When the yellow imperial procession stopped, it was in front of the Chunman Palace where Ding Zhaorong resided. The head eunuch was unsure where the emperor intended to go, but since it was said earlier that Ding Zhaorong would be serving the emperor tonight and the emperor didn't specifically correct it, they still brought the imperial carriage to Ding Zhaorong's residence.

In his fury, the Qianwan Emperor didn't pay attention. He stepped off the carriage in one stride, reached out and dragged Shangguan Mingde, pulling him alive into the inner chamber of the palace.

Ding Zhaorong hurriedly followed, but who knew the the Qianwan Emperor would drag the person straight into the inner room. He then heavily slammed the door shut right in her face with a loud bang, nearly smashing her nose.

Ding Zhaorong weakly knelt outside the door: "Your Majesty, open the door!"

The Qianwan Emperor turned a deaf ear. He threw Mingde onto the square bed with sky blue curtains. With a loud thud, Mingde was thrown down limply without making a sound.

"Didn't you want to educate Ding Zhaorong on who is the master of this harem?" The Qianwan Emperor said in a low voice by his ear, "I'll help you show her."

Mingde suddenly flipped over to get up, but the Qianwan Emperor grabbed his neck with one hand and ripped open his clothes with the other hand with a tearing sound. The old white undergarment was crumpled into a mess, revealing a large expanse of skin on his chest, with the slender and sexy muscles of a young man, soft as jade, intoxicating to the touch.

Mingde silently slapped the Qianwan Emperor's chest with his palm. As a young man trained in martial arts, his strength was not small, but the Qianwan Emperor didn't budge at all. He casually returned a heavy slap.

Mingde fell headfirst into the soft goose down pillow without even making a groan. The Qianwan Emperor's hands wantonly kneaded his lower back, moving all the way down with obvious intentions of violation.

"Your Majesty!"

The Qianwan Emperor heavily twisted his lower back. "What?"

"Let me go!"

The Qianwan Emperor flipped him over completely, one hand grasping the young man's narrow waist, the other hand moving down from that beautiful neck, mercilessly kneading out blue and red marks. The maddening pleasure from memory gradually surfaced in his mind bit by bit. The hunger that hadn't been felt for a long time made this vigorous emperor as impatient as an impulsive young man.

The Qianwan Emperor bit Mingde's ear and said hoarsely, "In your dreams."

Mingde tried his best to avoid the man biting on his back. "...The imperial exam starts tomorrow! Let me go! Let go of me! Get lost! Get off me! Get off...!"

That slightly trembling and hoarse voice due to fear, the shrill, terrified tone with blood shaking from the throat of a boy whose voice hadn't fully changed, sounded especially... desirable to crush in the ears of the already fully aroused man.

The Qianwan Emperor crudely yanked open Mingde's sash with one hand, and suddenly grabbed his wrists with the other, tying them to the head of the bed in a few moves. Mingde struggled desperately, even kicking the Qianwan Emperor, his voice already hoarse beyond recognition from its usual flat, sarcastic tone: "Damn you for getting turned on in a place like this, Li Ji you fatuous ruler! You bastard! I will kill you for sure! You just wait...!"

"Wait until you can kill me," The Qianwan Emperor kissed the corner of his brow, "I will definitely let you kill me then."

What kind of place was this? It was the palace of the Qianwan Emperor Li Ji's harem concubines, the bedchamber, the large bed where he had favored other concubines before.

That deep sense of humiliation made Mingde tremble all over, almost uncontrollably. He was completely naked, falling into the hands of that man to be wantonly violated. That bastard was so domineering and unstoppable. No one could save him from this bottomless darkness and oppression.

No one, because no one dared to defy the emperor of this realm.

It was a strange thing. This man had the final say in the imperial court, toying with politics while also taking care of the people, conquering in all directions while also knowing to recuperate. Although he was cruel and ruthless, in the mouths of most officials, their emperor was always described as decisive, brave, and powerful.

