Jingrui shifted beneath Prince Zhanying's arms. Her eyes snapped open, and a train of pain hit her. She groaned as she tried to sit up, but his hands restrained her in place.

"Where do you think you are going, Bao Bao?" he mumbled. His eyes were closed, and his brows furrowed. His warm breath flushed against her forehead, and his hand was placed against the back of her head. The gentleness he held now was different from the untamed passion of last night.

Last night.

Jingrui gulped as the sensation of the previous night came over her. Her face flushed red, and she buried it against his chest. It was, without a doubt, that what they had done was out of love, but the thought that she had just slept with Prince Zhanying could not possibly get into her thick skull.

Prince Zhanying seemed to sense her growing timid, and he kissed her forehead. The softness of his touch melted her soul, and slowly, she relaxed in his arms.

He brushed her hair back behind her ears. "Move in with me, Bao Bao," he muttered, his hand smoothing her hair.

"Your Highness . . . wants me to move in here with you?" her voice rasped against her throat.

"I want you by my side," he mumbled. "I don't feel safe if you stay far from me."

A tingling sensation flushed warmth throughout her body. She had never thought that the stern Prince Zhanying was capable of sprouting such sweet words. As she was mesmerised in his very presence, she lapsed into a long silence, and the Prince seemed to have gone sullen. He removed his arms that draped around her and rolled his back to her, robbing her of his warmth.

"Even if you don't want to, you will move in with me. As long as Yihuai is still the Heavenly Emperor, I can't let you stray far from my reach. If he knows that I love you, he will use you as his weapon," Prince Zhanying said as he placed his hand on his temple, massaging it. "I want you to be my Empress, yet I can't let anyone know that I love you."

Jingrui didn't understand what he meant but his words rang with raw worries. She pushed herself to sit up and crawled towards his back before peering down at his face. He had his eyes closed. A grimace lined his features, and his hand was placed against his forehead as if he were having his usual lapse of headaches.

Jingrui reached for him, shaking his arms slightly, trying to earn his attention. When he didn't move, she crossed her arms. "I don't want to be an Empress. I just want to be yours. The world doesn't need to know of your love, just as long as I know of it, isn't that enough?"

At her words, he opened his eyes and stared blankly at the wall. A softness, which was never once abundant in his impervious form, came over him. And within his eyes, she could no longer see an abyss that was void of emotions, nor a night filled with cold and cruelty. Those dark eyes were open to her, only for her to see the deepest depths of his long years of pain and the vulnerability that was hidden from everyone else but her.

The worries in him and the need to keep her safe seemed to put him in a terribly sulken state. And Jingrui despised seeing him in a bad mood.

She huffed and lowered herself towards his face. Just as it had worked on her master and her sister, she softly kissed the bridge of his nose. When he didn't respond nor stop her, she kissed his forehead. His mood didn't seem to lighten so she kissed the arch of his brows, the tip of his nose, his top and bottom lip until at last, a small smile came over him.

He cupped his hands over her cheeks and pulled her into his arms. "The world doesn't deserve you," he murmured as he kissed her forehead. "You deserve the world, and I will make sure to conquer this world for you. And no matter the ending, I never want you to change. Be my Bao Bao, forever."