Jun Beiyue led Ziqing away from the envoy’s residence. By now the sky was just beginning to lighten with the first hints of dawn, the streets completely empty save for the two of them.

Unlike the urgent pace of their arrival, Jun Beiyue slowed his steps this time.

“That wound must really hurt.” he said flatly—the third time he’d asked, and each time with genuine seriousness.

“It’s just a small wound, it’s fine.” Ziqing said, recalling the scene from moments ago—she herself had been badly startled!

She’d originally assumed he simply wanted to bring her along to provoke Chu Feiyan, expecting at most that Chu Feiyan might be reduced to tears. She’d never imagined he would actually resort to violence, and with such ferocity too!

She’d clearly seen the teacup shatter the instant it struck Chu Feiyan’s forehead—what tremendous strength, what tremendous fury that must have taken!

He’d always seemed so coldly composed, protecting her while letting the two women bicker and fight it out. Who knew that once his temper truly flared, it would be this frightening.

“It was my carelessness, moving too quickly.” Jun Beiyue said flatly, his gaze softening with something like apology as he gently brushed back a loose strand of her hair, examining the wound closely.

Ziqing felt a warmth spreading through her chest. “I let her do it on purpose—otherwise she really could have bullied me endlessly. I just never expected she’d have backing behind her, so I let it go for nothing.”

Jun Beiyue smiled helplessly. “Silly girl, why worry so much about all that? No matter how serious the consequences, this king will always clean it up for you. What is there to fear?”

Throughout history, how many men had demanded their women swallow their pride, endure and compromise, shoulder countless burdens on their behalf, all in service of the man’s own ambitions and achievements?

But this man asked nothing of the sort from her.

Ziqing’s heart warmed further, and she pressed her lips together, unable to stop a smile from forming. There was a kind of joy she couldn’t quite name—was this what it felt like, to be protected, to be indulged, to presume on someone’s favor?

She almost felt this affection was too much, too overwhelming.

Seeing Ziqing smile, Jun Beiyue immediately scooped her up into his arms. “You’re injured. I’ll carry you back.”

Jun Beiyue’s mood had finally lifted—like Ziqing, he’d set aside the matter of poison cultivation along with their earlier unpleasantness entirely.

“I can walk!” Ziqing immediately protested. Her wound was on her forehead, not her legs.

“Even if you can walk, this king would still like to carry you.” Jun Beiyue said with a smile. Ziqing certainly remembered him saying those very words once before.

Realizing arguing was pointless, she decided to save her energy—she’d been up all night and was exhausted.

She naturally turned her face to nestle into his chest, not even noticing how familiar this gesture had become to her. But recalling how she’d nestled and rubbed against him so brazenly earlier, seeking comfort like a spoiled child, the tips of her ears warmed slightly.

She knew a man’s embrace could be settled into, slept in, even nuzzled against with one’s face and head—but exactly how one was supposed to nuzzle, at what angle, with what pressure, she genuinely had no idea.

In that moment just before she’d done it earlier, she’d deliberated for a long while, ultimately deciding on nothing in particular, just doing it anyway—genuinely worried that what she’d done wasn’t nuzzling at all, but rather roughly manhandling Jun Beiyue’s body!

“Woman, I need to tell you something.” Jun Beiyue suddenly spoke, walking very slowly. He loved this time just before dawn best, when everything was still asleep, the air crisp and fresh—this could pass, at least, for a walk with this woman. Once they reached Nanzhao, they’d have their hands plenty full.

“Hmm?” Ziqing looked up, the blush in her ears having faded considerably by now.

“That… when you nuzzle against me from now on, could you… go a little easier?” Jun Beiyue said with a smile.

At this, it wasn’t just Ziqing’s ears that turned red—her entire face flushed crimson. Her worry had come true after all, and for a moment she had no idea how to respond!

Jun Beiyue burst into hearty laughter, thoroughly relaxed and unrestrained, and that easy laughter seemed to carry Ziqing along with it. Though embarrassed, she wasn’t nearly as reserved as before—gritting her teeth, she suddenly buried her head hard against Jun Beiyue’s chest, ramming it into him—let’s see him laugh now!

