At this moment, Jiang Yiyun was leaning against a man's chest. She had already guessed who was behind her; she could never forget this aura for as long as she lived.
A gust of wind swept past, slightly lifting the yellowed papers that had long lain atop the dust-covered wooden table and sending them rustling.
Only then did the two people settle down, suspecting nothing amiss.
Although Jiang Yiyun had narrowly escaped danger, she had fallen into another vast net.
The person behind the scenes pressed closer and closer to her. She struggled with all her strength to break free, but ultimately could not overcome the man's powerful force, allowing him to breathe warm air softly beside her ear.
She saw clearly who was speaking with the empress dowager. It was the Court official Su Chou.
This man held great power and status. Although he was not as prominent as the person behind the scenes, he was still a figure of considerable importance.
“It was only a gust of wind. What are you afraid of? Such a beautiful night is hard to come by, and now that we have this rare opportunity, why don't we hurry and do what we ought to do?” Su Chou wore a fawning smile.
The empress dowager's brows furrowed with worry and fear. “No.”
Su Chou grabbed her slender wrist and threatened, “What? Do you want me to reveal everything you did back then? What will your son think of you when that happens? Hmm?”
Upon hearing this, the empress dowager turned pale with fright. “There are so many beautiful women in this world. Why must you set your sights on someone as old as me?”
“Don't you understand my feelings for you? Otherwise, why would I have risked it so often to enjoy secret trysts with you before the former emperor passed away?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the empress dowager's outer garment was pulled off.
The empress dowager finally stopped acting domineering and instead shook her head in terror without pause. She wanted to run but could not; she wanted to cry out but could not make a sound.
“Since you call me a madman, you should know that I am capable of anything. This is merely our usual pleasure. You agreed to it so many times before—are you going to pretend to be a chaste and virtuous widow now?”
After saying this, Su Chou shoved the empress dowager toward the bed.
A good show was about to begin, yet Jiang Yiyun was at a loss. She could neither help nor escape, forced to endure the sight before her and the torture inflicted on her senses by the person behind the scenes.
“She is about to be harmed. Aren't you going to save her?” A low, magnetic voice came from beside jiang yiyun's ear, startling her.
The hand covering her mouth had already loosened. Even so, she could not make a sound. The two people were in the heat of passion, and interrupting them now would probably be even more inappropriate.
Jiang Yiyun turned around and glared fiercely at Gu Hanjue behind her, then tried to break free from the hand restraining her, but failed again.
Gu Hanjue seemed to enjoy the daggers shooting from her icy eyes. With an enchanting, wicked smile, he said, “I advise you not to disturb them. They have enjoyed themselves countless times already. The empress dowager keeps saying no, but she enjoys it immensely every time.”
Hearing his wicked words, her face flushed, and she stomped hard on his foot.
“Mmph!” He endured the sudden pain and chuckled. “You really are a little wildcat. You're clearly such a delicate woman, so why are you this rough every time we meet?”
She whispered resentfully, “Gu Hanjue, let go of me.”
Jiang Yiyun was furious yet helpless. Although the person behind the scenes had the most handsome face, he was also the most shameless.
Fortunately, she was wearing disguise paste on her face at that moment. If she had been disguised as the empress's face, then judging by what she suspected, she probably would not have met a good end.
She wondered how such a person could exist in this world. He clearly looked like an upright and refined young master, yet he was utterly shameless to the core.
His tone, attitude, behavior, and manner were plainly elegant and cultivated, yet they often carried an air of roguishness.
At that moment, the empress dowager looked sorrowful and unwilling, enduring without making a sound.
Gradually, a look of pleasure appeared on her tense face.
The large bed in these palace chambers was spotlessly clean. Although this was not the main hall, it seemed to be regularly tidied. The two people were now pressed tightly together, their clothes already scattered around them.
Jiang Yiyun had experienced such an intense scene before, but she had never personally witnessed someone else acting it out.
The flush spreading across her face had already reached the base of her neck.
