Ye Shu stared blankly at Jin Wang, apparently not understanding why Jin Wang would say that.

He had never thought about it that way.

Ye Shu had a vivid memory of who he had been in the modern society era, and that knowledge, those memories, those experiences, were not fake at all.

How could he possibly be the original owner?

“It can’t be,” Ye Shu shook his head. “It doesn’t stand to reason.”

“Stand to reason?” Jin Wang seemed to have heard something hilarious. “You’ve just told me so much; about other worlds, transmigrating, and about me being merely a character in the book—does any of this stand to reason?”

Even Jin Wang himself did not expect that he would so willingly believe and accept these inconceivable stories from Ye Shu.

When the answers were finally unveiled, it instead felt like a dawn of enlightenment for Jin Wang. Ye Shu’s words that night had answered many of the doubts he had recently grown to have.

From the time spent with Ye Shu to the arrival of Yu Yan, the mysteries grew, but increasingly convinced Jin Wang of one thing.

That was, Ye Shu could never have assassinated him.

With this as a basis, he had to reconsider one of his initial guesses.

During those three years, something must have happened to Ye Shu. Something which must not have been easy to conceal.

Hence, he used Xiao Huan’s case to test Ye Shu.

And sure enough, Ye Shu had no knowledge of what had happened in the past.

Having determined that Ye Shu had not changed, there was only one conclusion. No matter what had happened in those three years, no matter what else Ye Shu had not told him, it would not affect this answer.

—Ye Shu’s memory had been impaired.

This was the answer Jin Wang came up with after all that time of investigating, probing, and pondering.

It was only today, with Ye Shu unveiling the truth behind all the mysteries, that the missing piece of the puzzle was finally filled in.

Jin Wang informed Ye Shu of all his inferences and gently said, “For if you could come here this time, why couldn’t it have been you in the past as well? Since everything was unclear, why can’t we assume that you actually came here during the time when your memory lapsed in your early childhood?”

“At first you acted as if you were a stranger to this world, but you had a good grasp of what would happen in the future. If you had not known the outcome in advance, how else could you have done it?”

“I……” Ye Shu’s eyelashes twitched slightly, his voice trailing off, “I don’t know.”

He had also wondered whether the original owner was, like him, someone who had come here from another world. But that was, after all, merely a guess and could not be verified.

“There is but one thing that I have been unable to justify to myself so far.” Jin Wang went on, “Why you betrayed me.”

Ye Shu said, “Wasn’t that the original owner’s attempt to avenge his family?”

“Avenge?” Jin Wang chuckled. “You were only an illegitimate son of the Ye family, the son of a maidservant. You had not received any favor or care from the Ye family from the time you were born until you left the Ye Mansion. You think I would be convinced by that excuse?”

Ye Shu also felt that this claim was not tenable. He muttered in a whisper, “How would I know what was in his mind.”

Jin Wang also fell silent.

Indeed, that was the only thing missing in the whole case.

“You mean to say……”

Jin Wang said, “I mean to say, could it be possible that this betrayal was preordained, and for those three years, your consciousness was actually out of your control?”

Ye Shu did not respond. A long silence fell in the hall.

Jin Wang’s guess was quite bold, yet not without merit.

If, during those three years, Ye Shu, as the Minister of the Left, had to act according to the original plot, then the answer to his perverse behavior, his perverse habits, and even his drastic change in temperament, could all be answered.

“But……” Ye Shu looked down. “These are merely your guesses and have no basis at all.”

“True. These matters have no basis nor can they be traced.” Jin Wang sighed and leaned over to take the man into his embrace. “But A-Shu, the mysteries of the world are inherently hard to solve. Those closely involved cannot see as clearly as those who are not.”

Jin Wang stroked Ye Shu’s hair and softly said, “To me, it doesn’t really matter what secrets you are carrying or what the truth of these matters are. No matter what has happened to you, just having you by my side now is enough.”

“But just in case, what if I’m not……”

Jin Wang collected his eyes. “If you keep on being like this, I will really be angry.”