Jun Beiyue let out a muffled grunt, but kept right on laughing, growing more mischievous by the moment. “Woman, why don’t we head back, and this king will sacrifice himself for the cause—you can practice properly?”

This immediately earned him a punch to the chest from Ziqing. This man, cold as glacial ice when composed, a devil when ruthless, and an absolute scoundrel when being mischievous!

He was the one who’d pulled her onto his lap in the first place, and now he dared tease her about it!

Only Ziqing could get away with landing a fist so close against Jun Beiyue’s chest, and she followed it with several more punches in quick succession. Jun Beiyue, still laughing, set her down. “Let me carry you on my back instead, it’ll be more comfortable.”

The moment Ziqing’s feet touched the ground, there was no way she was climbing back up. “We’ve been up all night, let’s hurry back.”

“Do you like this kind of air? So fresh and quiet.” Jun Beiyue said flatly, then suddenly wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leapt up onto a rooftop.

Only then did Ziqing take proper notice of the scene around them—the moments just before sunrise, everything still shrouded in faint dimness, the air cool and crisp, the whole world hushed and still, free of the restless bustle that daylight would soon bring.

Ziqing unconsciously drew a deep breath. “It’s so peaceful.”

“I used to love moments like this as a child—sitting on the highest rooftop in the palace, watching the whole place gradually stir to life.” Jun Beiyue said flatly, a hint of awkwardness in his tone.

This was the first time he’d ever spoken to her about his childhood. Thinking back on it, Ziqing realized just how little she truly knew about this man—his likes, his dislikes, his habits!

She recalled Imperial Physician Gu mentioning he enjoyed a cup of green tea each morning—she should probably find time to learn how to properly brew tea.

“Consort Yi would know about this. Chu Tiange must know too.” Ziqing said, her thoughts turning to the matter at hand. Chu Tiange, gravely wounded and fallen from the cliff—West Chu had never announced his death, yet still hadn’t publicly revealed news of finding him either. He must have been biding his time for quite a while now.

Jun Beiyue snorted coldly. If it weren’t all under his own control, would he really have let Da Zhou grant passage for Chu Feiyan’s grand, ceremonious marriage procession to Nanzhao?

Chu Tiange, having survived the fall into Wuxie Ravine—what remarkably tenacious luck he had!

This trip to Nanzhao was certain to be far more eventful than the last Three-Clan Grand Assembly!

“Shouldn’t we… set out as soon as possible?” Ziqing asked, genuinely anxious. This trip to Nanzhao would surely unearth countless forbidden secrets of Nanzhao, and no telling how many secrets of the Lonely Isle as well!

“We’ll leave whenever Chu Feiyan decides to speak up. Someone’s more anxious about this than we are.”

Of course they had to go to Nanzhao—it simply required Chu Feiyan to initiate the timing herself, didn’t it?

Jun Beiyue glanced back once toward the envoy’s residence—the street outside was already quite lively by now. The two of them didn’t linger, heading back toward the Prince Yao estate instead.

But when Ziqing reached the main hall of the estate, she found Imperial Physician Gu and the poison physician deep in discussion about something, while the poison master sat off to the side, having laid out a large spread of silver needles—thick and thin, varying in size, roughly a hundred of them in all!

Cultivating poison was easy—curing it was hard.

A single dose of poison, delivered through one needle into the bloodstream, could spread throughout the entire body—but to cure it required a hundred needles in return!

This wasn’t what frightened Ziqing, though. What she feared was the addiction—the agony of having the poison’s craving withdrawn from her body. Even without drinking poison, she could barely bear the withdrawal—how much worse would it be to have the poison drawn out entirely?

Ziqing’s usual calm composure was nowhere to be found; her gaze darted uneasily, and she instinctively stepped back, feeling fear for the first time in her life.

They were waiting for her to return to begin the antidote treatment! Jun Beiyue had already arranged everything!

Jun Beiyue seemed to remember this unpleasant matter only now too, the previously joyful light in his eyes dimming at once as he stopped alongside Ziqing at the entrance to the hall.