While Jin Qiu taking his bath, Ren Zhengsheng choose to check the prisoner since Pan Zhiqiang has arrived with a single prisoner. The girl that said to have lured Jin Qiu to the damned trap. He told Pan Zhiqiang to kill the girl, but the man ended up bringing the girl back as prisoner.
She's all bloody from torture, but her gaze still sharp. If she's not an enemy, then he wouldn't mind to take her to work under him. He like brave people like her. Too bad that the end for her will only be death since she dare to mess up with something that belong to him.
"You said that you are following the order of a certain princess." Ren Zhengsheng started as he sat down on the chair in front of her. "And I heard that princess is Princess Chen Lihua of Southern Continent." He continued. "I don't know if it's true or not, but I heard Chen Lihua died from illness but right before her funeral, she opened her eyes and since that day, she gathered all the support to take over the throne and become the Queen. All of the possible heirs to the throne were being executed under the name of justice. It is said that they has been abusing their position while the King still alive. People believed her since she is an extremely kind princess who will help anyone in need and never have any interest to the throne. So why would such princess targeting my concubine?"
"She.. she know about what your concubine did…" The girl replied hesitantly. She thought the only one who will investigate her is the warlords, but here the Emperor standing in front of her. She heard all kind of rumors about the man after all. "Your concubine might look nice and weak on the outside…but he's really evil! He was the one who planned the murder of your mother, Your Majesty!"
Pan Zhiqiang, who stood beside the Emperor, just stared at the girl pitifully. The reason why he didn't kill her is because he thinks that she can still be saved. If she asks forgiveness, there's a chance that the Emperor will forgive her. But now, she keeps spouting nonsense about Jin Qiu and made the Emperor even more annoyed. Everyone in the palace have already know that the one thing that would put the Emperor in bad mood now is if something bad happen to Jin Qiu, or when someone badmouthing the man.
Another screams filled the prison as the Emperor stabbed a knife to the girl's leg. "Your Majesty, don't you think we should keep her alive in case Jin Qiu wants to talk with her?"
"There's no need for Jin Qiu to talk with her." Ren Zhengsheng replied, pulling the knife out of the girl's leg and stabbed it to another leg, getting another painful scream from her. "I know about what Jin Qiu did to my mother and to my people." He moved closer and whispered to her. "But I also know that the one who did it was your princess, not the current Jin Qiu." The man stepped back again and smirked. He's satisfied to see the girl's shocked face and struggle. Perhaps no one on that side expected him to know about the truth behind Jin Qiu's soul exchange. "I will still getting my revenge like I originally want. You don't need to worry about something like that."
With one swift movement, Ren Zhengsheng pulled the knife from the girl's leg and stabbed it to her chest, sending her to her demise. The prison that was filled with her scream has now become silent. Only warm blood dropping off her body as Ren Zhengsheng released the knife from his hand.
"What do you want to do with her body, Your Majesty?"
"Send the body back to Chen Lihua, along with a message that if she dares to mess with Jin Qiu again, I wouldn't hesitate to destroy her and everyone around her. I hope she will take my warning properly."
Ren Zhengsheng wiped his hand off the blood before he walked out of the prison. While Pan Zhiqiang just letting out a slight sigh, ordering the guards to put the poor girl down.
❖
"You are known as great commander, a genius, someone who can stand on par with His Majesty, so how did you made an idiotic choice by following a stranger and drinking something from her? Oh right, I forgot that you are not the smart original Jin Qiu." Kang Ying commented while applying some ointment on Jin Qiu's bruises.
He's being sarcastic and he's sure Jin Qiu knew about it, yet, the man didn't say anything to retort back.
All those bruises will heal in no time. Kang Ying has the best ointment in the whole continent. What he's more worried about is the result of the action Jin Qiu and the Emperor did the night before.
He looked at Jin Qiu who's trying to brush his long hair alone. "Your High-"
"You should just call me Jin Qiu like the other warlords."
"Then it will be easier for me." Kang Ying replied, glad that Jin Qiu chooses to be informal with him. "There's something that I need to tell you and I don't know whether His Majesty has already tell you or not. This is important."
Jin Qiu looked at the young doctor who looked all serious, waiting for what exactly this young man need to tell him when the door opened without even a knock. And there Ren Zhengsheng walked towards him.
Now when Jin Qiu looked at the Ren Zhengsheng's face, he can't help but remember everything from last night. How he succumbed to his desire and asking Ren Zhengsheng to do all kind of thing, and how he enjoyed it so much that a moan keep coming out of his mouth. That was embarrassing. He want to just dig a hole a hid himself there for a long time.
"You finished the treatment, right?" Ren Zhengsheng asked to Kang Ying. "If you're done, then you should leave. Even if you're not done, you still need to leave." Said the man as he holds his hand to the doctor. "Give the ointment to me; I will do it from now on."
Kang Ying's attempt to tell Jin Qiu about the difference of the Imperial Family failed. Almost like the Emperor knew when exactly he need to come and stop Kang Ying. "Everything is done, Your Majesty." Kang Ying replied before he stood up. "I'll send some recipe to the kitchen to make some healthy food for the First Concubine. I will take my leave now." He bowed his head and was about to walk out when Jin Qiu grabbed his hand. "Uh..Your Highness?"
"You are about to say something before. You said it's really important, so tell me. I've learned my lesson, so I'm not going to hold myself back."
At what Jin Qiu said, Kang Ying got paled. He looked at the Emperor who showed him a slight smile, but it's obvious that the man want him to leave. Right now.
"Qiu er." Ren Zhengsheng called. "If you want to know about something, you can always ask me about it. Did you forget that I said I would help you in anything you need in this palace?"