Ye Shu shut his mouth at once.

“You, this guy. Must I talk to you like this before you behave.” Jin Wang slid his hand down Ye Shu’s back and squeezed it suggestively, “Don’t forget, you took advantage of my drunkenness and went to see another man in private. I haven’t settled the score with you yet.”

Ye Shu, “But Xiao Huan is Kunjun……”

“But he likes you,” Jin Wang interrupted. “That jerk tried to take you away years ago, and now that he’s a Kunjun, he’s still snooping around. I should have given him an official position and told him to go guard the frontier.”

Ye Shu looked up. “Ordering a Kunjun to go to the battleground, aren’t you too much?”

Jin Wang looked back at him calmly.

Ye Shu, immediately quailed, “Xiao Huan has grown up in the barracks and has dreamed of serving in the garrison since his childhood. That……That would be pretty good.”

Jin Wang smiled, his palm gently stroking Ye Shu behind his waist. “Well then, his punishment has been settled first. Now what about yours?”

“Do I…… Do I have to be punished too?”

Jin Wang looked sideways at him. “Who was it that cried and cried and said they would accept however I decide to deal with them?”

“……”

Did he say that?

Ye Shu’s brows were lowered, and with his still somewhat red and swollen rims of the eyes, he looked extra pitiful. “How does Your Majesty intend to deal with me?”

Jin Wang did not answer.

His palm slowly slid down the other man’s body to his slightly bulging abdomen.

Ye Shu was so nervous that he gripped the thin quilt beneath him.

“It’s not so convenient with this little one here.” Jin Wang touched his lower abdomen through the thin clothing and he said, rather unwillingly, “You can owe me one, for now. When the child is born, then you can fulfil today’s punishment.”

Ye Shu uh-ed and was about to say something else when he was interrupted by a commotion outside the window.

It was the bustling hubbub of people from outside the palace.

Jin Wang pulled Ye Shu up. “Midnight is nearing. Everyone is preparing to welcome the New Year.”

Ye Shu looked out of the window and saw the lanterns that had been hung up throughout the imperial palace, giving the entire Imperial City a glorious glow.

“It’s hard to see from here. Let me take you somewhere else.” Jin Wang took the fox fur and draped it on Ye Shu, hoisting him up in his arms.

He exited the hall, and before Ye Shu could ask him where they were going, he felt himself suddenly rise into the air.

With a tap of his toes, Jin Wang leapt nimbly onto the roof.

He placed Ye Shu securely on the eaves.

The view immediately widened.

Ye Shu looked out to see several palace maids laughing and playing in the snow, and further away, several young eunuchs gathered around some fireworks and were preparing to light them.

In the horizon, lanterns were floating in the air, like a reflection of the countless night stars, lending a radiant beauty to the night.

It was the first time that Ye Shu had ever, in such a serene manner, taken in the sights and sounds of that world.

For once, he truly felt that this was not just a world in a book. Here, for many people, was the reality in which they lived, and they were real, flesh and blood people.

Naturally, that included……the man beside him.

Jin Wang didn’t have the slightest inclination to admire the scenery. He carefully wrapped Ye Shu’s fox fur tightly around him, and held him tightly by the waist with one hand, as if afraid he might accidentally fall down.

Ye Shu tilted his head to look over.

Jin Wang’s reaction that night had taken him by surprise.

It had never occurred to him that such an idea could have taken root in this man’s head.

This young monarch seemed to have been born this way; he always had that certainty, that dominance, that unreasonableness about what he was determined to do.

But that was what made him seem so……dazzling.

Ye Shu looked at him in a daze and suddenly spoke, “Jin Wang—”

Suddenly, a boom exploded in the distance and interrupted Ye Shu mid sentence. A trail of fireworks rose from the imperial palace, bursting in the darkness of the night.

The New Year was here.

Jin Wang looked back, a smile in those handsome eyes, lips slightly parted, but his voice, however, was drowned out by the cacophony of the fireworks.

