Inside the box was a vaguely visible dark red pill. Before Zhao Yān could take a good look, the small red lacquered box was pressed down from behind.

She was startled, curling her fingertips as her gaze followed back along the arm. She saw Wenren Lin leaning forward from behind, surrounding her with his body still steaming from the bath.

His snow-white collar was loosely draped, his features deep and striking. His eyebrows and eyes were moist from washing, giving him a uniquely gentle, affectionate appearance. His half-dried black hair hung loose, and as he bent forward, two strands fell from his shoulders, coolly brushing against Zhao Yān’s cheek and the hollow of her neck.

She instinctively touched the damp, tickling sensation on her face as Wenren Lin already took the wooden box back into his palm.

He didn’t rise and leave, but instead, in his bent position, encircled Zhao Yān beneath him with a subtle sense of control. He lowered his gaze as if contemplating how to handle the current situation.

This library had never been entered by outsiders. By all rights, he shouldn’t have allowed such an accident to happen, and anyone who glimpsed his secrets should never leave alive.

Wenren Lin turned his head slightly, glancing sideways at Zhao Yān.

The soft undergarment that fit him perfectly hung loose and large on the young girl before him. The hem draped over her knees, and the slanted collar nearly slipped off her thin shoulders, creating snowy peaks that added a delicate vulnerability rarely seen in her.

She looked at Wenren Lin’s profile, nearly touching her face. Her lotus-like countenance showed traces of bewilderment, as if she too realized the subtlety of the atmosphere.

…

…

The turbulent look in Wenren Lin’s eyes gradually calmed. The hand that could easily take a person’s life rose, but only lightly rested on her chest, pulling together the collar that was about to slip down.

“What medicine is in there?” Zhao Yān asked casually.

Wenren Lin casually placed the small wooden box back in the drawer and said idly, “After several months, Your Highness’s physical strength has grown considerably, still having energy to get up and wander about.”

What did that have to do with anything?

Zhao Yān’s thoughts were diverted as she pressed her lips together and said: “I was just looking for some medicine to apply.”

“Are you hurt?” Wenren Lin was somewhat surprised.

He had already been as considerate as possible and had specifically checked before leaving. Apart from some redness, he hadn’t seen any other injuries.

“My knees hurt a little and are red,” Zhao Yān rubbed her kneecaps.

Mentioning this made her irritated. At that time, she had been completely undressed while Wenren Lin remained fully clothed. His smooth jade belt hook and the fine texture of his clothing had continuously rubbed against her, creating an indescribable, strange sensation—no torture could be more agonizing.

Wenren Lin’s gaze lowered, and she indeed saw that her recently healed, delicate knees had turned a rosy color from kneeling. He lifted her overly long sleeve to check her arm, and the outer side of her elbow bend was also reddened. Fortunately, the skin wasn’t broken. Yet against the surrounding fair, delicate skin, it looked excessively gorgeous and alarming.

Wenren Lin’s eyes darkened as his fingertips carefully pressed over the reddened area on her knee. Only then did he rise and go to the outer chamber to retrieve the ointment Zhao Yān needed.

He bent down to carry Zhao Yān back to the couch, then sat on the edge, turning her body slightly toward him. Opening the small medicine jar, he took some ointment on his fingertip and leaned forward to apply it.

His fingertips were cool, with the thin calluses unique to martial artists. The ointment was also cool, immediately alleviating the hot pain in her knees.

Zhao Yān suddenly realized that over the past few months, Wenren Lin had been applying medicine for her with increasing frequency, and his technique had become increasingly natural and skilled.

She didn’t know when this tacit understanding had begun between them. If it had been last year when she first returned to the palace, not only would she not have allowed Wenren Lin to apply medicine, but even a single touch from him would have frightened her into a cold sweat.

Wenren Lin glanced at her lightly lowered eyelashes, seeming to see through her current thoughts, and said leisurely: “Your Highness has become increasingly delicate—cannot kneel, cannot be struck, and requires this Prince to attend to her from top to bottom.”

Zhao Yān was annoyed and defended herself: “It’s Prince Su’s bed that’s too hard.”

The long couch here was covered with a summer jade mat and only a thin mattress, hard as a military cot. She wondered how Wenren Lin could sleep on it.

Hearing this, Wenren Lin smiled lightly, wiping his fingers clean with a damp cotton cloth. “Your Highness doesn’t know that hardness has its benefits. If you sleep too comfortably, it’s easy not to wake up.”

Zhao Yān keenly caught some information and was about to open her mouth to inquire further when Wenren Lin took out a snow-white pill and placed it between her lips, stopping her attempt to probe deeper.

The fingertip with its faint medicinal scent brushed over her lips. Zhao Yān was slightly stunned, pressing the fingertip-sized white pill onto her tongue, immediately frowning.

