After bathing in fragrant water, the mist from the hot pool curled through the air, filling the room with a subtle fragrance. Delicate hands skimmed the water’s surface, sending ripples spreading in layers.
Shen Wan soaked comfortably in the hot bath, feeling all her weariness wash away. She rose slowly and picked up a gauzy robe draped nearby, pulling it over her shoulders.
She had just questioned the system for a while and finally figured it out—her golden finger had limitations too.
Being able to load a save meant she naturally had to record saves as well.
Save Points were set by her alone. Which meant that if she ran into danger without having saved at a safe moment beforehand, she would be as good as dead!
Time waited for no one. The Prince Regent’s residence was riddled with dangers. Before she ended up in that dog of a man Pei Changli’s room, she needed to make her escape right now!
Shen Wan’s eyes darted around as she furtively searched her surroundings.
Suddenly, the wooden door burst open with a bang.
Startled, Shen Wan turned around to find a tall, imposing figure in black standing at the doorway.
Night had already fallen, and the palace lanterns clearly illuminated the ink stains on his handsome face—but his expression was darker than the ink itself, as gloomy as an overcast sky before rain.
A cold draft swept in through the doorway as Pei Changli strode inside, his hawk-like eyes sweeping brazenly over Shen Wan from head to toe.
“So you’re my chamber maid?”
Before Shen Wan could even react, she first registered the chill radiating from him. Only then did she belatedly, stiffly look down at herself.
A thin layer of gauze, damp and clinging to every curve of her body, her ink-black hair spilling over her back and chest. Black hair, white skin—that flimsy gauze concealed nothing, leaving her entirely exposed to Pei Changli’s gaze!
And Pei Changli’s eyes were still roaming lower!
Heat surged up Shen Wan’s face, slowly flushing it bright red.
Without hesitation, she slapped her hand toward his face: “Pervert!”
But midway, her hand was seized firmly in Pei Changli’s grip.
Shen Wan lost her footing and pitched forward. Water from the bath splashed across the floor, and her feet slipped. Alarmed, she could only scramble for something to grab onto.
Pei Changli watched coldly and released her without hesitation, watching her about to fall flat on her face, a wave of satisfaction finally surging through him.
However, at the very last moment, in her panic, Shen Wan managed to grab his trouser leg!
With a sharp “rip,” Pei Changli’s trousers—and his undergarments with them—were forcibly yanked down. Little Changli dangled precariously in the breeze, his black robes only faintly, intermittently concealing his last shred of dignity.
“You—how dare you!”
Pei Changli gritted his back teeth, his eyes bloodshot.
Shen Wan’s face went from red to white, then from white to green. She tilted her head up, her pupils contracting, her neck going cold. Meeting Pei Changli’s bewitchingly crimson eyes, some eerie mutual understanding made her choose—without a moment’s hesitation—to load her save and start over!
The next moment, she was once again soaking comfortably in the hot pool.
Quick, quick—Shen Wan scrambled out in a fluster and hurried to get dressed.
But everything was a gauze robe here, a dudou there—all of them prepared for tonight, for her to serve that dog of a man, Pei Changli.
Shen Wan: “…”
Damn it.
Her dirty maid’s clothes had been taken away too, so she had no choice but to put on that gauze robe. She hurriedly layered several pieces on top of each other, and only then barely managed to cover the key areas.
The next moment, the door opened once again.
She had no time to escape. She could only force out a smile as she turned around, feigning delight: “My lord, what brings you here!”
But as she spoke, she couldn’t help glancing down at Pei Changli again. It was just that the earlier image had shaken her far too much—now, whenever she saw Pei Changli, that big bird automatically popped into her head.
She had to admit, Pei Changli was truly wicked, but he really was gorgeous too. And with that… thing, he was surely skilled in bed…
“What are you looking at?” Pei Changli’s face darkened, his voice grinding through clenched teeth.
Shen Wan’s thoughts were interrupted, and she hastily withdrew her gaze, lowering her eyes and putting on a flawless act of demureness.
