Outside the window, the final remnants of the sunset vanished beneath layers of palace eaves, and Hehuan Palace plunged into darkness.
Clad only in a plain white robe, Pei Hengyu sat listlessly on the edge of the carved arhat bed, staring fixedly at that dark red glow as the palace architecture swallowed the last of its color.
A late autumn breeze drifted through the window lattice, stirring the lacquered sandalwood clothes rack by the palace doors. The dragon robe hanging there shivered in the bleak autumn wind.
The Silver-Patterned Coiled Dragon embroidered on the black-trimmed dragon robe suddenly opened its mouth. "Reborn, and you still fall into the hands of Yuwen Junan? You really are useless!"
Pei Hengyu had never quite understood why the embroidered dragon pattern had suddenly gained sentience and the ability to speak, but compared to the experience of rebirth itself, it didn't seem all that strange.
Pei Hengyu lowered his head, allowing his long silver hair to spill over his neck, and gave a self-deprecating smile. "Useless? Perhaps."
"You had a chance to win," the Silver-Patterned Coiled Dragon struggled, trying to lift its head, but no matter how lifelike the silk threads were, the creature could not move an inch. It could only mutter in a muffled voice, "Three years ago, if you hadn't insisted on sending him out of the palace, how would he have had the opportunity to ally himself with the Ji clan?"
"You're right," Pei Hengyu withdrew his gaze and stood up from the bed, the shackles on his ankles clinking with a harsh, piercing sound. "It was indeed I who gave him to the Ji clan, giving him the chance to cultivate his own private army."
Pei Hengyu walked toward the clothes rack, his snow-white hair swaying in the wind as if it were the last glimmer of light in this confined chamber.
"Even so," the coiled body, unable to stretch, added maliciously, "if you hadn't traveled thousands of miles to summon him back to Shangjing for that banquet, how could you have given him the chance to poison you?"
"Ha! You're right. It was I who drank the poisoned wine he served with his own hands, leading to the utter ruin of my martial arts!" Pei Hengyu let out a cold laugh. His calloused fingertips traced the silk-embroidered dragon scales, flicking them back and forth until the Silver-Patterned Coiled Dragon shivered.
"He is the legitimate prince of South Chu," the little dragon persisted, enduring the discomfort to twist the knife in Pei Hengyu's heart. "Even after his nation fell, the craving for power was still deep in his marrow! His forbearance and submission were merely tactical ploys. How could you be so stupid as to leave him to the ambitious Ji clan?"
"Lost is lost; there's nothing to regret!" Pei Hengyu laughed heartily, his fingers sliding over the silver dragon body, moving against the scales to pick at the horns on the dragon's head.
In his previous life, after Pei Hengyu led his troops to destroy South Chu, he had brought the South Chu princess, Yuwen Shuangyue, back to Dasheng and made her his imperial noble consort. He had doted on and loved her for five years. He never expected that after her younger brother, Yuwen Junan, grew up, he would rally an army of two hundred thousand, join forces with Yuwen Shuangyue, storm Shangjing, and run him through with a sword.
Five years ago, Pei Hengyu was reborn. Seeking revenge, he killed Yuwen Shuangyue and brought back Yuwen Junan, humiliating him night after night. Yet, in the day-after-day of their life together, his hatred had faded, and he had forgotten that he was still Yuwen Junan's mortal enemy.
The Silver-Patterned Coiled Dragon feared Pei Hengyu picking at its horns most of all. After waiting a while and finding that Pei Hengyu wouldn't stop, it cried out, "Stop it! What kind of skill is it to bully me? If you have the guts, go bully Yuwen Junan! He is getting married, and to erase the shame of the past, he will be here to kill you soon!"
"What did you say?" Pei Hengyu didn't stop; instead, he pressed harder. "Who is Yuwen Junan marrying?"
"The legitimate daughter of the Ji clan, of course!" the Silver-Patterned Coiled Dragon shrieked. "Who else? Why do you think the Ji clan helped him?"