“What were you saying……” Ye Shu wanted to ask, when Jin Wang suddenly lowered his head and kissed him on the lips.

The kiss was light and long. It was not until the sound of the fireworks ceased that Jin Wang released him.

“I wanted to do that earlier at Fangxuan Tower,” Jin Wang pressed his forehead against him and said with laughter, “but I didn’t dare to take advantage of you then, for fear that you would go far away if you got angry.”

Ye Shu’s breath caught in his kiss, with his cheeks slightly flushed. “Aren’t you afraid now?”

“I am,” Jin Wang gazed into his eyes. “So are you leaving?”

Ye Shu, “I don’t—knoumph—”

Jin Wang kissed him, not letting him continue speaking.

He pressed Ye Shu against the dragon’s head of the gable and kissed him even harder than before.

“Think it through before you answer,” Jin Wang withdrew half an inch, a teasing smile surfaced in his eyes. “Will you leave?”

Ye Shu pursed his lips tightly. The distance between them was so close as to be almost spiteful, so close that Ye Shu could touch the other’s lips should he open his mouth.

“……Let me down,” Ye Shu said.

Jin Wang did not relent. “Now answer first, or I will not let go.”

“……” Ye Shu, still not answering, exclaimed, “Hurry up and let me down!”

Jin Wang smiled helplessly, but after all dared not let him sit on the roof for too long. He wrapped his arms around Ye Shu and leapt off the eaves, carrying him back inside the hall.

As the night wore on, the Imperial City gradually quieted down, with the lamps in Yangxin Hall having already been extinguished.

Ye Shu leaned against Jin Wang’s arms, his eyes slightly closed.

Amid the darkness, Jin Wang asked, “What are you thinking about?”

Without opening his eyes, Ye Shu said in a low voice, “Thinking about how you dare to be so sure of those thoughts you have.”

“As the monarch, shouldn’t you be more cautious? I made up so many reasons before and you didn’t believe any of them,” He sighed softly. “But tonight I tell you such an absurd story, yet why don’t you think I’m lying to you yet again?”

“What you said tonight was indeed inconceivable. I’m afraid that no matter who you tell this to, you’ll be laughed out of the room.”

“But you believed it.”

“Right, I do.”

Jin Wang’s voice softened, “I am willing to trust you.”

Ye Shu, “Why?”

“The answer is something you know in your heart,” Jin Wang said. “Because I love you.”

Ye Shu’s fingertips trembled lightly.

I love you, so I’m willing to believe everything you say. Even if that belief may seem like wishful thinking.

In the dark, Jin Wang’s voice sounded low but clear, “There was a time when I didn’t know how I should face you. You bear the old kindness of aiding me in my plight and the friendship we developed along the way, but also the bitterness of your……deceit and betrayal.”

“In the woods near the hunting grounds, on the night you differentiated, I thought countless times of killing you.”

“But, ah, you were so vulnerable, and you had no reservations about trusting me and relying on me. You were exactly the way I remembered you to be.”

“……In the end, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

“Having missed that one chance, I was even less likely to try again later,” Jin Wang mocked a laugh. “It’s just a pity that such a simple truth has only now dawned on me.”

Jin Wang asked, “A-Shu, do you need some more time to think things through?”

“I……I’m just worried,” Ye Shu said in a low voice. “What if, just what if, I am not that……person you know, but instead, because of me, that person in your heart could never come back, t-then how unfair that would be to you…… “

Jin Wang interrupted, “Is that really all you’re worried about?”

Ye Shu was stumped.

With a sigh, Jin Wang rolled over and pressed Ye Shu into the bed.

The hall was dimly lit with only a sliver of moonlight slowly spilling in, enveloping the two figures.

Their eyes held the other’s reflection. After a while, Jin Wang spoke, “You have been the one asking questions so far. I too have one that I want to ask you.”

Their position left Ye Shu with no way to escape, and he resignedly tilted his head. “Spe……Speak.”

Jin Wang asked, “Why didn’t you go with Xiao Huan?”

Ye Shu froze.

