Chapter 74: Xiao Yang: This Is Seduction!
By the time Rong Yin stormed into the Imperial Palace, Xiao Yang was just preparing to return to Zichen Palace.
"Your Majesty."
Rong Yin’s icy voice suddenly rang out. Xiao Yang turned. "Hm?"
On the white jade steps, Rong Yin’s face was grim. He strode toward Xiao Yang and questioned her in a cold voice.
"I hear Your Majesty has taken two male consorts?"
Xiao Yang glanced behind her, then ahead.
She had Lin Yi arrange for those two men, then listened to a song, and later ran into two little palace maids and chatted for a while.
The whole thing had taken a little over half an hour. She hadn’t even made it back to Zichen Palace, yet Rong Yin was already standing before her.
’The Regent King’s reach is truly vast.’
The palace was crawling with spies for the court officials. Xiao Yang knew this, but as long as they didn’t cross her, she couldn’t be bothered to clean them out.
If the water is too clear, there will be no fish.
Besides, if used correctly, another’s spies could become her own pawns.
But Rong Yin had arrived too quickly. He might as well have openly told her, ’I have people watching you.’ What was he doing? ’Planning a rebellion?’
Right now, Rong Yin couldn’t care less if the Emperor suspected his loyalty. His mind was completely consumed with the fact that the Little Emperor had taken male consorts.
He stared at her, a tempest of emotions churning in his eyes. He used every ounce of his rationality to suppress them and speak normally.
"The matter of male consorts is bad for Your Majesty’s reputation. Even if Your Majesty enjoys such things, it should be done in private..."
He wanted to say she should just amuse herself in private and not bring it out in the open, but he couldn’t even accept it in private!!
The mere thought of Your Majesty getting close to other men, letting other men touch her, was enough to make him want to kill someone.
"Your Majesty is still young..." He took a deep breath and looked up at her. His usually grim phoenix eyes were now filled with a simmering rage, yet he held it back—held it back so tightly the corners of his eyes turned red. But looking at the Little Emperor’s face, all his anger lost its edge, and he was forced to compromise with himself. "Your Majesty is still young and doesn’t understand matters of the heart. Perhaps you are just curious or acting out of spite, but Your Majesty cannot ruin your entire life over a momentary impulse."
An ordinary person’s reputation is important, let alone an Emperor’s. An Emperor’s life is recorded in the annals of history, to be passed down through the ages.
No matter how wise and powerful she might become in the future, her preference for men would be an indelible stain on her legacy.
To this moment, Rong Yin still saw Xiao Yang as a junior, a child. He felt he had to educate her, to persuade her, to keep her from going down the wrong path.
Perhaps he had selfish motives, but his intentions were fundamentally for her own good.
A pity, then, that Xiao Yang didn’t need it.
’If he gets rid of them, where am I supposed to find another shield? It’s so annoying to be constantly pestered about marriage.’
’If they were the right gender, I might have considered it, but they all want to send women to my harem.’
’If I marry one, countless more will follow.’
’Why bring trouble upon myself and ruin those poor girls’ lives in the process?’
"This is my affair. It has nothing to do with you."
Xiao Yang couldn’t be bothered to explain to Rong Yin. It was impossible to explain anyway. She was the Emperor; was she not even allowed to keep two male consorts?
Xiao Yang strode past him to leave. She had only taken two steps when she heard a palace maid cry out, "Your Majesty, the Regent King is heading to Luoyun Palace with his sword!"
Lin Yi had just arranged for those two men to stay in Luoyun Palace.
Xiao Yang stopped in her tracks, grinding her teeth in anger.
’That psycho!’
Xiao Yang spun around and hurried toward Luoyun Palace. From a distance, she could see Rong Yin kick open the palace gates, sword in hand, radiating killing intent.
Casting aside all other thoughts, Xiao Yang used her Qinggong to leap over a railing, snatching a saber from a guard as she went.
"Help..."
Zhao Qiuchi used his agile movement technique to dodge the attack, stumbling and crawling his way out.
His eyes were wide with terror. He only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Xiao Yang. "Your Majesty, help! Someone is trying to kill us."
Before he could finish, Xiao Yang had already charged inside.
Jiang Shuhuai was wounded in the arm, blood streaming down, as Rong Yin viciously raised his sword to stab him in the heart.
CLANG!
In the nick of time, Xiao Yang blocked Rong Yin’s sword.