Though this small pill looked as crystal-clear as powdered sugar, it was bitter.

“Don’t spit it out,” Wenren Lin pressed on her lips.

“What… is this?” Zhao Yān asked with difficulty, her brows tightly knitted.

“Something to spare Your Highness from suffering.”

Seeing Zhao Yān’s confusion, Wenren Lin brought the already prepared tea and spoke more plainly: “A contraceptive pill. It has been personally improved by this Prince; Your Highness can rest assured.”

Zhao Yān blinked, then blinked again. When she came to her senses, the tips of her ears were tinged with a thin layer of red.

“You didn’t… didn’t finish inside…” she stammered, not knowing how to describe it.

Wenren Lin recalled that scene, his eyes deepening slightly.

“In such matters, Your Highness had better not trust this Prince’s self-control too much.”

Zhao Yān hadn’t considered this aspect; no one had taught her these things.

Now she no longer minded the bitterness. She took the tea from between Wenren Lin’s fingers and drank it all at once, tilting her head back to swallow, then said in a daze: “Then last time at the Hairpin Banquet…”

“Last time we used an external application, which isn’t as effective as this.”

Wenren Lin took the opportunity to raise his finger and wipe away the moisture lingering on her lips. The little princess was still young; such crude things used too often would harm her body. How could they be worthy of such a golden branch and jade leaf?

Zhao Yān was speechless. The current situation… why did it seem so much like intimate bedroom secrets shared between husband and wife?

Wenren Lin watched her trembling eyelashes, rubbing the moisture he’d wiped from her lips between his fingers, his eyes gradually becoming peaceful.

The night was still long. For a moment, he thought about getting up to fetch soft bedding to make the couch softer and fresher, so it wouldn’t hurt the little princess’s delicate body again.

In his daze, he understood that all his elaborate, roundabout actions were just so he could, like now, quietly and permanently possess this beauty for himself.

However, this thought merely bubbled up before being forcibly suppressed.

What was he doing?

Wenren Lin secretly mocked himself. How could he waver so much, foolishly desiring to share a bed for the night?

While he was pondering, Zhao Yān, whose eyelids had begun to droop, spoke first: “I should return to the Eastern Palace. Liu Ying and the others are still waiting in the carriage.”

Wenren Lin looked at her without saying yes or no.

So Zhao Yān rubbed her eyes and retreated to the couch, feeling under the covers to put on her undergarments. Then she extended her fair hand to grab the chest binding scattered on the edge of the couch.

She couldn’t tighten the chest binding alone and was struggling. Finally, Wenren Lin leaned forward to help her wrap the binding layer by layer, with just the right amount of pressure, much more skillfully than at the Hairpin Banquet.

Zhao Yān inhaled the very faint frosty scent on him and released her hands.

He pointed to her arm, and Zhao Yān raised both arms to put on the sleeves. He tapped her slender legs, and Zhao Yān lifted her legs to put on her boots.

Wenren Lin pinned the jade hairpin for her and looked in the mirror at her restored, handsome, youthful appearance, his movements slowing down.

Having just dressed her properly, he now wanted to strip off these clothes that didn’t belong to her, these annoying garments.

Zhao Yān gave a soft yawn and observed Wenren Lin’s casually handsome face in the mirror. After choosing her words carefully, she finally asked softly and tentatively: “Has the Grand Tutor’s anger subsided?”

Wenren Lin adjusted the angle of the jade hairpin and lowered his eyes to look at her.

Zhao Yān continued: “When Liu Baiwei is sent back to Mingde Hall later, I will order people to watch over and discipline him well, ensuring he never troubles Prince Su’s mansion again.”

Wenren Lin saw through her little thoughts completely. His hand, which had been adjusting the jade hairpin, moved downward, slowly twirling a strand of hair at her temple.

“Who said this Prince was going to let him go?”

“What does it matter? He can’t enter the Eastern Palace now anyway; he won’t offend the Grand Tutor’s eyes again.”

Zhao Yān looked back at him through the mirror. Now that her emotions had calmed, her thoughts were clearer. “I don’t have many people I can use, and the Grand Tutor can’t always protect me. Without Liu Baiwei now, things are even more difficult. I haven’t even asked the Grand Tutor for compensation yet.”

“No compensation?”

Then what was this night about?

Wenren Lin’s eyes darkened deeply as he nodded thoughtfully: “Yes, compensation is due.”

Seeing her advantage, Zhao Yān quit while ahead. She took a deep breath as she stood up and turned to face Wenren Lin.

“In the future, if there are any plans involving the Eastern Palace, please let me know.”

She looked up, her bright eyes filled with light. “I’m easily frightened.”

Wenren Lin raised his hand to pinch her soft, slightly reddened earlobe, his tone as gentle and low as always: “Are you still leaving?”

“Yes.”