“If you had left then, I would never have known the actual truth, and you could have been free to live in another part of this world,” Jin Wang’s gaze was scorching. “Why didn’t you?”

Ye Shu pursed his lips. “Be……Because I feel that since I have taken over someone else’s body and deceived you for so long, I can’t……can’t just leave like that.”

Jin Wang asked, “That’s all?”

Ye Shu inexplicably felt a little diffident from his look. “That…That’s all.”

“And what of now; now that you have already clarified the matter and I do not blame you at all, do you still wish to leave?”

Ye Shu fell silent.

Jin Wang fixed his gaze on him for a long time, then suddenly released him.

He got up without a moment’s hesitation and turned his back from Ye Shu. His voice light yet cold, “No jest, no blackmail, Ye Shu, I ask you one last time, do you want to leave the capital?”

Ye Shu looked at his back as he opened his mouth, but could not say a word out.

“If you wish to do so, I will issue a decree right this moment, allowing you to leave the capital, and will not interfere with your whereabouts, nor will I bother you again in this life,” Jin Wang said. “A ruler never goes back on his word. Gu will live up to it.”

His voice carried a lighter tone, gratuitously speaking with a certain monarchical solemnity.

The atmosphere in the hall plummeted to a freezing point.

Ye Shu sat on the bed, his legs slowly curling up. “I……”

Jin Wang said in a cold voice, “Ye Shu, tell me your decision.”

Ye Shu’s body trembled lightly.

“I don’t know……” The rims of Ye Shu’s eyes reddened slightly and he repeated in a whisper, “I don’t know……”

Jin Wang breathed a silent sigh.

“Is it so hard to say that you don’t want to leave?” Jin Wang returned to the bedside and took that trembling figure into his arms. “I’m sorry, I will be more patient in the future, it’s just that……I can’t wait any longer right now.”

For the third time that night, he apologized. Ye Shu raised his head, his eyes as red and watery as a bunny’s.

“You don’t want to go. And it has nothing to do with these so-called identities or secrets,” Jin Wang gazed at him intently. “Your refusal to accept the guesses that I have put forward tonight is not because you are worried that I will not be able to accept them in case they are wrong.”

“…… It’s because you can’t accept that outcome yourself.”

“A-Shu, I don’t know what you went through in that world that made you so careful that you dare not commit your emotions easily.”

Jin Wang stroked Ye Shu’s pale face. His voice was gentle, “You’re afraid of gains and losses, so you’d rather not believe than believe.”

Ye Shu’s lips trembled lightly. “I……I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Well then, let’s talk about something else,” Jin Wang said. “Do you like being with me?”

Ye Shu’s eyelashes twitched slightly.

Jin Wang leaned forward and took the man into his embrace. “Do you like it when I hold you like this?”

Ye Shu still did not answer.

Jin Wang moved a little closer and dropped a kiss on Ye Shu’s eyelid.

Delicate kisses ran from the ends of his eyes, his cheeks, the bridge of his nose, down to the corners of his lips, before Jin Wang raised his head. “Do you like it when I kiss you?”

Ye Shu’s breathing became rapid.

Jin Wang showed great patience as he pressed him back into the bed, kissing and soothing him little by little. His movements seemed to carry some kind of magic, a sort of enchantment that gradually made him drop his armor and sink into the abyss of his tenderness.

Jin Wang raised his head and chuckled. “See, you do like it.”

He paused before adding, “Don’t mention anything about a Kunjun’s constitution to me. There’s no book that says that. You have read so much these days and you still don’t understand?”

“Wanting to be with someone at all times, yearning for hugs and kisses; it’s not the constitution kicking in, it’s here,” Jin Wang pressed his heart. “Do you feel it?”

Ye Shu’s heart was beating so fast and rhythmically that he almost thought it would burst out of his chest.

Jin Wang gazed at Ye Shu intently and raised his hand to brush the hair at his temples.

After a long time, he said quietly, “Ye Shu, you’re in love with me.”

(Mini Theatre)

Jin Wang: In the end, it was a case of me carrying the whole game.