Chapter 42

He steeled his heart, ignored her sluggishness as his actions became bolder and crazier. Only at this moment could he feel that she truly belonged to him.

He suddenly grabbed her hands and imprisoned them above her.

Beneath him, her eyes were tightly shut and her lips were tightly pursed…

After an unknown period of time, he finally stopped. Her body shrunk as she subconsciously moved towards the side of the bed.

However, he suddenly stretched out his hand and scooped her, letting her body stick tightly to his embrace.

Her body stiffened once again.

He secretly let out a sigh of despair as he lifted his hand to grab onto her silky long hair. He then smacked her ear with his hot lips, causing her to tremble. He smirked and said, "Qing'er, you have been in the palace for nineteen years, and we have been husband and wife for nineteen years."

"Right." The empress answered him with a light voice. She just couldn't understand why he'd said such a thing so suddenly.

"Chen'er is almost eighteen." The emperor's voice was a bit vague.

"Yes." The empress was stunned. She answered with a low voice and her body trembled even more.

"Time flies." The emperor's voice was faintly complicated.

"What does His Majesty wants to say?" The Empress' eyes twinkled as she asked.

"I want to say, let's do it again." The emperor suddenly flipped over and pressed her down, his eyes once again burning with passion. They had been husband and wife for nineteen years, but every time he touched her, he would still lost control like a seventeen or eighteen year old boy.

The room that Aunt Xi had arranged for Tang Kexin was so close to the empress, only separated by a wall.

Aunt Xi definitely did not expect that the emperor would be insistent of sleeping over, more so, would be so passionate and intense with the empress tonight. And she definitely did not expect, too, that Tang Kexin's sense of hearing was much better than most people.

As a result, Tang Kexin was unable to fall asleep due to the crackling and rustling sounds coupled by the unusually high temperature.

Tang Kexin rolled over the bed multiple times. Alas, she couldn't stand it anymore and secretly sigh of resignation before getting out of bed and quietly leaving the room.

Actually, tonight was indeed very hot and stuffy. It must be the season's highest peak of temperature. And the fact that there were no air-conditioning nor fan available, it had made it worst to withstand the heat.

After leaving the room, Tang Kexin didn't disturb anyone. At this late hour, most of the people in the palace had already gone to sleep. Also, the emperor didn't let anyone to attend and wait on them, so even outside the empress' quarter, it was relatively empty.

Usually, there wouldn't be so many guards in the Kuan'An Palace. Even if there were, they were at a distance, and not where they could easily be spotted. However, tonight, the Emperor was present, thus they were required to patrol near the premises to ensure his safety. That was why at this time, numerous guards could be seen loitering around outside the Kuan'An Palace ground.

Tang Kexin quietly walked under a tree. There was a bench right under it, so she obliviously laid down. And because the night was hazy and the leaves on the sagging branches were so dense, it almost obscured her from view making it difficult to see her.

After sometime, a cool breeze started to blew, making her feel much more comfortable. Tang Kexin then decided to stay for a while.

However, in the next moment, her eyes sharply opened. As the cool wind blew over, she suddenly smelled a scent, the same scent from that palace maid she interrogated earlier in the day.

Through the thick foliage, Tang Kexin looked in the direction from where the wind was coming from, and saw a figure walking over.

Tang Kexin's eyes narrowed as she held her breath.

"Head Imperial Guard Zhan." Upon seeing the newcomer, the guard outside bowed respectfully.

Tang Kexin also recognized him. He was one of the imperial guards of Kuan'An Palace and was in charge of palace's overall safety.

A few years ago, someone tried to assassinate the empress. After that, the emperor arranged and personally selected all the guards to protect the empress at all times.

But why did Imperial Guard Zhan have the same scent as Xiao Cui?! And for the two of them to have the same scent at the same time was too intriguing and suspicious to Tang Kexin.

"Be on your guard, and patrol carefully." Imperial Guard Zhan ordered in a deep and pleasant voice.

Tang Kexin had seen him earlier in the day. He was a handsome man with a graceful bearing.

"Yes, Head Imperial Guard. Please rest assured! The time is still early, the Head should take some rest before midnight falls."

"Yes, the weather is too hot and humid. I'll go wash up first before coming over to accompany you."

Hearing the conversation from not too far away, Tang Kexin roughly understood that guard Zhan was on night duty. But a nagging feeling so strong had suddenly bugged her. Why indeed this guard had the same scent as that palace maid? Or was she simply overreacting and overthinking? However, her gut instinct had never gone wrong!

Seeing that Imperial Guard Zhan had turned around to leave, Tang Kexin's eyes flashed as she decided to do something. In this sort of situation, she shouldn't make any moves that would give out suspicions, or it would alert the enemy. Besides, the empress and the emperor were currently coquettishly interacting with each other, she couldn't take into her heart to disturb them.

When she was five years old, she was adopted by a secret military organisation employed by the government to work in the shadows to secure the well-being of the country. The senior military doctor there had taken a liking of her, treating her like a daughter he never had. Initially, he had only told her a few things in amusement, but after discovering that she had a special talent for medicine, he taught her all the knowledge he had learned throughout his life. Afterwards, he recommended for her to be sent abroad to study western medicine.

After her studies and trainings, she had then returned to the organisation and was assigned to be a military doctor in a special army group.

And due to the fact that her main responsibility was to oversee the psychological aspect of the army, she did not need to undergo the brutal trainings that everyone else in the army did.

However, she already perfected all basic trainings necessary like scouting and concealing.

As long as she would be careful, it shouldn't be a problem for her to secretly follow guard Zhan. Seeing that he had walked quite some distance away, Tang Kexin carefully got up and followed him from the other side of the small path.

Tang Kexin had sensed that imperial guard Zhan's martial arts prowess was powerful, so she didn't dare to get too close. She only followed from afar as long as she wouldn't lose him. It was fortunate that there were no guards coming in her way. It was more than what she wished for.

Soon after, Tang Kexin discovered that she had followed him to the rock mountain, to where the murder had occurred. Tang Kexin was stunned, then suddenly became alert as guard Zhan suddenly stopped his footsteps for a moment. She quickly bent down and hid behind the rock mountain, doing her best to hold back her breath.

But Guard Zhan continued to move forward after a moment of stopping. Tang Kexin secretly let out a sigh of relief. Seeing that he had considerably walked further away from her, she then walked to the front of the rock mountain and stood up.

But as Tang Kexin was about to take a step forward, she suddenly hit into a wall, towering her. It was just that this wall was a bit soft, a bit warm, but it gave off a suffocating pressure.

No, this was not a wall, but a chest, a man's chest. Isn't this the same as throwing yourself into a hug?

However, the most shocking thing that had happened was, as she lifted her face to see who the heck had she ran into, that 'wall', purposely or not, lowered his head...

Then, coincidentally, their lips met!