him? Was it not all because they had consumed a venomous gu specially prepared by Jinwang?

Throughout history, controlling shadow guards had always been done this way.

If he truly ate the man's medicine, he could forget about ever escaping in this lifetime.

"Ye Shu — has this one been too good to you these past few days?" Jinwang picked up the pill and turned it between his fingers. "Hasn't this one told you before — your life is something this one can reclaim at any time."

"Even if this were poison, what right do you have to say you won't eat it?"

Ye Shu's legs went weak beneath him.

He was not afraid of bickering and quarreling with Jinwang, but he was most afraid when this man spoke in that particular tone of voice.

The tone of someone who was about to kill.

Ye Shu quietly shifted his breath, and the hand hidden beneath the table pinched himself hard. When he raised his eyes, the rims were already red: "...Can I really not refuse?"

Jinwang was taken aback.

The young man's eyes held a mist of tears, threatening to fall but not yet falling, the picture of someone who had been badly frightened, looking terribly fragile: "I've already agreed to go with you — can't you believe me?"

"I'll definitely listen to everything you say. I'll treat you well, just like before. Please don't give me this."

"Jinwang... don't push me like this."

The expression on Jinwang's face faltered.

He could least bear it when Ye Shu brought up the past — this move never failed.

Ye Shu bowed his head and waited quietly for Jinwang to relent.

His life was already in Jinwang's hands to begin with; poisoning him would be entirely redundant. If this was only a test, it should have ended here.

Ye Shu was thinking this very thought, when his chin was suddenly wrenched upward by someone's forceful grip.

"Mm—!" His lips abruptly collided with the other person's soft and slightly cool ones, and Ye Shu's eyes flew open in shock.

Then, a pill was passed into his mouth.

Jinwang gripped his jaw firmly, and the tip of his tongue gave a deft push — the pill slid down Ye Shu's throat.

Yet Jinwang still did not release him.

His hand shifted instead to cradle the back of Ye Shu's neck, his fingertips trailing past the space behind his ear, stroking lightly, again and again — like a tender, soothing gesture.

The pill was not bitter; it carried instead a faint sweetness. That flavor lingered long on lips and tongue, drawing the breath of both men gradually heavier.

After a moment, Jinwang released him.

"It really isn't poison. Lying to you would make this one A-Wang." Jinwang's fingertip traced along Ye Shu's flushed cheek and said: "Eat."

A-Wang was a yellow dog — one the original owner had taken in as a child, long since departed from this world.

Ye Shu looked at Jinwang's composed and unruffled expression, and was so furious his neck turned red.

Calling you a dog would be an insult to dogs.

You're worse than a dog.

Idiot Jinwang.

After dinner, Jinwang continued attending to the remaining affairs of state.

Ye Shu waited nearby, pouring and serving tea, grinding ink and holding the lamp. It was only when he nearly nodded off for the third time that Jinwang finally closed the last memorial.

In a rare good mood, Jinwang asked: "The past two days when you accompanied this one, you'd always fall asleep after a little while. How have you been so well-behaved today?"

Ye Shu lowered his gaze compliantly and said in a mild tone: "It's only right."

"You want something." Jinwang saw through his intentions with a single glance, and said: "Go ahead and speak — as long as it isn't too much, this one will grant it."

Ye Shu hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice: "I... I want to go home and have a look."

Jinwang's movements paused.

What he meant, naturally, was the Ye family residence.

Left Chancellor Ye Shu was nominally dead already, and the estate had been searched by the imperial guards. The Ye residence was now empty and bare — there was nothing much to see there.

Ye Shu spoke again: "Outside the back gate of my home there lives a litter of stray cats. They used to come into the residence often to find food. Now winter is coming, and with no one to care for them, they probably won't survive it."

This was not untrue.

The memories Ye Shu possessed of the original owner were hazy at best — if Jinwang hadn't mentioned A-Wang today, he wouldn't have remembered this matter at all.

Jinwang said: "This one will send someone to bring the cats here. You are not in a position to show your face right now — why go yourself?"

"That won't do." Ye Shu shook his head. "They're skittish around strangers. If you send someone else, they certainly won't come out."

Jinwang drew Ye Shu to sit beside him on the edge of the bed, his tone quite gentle: "Is it truly only for the cats?"

"...Of course." It isn't.

If before, Ye Shu had still entertained the idea of playing a prolonged game with this tyrant, he had now thoroughly abandoned that notion.

This man's temperament was unfathomable. The longer he remained by his side, the more dangerous it became.

There was still over a month before the wedding. He had to find a way to escape as quickly as possible.

Once he entered the palace, there would be even fewer chances.

To escape from this tyrant's side, relying on himself alone would not be enough.

He had to find a way to make contact with the outside world.

Ye Shu's fingers trembled with nerves; hidden in his sleeve, they quietly clenched tight, as he forced himself to hold Jinwang's scrutinizing gaze.

After a moment, Jinwang said softly: "It's not entirely impossible."

"Your Majesty..."

"But it depends on your behavior."

Jinwang raised his hand, the pad of his finger trailing lightly across the edge of Ye Shu's lips, carrying a certain suggestive implication: "This one has told you before — as long as you make this one happy, this one will naturally grant your every wish."

A chill ran down Ye Shu's spine, and the tips of his ears blazed in an instant.

He was going to...

Jinwang met his gaze and smiled gently: "Go and bathe. This one will wait for you."