Buxiu shook his head, not daring to breathe too loudly.
Their people had done their best, but who would have thought Zhou Zihong was so resourceful? Not only had he stopped their arsonists, but he'd also captured an inside man.
Ji Bozhai fell silent, his dark eyes fixed on the black pieces on the chessboard. His back hunched slightly as the night wind billowed through his thin outer robe.
"What's wrong?" Qin Shangwu didn't quite grasp their conversation but sensed the sudden gloom in the man across from him—a suppressed rage that churned the air around him into chaos.
"Bozhai, calm down." He quickly stood to erect a Nether Domain shield around him, frowning at Buxiu. "You know he's recuperating. Couldn't you have kept the bad news to yourself?"
"It's fine, Master. I asked him to deliver it." Ji Bozhai rose, brushing aside the shield. "I have matters to attend to. You should rest."
"Where do you think you're going in this state?" Qin Shangwu frowned.
Ji Bozhai didn't answer, merely signaling for someone to escort Qin Shangwu out while he exited through another gate.
"Your Majesty, this isn't proper. Your guards haven't arrived yet," Buxiu hurried after him, voice tense. "At least wait for a beast-drawn carriage."
"There's no time," he murmured grimly.
Not that it would matter anyway. The news was already half an hour old—whatever was meant to happen had happened by now. What good would rushing there do?
Buxiu wanted to say as much, but seeing his master's bloodless lips, he couldn't bring himself to voice it.
Ji Bozhai mounted his Flying Sword and arrived at the Nether Domain barrier outside the inner courtyard in an instant.
As if designed specifically to thwart him, the barrier here was thick and sturdy, impossible to breach easily.
He laughed humorlessly, landing and striding straight for the main gate.
The guards who moved to intercept him stepped aside the moment they recognized his face, even lifting the curfew to crack the gate open slightly.
Ji Bozhai swept through, robes fluttering, vanishing around the corner in a blink.
Mingyi's eyes snapped open mid-slumber.
Zhou Zihong frowned, about to chide her for not resting properly, when her Shield expanded, enveloping him as well.
"What is it?" He set down his book.
Mingyi shook her head, sitting up to gaze at the tightly shut lacquered doors with intricate carvings.
A gust of wind blew them open—the early March chill still sharp, sending the room's drapes whirling and snuffing out the candles in an instant.
Someone stood in the courtyard, silhouetted against the wind, his presence dark and his killing intent undisguised.
Mingyi steadied herself, then suddenly grinned. "If only I had Your Majesty's mastery of Essence Power. Then, upon seeing someone close to the one I love, I could storm in and kill them outright. That way, Tianyin would never have left your study alive."
The first time she'd caught him with someone else had been in that very study. Had he not sensed her presence in the rafters, Ji Bozhai would have taken things to their natural conclusion.
Pale-lipped, Ji Bozhai stepped inside. "Am I the one you love?"
Mingyi smirked. "At least I did once. Otherwise, knowing all your methods, I wouldn't hate you so much now."
"If you loved me, why couldn't you forgive me?" His gaze dropped.
Resting her head on Zhou Zihong's knee, Mingyi sighed. "Love can hold moonlit blossoms and mundane grains, but not filth. Besides, it was only in the past. Now? Perhaps not."
"Mingyi.""Ah, I'm here." She frowned. "Your Majesty, aren't you sleepy in the middle of the night?"
"Do you like him?" He glanced at Zhou Zihong beside her.
This man had delicate skin and a scholarly air, allowing Mingyi to rest her head on his lap without moving, as if deliberately provoking him.
He couldn't see any merit in him at all.
"You don't understand. Zihong has his own virtues." Mingyi waved her hand. "Even if Your Majesty is as beautiful as a celestial being, one can grow tired of looking at the same face. What woman can spend her whole life gazing at just one man? Your Majesty should be more open-minded and stop having people set fires everywhere."
He found this amusing.
These were words he had once said to others. Never did he imagine he would hear them directed at himself one day.
Looking down, wasn't it true? Once, he had pitied those women who clung desperately and refused to let go. And now, how was he any different from them?
"My queen will not be an unchaste woman," he said darkly.
"What a coincidence! My husband won't be an unchaste man either." Mingyi clapped her hands. "If we share the same thoughts, that's all the better."
Ji Bozhai found this absurd: "What chastity could a man possibly have?"
"Wasn't women's chastity also defined by you men?" Mingyi raised an eyebrow. "You're allowed to set standards for women, but I can't for men? I insist that men should be pure, devoted to one alone."
As she spoke, she pinched Zhou Zihong's chin: "Compared to a man like Your Majesty—beautiful but sullied—I prefer the clean ones."
A lump formed in his chest. Ji Bozhai said coldly, "Have you even asked if he likes you?"
"I do." Zhou Zihong answered without hesitation. "No matter how many people the Minister Superior has by her side, as long as she's willing to be with me, I'll like her."
A man who usually seemed aloof and indifferent, yet quick to play along when needed.
Mingyi squeezed his fingers in satisfaction.
Ji Bozhai took a deep breath.
He wanted to convince himself to let it go—Mingyi's heart was no longer his, her behavior was beyond propriety, and the two of them could never be together again.
But he couldn't move his feet.
The thought of her being intimate with someone else, as soft and sweet with them as she once was with him, made him want to kill.
The night wind was icy, turning the back of his hand purple.
Mingyi glanced at him and sighed softly: "He and I have already completed the rites of Zhou. I'm exhausted now. Your Majesty, do me a favor and let me go. Your queen won't be me, and my husband won't be you. Let's each live our own lives, like well water not interfering with river water."
His heart felt as if ten thousand ants were gnawing at it. Ji Bozhai stared at her coldly, unable to speak for a long while.
Her words were meant to sever all ties between them completely. Knowing Ji Bozhai's pride, he would never pine for her after she had been with another man. He had disgusted her once; now she had repaid him in kind. They were even, and from now on, they would only be ruler and subject, with no further entanglement.
Yet, after a long silence, the man standing in the room actually laughed.
"My interest in a woman never lasts more than a month. I hope yours is the same," he said hoarsely.
Mingyi was stunned. Before she could ask what he meant, Ji Bozhai turned, shattered the carved lacquered door behind him, and strode away.
The wind rushed in through the broken door, leaving Mingyi bewildered.
She turned to Zhou Zihong and asked, "What did he mean by that?"At this point, are you still thinking of delaying the discussion for another month?
Zhou Zihong stared at the hole in the door with an expressionless face and said, "This is unacceptable. Breaking someone's door in the middle of the night is hardly the act of a gentleman."
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