In the quiet study, refreshing incense burned gently. Under the unblinking gaze of three people, the index finger that Xue Yu pressed down curled slightly – not a motion to withdraw, but like a feather, faintly touching her palm.

Xue Yu looked at him for a long while, then released her hand, pushing the scroll before him: “Continue.”

That previous question seemed to have never happened. In the blink of an eye, she had become that impartial Princess of Yedu again.

“The Xu family might be a breakthrough. This family has little contact with the Sacred Lands, but Shenyu Pavilion often deals with them due to business relations, and Chen Longzhi is on good terms with the Demon Capital.”

After Su You finished speaking, looking at the snow-white sleeve edge and the lotus leaf border pattern on it, he deliberately paused before saying gently: “A Yu, just in case, we can leave this matter to Nine Phoenix.”

This call of “A Yu” directly stunned the other three people.

Even the composed Chao Hua couldn’t suppress the sharp intake in her heart, looking at Su You with an expression of uncertain emotions. Finally, she bit her lip hard and quickly ran through background, talent, and abilities in her mind before barely convincing herself to accept it.

Chao Nian looked worriedly at Chao Hua while casting admiring glances at Su You.

Amazing, truly amazing.

He could even win over their lady – this was more unbelievable than his ten years of traveling around.

“Mm.” Xue Yu’s tone softened slightly. She returned the sealed documents to Chao Hua and others, looking up: “Anything else to discuss?”

At that moment, Chao Hua couldn’t help grinding her sharp canine teeth.

Actually, Xue Yu usually did this too. After discussing matters, seeing them still standing there without leaving, she would ask this question. It sounded like a dismissal, but those familiar with her knew she was genuinely asking about business.

But only today, no matter how this sounded, it seemed like a dismissal.

“We take our leave.”

Chao Hua and others swept their sleeves in farewell. Just as they were about to exit the side hall, they heard Xue Yu naturally detain someone: “Su You, you stay.”

The three stepped over the threshold, watching those two doors close before them. Chao Nian immediately looked at Chao Hua and Chou Li, deliberately lowering his voice but unable to hide his excitement: “Sister, sister, did you see? The Princess and Su You – is it what I think?”

“Let go.” Chao Hua coldly glanced at him, looking at his hand gripping her sleeve, taking a deep breath: “See what? Come on, tell me.”

“Never mind.” Chao Nian, remembering his sister’s belief that no one was worthy of half the Princess’s finger, turned his neck to look at Chou Li: “Sister Chou Li, what do you think?”

“Don’t ask me.” Chou Li’s eyes curved slightly, shaking her head with a gentle smile: “But this is also the first time I’ve seen the Princess like this.”

Seeing Chao Hua’s frowning, very displeased expression, Chou Li reached out to pat her hand soothingly: “Alright, we’re all family. Su You’s character and abilities are evident to all. Compared to other aristocratic young masters, at least we know his background well – it’s not bad.”

“I know.” Chao Hua rubbed her forehead, looking back at the layered palace buildings shrouded in light rain: “I’m just afraid the Princess will suffer losses. She doesn’t understand this – matters of love between men and women are different from reviewing memorials and handling government affairs.”

“I’m actually quite at ease.” Chou Li looked at Chao Nian, who was flushed red with the urge to announce it to the world, smiling warmly: “Su You can be considered someone we watched grow up. At worst, there’s still the Thousand Vine Seal supporting him. Don’t worry.”

Inside the side hall, beneath the hanging flower curtains, Xue Yu handed Su You a document: “Take a look.”

Su You nodded, accepting the document and sitting on a chair brought in by female attendants.

When handling official business, both were very serious – one reading intently, one writing diligently. The atmosphere was quiet and peaceful.

Half an hour later, Xue Yu first put down her brush. She fingered the lustrous jade bracelet on her wrist, then silently pushed back her chair and walked to Su You’s side.

The window was half-open, gentle wind carrying the sweet fragrance of spring grass wafted in clusters, rustling the smooth papers under his elbow with soft sounds. Sunlight fell in fine fragments, illuminating the man’s profile warmly and elegantly, making even his unconscious frowning particularly attractive.

“What are you reading?” She pointed at the scroll in his hands with her fingertip.

The next moment, that cool finger was unexpectedly caught by someone who looked up.

Xue Yu lowered her eyes, looking at their overlapped hands beneath the sleeves, making no move to struggle.

“New information came from Xihe Sacred Land.” Su You looked up at her, his voice slightly low, unable to detect any emotional fluctuation: “The Demon Capital’s second-ranked family might move against them.”

