Marked by the Tyrant After Transmigrating into a Book - Chapter 17

The news that the Sovereign had brought a future Imperial Consort back to the palace spread throughout the entire Imperial City by the following day.

However, the public remained in the dark regarding the consort’s identity. Upon their return, the Sovereign did not assign a separate palace to the consort; instead, he kept the person with him in the Hall of Mental Cultivation. The attendants of the Hall were notoriously tight-lipped, maintaining a profound silence regarding the consort’s appearance or background.

As for the consort’s travels, they were conducted via the imperial dragon sedan, with all onlookers cleared from the path. No one had even caught a glimpse of the consort’s face. After several days, the only thing anyone knew for certain was that the consort was a man.

Yet, this news alone was enough to send shockwaves through the court.

The civil and military officials had previously—and naively—assumed their Emperor had finally “seen the light” and decided to take a consort to carry on the imperial bloodline. Who could have guessed the consort was a man! While there were historical precedents in the Kingdom of Changlu for male consorts, every previous emperor had first taken wives and concubines to secure heirs before indulging in male favorites.

Furthermore, judging by the Sovereign’s indulgent behavior, he was clearly deeply infatuated. If this continued, it was feared that no woman would ever step foot in the inner palace again. The court could no longer sit idly by; letters of remonstrance flooded Jin Wang’s desk, stacking up like a mountain.

Jin Wang hurled a bundle of petitions directly at the official before him, laughing out of sheer fury. “What? Since when is my marriage a matter for you all to dictate?”

Inside the Imperial Study, the officials fell to their knees in unison. “May Your Majesty appease your wrath!”

Jin Wang let out a cold sneer.

These people didn’t actually care if his consort was male or female; they only cared about the succession. It wasn’t that fertile men didn’t exist in this world, but they were the “Kunjun” (Omegas)—individuals rarer than even the “Qianjun” (Alphas). Predisposed by their biases, no one believed this consort could conveniently happen to be a Kunjun.

At that thought, Jin Wang’s heart stirred. Not all Kunjun could conceive, and because he hadn’t cared about such things, he hadn’t yet had the Imperial Physician examine Ye Shu’s constitution.

Now that he thought about it, it was indeed necessary to summon a physician for a check-up. Even if the result was that he couldn’t conceive, it wouldn’t matter; Jin Wang never worried about heirs. Even if he truly had no biological successor, adopting a child from a branch of the imperial family wouldn’t be difficult.

The old ministers in the hall were still droning on. Irritated, Jin Wang dropped a cold remark: “Since you all love kneeling so much, feel free to stay here and continue.” With that, he led his retinue out of the study.

He hadn’t spent quality time with his little consort for four or five days.

A backlog of state affairs from his time at the traveling palace had forced Jin Wang to stay in the Imperial Study for several nights. Even when he did see Ye Shu, it was a rushed affair with hardly a moment to speak. Accustomed to being glued to each other day and night at the traveling palace, this sudden separation left him… yearning.

Of course, this yearning was strictly one-sided.

Without the daily stress of hovering around the tyrant, Ye Shu was enjoying his leisure. He ate, played, and lived his best life with unbridled joy.

In the Imperial Garden, a small skiff floated upon the Qinyuan Lake. Ye Shu leaned against the boat, drowsy from the sun, and let out a tired yawn. At the other end of the skiff, Chang Yuan gently worked the oars. “If you are tired, Young Master, I shall take you back to your quarters immediately.”

“I’m not tired,” Ye Shu rubbed his eyes and sighed. “I just find this palace incredibly boring. It’s the same few games every day. No excitement.”

Chang Yuan lowered his eyes and remained silent.

Ye Shu glanced at the maids waiting on the shore and lowered his voice. “We’ve spent the last few days touring every corner of the palace. Have you found any weaknesses in the security?”

Chang Yuan hesitated before answering truthfully, “No. The palace is heavily guarded, and there are secret guards lying in ambush. Escaping will be extremely difficult.”

Ye Shu clicked his tongue, instantly losing interest in the lake. “Let’s go back.”

Chang Yuan rowed back to the shore, and Ye Shu stood up to disembark. Suddenly, a wave of dizziness hit him without warning. Ye Shu’s figure swayed, and Chang Yuan quickly reached out to steady him.

