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

Helian Jing's arm stiffened slightly at her waist for a moment. His gaze moved from her eyes to her slightly reddened earlobes, then back to her eyes. Was she telling the truth, or was she teasing him?

His Adam's apple bobbed, and his voice was a notch lower than before: "...Forgot again?"

Xi Yueli blinked, suppressing the smile in her eyes. "I only remember having a terrible headache, and then you came... After that, it's a complete blank."

Helian Jing looked into her clear, innocent eyes in the morning light, and his breathing clearly paused for a moment. His left arm was still across her waist, and after that pause, he slowly tightened his grip, as if to confirm that she was still there.

Then he spoke, his voice tinged with barely perceptible tension: "Then last night... you don't remember what you promised me?"

Xi Yueli buried her face half an inch in his shoulder, her voice muffled as she asked, "What is it?"

Helian Jing was silent for a moment, then he lowered his head, his lips touching the top of her head, his voice low and almost a whisper: "You said last night that you wanted me to sleep with you every day from now on."

Xi Yueli, who had been burying her face in his shoulder, finally couldn't hold back any longer. A smile welled up at the corner of her mouth, and she suddenly sat up from his arms, grabbed the soft pillow beside her, and threw it at him.

"Helian Jing!" she laughed and scolded, "You lied to me! I didn't do anything last time, and you told me it was your first time! You made it up while I didn't remember—"

Helian Jing was thrown backward by her blow. His eyes were stunned for a moment when her pillow hit him, but then the tension disappeared and was replaced by a bright light that shone from the depths of his eyes.

He reached out and caught the pillow she threw at him for the third time, and then grabbed the hand that was holding the corner of the pillow, pulling it with a firm but not too tight grip.

He pulled her forward, causing her to fall back into his arms. He tightened his arms around her, encircling her completely, and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"You remember? You even remembered what happened last time?"

"I remember, I remember every single frame." She struggled to sit up and glare at him, but he held her too tightly. She tried to break free but couldn't, so she could only tilt her head back and glare at him from his arms.

"It's precisely because I remember this clearly that I realize there was absolutely nothing between us last time..."

Helian Jing looked down at her, the morning light filtering in from the side and falling on his face. His eyes held an undisguised relaxation and teasing. "Nothing?"

He didn't dare tease her for too long, so he lowered his tone and begged for mercy, "I admit I lied to you last time. Anyway, I'm all yours now, so you can punish me however you want."

Xi Yueli looked up at him, annoyed by his shameless manner but helpless. She opened her mouth to say something, but her stubbornness was cut off the moment she was about to speak.

Helian Jing lowered his head and kissed her. This time, the kiss was not rushed. He kissed her until the knuckles that were gripping his clothes slowly loosened their grip, and until her whole body went limp back into his arms from the position where she was trying to argue with him.

She was still panting when he stepped back, her earlobes flushed red, and her cheeks were lightly blushed. He looked down at her in the morning light, and the smile on his lips deepened: "Are you still going to punish me?"

Xi Yueli buried her face in his chest, her voice muffled inside his clothes, both annoyed and soft: "...I'm punishing you by not allowing you to look at me today."

Helian Jing pulled her closer to him. "It's difficult."

He paused, then added, "I can't do it."

The morning light of the nineteenth day of the eleventh lunar month was thin and cold, spreading across the stone slab outside the Hall of Diligent Governance like a layer of white frost.

The civil and military officials walked in twos and threes toward the palace gate, their robes fluttering in the wind. Occasionally, someone would whisper a few words, which were then suppressed by the winter chill into short bursts of white mist.

Xi Yueli was dressed in a black robe embroidered with silver, while Helian Jing followed half a step behind her, wearing a moon-white long robe and a silver-gray half-mask.

Xiao Yanzhi stood beside the pillars on the side of the stone platform. He had arrived earlier than usual today, probably because he hadn't slept well last night. The dark circles under his eyes were a little deeper than they had been a few days ago, but his handsome face still held his usual gentle and composed demeanor.

The three met in the middle of the stone platform, no more than five steps apart.

Xi Yueli stopped in her tracks and nodded slightly: "Good morning, Envoy Xiao."

Xiao Yanzhi's gaze swept across her face, lingered for a moment on the figure in the moon-white robe half a step behind her, then returned to her face. He returned the greeting with a slight smile, "Good morning, Imperial Preceptor... Good morning, Doctor Lian."

His voice was steady, so steady that there was not a single flaw. But when Xi Yueli looked into his eyes, she saw disappointment, resentment, and a hint of resignation, emotions that were not typical of Xiao Yanzhi.

She tilted her head slightly and asked Helian Jing behind her in a voice only the two of them could hear, "What did Your Highness do to him?"

Helian Jing's voice came from behind her, calm and as usual, with the respect that a physician should have: "This humble subject did nothing."

As he spoke, he took half a step forward, pressing himself against her from behind, the cuffs of his pale white robe brushing against the edge of her black robe.

He turned his head slightly, and in front of Xiao Yanzhi, through the edge of the silver-gray mask, he lowered his head and bit her earlobe.

He didn't use much force, deliberately holding the small piece of soft cartilage on the outside of her earlobe gently in his mouth for a moment before letting go.

Xiao Yanzhi froze completely in that instant. He watched as Helian Jing lowered his head and bit her ear, as naturally as blowing warm air on the edge of a teacup. His gaze slowly shifted from between the two of them to the blue brick in front of his boots, and he did not look up again.

Several gasps came from behind, and a few officials who happened to be walking from the direction of the moon gate froze on the spot. One of the older civil officials blurted out instinctively, "What kind of behavior is this!"

Helian Jing straightened up, and his eyes, hidden beneath his silver-gray mask, swept over the officials. His gaze was gentle and harmless, carrying the scholarly air befitting a physician like Helian. But for some reason, the officials simultaneously shut their mouths, lowered their heads, and quickly walked around him, not daring to look at him again.

Xiao Yanzhi stood beside the pillar, never once looking in Xi Yueli's direction. He cupped his hands in greeting, his voice calm and steady: "This envoy will enter the hall first. Please, Grand Preceptor, proceed."

Helian Jing looked down at Xi Yueli's ear, which was burning from the auricle to the base of the ear. "Does it hurt?"

Xi Yueli raised her hand and pressed her ear, which was burning hot. She turned her head and glared at him, still feeling the aftereffects of being bitten on the ear in public.

"Enter the hall," she said in a low voice, and stepped over the threshold.

When the court meeting reached the third item on the agenda, King Tuoba Zhao suddenly picked up a sealed letter from the table. The letter was sealed with dark red wax and had a very faint phoenix pattern on it, a style exclusive to the Empress of Da Ying.

The atmosphere inside the hall changed at that moment.

As Tuoba Lie stood at the head of the civil officials' line, his pupils contracted sharply when his gaze fell upon the secret letter. His fingers clenched slightly inside his sleeve, then relaxed again.

"My lords," the king's voice was exceptionally clear in the empty palace, "this morning the Left Chancellor intercepted a secret letter, delivered from the east gate of the Regent's Palace, heading towards the southern border. The wax seal bears the phoenix seal of the Empress of Great Ying. The contents of the letter—"

She paused, shifting her gaze from the secret letter to Tuoba Lie. "Shall I read it to the Regent, or shall the Regent come forward to see it himself?"