A Quiet Homecoming

He leaned over, his thin lips pressing gently against the girl's cool cheek once more, softly kissing away the tears that streaked her small face.

"There, there. This isn't Yao Yao's fault." He lowered his lashes slightly, keeping the turbulent emotions in his eyes hidden from her, his tone still light and calm.

Chen Yao gave a tiny, choked sob, then lifted her tear-blurred eyes to look up at him.

"It's my body's doing. I suffered too much in the deep palace as a child, and it left a root of illness behind. That's why I can't father a child. It has nothing to do with you," Xiao Mingting said.

His voice was even, as if he were speaking of some trivial matter that had nothing to do with him, uttering the words so simply.

Even System 04 couldn't help but remark, "That really is true love, no doubt about it."

As an emperor, to dare fabricate such a lie? He truly did favor beauty over everything else, without the slightest care that his house still had a throne waiting for an heir.

Chen Yao's pupils widened slightly, and she stared at him in a daze, her expression quickly shifting to one of panic and reverence.

She bit her lip and spoke hesitantly, "A matter of such importance concerning Your Majesty's dragon body... how can you speak of it so casually to your consort?"

Seeing that her mood seemed to have improved somewhat, Xiao Mingting understood that the root of the problem lay exactly here.

He reached out and gently ruffled the girl's hair, his tone equally relaxed. "It's nothing serious. In my eyes, nothing is more important than you."

"If you want a child someday, I'll pick a well-behaved, sensible one from the imperial clan and bring him here for you to raise. But it's still early. I only want to spend time alone with you for now. So let's leave it for later, alright?"

The man's voice was gentle yet firm, like a warm current slowly flowing into the depths of her heart.

Chen Yao blinked, and the melancholy in her heart gradually dissolved. She soon nodded obediently and replied in a soft voice, "Mm, I'll do as Your Majesty says."

Xiao Mingting curved his lips, then lowered his head and gently kissed the girl's forehead. "Yao Yao is a good girl."

*

In the blink of an eye, another three years passed.

Chen Yao sat at the round table in her bedchamber, focusing on trimming flower branches with silver scissors, preparing to arrange them in a vase as decoration.

"Hiss." Just as she was distracted for a moment, the sharp blades nicked a small cut on her fingertip.

She lowered her eyes, gazing at the drop of crimson welling on her fingertip, a nameless heaviness settling in her heart—somehow it felt like a bad omen.

Until a hurried set of footsteps came from the entrance of the hall.

"Your Highness! Your Highness, something terrible has happened!"

It was Cheng Yue's voice, laced with a panic she had never shown before.

Because she had rushed all the way back from outside the hall, even from a distance, the sound of her labored breathing was audible.

Chen Yao instinctively clenched her fingers, wiping away the drop of blood, then turned her head to look over.

Not knowing yet what had occurred, she waited until Cheng Yue drew close before speaking slowly, "Calm down and tell me—what's happened?"

Cheng Yue didn't even wait to catch her breath, reporting directly, "Your Highness, it's Lord Shen... She was discovered to have been disguising herself as a man to serve as an official... It's been exposed, and now the whole city is in an uproar!"

Her urgency mainly stemmed from the fact that their empress had once been married to Shen Yunxiu, and on the surface, the latter was still the empress's sworn brother and the current state uncle.

With such a deep connection, it was obvious that the empress could not possibly have been completely unaware of Shen Yunxiu's disguise...

"What?!" Chen Yao was struck as if by lightning, her eyes flying wide open.

But after the shock came a wave of overwhelming worry. She quickly stood, grabbing Cheng Yue's hand, and asked anxiously, "And Yunxiu? How is she now? Has His Majesty punished her?"

"Lord Shen... was locked up in the imperial prison." Cheng Yue swallowed, stumbling over her words.

Chen Yao's heart tightened, and she didn't bother with much else. She released her grip, lifted her skirts, and made to dash out of the hall.