A faint scent of green plums was caught by the guard’s keen, trained sense of smell. That scent again. Chang Yuan’s breathing hitched.

Ye Shu was completely oblivious. He gripped Chang Yuan’s arm, his brow furrowed. “So dizzy…”

Chang Yuan snapped back to his senses. “…Are you alright, Young Master?” He looked at Ye Shu’s pale face with concern. “You’ve been lacking energy lately. Should I fetch the physician?”

“Shh!” Ye Shu glanced at the nearby maids and lowered his voice further. “Don’t talk nonsense. What if word reaches the Emperor?”

Chang Yuan was puzzled. “Can the Emperor… not know about this?”

“Of course n—”

“What is it that I cannot know?” A man’s crisp, deep voice rang out. Ye Shu shuddered reflexively.

Jin Wang approached from the distance with his attendants. His gaze landed on Ye Shu’s waist, and his eyes darkened. Chang Yuan’s hand was still resting there.

Jin Wang was already irritable from work and had come seeking his little consort to relax. Finding such a scene instead, the suppressed fire in his heart flared up instantly.

“What are you doing?” Jin Wang’s voice turned cold.

The attendants fell to their knees in terror. Only then did Ye Shu notice Jin Wang’s foul mood and quickly shoved Chang Yuan away. “Y-Your Majesty…”

Jin Wang walked up to him, his eyes scanning Ye Shu’s body. His voice was unnervingly steady. “I recall hiring people to teach you palace etiquette. Why do you not know how to bow when you see me? Is your education moving backward?”

Ye Shu: “I…”

He usually never bowed or knelt to Jin Wang; the dog emperor was clearly just looking for trouble. Did he take the wrong medicine today?

Without waiting for an explanation, Jin Wang glanced at the group of maids. “Who taught him?”

From the crowd, a maid spoke up tremulously, “R-Replying to Your Majesty… this servant taught him…”

Jin Wang said tonelessly, “Drag her away. Thirty strokes of the cane.”

Attendants immediately stepped forward to seize her. The maid wailed, “Your Majesty, have mercy!”

“Jin Wang!” Ye Shu stepped forward to block the attendants, his face flushed with anger. “If you’re unhappy, take it out on me! Why involve an innocent girl for no reason?”

Being addressed by his name didn’t anger Jin Wang; instead, a faint, dangerous smile played on his lips. His handsome features looked almost demonic. “You call my judgment ‘involvement’?”

“I ordered her to teach you the rules. Since you haven’t learned, she has failed her duty. Not sentencing her to death is already an act of mercy. How is this ‘involvement’?”

The maid was already sobbing uncontrollably. Ye Shu couldn’t stand seeing a woman cry. He steeled his heart and said, “I’ll take the punishment for her. Beat me instead!”

Jin Wang’s eyes shifted slightly.

Ye Shu was so angry he was becoming incoherent. “Beat me! Go ahead and add it to those twenty strokes from before. If I survive, it’s my luck; if I don’t, I have no complaints. Just don’t drag others into this!”

“You…” Jin Wang’s lips moved, but after a long pause, he said quietly, “Let her go.”

The attendants released the maid. Jin Wang reached out and hauled Ye Shu into his arms. “You’re coming with me.”

The imperial sedan was nearby. Jin Wang led Ye Shu into it. Having played the hero moments ago, Ye Shu was now belatedly feeling the fear. His back began to break out in a cold sweat.

Jin Wang took his hand, holding it in his palm. “Your hands are so cold. Are you feeling unwell?”

Ye Shu nearly bit his tongue as he spoke. “N-No!”

Jin Wang: “Then why did you forbid Chang Yuan from calling the physician just now? And why didn’t you want me to know?”

“You heard all that?” After a long silence, Ye Shu’s voice grew weak. “I’m really not sick. I just don’t want to see a doctor.”

Jin Wang exposed him: “You’re just afraid of bitter medicine.”

Ye Shu lowered his head and didn’t answer. The sedan soon came to a stop. Ye Shu glanced outside and asked, “Aren’t we going to the Bureau of Punishment?”

This was clearly the Sovereign’s private bedchamber. Jin Wang led Ye Shu inside and dismissed all attendants.

Ye Shu whispered, “Are you not going to beat me?”

