“No, I have to go out and look for him.”
Chu Mingzhao grabbed a white fox fur cloak and draped it over her shoulders, moving with a sharpness that betrayed none of the spoiled airs expected of a chancellor’s daughter.
Cuizhu was startled and quickly waved her hands to dissuade her. “It’s late, the night is deep and heavy with dew, and it’s pitch-black out there. How could someone of your noble rank go to such a filthy place to search for a servant? What if something offends you—”
“Spare me the chatter.”
Chu Mingzhao snatched the goat-horn lantern from Cuizhu’s hands.
“You stay in the room. If anyone comes, tell them I’ve already gone to bed. Not a single word to anyone—do you understand?”
Cuizhu was cowed by her fierce, almost devouring expression and nodded frantically like a chick pecking at rice.
Chu Mingzhao pushed open the door, wrapped her fox fur cloak tightly around herself, and plunged into the thick, viscous darkness.
At the northwest corner of the chancellor’s mansion lay a barren, abandoned alleyway. Even the one-eyed old night watchman wouldn’t bother to take a detour around it on most days. The snow there remained untouched by any broom, and every step—deep or shallow—sank past the ankles.
The wind whipped leftover snow across her face. The lantern flame swayed violently in the gusts, struggling to cast a faint, dim halo of yellow light.
Chu Mingzhao trod through the snow, her teeth chattering from the cold. In her heart, she cursed every ancestor of Pei Yan’s for seventeen generations straight.
What a pain in the neck.
Dragging his own fever-ridden, barely-standing body, he still had to slip out in the dead of night to hatch his secret schemes. Look at that dedication—no wonder he got to be the male lead.
Just then, she heard a faint sound of a roof tile cracking from atop the wall.
Chu Mingzhao immediately blew out the lantern and held her breath, pressing herself flat against the freezing brick wall.
A dark shape plummeted from above, landing in the snow with a dull, muffled thud. The person stumbled noticeably upon landing, dropping to one knee and bracing themselves with one hand against the ground.
In the faint gleam reflecting off the snow, she made out the silhouette.
Pei Yan’s lips were pale, but his cheeks burned with an unhealthy flush—his fever was clearly still raging, though he forced himself to keep going.
Chu Mingzhao sucked in a sharp breath, and her foot accidentally snapped a dry twig beneath her.
Pei Yan turned his head sharply at the sound, his eyes locking onto hers.
“… Eldest Miss.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he staggered to his feet, his fingertips silently brushing toward the dagger at his waist.
“It’s late. Why aren’t you asleep in bed, and what brings you to the stables?”
Every hair on Chu Mingzhao’s body stood on end.
If you caught the deposed crown prince sneaking back over the wall after a midnight conspiracy—no matter how much or how little you’d seen—you were as good as dead tonight.
Running was out of the question. With her delicate build and flimsy limbs, she wouldn’t even last one slash of his knife.
Rooted to the spot, her brain raced at full speed.
But before she could think of anything, the system’s voice cut in first.
[Ding—Triggered original storyline side-quest node: Midnight Confrontation.]
[Loading original plot text…]
[Chu Mingzhao catches Pei Yan climbing back over the wall in the snow. Convinced he’s been sneaking out to meet a seductress, and feeling her authority as his mistress has been insulted, she orders him beaten with a staff.]
Chu Mingzhao nearly spat blood onto the snow.
Beaten with a staff?!
With Pei Yan in this state—looking like a gust of wind could knock his crumbling body apart—one slap would be enough to send him straight to a funeral feast. If he died, her own precious head would be rolling on the ground right after.
Inside her head, she frantically jabbed at the system:
[Do I really have to follow this plot? He’s practically on his last breath! Even if I don’t use a staff, any other torment would still kill him!]
[The side-quest node may be skipped.]
The system’s voice was flat and emotionless.
[However, abandoning this node will deduct two hundred experience points.]
Chu Mingzhao’s vision went black.
Chu Mingzhao had barely scraped together 400 experience points with her life on the line, and she was this close to reaching 500 and leveling up to LV3.
In two days, the palace’s plum blossom banquet would be held. Without a higher-level privilege backing her up, how could she possibly match wits with those cunning foxes?
Abandoning it was absolutely out of the question.
Chu Mingzhao drew a sharp, chilly breath, her gaze darting across the flickering text on the system panel.
[Countdown: 5, 4, 3...]
Time was tight. She had no chance to pick refined words. She carelessly swapped “caning” for two utterly mismatched syllables.
To her surprise, the system panel flickered faintly — and passed the judgment.
[...Feeling his master’s dignity compromised, she immediately embraced him.]
Before her mind could catch up, her body had already obeyed the system’s command.
Her snowy white fur cloak billowed in the wind, and she flew straight into Pei Yan’s arms like a colorful butterfly.
Pei Yan failed to dodge.
A soft, warm bundle reeking of floral perfume slammed into his chest, her arms locking tightly around his waist.
He let out a muffled groan from the impact. His already unsteady feet stumbled back half a step, and his back slammed hard against the icy brick wall.
The dagger slipped from his hand, sinking into the thick snow without even a whisper.
The familiar scent of roses lingered at the tip of his nose, violently infusing every breath he took.
Pei Yan froze in place, as if all the blood in his body had reversed its flow in an instant.
It was too close.
His temperature was already scorching from a high fever, and now he felt like a furnace about to explode, his very breath carrying searing heat that burned through his rationality, threatening to shatter it completely.
What was he doing?
And what was she doing?
Chu Mingzhao buried her face in Pei Yan’s cold, iron-hard chest, wanting to cry but unable to.
His skin was burning up, and there was a faint, coppery scent of blood — he had definitely gone out to kill someone.
To cover her racing heart and trembling hands, Chu Mingzhao lifted her head, grabbed Pei Yan’s thin lapels, and unleashed the full haughty arrogance of the villainess supporting character.
“Where the hell have you been, sneaking out of the stable in the middle of the night? You’re a house-husband, and you’re out fooling around with some slut from outside!”
Her voice was noticeably lacking in conviction, the ending trembling with a hint of fear.
Well, who could keep their heart calm while clinging to a living devil who had just killed someone, still smelling of fresh, warm blood?
Right now, she only hoped to rush through this scene, patch things over with Pei Yan, and prevent him from thinking his secret was exposed and killing her outright.
Pei Yan lowered his eyes, gazing at the bright, stunning face so close to his.
A slut?
Who in this world was more of a scheming enchantress than she was?
“Eldest Miss jokes too easily...”
He spoke, his voice hoarse as if it had been scraped by sandpaper.
“The prime minister’s mansion has strict rules. I’m just a stable boy — where could I possibly go to fool around?”
He wanted to push her away, but the hand he raised hovered in midair as his fingertips trembled uncontrollably.
Was she... jealous?
This realization made Pei Yan’s heart skip a beat.
This woman truly regarded him as her possession. She used every means to humiliate him, yet she couldn’t bear anyone else casting so much as a shadow around him.
The marriage agreement — originally intended only to shame him — suddenly felt real.
A ridiculous illusion overtook Pei Yan, as if she really were his properly wedded wife, standing at the door and waiting for him to come home late at night.
In my mind, the system’s settlement chime finally rang out like music from heaven.
【Po Value Grade Determination: SS-level (Burning Passion). Experience points gained: +100. Current experience: 500/500.】
【Congratulations, Host. The system has been upgraded to LV3, unlocking the permission: Modify Short Sentences (up to 5 characters).】