Such a rare wise ruler, such a strong and perfect emperor, everyone praised him profusely. Historical records greatly extolled his achievements and imperial undertakings. The entire world admired and worshipped at his feet. However, in private behind people's backs, he could use such cold and despicable means to forcibly occupy and torture a completely defenseless young child.

Mingde even felt that the Qianwan Emperor vented all his dark and vicious sides on him. He felt pain, but he couldn't cry out. Boys in their voice-changing period shouldn't be talking loudly and tearing their throats in the first place. He tasted the coppery blood rising in his throat, dry and painful.

How wonderful it would be if there was cool water to drink...

But that was impossible, just like how the Qianwan Emperor Li Ji would never lighten his heavy hand once he was aroused. When he felt his blood boiling and couldn't wait, he absolutely would not let Shangguan Mingde go, let alone allow him to drink some water to relax a little.

Ding Zhaorong knelt motionlessly outside the door. The palace servants beside the Qianwan Emperor all stood far away in the great hall. Although they all knew what was happening, they seemed to take it as a common occurrence.

Ding Zhaorong knelt the closest. The moans and miserable cries from inside the door were heard in her ears without missing a word. At first there were only the Qianwan Emperor's heavy panting and vicious sounds. Later there were screams and moans that continued for a very, very long time, so long that she felt the young man might have even been tortured to death.

The night was deep and the dew heavy. No one came forward to ask her to rise. She could only kneel, supporting her throat with one breath.

The agonized cries from the inner chamber gradually became intermittent, interspersed with some moans that made one's face turn red and ears burn. But later they turned into hoarse pleas, as if rubbed raw on sandpaper.

Those pleas were already incoherent, mixed in with all kinds of lewd sounds, like the begging of a young beast fallen into a trap, almost negligible. That night, the sounds of various disturbances never ceased. The boy's pleading voice was soft and delicate, reminiscent of a kitten being toyed with in someone's palm, full of terror and fear, making one want to forcefully hold it in their arms and knead it at will, making it completely belong to them, entirely at their disposal.

Ding Zhaorong had never seen the Qianwan Emperor treat herself this way, and there was no precedent in the harem for a concubine to be treated like this by the emperor. The concubines lived a mundane life without much turbulence, and it seemed that no one wanted to challenge the empress's position.

It turned out that such torment and violation was not out of hatred and disgust, but rather being loved to the extreme in the emperor's heart.

_

Ding Zhaorong couldn't remember how she got through that night. By dawn, even the intermittent moans and sobs had completely turned hoarse and disappeared. She seemed to have knelt on the ground and slept for a while, until she was awakened by Zhang Kuo's sharp voice.

The sky was already dimly lit. Zhang Kuo knelt on the ground, heavily knocking on the door: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! The empress is kneeling outside Zhengtai Palace with the ancestral instructions on her head, requesting Your Majesty to hold morning court!"

The empress?

That weak and incompetent empress who could only endure when bullied and was almost sent to the cold palace?

Zhang Kuo couldn't keep knocking and heavily kowtowed on the ground: "Your Majesty! If the ministers at the morning court see the empress doing this, it will be a national crisis!"

Ding Zhaorong was frozen in place, watching Zhang Kuo urgently say in a sharp voice: "Your Majesty may not be afraid of gossip and criticism, but at least leave a way out for the young noble lord!"

The Qianwan Emperor actually wasn't afraid of what the court officials would say about him. When he took the throne, the first thing he did was to purge the court of a group of old, conservative scholars. But even if he himself wasn't afraid, he had to consider Mingde. If this matter got out, this young man would be a demon who bewitched and misled the emperor, bringing disaster to the country.

It wasn't unheard of in the previous dynasty. The previous emperor favored Consort Wang, the mother of Prince Dongyang, and even failed to hold morning court for half a month straight. That was truly a case of "since obtaining the beauty's smile, the emperor ceased morning court". It only ended when court officials jointly submitted a petition requesting to "clear those beside the emperor".

The previous emperor was furious and immediately made Consort Wang the empress as a deterrent. The storm passed, but Prince Dongyang was also greatly affected. The matter of establishing him as crown prince had to be postponed. With this delay, he missed his chance at the throne.

