Chapter 1570: Regent Prince Dotes on Me Too Much, What Should I Do? 39

When only a few steps remained, Jin Chen heard a faint sound coming from inside the pavilion.

His uneasy premonition grew stronger, and he hurried inside, just in time to see Xie Zhiwei sitting slumped before the moon‑gazing window, his black hair scattered and disheveled like a spill, covering a face paler than the moonlight, only his lips streaked with vivid blood.

Xie Zhiwei heard the movement and looked up; his wary gaze, upon meeting Jin Chen's eyes dark with anger and worry, became slightly guilty, and he shifted back a bit.

"Is this the coming‑of‑age gift you gave me?" Jin Chen said fiercely, his face sinking to an extreme darkness.

Xie Zhiwei lowered his eyes, feeling the twisting pain in his meridians, and tried to keep his tone calm.

"Your Majesty's coming‑of‑age gift, I already gave it to you today."

"Why would you cripple your own martial arts?"

Jin Chen crouched beside him, but when he tried to touch Xie Zhiwei's hand, the latter dodged precisely and shifted into a corner where the moonlight didn't reach; the back of the hand pressing on his dantian tightened until veins bulged, afraid that if he touched it he would lose the courage to continue.

"Please go out first, tomorrow I'll be fine…" Xie Zhiwei bit his tongue, swallowing the sweet‑blood taste, which only grew more bitter.

Jin Chen furrowed his brows, grabbed Xie Zhiwei's arm and forcibly pulled him into his embrace; feeling the faint tremor through his palm on the back, Xie Zhiwei's struggle only made his bonds tighter.

"Imperial Physician Liu knows, the National Preceptor knows, and even Xian Ming, who just entered the palace not long ago, knows about this." Jin Chen brushed aside the hair blocking Xie Zhiwei's cheek, his voice softening yet his grip firm as he lifted Xie Zhiwei's face.

"This isn't the first time; the only thing you've been hiding from is me."

Xie Zhiwei's heart tightened at the words, and then Jin Chen's more dejected voice came: "Don't you care about me at all?"

Xie Zhiwei: "……"

He was forced by Jin Chen's words to let out a soft hum; having been slandered to this extent, he could no longer remain a mute who refused to speak.

"If I didn't care about you, I wouldn't… wouldn't have crippled my martial arts, yet you still say that."

Xie Zhiwei couldn't tell at once whether his heart or his dantian meridians hurt more; even when his meridians had almost snapped earlier, his eyes had never turned red, but Jin Chen's words forced tears to spill instantly.

"Get out… I don't want to coax you anymore." Xie Zhiwei's downcast eyes were tinged with faint sorrow, yet he overlooked Jin Chen's gaze fixed on him, brimming with helplessness.

"【Host!! Good…… news.】" Ling Gun Gun didn't understand; it had just stepped away briefly to fetch medicine from the neighboring medical system, so why had these two become sorrowful again.

"【Elixir exchange successful, deducting 999 points.】"

Ling Gun Gun sighed like an old elder, "【Why don't you avoid arguing? A couple shouldn't hold grudges overnight.】"

Jin Chen's forehead veins twitched, "【Shut up.】"

He took out the elixir, pried open Xie Zhiwei's mouth and fed it in, "Don't spit it out."

Xie Zhiwei stared blankly for a moment, his red‑rimmed eyes fixed on Jin Chen, "What is this?"

"Poison." Jin Chen continued fiercely.

Xie Zhiwei blinked his wet lashes, then suddenly smiled, forcing a blood‑stained kiss from his bitten lips onto Jin Chen's neck, whispering, "If we could truly share a quilt in life and a coffin in death, that would be wonderful too."

"Hmph, I certainly don't want to die with you." Jin Chen put on a brave front, then wiped the cold sweat from Xie Zhiwei's forehead without hesitation, pulling him into a tight embrace, "I don't want to be a good emperor, burdened daily with tedious state affairs; you must stay alive and continue as Regent Prince, or…"

Xie Zhiwei sensed a warmth spreading inside him, still puzzled, he continued to feel it; hearing Jin Chen's words pause, he looked up with doubt, his voice still trembling from recent tears, "Or what?"

"Otherwise I'll leave and let the former young emperor return." Jin Chen said.

This was practically a direct strike at Xie Zhiwei's weak point; he clutched Jin Chen's arm tightly, a sharp pain flaring in his chest, and he shouted hoarsely, "No… no! You can't abandon me."

Jin Chen lowered his head and lightly pecked his lips.

"I was lying to you."

Xie Zhiwei gazed at his brows and eyes, hesitating, "Then what did I just eat?"

"An elixir; you'll live a very long time." Jin Chen paused, then seriously proposed, "How about you become emperor instead?"

Xie Zhiwei: "……"

"No way, the late emperor would really be angered to death."

The tormented dantian and the meridians near rupture were rapidly healing, and Xie Zhiwei even felt that a certain power within the elixir was familiar, a familiarity from the soul.

He slowly extended his arm from the wide sleeve, wrapped it around Jin Chen's neck, seeking security as he repeated the question once more.

"I won't die?"

"If you stop hiding your self‑destructive antics from me." Jin Chen thought silently, if there were a next time he would imitate bondage play, tying him up so he couldn't still act out.

Xie Zhiwei hid in Jin Chen's embrace, the last tear from his blurred vision falling and staining his moon‑white robes.

"【Villain Blackening Value detected –30, total now 0!】"

At the Ascending Moon Tower, moonlight shimmered and a chill pervaded the air.

Jin Chen held the exhausted, deeply asleep Xie Zhiwei in his arms, stepping slowly down the long staircase, as if returning to the mortal realm.

——

Afterward, Xie Zhiwei perhaps felt indebted and no longer insisted that Jin Chen study state affairs.

Only he himself knew that, freed from the ten‑year constraint, he wished Jin Chen could relax more each day, without having to do anything he didn't want to.

Although the court appeared to have returned to the Regent Prince's governance, its later administration still showed some differences from before, for the Regent Prince had said, this realm still belongs to His Majesty, and even he himself is part of it.

The officials, feeling inexplicably shown up, could only bow and say yes.

Previously, officials who kept urging His Majesty to fill the harem also gradually stopped discussing the topic, since a massive earlier investiture had frightened them enough; if all the fine young men and women entered His Majesty's harem, would not the great Jin Kingdom be doomed!

Moreover, the female official Chu Qingqing would argue vehemently whenever the topic arose, and now the noble ladies of the capital no longer dreamed of marrying and educating children, but of how to enter court as female officials.

In short, this could be considered, to some extent, achieving a friendly scene of ruler and minister united—unfriendliness would not be tolerated, for the Regent Prince's title of "Number One Under Heaven" is not earned lightly; anyone who shows disrespect to the emperor meets a truly gruesome end.

…

"【Congratulations, Host, mission completed, reward 10000 points, total now 98821!】"

"【Transferring to the next world…… transfer successful!】"