The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

"His Majesty said he would treat me very well... but how well?"

Tang Xixue tilted her head slightly, and the light veil of her hat rippled with her movement.

The delicate and beautiful lines of her jawline are faintly visible, along with a hint of a smile on her lips.

"I must first see with my own eyes... His Majesty's sincerity."

Her voice was sweet and gentle, like sugar water, yet it also held a hint of mischievous swaying like a silver bell in the spring breeze.

Each syllable gently scratches the most sensitive spot in people's hearts, sending shivers down their spines and making their souls tremble.

"Me? I hate empty promises the most."

Each word is like a hook coated in honey, probing into the ear canal and stirring the deepest strings of the heart.

Si Xingzhou felt a chill run down his spine.

No one knows that this emperor who rules the stars harbors a deep secret—he is hopelessly obsessed with beautiful voices.

Long before, when he sat in his magnificent carriage outside the palace, he first heard her clear and melodious "This Empress."

That voice was like moonlight piercing through the deep sea, instantly capturing his entire mind.

From then on, he could never forget it, and in the quiet of the night, the tone of those few words would always linger in his mind.

He desperately wanted to hear more—more syllables, more intonation, preferably…

She could call his name softly and affectionately.

He wanted to unlock her different voices...

At this moment, the voice he had longed for was so close to his ear, carrying a seductive sweetness and a hint of probing, almost shattering all his reason and defenses.

"My sincerity..."

His Adam's apple bobbed violently, and his hoarse voice trembled slightly as if bewitched. Almost without hesitation, he took out a token he always wore close to his body, engraved with the royal emblem of the sun, moon and stars.

"This is the Star Token, which has been with me for many years. I now give it to you as a token."

He gently placed the token into her naturally drooping palm, his fingertips inevitably touching her cool, delicate skin. The touch was like snow falling on his fingertips, stirring up another ripple of heart palpitations.

"To see your command is to see me. You are free to roam the vast expanse of the stars."

He gazed at the hazy figure behind the snow-covered veil, his heart burning like molten lava, and words escaped his lips, carrying a fiery intensity and domineering power rarely seen in an emperor:

"Tell me what you want. I am yours, and this entire Xingze, this vast land... I can offer it all to you in the future."

God knows how utterly defeated he was by her voice.

What's even more deadly is that she also possesses such an outrageously beautiful face...

His voice alone had already captivated him; now this was the perfect finishing blow!

How could anyone in the world resist someone like her?

Those absurd rumors about her must be clumsy tricks concocted by cunning men who desperately want her!

"Heh...that sounds like some sincerity."

Tang Xixue lowered her eyes and looked at the heavy Star Token in her palm, the token still warm from his chest.

The curve of her lips deepened slightly, and she inwardly scoffed:

What a cunning man.

What is he trying to do by being so attentive?

Could it be that they want to deceive her and use her to deal with their elder brother?

I'm not sure, I'll think about it some more.

Si Xingzhou took a deep breath and continued to spread his wings as wide as he could, wishing he could unleash all his radiance before her eyes so that she could no longer see even a trace of anyone else.

"Furthermore, Princess Jing may not know," he lowered his voice, his tone both declarative and seductive, carrying a subtle hint of favor, "that my harem remains empty to this day, I have never appointed any concubines, nor have I ever had a personal maidservant by my side. I am still—"

He paused, his gaze fixed intently on her:

"A body of pristine purity".

"If you are willing to have mercy on me, the position of Empress will be yours. From now on, year after year, I will belong to you alone."

He even brought up his younger brother for comparison:

"What A-Zhe can give you, I have all of. What he doesn't have... I also have."

"Most importantly," he said earnestly, as if he were genuinely considering his younger brother's well-being, "Ah Zhe's body is frail and weak. I am doing this out of pity for him and to share his burdens."

"I will surely make you... content day and night."

"Your Majesty has indeed considered everything carefully for him."

Tangxi Xue made a light and casual comment.

"Of course I cherish A-Zhe," Si Xingzhou said earnestly without changing his expression. "Therefore, Princess Jing, please stop bothering him—even if you want to bother me."

At this moment, Emperor Xingze completely forgot that not long ago, he was preparing to avenge Zheyue.

In retrospect, it's already a testament to his kindness that he didn't make his sickly younger brother faint from anger.

After all, the person he was holding tightly in his arms at this moment was the Heavenly Physician of Destiny, whom his younger brother had secretly loved for many years, but could not have. He was even so excited that he fainted just by looking at her.

"Your Majesty and Zhe Yue are truly...deeply devoted to each other."

Tang Xixue chuckled softly, her laughter like shattered jade thrown into a spring, carrying a hint of playful ripples.

"Actually, I never liked Doctor Zheyue. Those rumors outside are just nonsense."

"Therefore, Your Majesty, you are overthinking it. I never intended to get entangled with him."

As she spoke, she took out a piece of star-shaped candy, wrapped in clear candy wrapper and as translucent as an ice crystal, from the delicate embroidered pouch at her waist, and casually handed it to him.

He'd been hungry for so long, so he ate a piece of candy to tide him over, lest he faint and cause her trouble.

"I knew this sooner!"

Si Xingzhou accepted the tiny piece of candy as if it were a precious treasure, and the pent-up frustration in his heart instantly vanished.

"It must be some mediocre person who is jealous of your talent and beauty, who fabricated rumors and wantonly slandered you."

In his heart, she was like the moon in the clouds and a fairy in the dew, deserving to be held in the highest heavens and admired by all. How could she be someone who stoops down to beg for pity?

His younger brother, indeed, had been confined by illness for a long time, and his mind was filled with depression, which is why he had such unrealistic delusions.

My mood suddenly brightened, like the clear sky after a snowfall.

However, the sweet and melodious voice that haunted his dreams rang out again.

He casually threw out an answer he never expected, but it was like a thunderbolt from the heavens, instantly stunning him and making his blood run cold.

"However—" she paused, her tone as natural as casual conversation, "I do have someone I like—the Kunlun Sword Immortal."

"If Yun Jue has offended Your Majesty in any way, please forgive him and do not hold it against him. Just consider it as my brother-in-law being young and impetuous and ignorant... Your Majesty is magnanimous and will not take it to heart."

Kunlun Sword Immortal.

Xie Jinlian.

My brother-in-law.

A child? A child even older than her?

Every word felt like a bucket of cold water.

In an instant, ice and fire intertwined, spreading throughout the body.

It's good that her ideal man isn't her own brother.

But the man she longed for was none other than Xie Jinlian, a man of extraordinary talent who stood atop Kunlun Mountain!

Moreover, she so naturally referred to Yun Boyan as her "little brother-in-law"...

This is no longer a simple rejection, but a betrayal of the heart.

Si Xingzhou felt as if the sweet spring water that had just moistened his throat had frozen instantly, stinging back down his throat and chilling him to the bone.

The warmth and fragrance of her body still lingered in his arms, yet he felt as if he had fallen into an abyss of ice.

Throughout his life, he held power, overlooking the mountains and rivers, believing that everything could be schemed against and controlled.

This time, however, he experienced with absolute clarity what utter and helpless defeat truly meant.

Only now do I realize that there are indeed things in this world that are unattainable.

For example, this delusional madness that he alone was indulging in from beginning to end.

His unrequited love.

The taste was like swallowing an unripe fruit, astringent and bitter; like embracing a cold winter night, chilling to the bone.

Even with the power to turn clouds into rain, it's impossible to grasp a single inch of snow on the horizon.