She could avoid the filth by simply closing her eyes, yet her upper and lower eyelids were squeezed tightly together, as though doing so could completely block out everything before her senses.
A soft chuckle came from behind her, simply because her reaction was too adorable and satisfied him.
The two of them were hidden in the darkness, while the pair not far away continued their performance. Any man would show some reaction upon seeing such a scene, and Gu Hanjue was no exception.
He did not know that the woman in his arms was his mortal enemy, the empress. He only recognized the face she wore after her disguise—the face of the woman with whom he had spent a blissful night.
Now she was doing her utmost to endure, her body trembling slightly.
The hand Gu Hanjue had wrapped around Jiang Yiyun's waist slowly reached inside her collar, entirely of its own accord.
Jiang Yiyun said in shame and fury, “No, let go! You can't. Not here.”
She was terrified. She knew clearly that the person behind the scenes was in the prime of his youth, and she could distinctly feel the reaction of his body.
Thinking of the night he had molested her, if it happened again today, how could she possibly continue living with any face?
Gu Hanjue drew several deep breaths, then laughed. “You're right. This really isn't the place. We'll go somewhere else.”
After saying this, he sealed several of Jiang Yiyun's vital acupoints and quietly carried her away.
The imperial palace was enormous, so finding a secluded and quiet place was no difficult task. Once they left that area, Gu Hanjue reached a place rarely visited by others after several leaps.
“Bastard, what are you going to do?”
The two of them kept well away from other people's territory, lest they disturb someone else's mood—or prevent others from disturbing Gu Hanjue's.
“Shameless! You're simply—”
Gu Hanjue ignored her abuse, slowly lowering his head to study her tender, delicate face closely.
“You usually show your true appearance, don't you? What you've applied to your face now is disguise paste, isn't it?”
Her heart suddenly gave a jolt. She had thought he intended to molest her, but she had not expected him to become interested in her “false face” instead.
If Gu Hanjue removed the disguise from her face and discovered that she was not Jia Yinger but Jiang Yiyun, she had no idea how he would treat her then. It was quite possible that she would lose her life.
At that moment, fear and urgency coiled around her heart, far more intensely than on the day he had forced her.
That face absolutely could not be seen by anyone, least of all her mortal enemy.
But he had already touched her face. She exerted all her strength, attempting to break through the sealed acupoints.
“Pff!” She spat out a mouthful of blood, yet the acupoints remained sealed. Gu Hanjue had struck all the vital acupoints throughout her body; how could she break them so easily?
Seeing this, he swiftly released her acupoints and said angrily, “Do you have a death wish? If you don't want to live, this seat can grant you a quick death.”
She lowered her eyes slightly and waited for him to strike the killing blow.
“Hmph!” Gu Hanjue rose displeased. “It seems you truly intend to fight this seat to the death.”
She struggled to prop herself up, lightly wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth before saying, “What do you think?”
“Very well. This seat will wait and see how you intend to win.” With that, Gu Hanjue disappeared in an instant, carrying a chill throughout his body.
She dragged her defeated and exhausted body quietly back to the bedchamber. This operation had yielded nothing, yet it had brought back a great deal of trouble.
Thinking that An Jue's martial arts were formidable and that the other party was no match for him, she felt somewhat reassured.
As soon as she thought of him, his figure appeared within her line of sight.
“An Jue, are you injured?”
“It's nothing, just a minor injury.” He lowered his head and glanced at the scratch on his arm. It truly was not serious.
“How could he have injured you?” Jiang Yiyun was very curious.
An Jue had been asked the key question and was still pondering how to answer.
An Jue replied without concealing anything, “He... is my fellow disciple junior brother.”
Jiang Yiyun only knew that he was not a person of the Li Kingdom, but she had never known where he came from or which sect and school he belonged to, nor had she ever asked in detail.
She trusted the person Emperor Wenxian had sent to protect her. Even if he had his own secrets, she did not blame him. If he did not say more, she did not ask more.
There was only one matter she found deeply puzzling. “Why would your junior brother appear in the imperial palace of the Chen Kingdom?”