An hour later, the Imperial Army Commander led a carriage full of ice blocks into the palace. Following Chu Xian’s instructions, he took half an hour to unload all of them into a dark room in the repose palace. After he was done, Chu Xian immediately carried Chao Mu into the dark room and set her on the wooden bed surrounded by ice blocks.
However, realising that the wooden bed could easily rot after getting wet from the ice, Chu Xian decided that he needed to prepare a stone bed instead. Looking at Chao Mu’s remaining hair, it wasn’t falling off, but it could no longer be tied into a bun, nor could he put on a golden buyao[1] for her.
Chu Xian tied the few miserable strands of hair she had left together, setting the golden buyao beside her hand. Sitting on the wooden bed, he disregarded the icy air around him as he carefully took in her features.
She was so close to leaving me.
The Imperial Army Commander stood at the side and deferentially advised, “Your Majesty, regardless of how healthy you are, your body won’t be able to endure staying in an icy room for days on end. If the Empress learned of it, she would also not agree with your actions.”
“She hates loneliness, and she likes talking to people. She wouldn’t disagree with what I’m doing. She’d only be sad if this Emperor ignored her.” Chu Xian slowly said.
Having been together with Chao Mu for so many years, no one understands her better than me.
The Imperial Army Commander sighed to himself. He took out a letter from his sleeve and passed it to Chu Xian. “Your Majesty, a masked man clad in blue robes gave this to me.”
Chu Xian opened the letter and was greeted by Shi Mo’s handwriting. In the letter, he clearly detailed his conditions for having provided the ice. However, now that Chu Xian gave it further contemplation, he realised that the fire had broken out too suddenly.
Shi Mo must have purposely set the fire to force me into making a deal with him.
Ha, Shi Mo has challenged my bottom line. I don’t care who else he attacks, but to think that he dares set his sight on Chao Mu!
“Your Majesty, when this subordinate was receiving the ice, the man in blue robes said something.” The Imperial Army Commander raised his head to look at Chu Xian with an awkward expression.
Chu Xian furrowed his brow and coldly ordered, “Speak!”
“He said to give the ice blocks to Your Majesty, and that you would know what to do. He also said that if Your Majesty didn’t honor your word, the ice could disappear at any time.” The Imperial Army Commander raised his head to glimpse at Chu Xian’s visage, only to see the latter’s expression turning dark as a soft chuckle escaped his lips.
“Just like how the ice suddenly appeared, they can also disappear at any time. He has guts.” Chu Xian sneered before shifting his gaze to Chao Mu.
I know that Shi Mo wields power beyond Dongling; his connections are scattered across the four nations.
He has hidden himself for many years and accumulated a frightening amount of power. Not only that, he can quickly and accurately read people, making use of them in the most efficient manner. Even Pei Qianhao and Du Ling working together couldn’t escape his clutches.
Chu Xian pondered over it deeply as one of his hands caressed Chao Mu’s face. It’s time for her to doll up.
He stood up and walked towards the Imperial Army Commander. “Get someone to make a few more boxes of the rogue from before and offer a high price.”
“Your Majesty, umm… the maker said that they will only produce one box each year.”
“If she doesn’t do it, kill her.” Chu Xian coldly said before walking out of the icy room.
I have to go and look for Tan Ge now.
The Imperial Army Commander glanced at Chao Mu’s body surrounded by ice and sighed. His Majesty’s obsession is too strong.
Chu Xian walked out of the repose palace and mounted a horse, heading for the palace hall Tan Ge was supposed to be held in with a ruthless look on his face.
1. A type of dangling hair ornament.