He simultaneously controlled the vast information networks of both Yedu’s Palace Guard Bureau and Imperial Guard Bureau. What Xue Yu heard from Nine Phoenix, he also received word shortly after.

Xue Yu remained silent for a moment: “They won’t be able to fight.”

Over twenty years ago, when she took Su You to solve the Worldly Lamp case, she knew he was an extremely intelligent person. Various matters, once processed in his mind, could form a complex web of relationships, tightly interwoven. Quick-minded and meticulous in thought.

Problems Xue Yu realized, given time, he could also trace the clues.

His background – he had probably already guessed it himself.

“I know.” Su You’s grip on her fingertip suddenly loosened, instead grasping her wrist. With a pull, she stepped back and sat on his lap.

At times like this, he was always particularly bold, even audacious.

He looked at her from a distance. Her eyes were very round – when she dropped her defenses and seriousness, they returned to their original gentle shape. Even in such an intimate, inappropriate position, she neither scolded nor grew angry, but even without saying a word, she still seemed unreachable, like a deity who wouldn’t be moved by mortals.

Such a person might not give another sufficient security even when melded in flesh and blood.

This feeling of being within reach yet distant could truly drive one mad.

“You were unhappy just now.” Xue Yu stated matter-of-factly: “Because of what?”

Her tone sounded like she wanted to get to the bottom of it to defend him. The obvious hesitation Su You showed when mentioning “second-ranked family” dissipated. He denied: “No.”

“Yes.” Xue Yu’s gaze swept across his face, speaking concisely: “It’s written all over your face. I could tell.”

For her to notice was truly remarkable.

“There was a little.” After looking at her for a moment, Su You calmly changed his answer, asking: “That tea demon – is she related to Song Heng?”

Xue Yu nodded.

Undeniably, she was very slow in matters of emotion, but after experiencing the Song Heng affair, she finally understood that men in this world, especially those with broad horizons and high positions, would like passionate, brilliant women, and also like women who knew how to act coquettishly. No matter what, they always had moments of being gentle, needing protection, wholeheartedly trusting and depending on their partners.

In short, anything else was possible, except they wouldn’t like someone like her – always strong, calm, and likely to have disagreements and disputes with them on various matters.

“I never told you about the past.” Xue Yu looked toward the window, frowning as if caught in some distant memory, speaking slowly: “I was born in Yedu, always busy with countless matters to handle. Song Heng…”

When this name was mentioned, Su You’s grip on her fingertip suddenly tightened, like a reminder, or expressing silent displeasure.

“He leaned toward the human race and was often busy, too.” Xue Yu continued: “After being with him, we had little time to meet. Often, people from the Heavenly Palace would tell me he was injured outside, injured again. I was helpless – I couldn’t leave, I had my own duties.”

These words were utterly heartless.

But even so, Su You still felt restless emotions rising from his chest, finally condensing on his throbbing pulse.

Xue Yu gradually dissected the past before his eyes. Finally, in his unfathomably deep gaze, she spoke frankly: “In the future, I might be even busier than before. I’ll have no time to see you, care for you, and might not be able to accompany you when things happen.”

Who wouldn’t want to live easily? Who wouldn’t want to be with someone they like all the time?

But her desk always had endless government affairs. She needed to establish help arrays for the demon race in the mortal world, discuss with the court and Sacred Lands about changing everyone’s thinking – there was much to do.

Xue Yu found the next words somewhat repugnant. Looking at their intertwined hands, her two slender brows drew together: “If someday you don’t like me anymore, tell me.”

“I promised you, you can always—”

Before she could say “leave,” Su You seemed unable to bear it and pulled her, not forcefully, but roughly, drawing her into his embrace.

When those two sentences left her mouth, he finally understood what she meant by bringing up those old matters.

He lowered his head, his chin approaching her snow-white, warm nape, moving forward until his nose touched her clean ear, then like venting anger, he bit the soft flesh of her earlobe with his teeth, grinding it as unbearably as she had when first kissing him.

Xue Yu’s body instantly stiffened.

After biting neither lightly nor heavily, he loosened his grip. His long, thick lashes covered her skin, bringing unbearable itchiness, his voice full of heavy anger: “Do you know what liking means?”

She had never even said she liked him, yet could calmly imagine separation scenarios.

These words – she never said them to Song Heng, but came to warn him.

Xue Yu looked at him. Her body and behavior were indulgent, but those eyes truly showed no passionate, consuming emotions.

The next moment, Su You reached out to cover her eyes, feeling her lashes trembling in his palm: “Don’t look at me like that, A Yu.”

Almost the instant his words fell, a brilliant blue butterfly by Xue Yu’s temple fluttered its shimmering wings and flew up. It turned a circle in mid-air, then like a point of light, burrowed into Xue Yu’s forehead.

