I've Decided To Be This Tyrant's Dark Moonlight - Chapter 80

Yunshao was crying softly, her small shoulders trembling. Her voice was milky and childish as she sobbed, her dark, shining eyes lowered, and every now and then she raised her hand to wipe them.

Wei Ying was completely helpless before this sight. Her heart softened, then softened again, as though she were soaking in a pool of spring water. The words she had wanted to say lingered on the tip of her tongue but refused to come out, and in the end, they strangely turned into:

“Don’t cry anymore.”

Yunshao lowered her head, and a crystal tear slid down her snow-white chin, dropping onto the dirty, golden-embroidered robe.

Wei Ying: “…”

She leaned over and gently wiped away the tear. The warmth of it dampened her fingertip, and through the tear, she softly brushed the emperor’s delicate little chin. Watching Yunshao weep in silence, she couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: “Your Majesty, oh Your Majesty…”

How could there be such a foolish emperor?

When Yunshao lifted her tear-filled eyes, Wei Ying realized, to her horror, that she had spoken her thoughts out loud.

So she sighed again:
“Your Majesty, if you cry this easily, what will happen if others see you?”

Yunshao wiped her eyes and said fiercely:
“Then I’ll gouge their eyes out!”

Wei Ying: … Good grief.

Yunshao sniffled, then asked pitifully:
“Where is the sky? Can I go there?”

Wei Ying thought carefully and replied:
“If Your Majesty could live for several thousand, even tens of thousands of years, perhaps you’d live to see this world invent spaceships. By then, you could go to the heavens.”

Yunshao froze, her pretty eyes widening.
“So… you’ve already lived for several thousand, tens of thousands of years, Yingying?”

Wei Ying couldn’t follow her train of thought.
“No, that’s not it!”

What kind of tone was that? What kind of look is that? Like a tender calf suddenly realizing the grass it’s chewing isn’t just old—it’s zombie grass.

Yunshao clearly relaxed, the sorrow in her heart frightened away by that thought. Tears still clung to her lashes, trembling as though about to fall. She wiped her eyes, still shaken, and whispered:
“I thought Yingying was already…”

She had thought her beauty was like a flower beyond the clouds, only to find out that perhaps her beauty had bloomed for eight thousand years.

Wei Ying narrowed her eyes and stared.

Yunshao turned her face away, flustered, muttering softly:
“Actually… I don’t mind if you’re a little older. I like it too. Just… several thousand, tens of thousands of years—that’s too much.”

Too much, to the point where she herself felt like nothing more than a speck of dust—fleeting, her joys and sorrows, her love and longing all nothing more than a child’s tantrum in Yingying’s eyes. So small that she would stir not a single ripple in the other’s heart.

A mayfly falling in love with a kunpeng—living for only a day, yet daring to crave eternity.

Seeing her crying again, Wei Ying sighed. The atmosphere was too heavy. She decided to lighten it by opening a card pack.

She pulled out the blind box she had just received. At worst, it was guaranteed to be a blue card. So she stretched out her hand to open it—

But just before opening, she froze, recalling the fear of being cursed by bad luck. Turning her head, she saw the emperor still quietly shedding tears, so she leaned in close, pressing herself lightly against her.

Yunshao lifted her tearful gaze.

Wei Ying said softly:
“Your Majesty, don’t cry, all right?”

Yunshao pouted.

Wei Ying stood up, covered her eyes with one hand, then leaned down to lightly brush her lips against the emperor’s smooth forehead.
“Chu~”

Yunshao froze. Her body stiffened, her head still tilted upward. She forgot how to move or speak.

Seizing the chance, Wei Ying quickly tore open the blind box.

A golden light spilled out from the dazzling chest.

She nearly leapt up in joy!

An orange card! A golden legend in her lifetime!

Wei Ying’s heart surged. Truly, when one thing ends, another begins—use up one card, and a new one comes.

Happiness, excitement—she wanted to jump for joy!

