CW: Blood. Mention of animal death.

Ye Shu was not sure if Jin Wang believed him. But from that day on, Jin Wang didn’t continue to test him in all sorts of ways, and his approach towards him also took a turn for the better.

This just proved that his trick that day was quite successful.

……Except for that epic embarrassment in the bath.

Ye Shu admitted that he was a man who had no control over his lower half. He could only say that everyone had a heart for beauty.

Jin Wang, after all, was a rare beauty. From being pressed to the poolside by a beauty, kissing wildly, to having unintended consequences, none of it was normal.

That’s right! That’s how it is.

Ye Shu convinced himself and continued to play the role of the monarch’s unmarried consort with a peace of mind.

And of course, he’d never abandon his plan to escape.

It was just that the Western Xia’s spies were caught and killed. Escape through this route could be considered thoroughly disrupted.

He had to think of some other plan.

“What are you thinking of again?”

The clatter of the horses’ hooves came from the front. Ye Shu raised his head as Jin Wang threw the recurve bow in his hand to the attendant; his handsome countenance looked displeased. “Gu let you come out to hunt and exercise your physique, but look at you, being lazy there?”

“……” Goddamn hunting and exercise, he can’t even pull a bow.

Ye Shu put down the warm sour plum drink in his hand and calmly said, “Your Majesty, this subject hasn’t learned how to hunt.”

As he spoke this, several attendants were following at a distance, carrying various prey that Jin Wang had just hunted.

Ye Shu glanced away. There were, in great abundance, no less than a dozen goats, red deer, and hares.

Some of the prey had yet to stop breathing, and therefore, the attendants were slitting their throats with a knife, spattering blood three feet away.

The hunting ground was filled with the overpowering stench of blood, and Ye Shu had already vomited once.

So far, his complexion had not remained particularly good, and he could only drink the sour plum drink to alleviate the nausea in his stomach.

“Learn if you haven’t,” Jin Wang stationed his horse in front of Ye Shu and held out his hand to him. “Come up, Gu will teach you.”

Ye Shu, with some resistance, said, “But…”

“Isn’t there a caning of twenty strokes from the Department of Prudence……”

The two didn’t return to the imperial palace, thus Ye Shu naturally hadn’t had the time to go to the Department of Prudence to receive the punishment. In addition, Jin Wang also didn’t mean to hasten this matter but merely mentioned this sentence from time to time to find Ye Shu being troubled.

Jin Wang smiled in satisfaction, leaned over and pulled Ye Shu up onto the horse and wrapped him into his embrace.

He took the recurve bow from the attendant and spurred his horse toward the woods.

It was already late autumn, but the day was actually graced by a rare fine weather.

The genial sunshine was warm and welcoming. Ye Shu took a deep breath of pleasant air in the woodland and the nausea from a moment ago finally abated.

……At least he wouldn’t vomit on Jin Wang.

As Jin Wang pulled open the cloak, he looked down to see Ye Shu’s whole body gathered into his embrace with a pale face, he suddenly thought of a matter, “When did you start feeling sick at the sight of blood?”

Ye Shu was taken aback. “I…I was born like this.”

“Hmn, Gu remembers,” Jin Wang nodded. “You can’t bear to see these things as a child. You were even scared stiff when you cut a finger in the past.”

He turned his head and then went on, “But Gu also remembers, when you supervised the metropolitan examination the year before last, a certain Hanlin was accepting private bribes and you sent people to beat him to death outside the palace gates. By the time Gu arrived, the man already had his breath beaten out of him, leaving behind only a ground full of blood.”

“You were not even afraid of the man’s blood at that moment. Gu even thought you looked as if you had been cured.”

“……” The original owner’s methods are no worse than this tyrant ah!

Ye Shu let out a dry laugh. “P-Perhaps I was both angry and muddled at that time.”

Jin Wang just smiled, not expressing any comment.

There was only silence in the forest. Jin Wang instructed his attendants to not disturb them, and so, no one dared to follow.