His cowed, submissive appearance was adorably obedient. Jin Wang pinched his cheek and laughed. “Receiving a punishment doesn’t necessarily have to happen at the Bureau.”

“Go lie down on the bed. I will administer this punishment personally.”

A moment later, Ye Shu was dressed only in thin inner robes, lying face down on the bed. He curled into a ball, hugging a quilt, his back trembling slightly.

Jin Wang sat on the edge of the bed, a slender bamboo switch in his hand. He let the tip glide lightly across Ye Shu’s back. “Cold?”

Ye Shu trembled even harder. “N-not cold…”

The Emperor’s dragon bed was layered with plush rugs, soft and comfortable. Beneath the floor, the heating flues were active; the room was neither hot nor cold, but perfectly tempered.

Ye Shu wasn’t cold, of course—he was terrified.

The youth on the bed was thin and frail; curled up like this, he looked even smaller. A slender wrist extended from his sleeve, his knuckles white as he gripped the quilt.

Jin Wang’s gaze lingered on that lotus-white wrist for a moment before shifting away. “Do you know what you did wrong?”

“…”

To be honest, Ye Shu wanted to know that himself. What exactly did I do wrong?!

After a moment of desperate thought, he said tremulously, “I shouldn’t have… failed to kneel upon seeing Your Majesty, talked back to you, or called you by your given name.”

Jin Wang simply watched him in silence, offering no response.

Ye Shu met his gaze for a second before continuing in a small voice, “…And I shouldn’t have spoken ill of Your Majesty behind your back, called you a dog, or said you weren’t even as good as the dog I used to raise named Ah Wang.”

Jin Wang remained silent. Ye Shu panicked. “There’s really nothing else! I haven’t done anything else these past few days!”

“…”

Ye Shu collapsed back onto the pillow in defeat. “Just hit me then.”

The hall was so quiet a falling needle could be heard. Ye Shu felt the person beside him stand up. From the corner of his eye, he saw the young Emperor holding the bamboo switch, tapping it lightly against his own palm, lost in thought.

The soft thwack of the switch against Jin Wang’s palm felt like it was hitting Ye Shu’s heart. Over and over.

Ye Shu pulled his gaze back.

After a long while, Jin Wang suddenly spoke. “You owed twenty strokes before, and with today’s thirty, that makes fifty in total.”

“I will not go easy on you.”

The switch suddenly cut through the air with a sharp whistle. Ye Shu shuddered violently, clutching the quilt and rolling to the far side of the bed. “I was wrong! I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t hit me!!!”

He shouted the string of pleas without looking. When he opened his eyes, he saw the bamboo switch hanging at Jin Wang’s side. The Emperor had no intention of striking him.

Jin Wang looked at him and suddenly laughed. “You are much more adorable like this.”

Ye Shu stared back at him warily.

Jin Wang tossed the switch aside and sat back down on the bed. He let out a sigh. “Ye Shu, is it true that unless I scare you into this state, you will never show me your true self?”

Ye Shu froze.

“Sometimes, I would rather you curse at me than watch you put on that act,” Jin Wang leaned in slightly, lifting Ye Shu’s face. His eyes darkened. “The real you would never use our past as a bargaining chip to test or manipulate me.”

“The real you would never be so submissive and soft when I push past your boundaries.”

“Ye Shu, I have known you for years. I know exactly what kind of person you are.”

“You shouldn’t be like this.”

Silence filled the hall for a long time. Ye Shu slowly sat up and asked in a low voice, “What exactly is Your Majesty trying to say?”

Jin Wang stood by the window, gazing at him fixedly. He spoke slowly, emphasizing every word: “I simply want to know what happened to you. What transpired during those three years, and why you have become this way.”

Even now, his tone remained high and mighty. It wasn’t the tone of a friend or a lover; it was a posture of absolute command, demanding nothing but obedience.

Ye Shu lowered his eyes, seemingly lost in thought. Jin Wang didn’t rush him. After a moment of stalemate, Ye Shu suddenly spoke. “I see… by those words, does Your Majesty believe that there are spells in this world for changing one’s soul or possessing a body?”

“Do you think I was being controlled for those three years? Or that… I’ve been replaced by someone else entirely?”

Jin Wang’s fingertips, hidden in his sleeve, twitched.