"No, I have to go see her! Cheng Yue, have a carriage prepared for me!"

Just thinking about the dark, sunless conditions of the imperial prison made it hard for her to breathe. For a moment, she was utterly at a loss.

"Your Highness, please calm down!"

Seeing this, Cheng Yue quickly followed, trying to grab her arm but not daring to overstep.

Fortunately, the girl had only just reached the threshold when she collided with a solid wall of a man.

The familiar scent of aloeswood struck her, and soon a strong, sturdy arm wrapped around her waist.

Chen Yao slowly looked up and saw Xiao Mingting in his black imperial dragon robe. His eyes were soft, looking at her with helplessness.

"Your Majesty." She called out, a little at a loss for words.

The girl's lashes trembled slightly, and before long her eyes began to redden again. She looked at him with a pitiful, pleading expression, begging, "Yunxiu... she's been locked in the imperial prison. Please, let her out, alright?"

Just by looking at her, Xiao Mingting didn't even need to ask whether she knew about Shen Yunxiu's disguise.

He sighed silently, waved his hand to dismiss Cheng Yue, who had followed behind the girl.

Then he bent down slightly, scooped the girl up horizontally, and carried her slowly into the inner chamber.

He sat down on the couch, deftly settling her on his lap, and said gently, "Yao Yao, rest assured. Xilan will be fine. I promise you, her life is not in danger."

Thinking of Shen Yunxiu's identity, Xiao Mingting was clearly filled with mixed emotions.

He never expected that the person who had been brother-in-arms with him, the very man whose wife he had forcibly taken, would turn out to be a woman...

Hearing this, Chen Yao's suspended heart eased a bit, and she quickly pressed further, "Then why still lock her in the imperial prison?"

"We have to put on a show for the ministers."

Xiao Mingting reached out and tousled her little head, explaining patiently, "You know, Xilan's position rose too quickly. The policies she wants to push—reforming the bureaucracy, conscripting labor based on land—cut too deeply into too many people's interests."

"Now that her identity is exposed, it just gives those people an excuse to attack. If I released her outright, they'd seize on it as leverage and stir up more trouble."

Chen Yao bit her lip. She didn't understand courtly affairs, but just from listening to Xiao Mingting, she could sense how dire Shen Yunxiu's situation was.

So on the surface, she nodded in agreement. "Alright, I'll listen to Your Majesty. But how long will Yunxiu have to stay in the prison?"

"Not too long," Xiao Mingting said.

"She's not alone at court. Not only will Xuzhi surely advocate for her—behind him stands Grand Tutor Yuan—there's also Investigator Ji, who has always admired and supported Xilan... Not to mention her status as the state uncle. Even if they want her dead, they'll have to weigh the consequences. Once the dust settles, I'll release her naturally."

Chen Yao could only nod, though her worry wasn't entirely assuaged.

So after Xiao Mingting finished comforting her and left for the Imperial Study to review memorials, she immediately wanted to sneak out of the palace to the prison.

She didn't intend to do anything—just to see Shen Yunxiu through the bars, even once, to ensure she was unharmed, and that would let her feel a little better.

She didn't fully grasp the political entanglements Xiao Mingting had described. But she understood at least one thing: she needed to make those who sought to target Shen Yunxiu understand that as the empress, she stood firmly and unwaveringly by her side.

That in itself would serve as a deterrent.

But just as Chen Yao began giving orders, Cheng Yue tactfully informed her, "Your Highness, His Majesty has left instructions that you are not to leave the palace recently."

Chen Yao's face immediately tightened, and she sat back on the couch, displeased.

She had almost forgotten—Xiao Mingting's possessiveness and need for control had always been intense, to the point where he wanted her at all times within his line of sight. Naturally, any little move she made, he would receive word of in an instant...

Thinking it over and finding no way around it, Chen Yao could only wait restlessly in her own bedchamber.