Yuwen Junan was getting married? Then what did that make him? What did those long, desperate nights of entangled passion mean!
Pei Hengyu withdrew his hand and stopped paying attention to the foolish dragon. He listlessly lit the candles on the stand, letting the tiny flames flicker in the bleak autumn wind.
He didn't know how long he sat there in the silence when footsteps suddenly sounded outside. Then, the doors to Hehuan Palace were kicked open from the outside.
Pei Hengyu turned his head toward the door opposite the clothes rack. Yuwen Junan, clad in silver armor from head to toe, strode inside.
The autumn wind followed the man, raging through the room with increasing insolence. A cold fragrance drifted into the air—the scent of the sweet-scented osmanthus tree in the courtyard.
Yuwen Junan was wearing neither bright red wedding robes nor South Chu royal attire.
He wore brilliant silver armor, the plates shining like snow, free of any bloodstains, which only made his vivid red lips look all the more seductive.
If he was getting married, why come to Hehuan Palace? Was he truly here to kill him and silence him?
Pei Hengyu thought to himself, casting a glance at the Tianxing sword at Yuwen Junan’s waist.
Yuwen Junan stood at the doorway without a word.
His eyes were filled with complex emotions, and the Tianxing sword at his waist hung still, as if the commotion outside had nothing to do with him at all.
Yuwen Junan took hold of the Tianxing sword with one hand, grabbed the black dragon robe from the sandalwood rack with the other, and tossed it toward the bed where Pei Hengyu sat.
The sword light was cold. Yuwen Junan’s thin lips parted to utter two words:
"Put it on."
The heavy dragon robe covered his vision. Caught off guard, Pei Hengyu found himself shrouded in it.
Pei Hengyu pulled the robe down with an expressionless face, stood up slowly, and under Yuwen Junan’s inscrutable gaze, donned the garment once more.
Yuwen Junan did not rush him. He watched Pei Hengyu in silence, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on that shock of white hair as he slowly drew the Tianxing sword.
*Bastard! He really is here to kill me...* Pei Hengyu glanced at the sword pointed at him, cursed under his breath, and slowly closed his eyes.
However, the pain he expected never arrived. Instead, Yuwen Junan’s vivid red lips pressed against his own!
Pei Hengyu’s teeth were pried apart, and a crazed kiss raged between their lips and tongues.
As their breathing mingled, Pei Hengyu’s eyes snapped open, his pupils constricting.
*He didn't come to kill me after marrying that Ji woman? Yuwen Junan, what are you doing!*
Their lips and tongues clashed. Pei Hengyu was so stifled he could hardly breathe, and he began to struggle.
However, stripped of his martial arts, Pei Hengyu was as weak as a child before Yuwen Junan; his resistance was like a clay ox entering the sea, easily suppressed.
Within a few breaths, Pei Hengyu lost all his strength and could only passively endure.
Noisy footsteps sounded outside the palace. Could it be that the Ji woman was here?
Pei Hengyu grew anxious, his white hair swaying at his neck like a night-wandering spirit. He shouted silently, *Yuwen Junan, you bastard, let me go! Your Empress is here!*
Yuwen Junan’s kiss was scorching and intense. He pressed the other man down, seemingly hearing nothing, until a sharp pain flared on his lip and the taste of blood permeated their mouths. Only then did he pull back from Pei Hengyu, his eyes filled with mockery. "What? Are you afraid?"
Pei Hengyu masked his guilty conscience and retorted stiffly, "Who's afraid? An emperor has an emperor's way to die!"
The implication was clear: you can provide the white silk, and I will end my own life, but there will be no blood spilled on this floor!
"Ha!" Yuwen Junan laughed, raising the Tianxing sword as if to say, *I want your blood to splatter right here, let's see what you can do about it.*
The sound of armor and weapons drew near. Pei Hengyu felt a flash of suspicion: when an Empress catches her husband in an affair, why does she bring an army with her?