Zhao Yān nodded and walked a few steps toward the outer chamber, then looked back.

The pearl curtains swayed, making Wenren Lin’s figure shadowy and indistinct.

After a moment, he finally put on his robe, lifted the curtain, and personally escorted Zhao Yān out to her carriage.

Zhao Yān didn’t say anything, but the corners of her mouth, which had been tense all evening, finally turned up slightly.

……

Liu Ying had been anxiously waiting in the carriage. Seeing Zhao Yān return with Prince Su’s escort, she finally relaxed slightly.

Her Highness had delayed returning to the Eastern Palace for so long and had stayed at Prince Su’s mansion for half the night. The Empress might be difficult to explain to, but Liu Ying didn’t ask anything. She simply helped Zhao Yān into the carriage and thoughtfully handed her some cool tea to soothe her throat.

Seeing Prince Su also board the carriage, she knew he would personally escort Her Highness back to the Eastern Palace. Liu Ying automatically got off to walk, giving up her seat inside.

The carriage started moving, and the serene lights of Prince Su’s mansion gradually receded.

Zhao Yān was truly exhausted. Resting her chin in her hand, she dozed off and soon fell into dreams.

When she woke, the first thing she saw was a dark-colored collar.

Somehow, she was leaning against Wenren Lin’s chest, her head resting on his shoulder, while Wenren Lin had one hand against his temple and the other loosely encircling her waist.

Seeing that he was also awake, Zhao Yān quickly sat up straight and asked groggily: “Have we arrived?”

Wenren Lin nodded, his gaze falling on the faint red pressure mark on her cheek, a very slight smile in his eyes.

“Thank you, Prince Su.”

Zhao Yān rubbed her cheek. To continue speaking would be overly deliberate and ambiguous, so she unconsciously bit her lower lip as she rose.

Entering through the Eastern Palace’s side gate, Zhao Yān stood under the tall gate and looked back. Wenren Lin’s carriage was still parked in the distance. The curtains were lowered, but Zhao Yān could feel that subtle gaze had not left.

Walking further in, past the long corridor, the Eastern Palace side gate was bolted, and security was reinstated. Only then did the faint sound of departing hoofbeats arise from outside.

Zhao Yān returned to her sleeping chambers in one breath and sat on the bed.

After a long while, she gently raised her hand and sniffed the barely perceptible cool, faint fragrance lingering on her fingertips, like frost and snow in the depths of winter.

That was what she had inadvertently picked up when opening the red lacquered medicine box in Wenren Lin’s cabinet. Fearing she might touch upon some secret of Wenren Lin’s, though suspicious, she had restrained herself and not shown it until returning to the Eastern Palace, where she dared to open her fingers and confirm with a light sniff.

That dark red pill was it an elixir?

But Wenren Lin had always been irreverent toward heaven, earth, gods, and spirits. He didn’t seem like someone seeking immortality or enlightenment, so why would he have such a pill?

And why keep it in such an important place as his library…

Zhao Yān wasn’t certain. After some thought, she summoned Liu Ying and said, “Go and invite Imperial Physician Zhang. I have something important to ask him.”

Zhang Xu came quickly, his eyes still showing traces of drowsiness. He bowed and said, “Regarding that poisoned book and the pill formulas, this humble official is still analyzing them. I beg Your Highness’s patience for a few more days.”

Zhao Yān waved her hand: “I called you here for something else.”

She sniffed her fingertips again, with their familiar frost-snow scent, but the scent was too faint. Even Zhang Xu couldn’t possibly identify anything from such a subtle trace.

The only thing that could be confirmed now was that Wenren Lin’s pill wasn’t poisonous.

Recalling Wenren Lin’s occasionally abnormal body temperature, Zhao Yān’s doubts grew stronger. She gestured for Zhang Xu to retire temporarily.

Remembering something, she raised her head and called out: “Wait.”

Zhang Xu stopped with his medicine box and turned to await instructions.

Zhao Yān pressed her lips together before saying softly: “Does Imperial Physician Zhang have any contraceptive decoction?”

Wenren Lin had alerted her, and she was somewhat anxious in retrospect. Taking an additional dose of medicine would be more reassuring.

Contraceptive… decoction? It should be this, right? She had heard the palace ladies talking about the concubines when she was a child.

Zhang Xu glanced at Zhao Yān but didn’t ask anything. He merely reminded her: “Regular contraceptive decoctions are cold. Taking too much can harm the body. Your Highness should take as little as possible.”

He bowed and withdrew, and before long, had Liu Ying bring a bowl of hot, bitter medicine, saying it was for strengthening and nourishing the body.

Zhao Yān understood tacitly, picking up the medicine bowl and drinking it all at once.

Whether due to the medicine’s effects or not, in the latter half of the night, Zhao Yān began to feel an intermittent, sinking pain in her lower abdomen.