Bu Jingci was very patient. After stating his purpose, he simply waited nearby until Liu Miqing recovered from his daze, then asked again: “Are you willing?”
“What do you mean, willing?!” Liu Miqing didn’t even know how to mock him anymore. “We don’t even know each other!”
“Is that so?” Bu Jingci lowered his eyes, his voice still carrying a smile. “I heard you’d been sent to my residence, but I didn’t see you there. Worried something might have happened, I came to fetch you wasn’t that it?”
Liu Miqing: “…”
“Petty!” Liu Miqing muttered under his breath, only raising his voice slightly after catching a flash of surprise in Bu Jingci’s eyes. “Fetch me? I don’t want to go!”
“But that won’t do.” Bu Jingci’s eyes curved. “Everyone outside is saying you’re the future Princess Consort. Even Father has asked about it.”
Liu Miqing: “?” How had things spiraled into such a bizarre situation?
“It’s all rumors!” Liu Miqing protested innocently. “You can’t blame me for this!”
“Then how is it that I heard your people came to the Liu residence, and were told you’d been taken away by me?”
“Nonsense!” Liu Miqing shot back. “It was never specified which prince!”
“True enough.” Bu Jingci sighed. “But I happened to have guests that day, so now I can’t clear my name no matter what. Looks like I’ll just have to tell Father the truth and let Third Brother come fetch you.”
Liu Miqing: “? You’re threatening me!”
“I’m not.” Bu Jingci smiled. “I’m merely a little curious back then, you insisted on marrying Third Brother, then changed your mind overnight. Why?”
“If I tell you, will you leave?”
“No.”
“Then I’m not telling. Go away.” Liu Miqing pursed his lips. “Didn’t you hear Grandfather? You have to ask me first, and my answer is not willing.”
“Even if it were Father’s decree, you still wouldn’t be willing?”
Liu Miqing was about to say “no” when, after chewing over the whole sentence, he realized something was off. If it was the Emperor’s decree, then refusing would be defying an imperial edict!
Wait if there was an imperial edict, why was this man even asking him?
Seeing Liu Miqing eyeing him suspiciously, Bu Jingci explained: “I was just worried I’d frighten you.”
“Spare me.” Liu Miqing was rather speechless. In the original novel, this man’s persona was someone who’d passed through ten thousand flowers without a single leaf sticking to him, even after becoming Emperor, he still flirted around constantly, yet his harem held not a single person. Now he suddenly wanted to marry him? This had to be a joke, right? “Do you know how serious the crime of forging an imperial edict is?!”
“That’s exactly why I wouldn’t dare.” Bu Jingci smiled. “And this isn’t my doing. The matter from the other day reached Father’s ears, and since he rarely gets a chance to see me settle down, naturally he wouldn’t let it pass.”
Liu Miqing felt a tightness in his chest. Why on earth had things turned out this way?
“We won’t let the Grand Tutor know about this.” Bu Jingci smiled. “You say you’re willing, and I’ll tell him I’m going to request Father grant the marriage.”
Liu Miqing truly had no way out, so he could only play his trump card: “Does, does the Empress know about this?”