Chapter 46

Ye Shu stared at Jin Wang blankly, as though he couldn't understand why Jin Wang would say that.

He had never thought about it that way.

Ye Shu remembered his identity in the modern world clearly — those memories, experiences, and knowledge were all real.

How could he possibly be the original host?

"That's impossible." Ye Shu shook his head. "It doesn't make sense."

"Make sense?" Jin Wang sounded as though he had heard something tremendously funny. "You just told me about another world, transmigrating, and said I was nothing more than a fictional character — which part of any of that makes sense?"

Jin Wang himself hadn't expected to believe and accept Ye Shu's bizarre story so readily.

But when the answer was finally laid out, what Jin Wang felt most was a sense of sudden clarity — so that was how it was. Ye Shu's words tonight had answered many of the questions that had been accumulating over these days.

From the time he had been spending with Ye Shu, to Yu Yan's appearance — the riddles had kept piling up, yet they had only strengthened one conviction in Jin Wang's mind.

Ye Shu could not possibly have wanted to kill him.

Starting from that point, he couldn't help but return to the earliest theory he had formed.

Something must have happened to Ye Shu in those three years. And perhaps it was not something as simple as a hidden grievance.

That was why he had used Xiao Huan's arrival to test Ye Shu.

Sure enough — Ye Shu had known nothing of the events from before.

Once he was certain Ye Shu hadn't changed, there was only one possible conclusion. Whatever had happened in those three years, whatever Ye Shu had yet to tell him, could not change that answer.

— Ye Shu had suffered a loss of memory.

That had been Jin Wang's answer, reached through days of investigation, testing, and turning things over in his mind.

Until tonight, when Ye Shu had uncovered everything — and the missing piece finally fell into place.

Jin Wang shared all of his reasoning with Ye Shu and said quietly: "If you can come here now, why couldn't you have come before? Since none of it is clear anyway — why couldn't we guess that the period of your missing childhood memories was actually a time when you had come here before?"

"Back then, you were clearly unfamiliar with this world, yet you could predict future events with uncanny accuracy. How could you have done that without knowing the outcome in advance?"

"I…" Ye Shu's lashes quivered faintly. His voice grew faint. "I don't know."

He had once suspected whether the original host had also been someone who entered this world from another place, just as he had. But that had always been only a guess, something impossible to verify.

"There is only one point I still cannot explain to myself." Jin Wang continued. "Why you would betray me."

Ye Shu said: "Wasn't it because the original host wanted to take revenge for his family?"

"Revenge?" Jin Wang gave a quiet laugh. "You were nothing more than an illegitimate child in the Ye household — born to a servant woman. From the time you were born to the time you left the Ye estate, you received not a single ounce of care or goodwill from that family. Do you really think I'd believe the revenge story?"

Ye Shu felt the argument had no legs to stand on either, and muttered under his breath: "How would I know what was going through his head."

Jin Wang also fell quiet.

It was true — that was the only gap in the entire story.

"Perhaps things are not as complicated as they seem." Jin Wang said suddenly. "You said just now that we are inside a novel, and that this story begins with Chancellor Ye conspiring to rebel and being executed. In order to arrive at that beginning, your betrayal is the most essential piece."

"What you're saying is…"

"What I'm saying is — is it possible that this betrayal was arranged, and that for those three years, your consciousness was not under your own control?"

Ye Shu didn't answer. A long silence settled over the hall.

Jin Wang's conjecture was bold — but not without reason.

If in those three years, the Left Chancellor had been compelled to follow the original storyline and do certain things — then his strange behavior, his changed habits, even the transformation in his temperament, would all have an explanation.

"But…" Ye Shu's eyes dropped. "These are only guesses. There's no evidence."

"You're right — there's no evidence for any of this, and no way to find any." Jin Wang let out a sigh and bent down to take him in his arms. "But A Shu — the mysteries of the world have never been easy to understand. Don't lose yourself in it."

