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

The night was deep, in the Jiaofang Palace.

Wulan Yun was trapped in a bizarre and fantastical dream.

In a daze, she returned to the night of her birthday banquet.

The commotion outside the Taiji Hall had not yet subsided, but she was still thinking about His Majesty, who had been away from his seat for a long time.

The eunuch said that His Majesty had drunk too much wine and had already rested in the palace.

With worry in her heart, she found herself walking towards the inner hall without realizing it.

The closer she got, the more a strange sense of panic gripped her.

From deep within the inner hall, a sound seemed to emanate, like a woman's pained voice, mixed with a man's indistinct sigh.

Wu Lanyun stopped in her tracks, her heart pounding erratically.

No, she must have misheard.

She forced herself to keep moving forward, the layers of curtains obscuring her view, leaving only silhouettes on the drapery.

One figure was tall and imposing, a silhouette she knew to the core; the other was slender and delicate, being embraced by a man…

The silhouette was distorted, and she heard that usually cool voice, now filled with an infatuation and hoarseness she had never heard before, praising her intermittently:

"So fair-skinned, how can Aruo be so fair-skinned..."

"So tender it looks like it's about to...!"

"So beautiful, mine, all mine..."

Wu Lanyun's mind went blank.

How could this be? How could it be today? Today is her birthday.

She wanted to rush over, to tear open that unsightly curtain, and see how that slut had the nerve to seduce His Majesty on her birthday!

But her feet seemed to be nailed to the spot by an invisible force, unable to move an inch. She could only watch helplessly as the man who had doted on her for half his life showed another woman the same fervent infatuation he had never shown her.

-

After an unknown amount of time, the scene suddenly shifts to another elegantly decorated palace.

Ulan Yun heard the man's low, seductive voice: "My dear Aruo, the Empress gave me some nourishing soup, and I feel terribly unwell. Will you take care of me?"

Then came the woman's half-hearted, delicate resistance: "No, Your Majesty was too harsh yesterday, I'm still in pain..."

"Be good, just for a little while..."

Wulan Yun found it ironic; it was just a nourishing soup.

She was worried that his health was compromised and that he wouldn't be able to perform well in bed, so she carefully prepared a nourishing soup.

It turned out that he had found someone new and abandoned her, his ex.

In the end, those aphrodisiacs even ended up benefiting that slut Shen Qingruo.

So what exactly is Wulan Yun?

-

The scene changes again.

It was the Imperial Garden during the day, a flower-viewing banquet.

She saw her Ah Yan pointing at Shen Qingruo's nose, her face full of disdain:

"You filthy woman, defiled by Emperor Liang, dare to climb into my father's bed!"

Shen Qingruo, still with that frail, breezy appearance, raised her watery eyes and timidly retorted:

"Sister, you can't misunderstand me like that. My relationship with His Majesty was completely innocent..."

"How is this possible!" Shen Jingyan exclaimed.

In her dream, Wulan Yun cried out in her heart: How is this possible! She has been in Liang Palace for a year, how could she still be a virgin?

Then, she saw Shen Qingruo's slightly long eyelashes, her cheeks flushed, and her voice soft and gentle, yet it pierced her heart fiercely:

"It's true, sister. On the night of the Empress's birthday banquet, His Majesty personally visited her in the Taiji Hall and defiled Aruo's virginity. All the palace servants in the Taiji Hall can testify to this."

"But then again, back then, weren't my sister and the Empress still waiting for His Majesty to return?"

"Unfortunately, His Majesty had just taken my virginity and was overjoyed; he wouldn't have thought of you at all."

Shen Jingyan was so angry that she trembled all over and raised her hand to slap that delicate little face.

Shen Qingruo took a half step back at the opportune moment, protecting her lower abdomen with her small hands, her voice filled with smugness, "Sister, oh no, Your Highness, you can't lay a hand on me."

"His Majesty dotes on her every night, and now Aru is carrying a little prince."

"This is your own brother. If anything happens to him, His Majesty will be heartbroken and won't let him off easily."

Shen Qingruo tilted her head slightly, gently stroking her belly, and continued in an innocent yet cruel tone:

"Moreover, His Majesty said that he was born as the Crown Prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty."

"You're talking nonsense!" Shen Jingyan shouted shrilly, almost collapsing.

-

"what!"

In reality, Wulan Yun suddenly woke up from her dream, sat up, and gasped for breath.

The palace maid on night duty immediately stepped forward: "Your Highness, what's wrong?"

Wulan Yun did not answer; the suffocating scenes in her dream were terrifyingly clear.

Shen Qingruo's defiant gaze as she protected her lower abdomen, His Majesty's infatuated whispers, and Ayan's devastating screams intertwined.

Shen Qingruo's affair with His Majesty, and the child in her womb, the little prince?

She's dreaming!