“Those things don’t exist, Jin Wang. Stop dreaming,” Ye Shu looked up, his gaze meeting Jin Wang’s. “The person from ten years ago was me, and the person from three years ago was also me. I haven’t changed, and I won’t change.”

Ye Shu knelt on the bed, his voice flat. “The truth is, you are just lying to yourself. You refuse to believe I betrayed you. You investigate and test me, and the more discrepancies you find, the more you convince yourself.”

“You tell yourself over and over: ‘There must be a reason; the one who betrayed me wasn’t him.'”

“That is why you hate it when I bring up the past. You think I’m just using those memories to clear the name of some non-existent person.”

“In fact, I am trying to clear my name. But it’s for myself.”

Ye Shu gave a soft, mocking laugh. “I committed treason. It was an unforgivable crime. Now that the plot has failed, is it not natural for me to find a way to save my own skin?”

A faint redness appeared in Jin Wang’s eyes. “Are you not afraid I will kill you…?”

“Would you stop trying to kill me if I didn’t say it?” Ye Shu retorted. “For the past month, my life has been hanging in your hands. At any moment, you could find a pretext to play with me or torment me.”

“What do you take me for? A toy?”

“Jin Wang, you tell me not to hide behind a mask. But if I didn’t hide, would I have survived until now?”

“And what about you? Have you ever told me a single word of truth?”

His words left Jin Wang’s face pale. The Emperor closed his eyes and said coldly, “Get out.”

Ye Shu didn’t move.

Jin Wang: “Don’t make me say it twice. Get. Out!”

Ye Shu got off the bed, threw on his cloak, gave a calm, deliberate bow, and “got out.”

He didn’t go far, merely standing in the open space outside the hall. As the doors slowly closed in front of him, he let out a silent breath of relief.

That performance today was incredibly risky. Jin Wang had already sensed the difference between him and the original owner. Rather than letting Jin Wang continue to guess, suspect, and hunt for evidence, it was better to cut that hope off at the root.

Jin Wang’s behavior lately stemmed from his refusal to believe the original Ye Shu had betrayed him. Today, Ye Shu hadn’t just torn off his own disguise; he had torn away the last shred of hope in Jin Wang’s heart.

The irony was that even after being told the “truth,” Jin Wang couldn’t bring himself to kill him. Ordering him to stand outside was a punishment so minor it was almost negligible.

If this were a month ago, Ye Shu might have felt guilty. Destroying someone’s hope is the cruelest thing you can do.

But the dog emperor deserved it for tormenting him so much.

He brought it on himself, Ye Shu thought silently as a cold wind blew through the courtyard, causing him to wrap his cloak tighter.

The sky darkened, and no lamps were lit inside the hall. Jin Wang sat alone, his handsome features hidden in the shadows, his dark eyes filled with gloom.

A knock came at the door. Gao Jin’s voice drifted in: “Your Majesty, may I enter to light the lamps?”

Jin Wang didn’t answer.

The voice outside paused, then continued, “The Young Master has been standing outside for four hours. The night wind is strong; if he continues like this, his body might not hold out.”

Jin Wang barked, “Scram.”

If his body can’t hold out, why hasn’t he come in to admit his fault? If he won’t apologize, let him stand. Even if he stands there until he dies, I won’t care.

He was the one who plotted to assassinate me. What’s wrong with me testing him? It’s a blessing from his ancestors that I haven’t killed him yet.

In any case, I will absolutely not be the one to admit fault first.

The outside fell silent for a moment, then a sudden commotion broke out. Gao Jin’s voice rose again, frantic: “Your Majesty! The Young Master has fainted!”

Jin Wang bolted upright.

He threw the doors open to find several attendants clumsily supporting Ye Shu. The youth in the plain white robes was deathly pale, his head lolling to the side, completely unconscious.

Gao Jin knelt. “Your Majesty, even if you are angry with him, you cannot let it cost a life! What should we do—”

Before he could finish, he saw his Emperor stride forward, snatch the man from the attendants’ arms, and lift him up.

Jin Wang turned and carried Ye Shu back toward the bedchamber. As he entered, he shot a dark look at Gao Jin, who was still kneeling in a daze. “What are you staring for? Summon the Imperial Physician!”

“Yes!”

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