But before she could even check what legendary treasure she had drawn, her hand was seized and pulled down. The emperor tilted her face upward and brushed her lips against Wei Ying’s.

Yunshao:
“Chu! Chu chu! Chu chu chu!”

A strange sensation came from Wei Ying’s lips—tingling, itchy, soft and burning.

For an instant, she felt as though she weren’t kissing an emperor, but a delicate rose. She knew roses had thorns, but she also knew this rose would never prick her.

A flower that left others bleeding, loving and hating, now trembled nervously and shyly, opening its tenderest blossom just for her.

But just as she began to savor the sweetness, the emperor leaned in greedily, pecking like a woodpecker:
“Chu chu chu! Chu chu chu! Chu chu!”

A storm of frantic kisses!

Wei Ying felt herself being pecked to pieces. She pressed the emperor’s shoulders, trying to push her back.
“Your Majesty, are you the reincarnation of a woodpecker?!”

Yunshao:
“Chu chu chu chu chu!”

The two of them wrestled and tumbled onto the soft grass, tangled together. Wei Ying ended up on top, pinning Yunshao’s shoulders. The emperor’s golden crown had long fallen off, her hair spilling loose. Her eyes were misty from kissing, her pale cheeks flushed with pink, her lips crimson as though painted with rouge.

Wei Ying, almost against her will, pressed her finger against those lips—plump, springy to the touch.

She thought with relief: Good thing that card’s effect has worn off already, or else I’d have truly been pecked into a thousand holes by this little woodpecker just now.

But Yunshao still wouldn’t let up. She turned her head and pecked at Wei Ying’s finger:
“Chu chu!”

Wei Ying’s fingertips reddened. She pinched the emperor’s cheek.
“Your Majesty shouldn’t be called Your Majesty anymore—you should be called Woodpecker.”

Yunshao:
“No! Call me Pecky-Ying Bird!”

She seemed delighted by the name, happily scheming:
“From now on, the ministers won’t have to shout ‘Ten thousand years, long live Your Majesty!’ They’ll have to say—”

Wei Ying asked:
“Say what?”

Yunshao puffed up proudly and declared:
“‘Yingying chu, Yingying chu, Yingying chu every day!’”

Wei Ying’s lips curled despite herself. She was about to say something, when suddenly there was a sharp gasp nearby. She turned her head—only to meet Pei Que’s frozen expression.

Pei Que quickly stepped back, hiding herself in the trees.
“You two… carry on!”

And in passing, she yanked Xiao Qianxue back, signaling the soldiers to halt in the forest and not advance.

Xiao Qianxue craned her neck curiously:
“What, what? Yingying’s up ahead?”

Pei Que blocked her in a panic, face flushing, cursing inwardly at the indecency of it all.
“Don’t go! They’re doing… um, doing the sort of things a foolish emperor and a wicked consort would do.”

Xiao Qianxue instantly understood. Her face burned red, and she clutched her sleeves, mumbling shyly:
“At a time like this, they still have the mood for that… no wonder it’s them.”

By then, Wei Ying and the emperor had already walked back.

The soldiers, seeing their sovereign safe and sound, finally breathed easier. The emperor seemed unharmed—only her eyes were a little red.

Xiao Qianxue rushed forward like a little whirlwind:
“Yingying! Your Majesty! You weren’t hurt by the assassins, were you?”

She whirled around frantically—only to find herself stuck in place. Looking back, she saw the Imperial Consort holding onto her belt, face cold as ice.
“They’re perfectly fine. Not a scratch. In fact, they even had time to… heh. You worried yourself sick for nothing, and now you still want to run over there?”

Xiao Qianxue blinked blankly.
“Eh?”

But Wei Ying, sharp as ever, caught the anger behind those words. She walked over with a smile, offering apologies until the Consort’s temper finally cooled. With a huff, the Consort climbed onto a horse.
“No extra mounts. Qianxue, ride with me. The other two can share one.”