The two rode together, quietly spurring the horse through the thicket.

A rustling sound suddenly came from the underbrush at the side. Jin Wang stopped the horse’s hooves, his right hand silently took on the recurve bow.

Waiting with bated breath for a moment, a gray hare jumped out from within the underbrush.

The forest they were in was part of the Royal Hunting Grounds where it was at set dates stocked with sufficient prey of the small, harmless variety, animals such as hares, goats, deers, raccoons, and etc., for the princes and nobles of the capital with uncontrollable hunting habit.

There was, of course, another hunting ground where animals who were dangerous to man and cattle were kept, but Jin Wang simply took Ye Shu for a breather today, and never went that way.

“Here comes the prey. Try it.” Jin Wang guided Ye Shu to hold the recurve bow, pulled out a fletching arrow and stuffed it into his hand. “Don’t worry. Gu has always won first place in hunting, and has never missed a target. With Gu personally teaching you, you’re guaranteed to learn.”

Jin Wang put his hand over the back of Ye Shu’s and drew the bow to pull the string. “Lift your arm flat, shoulder down. Like this…”

Jin Wang taught meticulously, his voice low and deep. In such a posture, the two were so inseparably close that Ye Shu even clearly felt Jin Wang’s warm breath exhale as he spoke.

Although he didn’t want to admit it, there were apparently some subtle changes between him and Jin Wang since the day in the bath.

The most apparent one was that……he couldn’t stand this man being so close to him.

Ye Shu’s ears burned, moving to the side while still maintaining his composure.

“Don’t move around, look where you’re aiming.” Jin Wang reproved lowly in his ear and yanked him back.

Ye Shu crashed into Jin Wang’s chest and instantly froze.

What was that……thing he just felt from behind him?

Jin Wang’s body also seemed to stiffen. Ye Shu moved uncomfortably, only to be held back even more forcefully by Jin Wang.

“……told you not to move around.” Jin Wang’s voice took on a slight muffled quality.

Ye Shu was so nervous that his voice trembled. “Then don’t…don’t be like this……”

……Don’t act like you’ve been drugged up, will you?

Ye Shu himself didn’t notice it. Shortly after Jin Wang had arrived with him in the woods, a fragrant trace of green plum had seeped out and lingered on his body throughout the day.

The scent was very light, but almost titillatingly, the atmosphere around them brewed more and more ambiguous.

They no longer paid attention to the gray hare in front of them, as it hopped left and right, wormed its way back into the thicket and then disappeared.

Jin Wang lowered the bow and said softly, “Seductive fox.”

“……Ah?”

Jin Wang said more bluntly, “You seduced Gu again.”

“……Ah???” Ye Shu was shocked by his shamelessness and tried to reason with him, “Your Majesty, it was clearly you who first…charmed me, can you not provoke me!”

“Can’t,” Jin Wang put away the fletching arrow, his voice choppy. “Who told you to be so seductive.”

The morning after Ye Shu tugged him and cried and cried, Jin Wang woke up with repentance.

He actually changed the punishment for the great crime of regicide into a caning of twenty strokes because this man shed a few tears? And damn, what, one hit a month?

Jin Wang was incredulous and wanted to go back to the night before and cut his perverted self down.

Right, a ruler never went back on his word. Since he said he wouldn’t kill him, then he mustn’t contradict himself in word and deed.

Anyhow, this man shouldn’t be a lecher now.

Except…he openly seduces him every day.

Coquettish.

The atmosphere in the forest gradually became strange. The roots of Ye Shu’s ears turned red, and suddenly, a numbing, tingling itch shot like lightning from his spine straight to the back of his head.

Jin Wang’s kiss fell on the tiny mole behind his ear.

Ye Shu never knew that he was quite so sensitive to touch behind the ears, not holding back as he let out a low moan.

He couldn’t see the situation in the rear, but Jin Wang could.