It was silent inside for a very long time, not knowing what the emperor was thinking. Just when Ding Zhaorong thought the emperor hadn't woken up at all, the door creaked open.

Zhang Kuo kowtowed, and Ding Zhaorong was already stunned, stiffly raising her eyes to look up.

In the dim light, the Qianwan Emperor strode out wearing a black and gold robe, holding the already unconscious Mingde in his arms, wrapped haphazardly in white silk. Only the young man's side profile could be seen, pressed against the Qianwan Emperor's chest, as pale as snow.

Ding Zhaorong blankly watched the Qianwan Emperor take big strides past her. With a glance, she only saw Mingde's dangling arm, his thin fingertips hanging limply without any color, so fragile that it made one's heart tremble. As if held in the palm of a hand, it would break with the slightest squeeze.

Zhang Kuo hurriedly stood up and followed. As the Qianwan Emperor walked, he asked without looking back, "What is the empress doing?"

"Replying to Your Majesty, the empress is kneeling outside the council hall with the ancestral instructions on her head, saying she won't get up until she sees the young noble consort."

"What ancestral instructions?"

"A ruler's duty is to continue the imperial lineage, not to indulge in beauty to the detriment of the state."

The Qianwan Emperor let out a cold laugh: "What a virtuous empress!"

Zhang Kuo urgently said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, please think, the ministers for morning court are already on their way. The spring imperial exam... the spring imperial exam begins at the third crow of the rooster..."

The Qianwan Emperor suddenly stopped and turned to ask: "He's still going to the spring exam?"

Zhang Kuo knelt on the ground: "Your Majesty, whether he passes or not, it's better to let people give up hope than to not even let him take the exam."

The Qianwan Emperor lowered his head to look at Mingde in his arms. The boy's complexion had a porcelain-like paleness with a faint tinge of green. His eyelashes trembled slightly but couldn't open. He seemed to still be having nightmares, his expression showing extreme fear, as if being hunted with nowhere to escape.

The Qianwan Emperor's heart suddenly softened. He lowered his head and kissed Mingde's temple. It was sweaty, very cool in temperature, appearing lifeless.

What are you afraid of, he thought. Always cautiously and vigilantly observing me, like a young beast fearfully watching the behemoth before it, and even occasionally extending its claws to try to scratch and provoke, which was actually harmless. But it seemed that by doing so, it vented its resentment.

However, whenever he showed the slightest reaction, this person would immediately flee in a panic, even recklessly hurting himself in his confusion.

In fact, if it were anyone else who was so favored, they would have long become arrogant and domineering. Only this little one anxiously cowered in a small corner, heavy-hearted, wishing that he would never pay attention to him.

The Qianwan Emperor held him a bit tighter. Mingde frowned and unconsciously struggled a bit, then froze and tightly curled up. The Qianwan Emperor felt that he had a bit of a fever and instinctively knew he definitely shouldn't go to the spring exam.

But if he didn't let him go, what would happen when he woke up?

He would cry and make a fuss, that didn't matter. The fear was that he wouldn't be able to wrap his head around it. Before, when he panicked and hit the wall, he would just faint. This time, he might actually hit himself to death.

The dawn light meandered in from the tall window lattices, thinly spreading on the thick dark carpet of Chunman Palace. The cool air of early spring mixed with moisture, emanating from the heavy shadows of the distant pale blue palace, as if to freeze one entirely.

The Qianwan Emperor stood in the light and shadow outside the palace's main entrance corridor. He slowly knelt down and placed the person in his arms on the soft sedan chair's thick silver cushion.

Zhang Kuo asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty...?"

"Send him to the Empress," the Qianwan Emperor said, "The Empress knows how to take care of him, and she will find a way to secretly send him to the examination hall."

"But Your Majesty--"

"If the Empress asks, just say that I don't know."

The Qianwan Emperor watched as the soft sedan chair slowly departed. Someone had already rushed ahead to report and request the Empress to rise.

Kneeling under the ancestral instructions, unable to rise...

The Qianwan Emperor smiled coldly.

After being the villain, why pretend to be innocent?