Who said the eldest daughter is crazy? She's clearly a woman of high rank and influence in the

Helian Jing looked up at her. The hands he had pressed on the armrest were still in the same place. He reached out and placed his hand on the back of her hand that was supporting her on the armrest, his palm against her knuckles, and his thumb slowly rubbed it.

"I've just thought about it. If you really become lustful—" He paused, his voice lowering by half an octave, "then I'll cling to you, making love to you every day, and see if you still have the energy to flirt with others."

Xi Yueli didn't back away. She flipped the hand that was supporting her on the armrest, leaned forward, put her other hand on his shoulder, lowered herself down, sat on his lap, leaned against his chest, turned her head to the side, and her nose almost brushed against his jawline.

"Then now," she said in a low voice, her lips close to his neck, "I'll practice how to tease people."

Helian Jing's breath hitched. His hand was still where her wrist had been, but he didn't know where to put it now. He froze for about a breath before lowering it again, wrapping his arms around her waist and tightening his grip.

He looked down at her. "Are you sure you want to practice?" His voice was hoarse.

Xi Yueli turned her head, tilted her chin slightly, and paused her lips on the corner of his lips for a moment before lightly touching his lower lip.

Helian Jing trembled from her touch, his hands tightening around her waist. He didn't return the kiss, but looked down at her, his gaze moving from the corner of her slightly curved lips to her eyes so close to his, as if to confirm what she was going to do next.

Xi Yueli lowered her eyes, raised her hand and grabbed his collar, her fingertips slowly pulling the fabric towards her, drawing him half an inch closer.

She looked up at him, her voice deliberately slow: "Your Highness, is this enough?"

The layer of something that had been brought to light by her touch had finally burned through Helian Jing's eyes.

His hand slid from her side to her lower back, his palm pressed against her waistline, pulling her into his arms. His other hand held the back of her neck, and he lowered his head to kiss her.

He kissed her deeply, pressing his lips against hers. Her back was pressed against the wooden armrest of the chair behind her, making a soft sound, but his hand, which was wrapped around her lower back, cushioned her so as not to hurt her.

Her breath came in jumbles as her lips mingled, and her fingers, which had been gripping his collar, now clung to the back of his neck, as if searching for something to steady herself.

His lips slid away from hers, down her jawline, and landed on the side of her neck. He paused for a moment, then moved away.

After a long while, he finally released her. The only sound between them was their intertwined breathing, both of them in disarray, neither of them speaking first.

Xi Yueli's collar was slightly opened by his touch, and the tie at the neckline was half loose. She raised her hand to straighten her collar and tied the tie back up. Her movements were unhurried, and her fingertips trembled slightly as she passed through the tie, but she held it down.

She pushed him away and stood up straight, stepping back from between the chair and the wall. She stood beside the desk, turned to the side, and didn't look at him. When she spoke, her voice had returned to its usual clear and steady tone.

"Alright, practice over... time to get down to business."

She lifted her foot and walked towards the stairwell, her pace a beat faster than usual. When she took her third step, she felt the corners of her mouth curving upwards uncontrollably. She quickly pursed her lips to suppress it, but the suppressed curve still seeped out a little from the corners of her eyes and eyebrows.

Helian Jing was still leaning back in his chair, his gaze fixed on her retreating figure as she quickly walked down the stairs. His fingers slowly loosened the fist that had been clenched around her waist.

He glanced down at his collar, where the fabric he had just pulled was now wrinkled. He smoothed it out, then paused for a moment, not immediately following her.

He heard his heartbeat slow down and then return to normal, but after it settled back down, it still carried a layer of lingering warmth from the intertwining and grinding of the past. The sense of satisfaction and loss in his eyes was also particularly evident.

He withdrew his gaze, lifted his foot, and followed the figure that had already reached the corner of the stairs. As he passed the counter, he placed another silver ingot on the counter and said to the shopkeeper, who was peeking into the second floor, "Add three more trays of pastries and send them to Prince Chen's residence."

When the thin book was delivered to Prince Chen's residence late at night, it was already past midnight.

Liu San Niang delivered it personally. The wax seal was intact, and the wolf head pattern on the seal was deeply and evenly branded. After entering the room, she didn't say much, put the booklet on the desk, and then left.

Xi Yueli sat under the lamp, unwrapped the wax seal. The booklet was not thick, and the first few pages were written in Ye Lan's handwriting. Every item was listed clearly—the Empress's spy numbers, contact information, several unidentified flows of money, and some clues that she had been investigating for a long time but had not been able to reach the end of.

The handwriting suddenly stopped on the tenth page, as if the writer was interrupted halfway through writing. From the eleventh page onwards, the handwriting changed, becoming wider and looser, as if someone was slowly deliberating on their pen under the lamp.

"I am here in the dead of night. I acted first and informed her later, hiding her away. She was poisoned, which damaged her foundation. Her body could not withstand the fragments peeling away, let alone a long journey. I searched for three months before finding a safe way to care for her. I dare not hand her over. Please forgive me."

Xi Yueli recalled the deep composure that Master Xuanji had when he spoke of Ye Lan atop Mufeng Cliff, and the fragmented emotions that Ye Lan had left in her soul.

One man's back shielded her from three knife wounds. When that man pulled her from under the blades in the darkness, he didn't even glance back at the blood on his back.

She closed the booklet and placed it on the corner of the table, gently pressing her finger on the cover without saying a word.

Less than half an hour later, the second letter arrived.

The messenger folded the letter and stuffed it into the window crack. The letter was only one page long, the handwriting was messy, and the ink was not yet dry, as if it had just been written and sent out.

The origins of the Empress's sorcerer family, the complete spellcasting process of the Soul Splitting Array, the list of sacrifices made by offering up the entire Lin Yuan City, and the original record of "auspicious omens appearing in the sky when the late Empress gave birth to a daughter," which the Empress kept hidden at the bottom of the secret archives.

She laid out these pieces of information one by one on the table, alongside Fu Yuan's memories, He Qingshuang's accounts, Ye Lan's investigation trail, and Yin Suo's seventeen-page confession, as if piecing together a map.

In the early hours of the morning, she stood up, walked to the window, and opened it. The late winter morning breeze blew in from the depths of the courtyard, blowing on her face and ruffling a few strands of hair on her forehead.

She looked out the window at the whitening horizon, and the fragments and clues in the depths of her consciousness seemed to be pushed into their corresponding positions one by one by a hand, fitting together perfectly.

She is Helian Xi.

The eldest daughter of the late empress was born on an auspicious day, and the entire city of Daying celebrated for three days.

The late emperor once said in public, "This woman should inherit the throne." That statement was recorded in the daily records of the emperor's life, but it was quietly erased in a later year.

The Empress, who was then a princess, began her scheme on the very night that the auspicious omen appeared.

She gathered an entire family of sorcerers and set up a soul-splitting array, exchanging the lives of the entire Lin Yuan City for a broken soul. She didn't know where the broken soul went, allowing Xi Yue Li to be raised as a "madwoman" for more than ten years under everyone's noses.