“Oh?” The emperor’s eyes were deep and unfathomable. “Why so much pressure?”

“First there’s the pressure of the Empress Dowager hoping for an imperial grandson instead of a granddaughter, then there’s the pressure of everyone else in the harem scheming against me — isn’t that enough?” Hua Chun rolled her eyes. “If I really do get pregnant, I might have to quietly slip back to Marquis Gongyu’s residence to carry the pregnancy in secret.”

He had been teasing her a moment before, but hearing her last sentence, the emperor’s face suddenly darkened. “You’d be safer at Marquis Gongyu’s residence than by My side?”

“Don’t get upset.” Hua Chun shrugged. “It’s the truth. You have so many women around you, it’s really not that safe.”

He narrowed his eyes and said nothing, changed into his sleeping robes, and lay down beside her, turning his back to her to sleep.

Was he actually sulking, judging by that back? Hua Chun raised an eyebrow, wriggled over, and reached out to poke his back. “Your Majesty?”

Not a sound. Yuwen Jie seemed to have already fallen asleep.

Hua Chun pressed her lips together, reached over to hug his back, and sighed softly. Honestly, if she didn’t say it he’d be upset, and if she lied about it she herself would feel stifled. Getting pregnant in this harem did more harm than good — unless someone had the heaven-defying ability to hide it from everyone until the birth, how could a woman with a swollen belly possibly live safely in the palace?

Well, never mind. Next time she’d mention Marquis Gongyu’s residence less, and this man probably wouldn’t get angry.

On this silent winter night, Purple Dawn Hall was as warm as spring inside, while outside the wind was bitterly cold. Huo Zichong had stood outside all night without sleep, and frost had settled over his armor.

The sky was slowly brightening — it was about time for the Empress Dowager to have someone deliver poisoned wine to Huo Xianrou. He pressed his lips together and closed his eyes, feeling a wave of grief, when the door behind him suddenly opened.

“Your Majesty?”

The early-rising emperor stood leaning in the doorway wrapped in a thick cloak, holding a small bottle along with a token for leaving the palace. Without a word, he placed them into Huo Zichong’s hands.

“This?” His eyes went wide, and Huo Zichong took the bottle in a daze and looked it over — a single character was written on it: Cure.

An antidote?!

He looked up at the emperor in shock, but the emperor’s eyes were full of mercy. “This is the reward for your years by My side. Go — go quickly and come back quickly.”

His mind roared, and Huo Zichong’s eyes reddened almost instantly. He dropped to his knees and kowtowed to the emperor, then dashed off toward the Cold Palace as if flying.

The cold wind poured in through the door, and Hua Chun shivered, unable to help asking, “Are you planning to let Huo Xianrou go?”

Yuwen Jie’s lips curved as he shut the door and returned to her side. “It’s only right.”

Hua Chun was a bit puzzled. She could understand that the emperor was sparing Huo Xianrou’s life for Huo Zichong’s sake — after all, Huo Zichong was his trusted confidant and future material to command troops, and winning him over this way could indeed make a single-minded man like him utterly loyal.

But when Huo Xianrou was being framed, he hadn’t lifted a finger to help her beforehand. Wouldn’t it have been easier to win Huo Zichong over by keeping Huo Xianrou in the palace and doting on her well? Why destroy her instead?

These doubts were soon answered.

Huo Zichong returned after about two hours. When the emperor stepped into Purple Dawn Hall after court, he was still kneeling in the center of the hall.

Hua Chun didn’t dare go out — after all, she had snuck into Purple Dawn Hall the day before — so she could only peek at him secretly from behind the curtain in the inner chamber.

“Was she sent out safely?” the emperor asked.

Huo Zichong nodded. “Thanks to Your Majesty’s great kindness, my sister has left the palace safely. She’ll surely live in obscurity from now on, leading an ordinary life.”

“Good. You may rise.”

Huo Zichong stayed silent, and rather than rising, he kowtowed twice more, loudly enough that the thuds made Hua Chun’s heart tremble — good grief, wouldn’t he put a hole through the carpet?

“This humble subject begs Your Majesty’s forgiveness on my sister’s behalf.”

His tone was very solemn, suggesting the offense wasn’t minor. Hua Chun crept behind the partition to eavesdrop and saw the emperor glance at the tightly shut hall doors before asking, “What is it?”

“Please, Your Majesty, take a look.” Huo Zichong took a deep breath, drew out a letter, and presented it with both hands.

Yuwen Jie’s expression darkened as he took it, opened it, and read it carefully.

The hall fell silent. Sweat kept beading on Huo Zichong’s face, and the hands braced against the floor trembled uncontrollably.

At last the emperor finished reading. He folded the letter and looked at him. “You’ve read the contents?”

“My sister wrote it in front of me.”

“And you still dared to hand it over to Me?”

Huo Zichong pressed his lips together and said quietly, “This humble subject did hesitate — after all, this is a crime punishable by beheading. But… Your Majesty has already shown the utmost benevolence and righteousness toward the Huo family. I couldn’t conceal it and fail to report it. Even if Your Majesty wishes to hold me responsible, I am willing to accept punishment.”

What could the letter possibly say that was so serious? Hua Chun stood on tiptoe trying to see, but alas, she had no telescopic vision and couldn’t make out a thing.

The emperor’s gaze grew deep. He looked at Huo Zichong for a long while, then rose with the letter and slowly paced the hall as if in thought. As he paced, thinking, he drifted near the curtain by the partition and casually let the letter fall through.

Hua Chun’s eyes lit up, and she immediately snatched it up to read.

