Wu, the imperial garden.
Wu’s climate was somewhat kinder than Great Xuan’s, and most of the flowers in the imperial garden had already begun to bud.
In the pavilion, Ning Chen and the woman emperor sat facing each other across a low table.
The air was thick with the scent of flowers.
The woman emperor took off her crown and set it aside, uncovering a face both striking and touched with something martial.
“The rest of you may withdraw.”
The woman emperor said it evenly.
Fu Lu bowed. “Yes!”
Fu Lu and the maids in attendance both withdrew.
Ning Chen made a small sound of surprise, glanced at Fu Lu as he left, then looked at the woman emperor.
The woman emperor smiled faintly. “Lord Fu is this emperor’s man.”
Ning Chen had half guessed it, but was still somewhat startled.
“Impressive. I’d thought Song Tiancheng valued Lord Fu highly. I hadn’t expected him to be a double agent.”
The woman emperor smiled evenly. “Without some tricks of my own, this emperor’s throne would have changed hands long ago!”
Ning Chen’s eyes went to the woman emperor’s belly. “How is there nothing to see?”
The woman emperor shot him a look. “If it could be seen, the sky over Wu would already be falling.”
“You haven’t bound your waist up, have you?”
The woman emperor said nothing.
Ning Chen knew he had guessed right. “Take care with it. Don’t hurt my son.”
“This is this emperor’s child. What business is it of yours?”
The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth twitched. “Without me, where would you have gotten a child?”
The woman emperor said evenly, “Without you, would there have been no other man in the world?”
Ning Chen: “…”
“If you could have found another man, why drug me and steal my seed?”
“Because you barely caught this emperor’s eye.”
As she said it, the woman emperor put a hand to her belly, and something rare crossed her face — a touch of maternal softness. “Four months now. It’ll be hard to hide much longer.”
Ning Chen frowned. “Even once the Prince Regent’s dealt with, your belly will keep getting bigger day by day. You still won’t be able to hide it forever.”
“That’s not for you to worry about. This emperor has ways of her own.”
The woman emperor finished, and looked at Ning Chen. “The Prince Regent has already caught the scent of it. If he’s sure of it, it won’t be only this emperor’s throne that’s lost. This child will be lost too.”
“This emperor took the same risk, stealing your seed… Still, this emperor ought to say — this emperor is sorry. You were forced into it, after all.”
Ning Chen’s face twitched. He gave a short laugh. “You’re awfully sure of yourself. How do you know I wasn’t only pretending to be drugged?”
The woman emperor’s eyes narrowed sharply.
Ning Chen shrugged, grinning wickedly. “Truth is, I wasn’t drugged at all that night. I was wide awake.”
The woman emperor frowned. “Impossible.”
Ning Chen smiled. “Why impossible?”
The woman emperor’s face was full of confidence. “Because Marquis Ning is something of a devoted romantic, if you like… A man of your standing should have a houseful of wives and concubines by now, and yet you keep only one woman from the courtesans’ quarter.”
“They say you turned down the Xuan Emperor’s offers of marriage several times, for her sake.”
“Compared to other men, you’re not a lecherous one. And this business carried real danger for you… If you’d been in your right mind, you’d never have let this emperor succeed.”
Ning Chen gave her analysis a light round of applause. “Sharp as a knife, and not a hole in the logic… but you’re forgetting risk and reward often come together.”
“First, there aren’t many men under heaven who get the chance to sleep with an emperor.”
“Second, you’re not bad-looking yourself — the curves, the legs, gorgeous enough to make a man’s head spin. I didn’t lose out either.”
“Third, this child will be Wu’s sovereign one day, which makes me the Emperor Emeritus.”
“So, all told, it was worth the risk.”
The woman emperor’s face darkened, and she fixed her eyes on Ning Chen, asking one word at a time, “You really were in your right mind that night?”
Ning Chen nodded, a wicked smile on his lips. “The only thing I wasn’t satisfied with was… your technique left something to be desired. I nearly couldn’t hold myself back and finished the job a few times.”