Like a tranquil lake shrouded in mist, someday finally having the clouds above blown away by an invisible wind, revealing images hidden deep beneath the surface.

Twenty years ago, Xue Yu saw Su You’s past. Today, after absorbing Feiyun Peak’s vast spiritual power, the Flying Heaven Map spirit could finally, with Xue Yu’s tacit permission, quietly bypass the seal the Lord of Yedu had set, carefully lifting one corner.

That was Xue Yu’s spoken past.

Su You witnessed the establishment of the Heavenly Court, saw a day when a red-faced, drunk man in robes symbolizing supreme power entered the palace.

Song Heng carefully embraced Xue Yu, calling her A Yu with almost devout gestures, saying again and again he wanted to be with her.

Xue Yu agreed.

But her attitude didn’t change – or rather, their way of interacting remained the same.

Her gaze wouldn’t linger on him. When opinions differed, she would calmly and steadily tell him, correct him, as she had when teaching him tasks before. Her eyes held too many things, so it seemed she truly could no longer set aside a separate space for someone special.

Their most intense argument erupted in the war-torn mortal world.

In the Heavenly Palace, Xue Yu ignored the heavenly soldiers around her, directly breaking into the council hall. She threw the Tiger Flood Pearl she had just obtained before him – it rolled to the ground and shattered into countless pieces. Looking directly at Song Heng, she asked: “Indiscriminately exterminating demons and ghosts without distinguishing right from wrong – is this your method of handling disasters?”

The Heavenly Emperor of several hundred years, the man on the high seat was no longer the youth of old. His voice was steady: “A Yu, you know the situation in the mortal world. Demons and ghosts attack humans like tidal waves. At this time, we can’t worry about right or wrong.”

“This will only backfire.” Xue Yu raised her long neck, saying word by word: “The situation in the mortal world will only intensify.”

“A Yu.” Song Heng’s voice grew heavier: “Why do you always speak for those things?”

“Those things?” Xue Yu took a deep breath. After a long while: “Heavenly Emperor, is this your belief?”

“In this matter, I will make my own decision.”

At the end of the argument, seeing her firm attitude, Song Heng’s temper flared like needle point meeting wheat tip. He had the gentlest nature, but under Xue Yu’s increasingly disappointed gaze, he couldn’t help repeatedly using the word “I” in the imperial sense, as if reminding her of his current status.

The more he used it, the more he forgot how that Heavenly Emperor position came to be.

After a standoff, Song Heng lowered his head. He came to apologize to Xue Yu. In the heavy night with moonlight everywhere, he spoke for a long time, finally reaching out to hold her hand, only to be pushed away mercilessly.

With her personality, there was no such thing as sulking – pushing away was no different from complete disappointment.

Song Heng completely lost control. That should have been his boldest moment. He looked intensely at Xue Yu, asking: “Do you really like me?”

Xue Yu didn’t answer.

But her expression said everything.

Those eyes – Song Heng didn’t dare look.

“Xue Yu, have you ever liked me?”

Xue Yu coldly watched him go from losing control to questioning, then gradually calming down, pretending nothing happened while consoling himself, then leaving.

The fragments exploded before his eyes, finally ending slowly like fireworks falling. Su You’s finger stopped on the blue butterfly’s beautiful wings. After a long while, he gently moved his hand from her eyes.

“A Yu, however it is, don’t mention this matter to me.” Su You’s lips were cool. When they fell on her nape like a dragonfly touching water, they always brought unintentional trembling. He said softly: “I’m a bit afraid.”

After a long time, he tugged at the corner of his mouth, honestly self-analyzing: “And I can’t control being somewhat impatient.”

Though he didn’t say it, he was never a magnanimous person. Regarding her and Song Heng’s affair, he couldn’t possibly be completely unaffected and indifferent. But only after truly witnessing it did he understand.

Whether then or now, she was never someone who could be burned by fire until losing all reason. In matters of emotion, she was often slow and clumsy. Toward the former Song Heng, she did have admiration and moments of attraction, but none of that was love.

In comparison, those gazes, care, and indulgence toward him were all real.

It was already very different.

Take it slowly, don’t be too greedy.

Su You held her neither loosely nor tightly, meeting her half-understanding gaze, then continuing: “The Demon Capital’s side—”

For the first time when discussing official business, Xue Yu interrupted him: “I know.”

As if finally understanding his earlier question, she answered with focus: “Like.”

Su You’s downcast eyelids suddenly lifted. Then, as if sensing something, his hand on her graceful waist patted suggestively, seductively asking: “Like whom?”

“A Yu, whom do you like?”