Free Web NovelChapter 45: Chapter 45: Iron-Blooded Emperor, Also a Dashing Gentleman
The pain-relief prescription was well-intentioned, but it was extremely risky.
If the Empress Dowager were to feel unwell one day, whether for real or for show, the blame could easily be placed on this prescription.
Furthermore, if someone with malicious intent were to give the Empress Dowager pastries or other foods that reacted negatively with the medicine and made her ill, it would also cause the Empress Dowager to become suspicious of her.
’It was a good thing he arrived in time. He appeared to be scolding her, but he was actually protecting her.’
It was true at the birthday banquet, and it was true now.
Otherwise, with her pure and kind nature, she would be eaten alive. She would never think of such insidious schemes unless they were pointed out to her; she would just endure her grievances and cry alone.
’But it was precisely this nature that gave her such clear, bright eyes.’
Emperor Wu Su said nothing, his face grim as he looked at her.
Ji Qingwu understood the exasperated disappointment in Emperor Wu Su’s eyes.
She guiltily looked away.
Seeing her obvious avoidance, Emperor Wu Su let out a cold snort and suddenly stepped closer.
He gripped her chin, forcefully turning her head to face him.
Ji Qingwu was forced to meet his gaze. Her misty eyes were filled with helplessness and a clear sense of being wronged.
"I truly don’t know how you’ve survived this long."
As he spoke, the robe wrapped around her had loosened, revealing the damp front of her dress. Her exquisite curves were on full display.
His gaze was unconsciously drawn to the rolling landscape of her figure.
Emperor Wu Su had spoken out of exasperation, but the unexpected sight lent his final words a thick, teasing tone.
Ji Qingwu saw that the Emperor had lost his usual cold severity. A roguish charm now colored his features, and his bamboo-green robes made him look effortlessly handsome.
He didn’t look like an iron-fisted Emperor.
He was more like a dashing young nobleman, the man who populated every maiden’s dreams.
Emperor Wu Su’s eyes were brighter than the stars in the night sky, glinting with a light she couldn’t quite decipher.
Seared by his intense gaze, Ji Qingwu lowered her eyes and parted her lips. "I am foolish, I do not understand..."
The moment she opened her mouth to speak, the fingers holding her chin slid upward.
And pressed against her crimson lips.
Now, Ji Qingwu couldn’t utter a single word. The finger on her lips was scorching hot, and she could only stare at him, stunned.
"Since you’re so foolish, don’t say another word."
As he spoke, Emperor Wu Su’s finger moved, wickedly rubbing the soft pout of her lip.
’If she couldn’t say what he wanted to hear, she shouldn’t say anything at all.’
His long finger, bearing the hard calluses of a martial artist, rubbed against her petal-soft lips, a sensation that was both painful and numbing. freёweɓnovel.com
’He was pressing her lips while calling her stupid.’
Ji Qingwu desperately wanted to bite him, but aside from being a grave act of insubordination, the gesture would be far too intimate.
She grabbed his outstretched arm with both hands and tried to push it away, to escape his control. But his arm was like iron; her fingers ached from the effort, yet she couldn’t budge it in the slightest.
Emperor Wu Su narrowed his eyes, watching her fingertips—pale with a hint of pink—as they strained to push him away.
"Unruly."
It sounded like a light reprimand, yet also like a dangerous whisper.
Then, Emperor Wu Su applied a bit more pressure to her chin, forcing her head to tilt even higher. They were now so close they could feel each other’s breath.
The scent of ambergris wafted past her nose, caressing the smooth, tender skin of her cheeks.
Ji Qingwu’s eyes widened. The handsome, god-like face before her seemed to magnify until it filled her vision, so close that she could see her own reflection in his eyes.
Her hair was in disarray, her dress clung to her body, her expression helpless... she looked soft and alluring, completely at his mercy.
’How could I look so... inviting?’
Held fast, Ji Qingwu was unable to move. In resignation, she could only close her eyes.