Jin Wang stroked his hair and said gently: "For me, what secrets you carry, what the true nature of all this might be — it isn't actually that important. Whatever you've been through, you're here by my side now. That's enough."

"But what if I'm not…"

Jin Wang's expression shifted subtly. "Say that again and I'll actually be angry."

Ye Shu immediately fell silent.

"You — it always takes this kind of talking to make you behave." Jin Wang's hand slid down Ye Shu's back with a suggestive press. "Don't forget — you sneaked out to see another man while I was drunk. I haven't settled that score with you yet."

Ye Shu: "But Xiao Huan is a kun-sovereign…"

"But he likes you." Jin Wang cut him off. "That little rascal — he wanted to take you away years ago, and now that he's a kun-sovereign he still doesn't give up. I should appoint him an official post and send him to defend the frontier."

Ye Shu looked up. "Sending a kun-sovereign to a battlefield? Isn't that a bit much?"

Jin Wang looked back at him calmly.

Ye Shu immediately caved. "Xiao Huan grew up in military camps and has always dreamed of being a soldier. That… that actually sounds quite good for him."

Jin Wang laughed and smoothed his hand over Ye Shu's lower back. "Good. His punishment is settled. What about yours?"

"I… do I also need to be punished?"

Jin Wang looked at him sideways. "Who was it just now crying and saying I could deal with them as I pleased?"

"…"

Had he said that?

Ye Shu's eyes dropped with a woeful expression, made all the more pitiful by the still reddened rims. "What does Your Majesty intend to do with me?"

Jin Wang didn't answer.

His palm slid slowly down, coming to rest on the gently rounded lower belly.

Ye Shu gripped the thin blanket beneath him anxiously.

"With this little one here, it's rather inconvenient." Jin Wang pressed his palm against the belly over the thin fabric, with distinct reluctance. "We'll let it accrue for now. Once the child is born, we can settle today's debt properly."

Ye Shu made a small sound, and was about to say something more — when a commotion from beyond the window interrupted him.

The sound of chattering voices drifted in from outside the palace.

Jin Wang pulled Ye Shu up. "It's almost midnight. Everyone is getting ready to welcome the new year."

Ye Shu looked out the window. Every corner of the palace was hung with lanterns, turning the entire imperial city blazing and bright.

"You can't see well from here — let me take you somewhere better." Jin Wang took the fox fur and draped it around Ye Shu, then picked him up.

He stepped out through the hall door. Before Ye Shu had the chance to ask where they were going, he felt himself rising suddenly into the air.

Jin Wang's feet touched lightly against the eaves and he vaulted onto the roof in one easy motion.

He set Ye Shu down steadily on the rooftop.

The view opened wide in every direction.

Ye Shu looked out. In the snow-covered courtyard below, a group of court maids were laughing and playing. Further away, a cluster of young eunuchs had gathered around a fireworks stand and were getting ready to light it.

Above, string after string of sky lanterns drifted through the night air, glowing warmly alongside the stars.

This was the first time Ye Shu had genuinely stilled his heart and taken in the sights of this world.

It was the first time he truly felt — this was not merely a world in a book. For many people, this was the reality they lived in. They were real, flesh-and-blood human beings.

As was… the person beside him.

Jin Wang had no interest in the scenery. He was busy pulling Ye Shu's fox fur tight around him, one arm securely around his waist — as though afraid Ye Shu might tumble off the roof.

Ye Shu turned to look at him.

Jin Wang's reactions tonight had been nothing like he expected.

He had never imagined this man could think the way he did.

This young emperor seemed to have been born this way — with everything he determined to believe in, he was always so certain, so unyielding, so completely unreasonable about it.

And yet precisely because of that — he seemed so… radiant.

Ye Shu looked at him in a daze, and suddenly opened his mouth. "Jin Wang——"

A sudden, resounding boom from the distance cut off his words. Then, one after another, fireworks burst up from between the rows of palaces and bloomed across the dark sky.

The new year had arrived.

Jin Wang turned around. His handsome eyes were filled with a smile. His lips parted — but whatever he said was swallowed entirely by the din of the fireworks.