“Moved by Your Majesty’s life-saving grace, this concubine risks death to expose that Prince Xi has colluded extensively with consorts of the harem, scheming to throw the harem into chaos, monitoring Your Majesty’s actions, and trying to guess Your Majesty’s intentions. This concubine has realized the error of her ways and shall live apart from Your Majesty as strangers henceforth, but among the consorts of the harem, Consort Wu, Noble Consort Xu, Consort Shu, and others — Your Majesty truly cannot afford to be unguarded against them. Once this concubine departs, she will pray day and night for Your Majesty’s blessing, wishing Your Majesty ten thousand years of reign and unification of all under heaven.”

Hua Chun drew in a sharp breath and stared wide-eyed at Huo Zichong outside.

This letter made it plain that Huo Xianrou too had once been among those colluding with Prince Xi — and he’d delivered it so bluntly to the emperor? Wasn’t he afraid the emperor’s anger would fall on him?

Yuwen Xi really was formidable — he’d even managed to buy off people within the harem, driving a nail right beside the emperor’s pillow. No wonder the emperor had needed to remove Huo Xianrou.

Wait — something clicked in her mind, and Hua Chun was startled. She stared blankly at the emperor outside.

Consort Shu was also on the list. So when he had favored Consort Shu a while back, giving her authority over the harem and making a show of grooming her for a higher position — was that all just to provoke conflict between her and Huo Xianrou? And afterward, when Huo Xianrou’s false pregnancy was exposed and she was disposed of, he’d seized the chance to do Huo Zichong a favor, win his loyalty, and at the same time turn Huo Xianrou against her former allies, extracting this whole list of names from her…

Here she’d been living her carefree, naive little life, while Yuwen Jie — this black-hearted radish of a man — had already been playing out such an enormous game of chess?

He must have known everything from the start. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been so composed when he learned Noble Consort Huo was pregnant, nor so unbothered when the child was lost — clearly he’d been watching Consort Shu and Huo Xianrou tear each other apart the whole time! Just like someone provoking cricket fights, stirring things up with a blade of grass and then coldly watching the two bite at each other more and more viciously.

Huo Xianrou had fallen from grace — how much longer could Hua Xunyue keep bouncing around?

She had never been able to figure out how Prince Xi had found Hua Jinghua’s wet nurse in the first place, since only people from the Hua residence would have known her. Now that she understood all this, it wasn’t strange anymore — both Hua Xunyue and Hua Liuying were the type to turn against their own family to help outsiders against her. Their heads must have been addled, letting Prince Xi’s people brainwash them, making them think Hua Jinghua held sway over the emperor’s heart and that if things continued this way, the emperor would turn away from women entirely and they’d lose favor.

Truly, it’s not a godlike opponent one should fear, but a pig-headed ally!

Feeling a pang of emotion, Hua Chun couldn’t help but look at Yuwen Jie with something like admiration in her eyes. This man was truly a master at working the harem!

“Enough.” The emperor sighed and finally spoke. “Xianrou was confused for a time; that she’s come to her senses now is a good thing too. I don’t wish to pursue this matter further.”

“Your Majesty…” Huo Zichong was deeply moved, his throat working, his eyes glistening with tears.

Where else could one find such a good emperor? So magnanimous and tolerant, forgiving Huo Xianrou’s capital crime twice over, his gaze filled with a Buddha-like compassion — it stirred deep respect in him, and his blood boiled with gratitude.

From now on, he would serve with all his loyalty to repay the emperor’s kindness!

The emperor waved a hand for him to rise, then said earnestly, “I judge people well. The reason I’ve kept you by My side all this time is because you’re both brave and loyal, willing to give your life for Me. I will treasure a guard like you, and I won’t doubt you because of your family.”

“This subject is willing to go through fire and water for Your Majesty, even unto death!” Huo Zichong clasped his fists, each word ringing with resolve.

That was exactly the result he wanted. The emperor nodded, satisfied, then told him to go rest.

Hua Chun could hardly resist applauding — what acting! The man had ruined this poor girl’s sister and still had her turn around and become devoted to him unto death — what masterful scheming! Yuwen Jie really wasn’t much of a talker, but clearly he put all his effort into action instead of words!

The emperor turned and walked toward her, glanced at her bare feet, and frowned. “Where are your shoes?”

Hua Chun blinked, looked down, and only then realized she’d been so absorbed in watching the drama that she’d forgotten to put on shoes.

She hurriedly hopped onto the bed and wrapped herself in the blanket.

“It’s cold out; be careful not to catch a chill,” he said in a low voice, then brought over a hot water pouch and tucked it into her hands.

“Hehe.” Hua Chun grinned sheepishly, then asked him, “What does Your Majesty plan to do with the people on that list?”

He glanced at her. “Let things take their natural course.”

Huh? Hua Chun raised an eyebrow — she’d thought he’d want to root out the trouble completely. Letting things take their natural course — what did that mean? Knowing they were like nails planted in the palace and just leaving them be?

“Don’t worry about it.” He climbed onto the bed, wrapped her entirely in his arms, took hold of her feet, and only spoke again once they’d warmed a little. “Winter is the season for hibernating. Rest well — I’ll handle the rest myself.”

The mention of hibernating made Hua Chun feel drowsy at once — the cold weather really did make for excellent sleeping, and once she lay down it was as if she couldn’t get up again.

So right after the emperor finished speaking, Hua Chun quickly closed her eyes and fell asleep leaning against him.

Yuwen Jie’s lips curved. He pulled the blanket up to tuck her in properly, then drew over the memorials beside him to read, letting her lean against his chest without moving, a perfectly qualified backrest.