(I'm so sorry! Please wait a little longer, QAQ. I still haven't been able to sort everything out since my mom was discharged from the hospital, and this week I also have a court hearing over compensation for an accident. I'm truly sorry! So you won't be left waiting again, and so I can update regularly once I start posting, I've decided to wait until things calm down before launching the story. I might start sooner, though. I'm sorry again! I'm so sorry to everyone who's been waiting so long!)
The new emperor ascended the throne, and Shen Shiguan, now a prisoner, received word that the Second Prince, whom he had devoted himself to supporting, had been sentenced to death.
He knew he would be next. He had just put a knife to his wrist when the eunuch delivering the decree arrived.
"...We hereby appoint Shen Shiguan Empress. So decreed!"
Shen Shiguan furrowed his brow. Had he heard that right?
On their wedding night, he prepared poisoned wine, a dagger, and a whole bellyful of vicious words, ready to die together with Chu Boyu.
But the new emperor only looked at him in silence and brushed aside the red silk hanging before his eyes.
"You're injured." Chu Boyu lowered his eyes to the wound on Shen Shiguan's wrist, his expression unreadable. "Who did this?"
After that, Shen Shiguan realized that things were starting to feel wrong.
His palace was secretly guarded, and the small kitchen always had his favorite dishes ready, no matter the hour.
The man who should have hated him to the bone kept bringing memorials to his palace to review. He said nothing, and left as soon as he was done, as if Shen Shiguan's palace were his study.
Every now and then, though, he would absentmindedly gaze at Shen Shiguan.
Ridiculous.
Was this man trying to humiliate him?
So the next day, Shen Shiguan stormed into court and listed several charges of misconduct against the new emperor, every word sharp enough to cut to the bone.
At the end, he looked straight at Chu Boyu. "If Your Majesty hates and despises me, you can simply kill me to get it out of your system. Why put on this false show of concern?"
The entire hall fell silent.
That night, Chu Boyu showed him exactly what it meant to suffer for speaking out of turn.
On the imperial bed, Shen Shiguan was pressed into the bright yellow quilts. The emperor, normally so composed and restrained, bent over him, his hot breath falling against Shen Shiguan's ear as he repeated, word by word, what Shen Shiguan had said that day.
"Hate and despise you?"
"You want me to kill you?"
Starting the next day, they began giving each other the cold shoulder.
Shen Shiguan was glad to have the peace and quiet. He read and played the qin, enjoying himself immensely.
Until the third day, when an attendant of Chu Boyu's quietly passed along a message. "Lord Shen, His Majesty had dark circles under his eyes at court this morning. Do you think he hasn't been sleeping well?"
Shen Shiguan didn't even look up. "What does that have to do with me?"
The attendant grew anxious. "His Majesty said he went too far that day, but if it would make you happy, then he would..."
"Would what?"
"He would... hold himself back a little and never cross the line again?"
Shen Shiguan fell silent for a moment. His face suddenly turned bright red. He shut his book and asked the attendant, "Where is Chu Boyu?"
The attendant was overjoyed. "Are you going to go comfort His Majesty?"
"No," Shen Shiguan said through gritted teeth. "I'm going to assassinate the emperor."
All bark and no bite, but one little bit of coaxing is enough to soothe this aloof, proud tsundere bottom.
x
A proper gentleman on the surface, a mad dog in private: an obsessive emperor who keeps his eyes on the bottom.
#Your Majesty, Lord Shen is angry again!
Chu Boyu: "..." QAQ
P.S. They are each other's first love, and it's more or less a case of getting married first, then falling in love.
Message: Eat well and live well.