"What are you say——" Ye Shu started to ask, when Jin Wang suddenly bent down and kissed him on the lips.

The kiss was light and long, lasting until the fireworks fell silent before Jin Wang let go.

"I wanted to do that ever since we were in Fangxuan Tower." Jin Wang touched his forehead to Ye Shu's, and laughed. "But I didn't dare take advantage of you then — I was afraid you'd get angry and disappear off somewhere."

Ye Shu was breathless from the kiss. His cheeks had gone faintly pink. "You're not afraid now?"

"Still afraid." Jin Wang looked into his eyes. "So — are you going to run?"

Ye Shu: "I don't kn——"

Jin Wang kissed him again without waiting for an answer.

He pressed Ye Shu against the carved dragon ornament at the corner of the eave, and kissed him with more force than before.

"Think carefully before you answer." Jin Wang retreated half an inch. A teasing light played in his eyes. "Will you run?"

Ye Shu pressed his lips tightly together. They were so close it was almost malicious — the moment Ye Shu opened his mouth, it would brush against the other man's lips.

"…Let me down." Ye Shu said.

Jin Wang was unrelenting. "Answer first, or you're not going down."

"…" Ye Shu still didn't answer. "Let me down now!"

Jin Wang gave a resigned laugh but, truthfully, didn't dare keep him sitting on the rooftop too long. He held Ye Shu close, leapt off the eaves in one motion, and carried him back inside.

The night deepened. The imperial city gradually grew quiet. The lamps in Yangxin Hall had already been extinguished.

Ye Shu leaned against Jin Wang's chest, eyes half-closed.

In the darkness, Jin Wang asked: "What are you thinking about?"

Ye Shu didn't open his eyes. He said quietly: "I'm thinking about how you can be so certain of what you believe."

"As an emperor — shouldn't you be cautious and careful? I gave you so many reasons before and you didn't believe a single one." He let out a soft sigh. "And yet tonight I told you something so completely outrageous — why don't you think I'm deceiving you again?"

"What you told me tonight is indeed extraordinary. If you told this story to anyone in the world, they would probably laugh it off."

"And yet you believed it."

"Yes. I believed it."

Jin Wang's voice was very quiet. "I am willing to believe you."

Ye Shu: "Why?"

"You already know the answer." Jin Wang said. "Because I love you."

Ye Shu's fingertips trembled faintly.

Because I love you — so I'm willing to believe everything you say, even if this trust looks like nothing but wishful thinking from the outside.

Jin Wang's voice was low and clear in the darkness. "There was a time when I didn't know how to face you. You were someone who had helped me through hardship, accompanied me all the way — yet you were also someone who had deceived and betrayed me and filled me with resentment."

"In the forest near the hunting ground — on the night you differentiated — there were countless moments where I wanted to kill you."

"But then you were so fragile. And you trusted me, depended on me so completely and without reservation. The way you were in those moments — it was exactly how I remembered you should be."

"…I couldn't do it."

"Having let that one chance go, I could never bring myself to do it afterward." Jin Wang gave a faint, self-deprecating laugh. "What a pity — such a simple truth, and I only understand it now."

Jin Wang asked: "A Shu — do you still need some time to sort things out?"

"I… I just worry." Ye Shu said quietly. "What if — and I mean what if — I really am not the person you know, and because of me, that person can never come back. That would be so unfair to you…"

Jin Wang cut him off. "Is that truly all you're worried about?"

Ye Shu startled.

Jin Wang let out a sigh and turned over, pressing Ye Shu into the bed.

The hall was dim, only a faint moonlight flowing through it, enveloping the two of them in its pale glow.

Their eyes held each other's reflections. After a long moment, Jin Wang said: "You've been asking questions all this time. I have one too, and I'd like to ask you."

In this position there was nowhere to dodge. Ye Shu managed to turn his head slightly. "Go… go ahead."

Jin Wang asked: "Why didn't you leave with Xiao Huan just now?"

Ye Shu went still.