The tiny mole flushed bright red at a speed visible to the naked eye—a charming, delicate tinge.

“How do you feel here…” Jin Wang raised his hand and touched it.

After you’ve taken the pill, how can you still……

Ye Shu’s limbs were somewhat weakened. Some kind of uncontrollable impulse gradually took over, helplessly turning his head, he looked at Jin Wang.

The sweet, fruity fragrance of green plum spread through the forest.

“You’re really…” A long time passed before Jin Wang sighed, as he smiled, and pressed the man into his chest. “Fear not, Gu is here.”

Just as he was about to lower his head to kiss Ye Shu, there came a strange sound from the forest.

Ye Shu had not yet realized what had happened, and only saw Jin Wang quickly draw a bow and notch an arrow, shooting toward the hidden treetops.

A figure rolled down from the branch and woefully rolled in front of the horse’s hooves.

The horse got frightened, and its forehooves leaped up. As Ye Shu wasn’t sitting steadily, he fell backwards and rammed into Jin Wang’s embrace.

Both men let out a muffled grunt.

Jin Wang steadied the reins, patted the horse’s mane, and quickly calmed it down.

Ye Shu sobered up due to the disruption, clutching the saddle underneath him, and calmly moving away from Jin Wang.

……Only to be forcefully yanked back again.

Jin Wang’s sight fell on the assassin dressed in black clothing on the ground. He squinted his eyes, showing a hint of cold killing intent. No one had ever dared to interrupt his happy time.

The assassin was hit by an arrow in the shoulder and got up with difficulty. “…Fatuous ruler! I won’t let you get away even if I become a ghost, I will die to avenge the death of Minister Ye!”

……Wait, who are you?

Jin Wang raised his eyebrow and Ye Shu also looked back innocently.

It really had nothing to do with him this time.

Soon, a group of imperial guards emerged from the forest and surrounded the assassin.

The people of the state had quite a bit of hostility for the ruler. There was never a shortage of people who wanted to take his life inside and outside the imperial city.

This wasn’t the first time that the imperial guards had dealt with an assassination. Seeing His Majesty’s displeasure and, in his embrace, the man with eyes the colors of spring—at first glance, they knew that the mood had been ruined. For fear of infuriating the ruler, the man led by them immediately drew his sword to behead the assassin.

“Wait.” Jin Wang suddenly spoke.

He put his hand around Ye Shu and held the reins with the other. “Ask who he is.”

The imperial guard placed the sword at the assassin’s neck. “Speak.”

The assassin said coldly, “……someone who wants to take your life.”

This voice sounded somewhat familiar to Ye Shu, who suddenly said, “Raise your head.”

The assassin heard his voice and then jerked his head up. “Young…Young Master?”

The assassin was about the same age as Ye Shu, but in his early twenties. His delicate face was stained with blood, and a scar from a blade was slashed across the side of his face, the wound having already formed a scab.

Ye Shu still remembered this face.

This was the first person he saw in the tent on the day he came into this world.

Ye Shu tentatively called out, “……Chang Yuan?”

Chang Yuan was restrained by others and couldn’t break free, his eyes reddened. “Young Master, it’s really you… So you, you’re not dead……”

“I……” Ye Shu was just about to say something when his face suddenly froze.

Under the cloak, Jin Wang suddenly gave him a firm pinch.

The scorching heat of the palm pulled no punches, passing through the garment, as if to burn him.

Ye Shu’s legs weakened as he realized afterwards how dangerous his posture was, but Chang Yuan continued to ask, “Young Master, how could you be here? I thought you had already been…executed a long time ago. What is this all about?”

“……”

“My beloved minister, your trusted subordinate is asking you something, why don’t you answer it?”

Jin Wang’s expression was calm and unperturbed, but his hand under the cloak went straight to the sensitive area, word by word, and he slowly said, “What a deeply moving master and servant bond. It. Moved. Gu. So. Much.”

Ye Shu, “……”