The woman emperor’s pretty face flushed, but her eyes burned with anger. “Impossible. This emperor doesn’t believe you were in your right mind.”
Ning Chen shrugged. “Believe what you like… but next time, I’ll be on top, since your technique’s no good.”
“You insolent—!”
The woman emperor scolded him, her face red.
Ning Chen smiled. “A little louder — otherwise no one will hear you.”
The woman emperor glared at him viciously. “This emperor doesn’t believe you were in your right mind that night.”
“Fine, fine, fine… I was drugged senseless. Happy now?”
The woman emperor grew angrier still. “This emperor’s plans have never once gone wrong!”
“Good, good, good… you’re impressive. Calm down — you’re pregnant, you shouldn’t get worked up… or the child will come out with a foul temper.”
Ning Chen leaned forward across the table and reached out to touch the woman emperor’s belly.
The woman emperor went rigid at once.
It wasn’t shyness. No one had ever dared be so bold with her before.
“Son, it’s your father… If you can hear me, give me a kick.”
Smack!!!
The child did not kick him.
But the woman emperor slapped him across the face.
The blow wasn’t hard, but it left Ning Chen stunned regardless.
“How dare you take such liberties with this emperor?”
The woman emperor’s face was full of fury.
Ning Chen rubbed his cheek, shoved the low table aside, closed the distance, wrapped one hand around the back of the woman emperor’s head, and kissed her hard.
His other hand slid straight in through the front of her robe.
The woman emperor’s whole body went rigid. She had not thought Ning Chen would be so bold.
Harder still to bear was that his mouth and his hand were drawing a response out of her.
Damn it!
She was the woman emperor of Wu, sovereign in her own right — how could she let a man take such liberties with her… even if this man had once known her body, and been a husband to her in fact.
Bang!!!
Ning Chen doubled over, clutching his stomach, and staggered backward, his face twisted in pain.
This woman didn’t hold back — she’d driven a fist straight into his gut.
“Ning Chen. You’re insolent… Do you doubt this emperor could see to it that you never walk out of this palace alive?”
Ning Chen rubbed his stomach and smiled. “I doubt it.”
As he spoke, he closed in on the woman emperor again.
This woman brought out in him a fierce urge to conquer.
The woman emperor watched him warily. “What do you want?”
“You.”
The woman emperor froze for a moment, then flew into a rage. “Ning Chen, if you dare take liberties with this emperor again, this emperor will have you killed.”
Ning Chen said playfully, “Kill me, and how will you explain it to the child later?”
The woman emperor rose quickly to her feet and said coldly, “In skill, you may not be a match for this emperor… If you aren’t afraid of harming the child, go ahead and try.”
Ning Chen stopped.
A wicked smile still on his lips, he said, “Four months in, the baby’s settled well enough… We can still have relations, so long as it isn’t too rough.”
“This time I’ll be on top. I’ll be very gentle.”
The woman emperor’s pretty face went dangerous. “Ning Chen, you—”
Before she could finish, she saw Ning Chen sit back down.
Ning Chen reached out, pulled the table back into place, and pointed at the cushion across from him. “Mother of my child, sit down.”
“Address me as Her Majesty the woman emperor!”
Ning Chen frowned slightly, looked at the woman emperor, and said, one word at a time, “Don’t put on your woman-emperor airs in front of me… If I wanted to, I could have my troops flatten Wu any time I please.”
“So, in front of me, you’re only my woman — and the mother of my child.”
The woman emperor’s pretty face went dangerous. “You dare call this emperor your woman?”
“Aren’t you?”
As he spoke, Ning Chen drew a folded square of white silk from inside his robe.
At the sight of it, the woman emperor’s pretty face went red all at once… For all her strength, for all that she was the woman emperor, she was still, in the end, a woman.
Ning Chen smiled. “Your Majesty the woman emperor, is this enough proof that you’re my woman?”
(End of Chapter 356)