The bright moon hangs high, beckoning him down from his pedestal.

Shen Qingruo did not answer immediately. She looked into his eyes and smiled gently.

She didn't break free from his hands that were cupping her face. Instead, she leaned forward slightly and nestled softly into his arms.

Shen Wangxi froze, completely unprepared for her reaction. He instinctively tried to push her away, but his arm, though raised, slowly fell and wrapped around her slender shoulders and back.

Then, he heard her muffled voice in his arms, tinged with a hint of coquettishness and a touch of grievance: "Shen Wangxi."

She called him by his name.

"You are such a powerful Emperor of Great Zhou, you see through everything, how could you not guess?"

Shen Wangxi's Adam's apple bobbed, but he didn't speak.

Shen Qingruo didn't need his answer and continued softly, "Because I like you."

Shen Wangxi felt her heart stop, and then it started pounding even harder.

Shen Qingruo's voice continued: "Back then, when I thought I was really your princess, I always admired you."

"Looking at you is like looking at the clearest and brightest crescent moon in the desert night sky. I feel so proud to be your princess."

She paused, then looked up again, her clear gaze meeting his complex eyes: "Later, I found out you weren't my father..."

"The admiration is still there, but it has quietly changed its flavor and turned into liking."

As soon as she finished speaking, she became extremely shy, and even her small earlobes turned pink.

Shen Wangxi listened to her naive confession, her mind went blank, and she remained stunned and speechless.

Shen Qingruo looked at him, mustered her courage, raised her slender neck, and pressed her tender lips to his thin lips.

Instantly separate.

Shen Wangxi suddenly came to her senses.

The next moment, he tightened his arms around her back, and his other large hand cupped half of her delicate face, his fingertips sinking into her smooth black hair.

He lowered his head, captured her lips that were trying to pull away, and kissed them tenderly, lingering there.

That night.

Inside the Qingyi Palace, a light green belted long dress lay scattered on the ground, overlapping with a man's dragon-patterned casual clothes, creating an unspeakable ambiguity.

As the curtains fell, Shen Qingruo lay on her back on the bed, her watery eyes wide open, pain showing in the corners of her eyes and brows, but she did not refuse. Instead, she was gentle and obedient, her fingertips constantly scratching at the brocade quilt beneath her.

Shen Wangxi lowered his head and kissed her forehead, his voice low and husky: "Aruo."

Her long eyelashes fluttered, and tears streamed down her face.

He grasped her slender white wrist, which was gripping the bed sheet, and slowly moved it upwards, holding her small hand and interlocking their fingers.

"Aruo." His voice was incredibly deep, filled with an overwhelming infatuation, "You're so obedient, I'll hurt you."

The curtains swayed even more violently.

Shen Qingruo looked up at her snow-white face, tears streaming down her face. The fingers he was holding began to curl up, and she began to use all her strength to try to break free.

Shen Wangxi sensed her futile efforts, looked up and sighed repeatedly, pressing her small hand down even further.

"Oh, Shen Wangxi..." she couldn't help but call his name in a pitiful voice.

Little did she know that her pitiful, coquettish voice, though softening the man's heart, made him even more out of control.

"Aruo, I'm here," he replied, his voice low and gentle, his fingers still intertwined with hers.

Outside Qingyi Palace, night was deepening.

Wu Tian stood with his hands hanging down on the corridor, listening to the increasingly loud commotion inside the inner palace. Princess Qingruo was crying so hard she couldn't breathe.

Clearly, the noble lady inside had once again been taken to the emperor's bed and favored.