But even with her eyes closed, she could feel his gaze on her, tracing a path across her face. Her lips trembled slightly.
"Am I so frightening?"
Ji Qingwu remained silent and kept her eyes shut. If she could, she would have covered her ears as well.
’Yes, you are that frightening.’
Every time he was near, a fear bloomed deep in her heart, along with a flutter she couldn’t quite identify.
Emperor Wu Su said in a low, dangerous voice, "Hiding warrants a punishment."
’What punishment?’ Ji Qingwu wondered in a daze. ’Am I finally going to be beheaded?’
His mischievous hand finally left her lips, only to wrap around her slender waist.
Ji Qingwu’s eyes flew open, her body going rigid.
Seeing her back as taut as a drawn bow, his hand first patted her gently, a comforting gesture much like the one she often used with Jiu Jiu.
There was a major difference in the posture, however. Emperor Wu Su’s hands encircled her narrow waist completely before one slid smoothly up her back.
To avoid his touch, Ji Qingwu had no choice but to lean forward, which from a distance made it look as if she were pressing herself against Emperor Wu Su’s chest.
By protecting her back, she exposed her front.
She had nowhere to retreat, trapped between the large hand on her back and the scorching heat of his chest.
Emperor Wu Su’s lips curved into a smirk as he coaxed her in a low murmur, "Be good. Don’t move."
’Just who is the one misbehaving here?’
Even through her robes, Ji Qingwu could feel the heat and touch of his large hand as it traveled from the small of her back, exploring its way up her spine, meticulously kneading each vertebra one at a time.
The muscles around her spine, supple yet firm, were worked loose by him inch by inch.
At some point, Ji Qingwu’s body relaxed. The massage from his hot, powerful hand was surprisingly comfortable.
Seeing her let down her guard, her body now pliant as a cloud and wearing a docile expression, Emperor Wu Su’s hand moved to her two delicate shoulder blades.
His palm lingered there the longest, as if it were his favorite spot. His touch grew gentler, more like a comforting caress after her ordeal in the water.
Though his touch was on her back, it soothed her very heart.
As he stroked her back, the sense of being wronged in Ji Qingwu’s heart was swept away.
What she saw as a comforting gesture was, in anyone else’s eyes, a scene of intoxicating romance.
Ji Qingwu had theoretical knowledge in spades, but her only "practical" experience involved being forced upon. She had never even been kissed. In the end, she was still completely ignorant of amorous affairs.
She thought it was just a massage, but after he continued for a while longer, her body uncontrollably went weak, as if she were melting into a puddle, unable to even stand properly.
She could only rest her head limply on his broad, sturdy shoulder. Her crimson lips were slightly parted, and she gasped for air like a fish out of water, her face flushed and her breathing ragged.
’She couldn’t understand why her reaction was so intense.’
Taking it all in, Emperor Wu Su’s eyes were as deep as an abyss.
He teased, "My intention was to punish you, but it seems to have accidentally become a reward."
To be personally attended to by Your Majesty the Emperor—such a glorious favor was reserved for her alone.
Li Yuzong, who had been waiting nearby, had now retreated more than ten meters away, but he could still see the two of them silhouetted together.
’When had the cold, hard Emperor ever acted with such meticulous tenderness? It was as if he wanted to merge the person in his arms into his very being.’
The tips of Ji Qingwu’s ears were already bright red, but hearing him say the punishment had become a reward, a fresh blush burned over them, making her earlobes look like red jade.
Her brow furrowed slightly, her gaze a liquid mix of fascination and complaint. "I didn’t ask Your Majesty to..."
’He was the one who insisted on this.’
The woman in his arms was soft and delicate, her voice was as sweet as honey, and her eyes shimmered like spring water.
Her reaction was utterly endearing.
All traces of his icy demeanor had vanished. Emperor Wu Su chuckled lowly. "So you’re saying it was all just my wishful thinking, then?"
