“Your Highness…” Wet nurse Qin saw that the Empress’s complexion was clearly wrong, and hurried forward to inquire: “Your Highness, what has happened to you…”

“Return to the palace!” The Empress needed no one to support her, and stepped into the carriage in a single stride.

The moment she was inside, she immediately sat cross-legged and channeled her inner energy in an attempt to force out the aphrodisiac’s effects!

She did not know how much time passed before a thin line of blood appeared at the corner of the Empress’s lips. The crimson flush gradually drained from her face, replaced by pallor.

Outside just now, she had not dared channel her inner energy to expel the aphrodisiac. By the time she had boarded the carriage, the drug had already penetrated deep into her bloodstream, and purging it had become far more difficult.

Fortunately, this was a hastily concocted drug she had prepared merely to frame Feng Jiu’er — its potency was not especially formidable.

Had it been something truly powerful, she might not even have been able to withstand it through inner energy alone.

She had spent so many years in the deep palace concealing her own strength. No one on the outside knew the Empress was versed in martial arts.

Yet tonight, she had been forced to expose all of it.

A’Jiu… But how could she blame her A’Jiu.

Her A’Jiu was so pure, so flawless — everything he had done tonight must have been instigated by Feng Jiu’er from behind the scenes.

That wretched, detestable ugly creature — so hideous in appearance, yet somehow able to capture A’Jiu’s heart!

Could it be that A’Jiu’s sense of beauty differed from ordinary people? Could it be that in his eyes, the uglier someone was, the more appealing they seemed?

She herself was so strikingly beautiful — no wonder A’Jiu didn’t favor her. Could it truly be that to win A’Jiu’s affection, she would have to ugly herself up?

“Your Highness…” Outside, wet nurse Qin still couldn’t set her mind at ease.

“This Consort is fine.” The Empress’s voice carried a faint hoarseness. She drew a deep breath, then said: “Return to the palace quickly. Not a single word about tonight’s events is to be breathed to anyone.”

“Yes!”

…

After Zhan Qingcheng left the side chamber, he went directly back to the exterior of his sleeping quarters in Qingfeng Courtyard.

That tall, slender figure robed in pristine white paused outside the door. When the attendants below moved to pay their respects, a single glance from him sent them retreating away.

Tonight, he found himself oddly hesitant about whether to go inside.

That elegant, drifting silhouette stood outside the door for an unknown length of time — even when Yu Jingfeng came by, he was still there, his footsteps not having shifted a single inch.

“Your Highness…” Yu Jingfeng had barely opened his mouth before he was cut off by that ice-cold gaze.

Right — Miss Jiu’er was still sleeping inside. His Highness would not permit anyone to disturb her peaceful dreams.

Such tender care — truly enough to make one envious to the point of resentment!

If the one being looked after by His Highness were oneself, it would be worth dying for… Pah pah pah — he was a grown man, what need did he have for His Highness’s protection?

What was he even thinking?

“Your Highness, the Empress has gone.” Yu Jingfeng lowered his voice to report. “That is — Your Highness, you gave the Empress that sort of drug. If something were to happen… would it not be a disgrace to the imperial family’s dignity?”

When he had left, the Empress’s face had already been flushed to a deep purple. Without finding a man, she likely had no way to resolve the situation.

But the Empress, having been drugged, naturally would not dare approach His Majesty. And if she didn’t approach His Majesty, then seeking out some other man at random would be an act of grave insubordination.

“Her inner energy is deep. That small amount of drug, for her, is nothing more than a few days of internal injury.”

Zhan Qingcheng said coldly, not the least bit interested in the Empress’s affairs.

Yu Jingfeng was rather astonished — the Empress had deep inner energy? He… had entirely failed to see it.

Impressive. His Highness truly was superior — in his presence, one really was far too lacking.

“Your Highness, then this subordinate…” Yu Jingfeng was about to take his leave, when unexpectedly, the breathtakingly beautiful man before him parted his thin lips and cast out a sentence that left him utterly dumbstruck:

“If this Prince wanted to have a child with Jiu’er, what should one do?”