"Rong Yin, have you lost your mind?"
Seeing her risk herself to save another man only fueled Rong Yin’s rage. He ignored her and tried to kill Jiang Shuhuai again.
Xiao Yang had no choice but to block his attacks, one after another.
Jiang Shuhuai staggered backward, scrambling and crawling in his attempt to escape.
The Imperial Guards looked at the Emperor, then at the Regent King, unsure for a moment if they should intervene.
The Regent King wasn’t trying to harm Her Majesty, and Her Majesty hadn’t given an order.
Rong Yin was relentless, and Xiao Yang used all her strength to stop him. The two were locked in a fierce fight.
Not until Jiang Shuhuai finally crawled out of Luoyun Palace’s main gate, where a crowd of Imperial Guards gave him a sense of security, could he finally gasp for breath.
When Rong Yin saw the man disappear, he suddenly withdrew his sword. Xiao Yang almost couldn’t stop her own saber from striking down.
Fortunately, she pulled back her strength at the last moment. The blade slid past, severing a lock of dark hair that had fallen beside his neck.
Xiao Yang frowned, annoyed. "Have you had enough fun?"
"You dare to kill someone right in front of me? Are you planning a rebellion?"
"I offered you the throne and you refused it. You just enjoy the feeling of insubordination, is that it?"
’He’s infuriating!’
Xiao Yang threw a punch with her free hand. He didn’t dodge, taking the blow head-on. But as she pulled her hand back, he grabbed it.
"What are you doing?"
Rong Yin dropped his sword and used both hands to grip her struggling one. His gaze locked onto her, his eyes glowing with a dangerous emotion, like a crazed beast. His voice was laced with anger.
"Your Majesty’s male consorts... How could trash like that possibly be worthy of you?"
Xiao Yang retorted, "What’s it to you?"
’He meddles in my studies, he meddles in my state affairs, and now he’s meddling with my male consorts. How can someone be so annoying?’
Xiao Yang tried to pull her hand back, but it wouldn’t budge. Instead, he grabbed her arm and yanked her toward him.
Rong Yin pressed her hand firmly against his chest, even sliding it down a little.
Xiao Yang’s pupils trembled. ’That move... it was unintentional, right?!’
"Looks, loyalty, skill, status—in what way are they better than me?"
Xiao Yang: ???
She stared at Rong Yin as if she’d been struck by lightning. ’What does he mean by that?’
Xiao Yang was no naive damsel. She was a mature, normal woman who’d had boyfriends—more than one, in fact.
’This attitude of Rong Yin’s... this is seduction, isn’t it?’
Xiao Yang’s hand touched his abs.
It was a freezing day and their clothes were thick, yet Rong Yin had forcefully pulled her hand past the lapels of his robes and pressed it onto his abs.
Rong Yin made no effort to hide his scheme. Last time, the little lecher had stared straight at him. He knew she liked it.
Xiao Yang: ’This is definitely seduction!’
Once you have the answer, the question becomes perfectly clear.
The suppressed pain and struggle in Rong Yin’s eyes couldn’t be clearer—the frustration of someone throwing caution to the wind, the bitterness of unrequited desire.
’Has he fallen for me?’
A corner of Xiao Yang’s lip twitched. "Does the Regent King like men, too?"
’If I remember correctly, Rong Yin isn’t sure I’m a woman yet, is he?’
Rong Yin’s phoenix eyes stared intently at her. He hesitated. He shouldn’t be doing this.
He had only come to stop Your Majesty from taking male consorts, to stop Your Majesty from making a mistake—not to become that mistake himself.
But he knew, even more clearly, that he had always been selfish.
Every night, his dreams were filled with Your Majesty’s image.
It was becoming harder and harder to suppress his sordid, greedy desires. He longed to do every outrageous thing imaginable to her.
But after waking, he knew he couldn’t.
He was disciplined. He thought he could restrain himself well.
But Your Majesty wanted to take male consorts—two useless wastes of space who were so much worse than him. What right did they have to be close to Your Majesty?
So, if he couldn’t stop Your Majesty, why couldn’t that person be him?
In that instant, a torrent of emotion drowned his rationality. He was driven by lust, defeated by his own desires.
"Your Majesty, I do not like men... nor do I like women..."
His voice was strained, but he enunciated each word, confessing his deepest thoughts. "I only like Your Majesty."