“Your Highness’s bearing is that of a celestial being. I dare not look directly at you.”
The woman who had just been flushed red and cursing him as a degenerate and the one now standing obediently before him were like two completely different people—it was almost impossible to believe, making his earlier breakdown seem like a joke.
Pei Changli’s breathing quickened, the vein at his temple throbbing again.
Back in the study, he had feared the demoness would escape and rushed over to seize her at once. Now he could see it clearly—this demoness had cast her Demonic Arts on him, yet she didn’t know he remembered everything!
Fine. He would see just how long this demoness could keep playing innocent!
The corner of his lips curled as he stepped forward without courtesy and gripped Shen Wan’s chin. “You dare not look at me? Weren’t you the one who fawned all over my mother, begging to become my chamber maid? And now you can’t even bear to raise your head and glance at me?”
The original owner had come to assassinate him—of course she had fawned with all her might, just to get close enough to kill him.
Shen Wan grumbled inwardly, but could only force out a stiff smile and lift her little face along the pull of his hand.
There was no helping it. The old nanny had escorted her the whole way here, and guards stood watch outside. Pei Changli had arrived so quickly—there was no way she could escape in a short time!
“You dare not look at me. Could it be a guilty conscience?”
Guilty? Guilty of what?
Shen Wan was startled. Wasn’t the assassination supposed to not have happened yet?
But as her lips stiffened, a brightly polished dagger appeared in the corner of her vision.
She was done for. The original owner had been nothing but a minor cannon fodder—the book never mentioned where she hid the blade. Turns out she’d stashed it in the bath chamber!
“H-how could that be!” Shen Wan said with a frozen smile.
“Is that so?” Pei Changli’s voice was unreadable, but he released her chin, his gaze sweeping the surroundings.
What are you looking at? There’s nothing to see!
Shen Wan could have wept. People were everywhere outside—even Loading a Save wouldn’t tell her where to hide the dagger!
In her desperation, she could only grab Pei Changli’s face, gazing at him with deep, tender affection. She raised her voice into a soft, coquettish tone, calling out sweetly, “Your Highness~ I—I dare not look at you precisely because I admire you far too much.”
At this affected, saccharine display—overlapping in his mind with the image of her cursing him to his face after being thrown to the ground, even raising a hand against him—Pei Changli was so disgusted that the hand gripping her chin trembled.
Shen Wan noticed, and her eyes lit up.
So Pei Changli was afraid of this type!
Without hesitation, she pressed her advantage. Her little hand slid slowly up along his waist and slipped into his collar. “Even now, this still feels like a dream. I’ve adored you for years, and today I can finally have my wish~”
Every word out of her mouth twisted and turned, winding through eighteen bends. Pei Changli gritted his teeth, seized her little hand, and pinned her against a pillar.
Shen Wan, caught by his counterattack, was startled. Her small hand pressed against his chest, close enough to feel his warm breath.
No way—is he really going to do it?
Her face changed instantly. But then, Pei Changli drew a dagger from behind her with a half-smile. “Is that so? Have your wish?”
Shen Wan’s pupils contracted.
Help! I’m going to die, I’m going to die—quick, load a save!!
Shen Wan’s little hand was seized, her body spun around until her back pressed against a pillar. Looking at those eyes that seemed to smile without smiling, every hair on her body stood on end. In for a penny, in for a pound—she shoved him into the hot spring!
Water splashed everywhere. Like a fish at home in the water, Shen Wan nimbly flicked her tail, gripped his shoulders, and kissed him!
“My lord, a moment of spring night is worth a thousand gold!”
The warm touch pressed against his lips, like a feather floating on water, impossibly soft. Even Pei Changli’s movements paused for a moment.
It was the first kiss of Shen Wan’s life, and she froze up completely.
Time stretched out as if a whole century had passed, when suddenly there came a knock at the door.
“My lord, the Director of the Astronomical Bureau has arrived.”