"If you had left tonight, I would never have known the truth, and you could have lived freely somewhere else in this world." Jin Wang's gaze was intent. "Why didn't you go?"

Ye Shu pressed his lips together. "Because… because I felt that I had taken over someone else's body and deceived you for so long — I couldn't… couldn't just leave like that."

Jin Wang asked: "Just that simply?"

Under that gaze, Ye Shu felt a vague, inexplicable guilt. "Just… just that simply."

"And now? You've explained everything — I'm not blaming you. Do you still want to leave?"

Ye Shu went quiet.

Jin Wang watched him steadily for a long moment, and then suddenly released him.

He stood, unhurried, and turned his back to Ye Shu. His voice was light and cold. "This isn't a joke, and there is no coercion. Ye Shu — I'm asking you one last time. Do you want to leave the capital?"

Ye Shu looked at his back. He opened his mouth — but couldn't say a single word.

"If you do — I will issue the order right now. You are free to leave the capital. I won't ask where you go, and I will never come to disturb you for the rest of your life." Jin Wang said. "A sovereign's word is his bond. I say what I mean."

His tone was very quiet, and yet it carried an effortless imperial authority.

The atmosphere in the hall dropped to the very edge of coldness.

Ye Shu sat at the head of the bed. His legs slowly curled up beneath him. "I…"

Jin Wang said coldly: "Ye Shu. Tell me your decision."

Ye Shu's body gave a faint tremor.

"I don't know…" The rims of Ye Shu's eyes had gone slightly red. He repeated quietly: "I don't know…"

Jin Wang silently exhaled.

"Is saying 'I don't want to leave' really so difficult?" Jin Wang came back to the bedside and gathered that trembling figure into his arms. "I'm sorry — I'll have more patience in the future. But… I don't want to wait anymore."

This was the third time Jin Wang had apologized tonight. Ye Shu looked up at him, his eyes like those of a small rabbit — moist and red.

"Your reluctance to leave has nothing to do with all these so-called identities and secrets." Jin Wang looked at him seriously. "Your refusal to accept the possibility I raised tonight isn't because you're afraid that if it's wrong, I couldn't accept it."

"…It's that you yourself can't accept that outcome."

"A Shu — I don't know what you went through in that world, to make you so careful, so unwilling to entrust your feelings to anyone."

Jin Wang stroked Ye Shu's pale face, his voice gentle. "You're afraid of gaining something and then losing it — so you'd rather not believe. You choose not to believe."

Ye Shu's lips trembled. "I… I don't know what you're talking about."

"Then let's talk about something else." Jin Wang said. "Do you like being with me?"

Ye Shu's lashes stirred.

Jin Wang leaned in and pulled him close. "Do you like it when I hold you like this?"

Ye Shu still didn't answer.

Jin Wang leaned closer still, and pressed a kiss to Ye Shu's eyelid.

Careful, careful kisses landed at the corner of his eye, across his cheek, down the bridge of his nose, all the way to the corner of his lips. Jin Wang lifted his head. "Do you like it when I kiss you?"

Ye Shu's breathing grew unsteady.

Jin Wang displayed extraordinary patience. He pressed Ye Shu back into the bedding and kissed him bit by bit, slowly, soothingly. His touch seemed to carry some kind of enchantment — gently, irresistibly drawing someone into surrender, sinking into the depths of tenderness.

Jin Wang looked up and gave a quiet smile. "You see — you do like it."

He paused, then added: "And don't tell me it's the kun-sovereign constitution. There's not a single book that would describe things that way. You've read so much lately — hasn't it become clear?"

"Wanting to be with someone every moment, craving their embrace and their kisses — that isn't your constitution at work. It's here." Jin Wang pressed gently against Ye Shu's chest. "Do you feel it?"

Ye Shu's heart was beating in rapid, heavy pulses — nearly bursting out.

Jin Wang looked at Ye Shu with complete seriousness, and traced his fingers through his hair at his temple.

After a long silence, he said softly: "Ye Shu — you've fallen in love with me."