She had always valued the soldiers, and in her eyes, these two who had been indulging in “daytime debauchery” weren’t worth having a soldier give up a warhorse.

Yet upon hearing this, the emperor actually laughed, happily mounting with Wei Ying, her fingers wandering idly along Wei Ying’s waist.

Wei Ying steered the horse with one hand and pinned down Yunshao’s hand with the other.
“Stop fooling around!”

Yunshao only smiled wider, resting her head against the girl’s shoulder. Wind roared past their ears, golden waves of grass swaying in shimmering layers.

They galloped down the hillside, a hundred riders thundering behind them. The hooves beat the ground like rolling thunder, and farmers in the fields straightened up to watch, until the riders vanished as little black specks in the dust.

Yunshao murmured:
“How far away is the sky?”

Wei Ying tightened her grip on the reins. Hearing her whisper, she stayed silent.

Yunshao went on:
“They say I own the world. But for Yingying… my world doesn’t mean a thing, does it? This land is Yingying’s prison.” She drew a trembling breath. “But I want to use this world as a prison, to keep Yingying locked by my side. However long this life is, that’s how long I’ll keep her. As for what comes after…”

Whether the great bird Peng soared to the northern or southern seas—what did that matter to her?

When they returned to the hunting grounds, Prince Luling came to bid farewell, his face full of misery. He said he wanted to return to his fief.

Yunshao’s face turned cold. But after a moment, she smiled, gentle and soft.
“Has your Emperor Sister treated you poorly? Why, you’ve only just arrived, and already you wish to leave?”

Prince Luling wiped the cold sweat off his face. Catching sight of the Imperial Consort holding her sword, he instinctively backed away two steps. Then he spotted Xiao Qianxue rushing over, and scuttled back five more. Finally, when he saw Wei Ying strolling up in fresh clothes, he retreated all the way to the doorway, dropped to his knees, and stammered:
“Your Majesty, please—please just let me go back!”

Seeing Wei Ying arrive, Yunshao’s smile deepened.
“Why retreat so far?”

Prince Luling, drenched in sweat, muttered:
“T-the ground is slippery!”

So he had slipped all the way from the center of the hall to the doorway. Truly, a genius at survival!

Yunshao chuckled, propped her head on her hand, and pressed him again:
“Stay until we return to Shengjing, then leave. Otherwise, Mother will scold me for not keeping my elder brother here.”

But Prince Luling wanted nothing more than to get away from the emperor and this harem of hers. He didn’t even care about the Empress Dowager anymore.

He wasn’t a fool—he understood some imperial arts. After the hunting incident, he guessed why the Empress Dowager wanted him kept in the capital.

Once, Prince Luling had been eager, feeling that the throne should have been his. That the emperor had stolen what belonged to him. But now he understood—being emperor was no easy task. If he stayed here, sooner or later, he’d be toyed to death by the emperor and her harem.

He lifted his eyes and stole a glance at the consorts—

One looked radiant and adorable, but in truth was a monster who could snap a tree in half with her bare hands!

Another looked as gentle as a peach blossom, but in truth was a beheading maniac who could slay without blinking!

Yet another always smiled kindly, seeming warm and approachable—but was actually a pervert who delighted in shooting people full of arrows!

And that was just the ones he had met in the past few days. He had heard there were still three thousand beauties in the palace!

Once, Prince Luling thought “six palaces filled with beauty, three thousand fair concubines” sounded unimaginably wonderful. But now, just picturing it made his vision go black. He thought: How much karma must the emperor have accumulated, to be surrounded by such women?

He began to pity his imperial younger sibling. No wonder, after all these years, she hadn’t gained any weight—no trace of masculine vigor about her. The emperor had truly suffered!

The world called her lofty, supreme, envied the throne of the Son of Heaven. But who could understand the hardship hidden within?

His imperial younger sister—she was the one truly burdened with Heaven’s great mandate!

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