Jin Qiu swung his hand towards the Emperor, but of course, he knew that the man would be able to dodge it easily. "Don't joke with me. I ignored the fact that you give me another drugs because I promised that I would sleep with you as exchange for borrowing that gun. But helping? Instead of helping, I feel like you tried to do something to keep me in this world."
"Your Majesty, it would be best if you tell the First Concubine about it. He is someone who came from another world, so there's no way he would know about it."
"Tell me about what?"
Jin Qiu looked between Ren Zhengsheng and Kang Ying.
"The Imperial Family is different." Kang Ying started again. "They have a curse that prevents them to have many offspring. To take care of that, the Imperial Family begged to a goddess and received a blessing; the blessing is that they would be able to impregnate both male and female. That's why there's a chance that you will get pregnant after what you did with His Majesty last night."
There's nothing like that in the novel, but either way, he should be suspicious about the set in this world. How can a male enter the palace and become a concubine? And after hearing the reason, everything makes sense now.
"Can I take that you tried to get me pregnant?" Jin Qiu looked at the Emperor.
"Yes." The answer sounded quite blunt, but there's really no need to hide his intention anymore. "You are different than the original, not to mention, you are the first person who dare to go against me despite being weaker than me, so I got interested with you and want to keep you with me."
A hard slap landed on Ren Zhengsheng face and for a moment, the room became quite silent. "Pregnant? You want to use pregnancy to hold me back in this world? Here I thought that you are a little bit good, but no, you are as selfish as always. You will do whatever in order to get what you want. Have you ever think about what I feel about this matter? Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?!"
"Will you change your mind if I tell you?"
"No. I planned to go back from the very beginning. Beside, you're supposed to fall in love with Zhang Ai but then you killed her. I will not fall in love with you and I will never stay in the palace. Whether I'm pregnant or not."
Ren Zhengsheng could see the anger in Jin Qiu's eyes. The gaze that he saw the first time Jin Qiu came to make a deal with him, the wild gaze that is hard to be tamed. But of course, the more Jin Qiu tried to push him away, the more he will want to keep the man with him. If needed, he would just lock Jin Qiu deep inside the palace and won't let anyone see him again.
"You will move to the main palace."
"I refuse." Jin Qiu replied. "This body might belong to your concubine but I'm not yours so you can't order me around like that. I will go back to the palace where I live previously." He stood up but soon, he felt nauseous that he needs Ren Zhengsheng to catch him before he fall down again.
Ren Zhengsheng laying Jin Qiu down on the bed again.
Without being ordered, Kang Ying moved closer to Jin Qiu and checked on the man's pulse. The things that he feared might happen. He looked at the Emperor. "Your Majesty, for now, the First Concubine just need a lot of rest and shouldn't think about anything else. There might be a side effect from the drugs that he drinks since I don't really know the ingredients used to make it."
"You should leave for now."
Kang Ying seemed hesitate for a moment, but then he bowed his head and walked out from the room.
"Why don't you leave too?" Jin Qiu opened his eyes for a bit and looked at the Emperor, who's still standing beside the bed.
Instead of leaving, the man taking the empty chair beside the bed and leaned back. "Is it bad to live in this palace?"
"Huh? Are you really asking something like that now? Did you forget that the live of the original Jin Qiu is like hell? All I want is to go back to my own world. I don't want anything to do with this world."
It would be a lie if Ren Zhengsheng says that he doesn't feel disappointed with Jin Qiu's answer. This Jin Qiu didn't love him like the original Jin Qiu. And this Jin Qiu might disappear without a warning. "If you really get pregnant, you should give birth to the baby and then you can go back to your world."
"And what makes you sure that I will give birth to it?"
"Because I know you are not someone who will harm innocent people and children, especially if the child is your own child."
Jin Qiu stared at the Emperor with disbelief.
In the novel, Ren Zhengsheng was so in love with Zhang Ai that he would give the girl anything she want and treat her like she's some kind of treasure. But what about now? Will he be the one who received that kind of treatment?
No. There's no way Ren Zhengsheng would feel that way towards him. Though the soul inside is different, he still got the body of the original who murdered Ren Zhengsheng's mother and peoples. There's a chance that one day, the man will recall the hate inside his heart and killed him because of that. He won't get pregnant. He shouldn't get pregnant. He doesn't want to get pregnant.
❖
Despite his rejection, Jin Qiu still moved to live in the main palace just like what Ren Zhengsheng wants. It is decided like that since Jin Qiu got involved in trouble that cause him dangers two times and in order to prevent that, all the warlords think that it would be best for the man to stay near the Emperor.
Jin Qiu doesn't really make an argument because he knew that no matter what he says, in this world, especially in this palace, everyone will listen to what Ren Zhengsheng said. And so he spend another week of recuperating where he's not allowed to do anything or go anywhere outside the palace.
It feels like a deja vu though.
While Jin Qiu stared at the flower field just outside the room through the window, a knock could be heard on the door. "Jin Qiu, are you inside? I came to bring you some liquor."
It was Pan Zhiqiang's voice. Lately, the man has been visiting him just as if he's some kind of patient, talking about all kind of things. Jin Qiu doesn't even know why the commander would do something like that.
"I'm going in." Said Pan Zhiqiang again and a second later, the man opened the door and walked inside. His hand indeed holding two bottle of liquor that Jin Qiu has seen before. The delicious Horny Toad. Though the name's is weird, the taste is the best that Jin Qiu has ever tasted. "How are you feeling now?"
"All of you keep asking the same thing everyday." Jin Qiu replied, bored that every single warlords, and even the Emperor himself, would ask him that kind of question. "Like you see, I'm alive and I'm healthy. There's really no need to lock me up in the palace like this, right?"
Pan Zhiqiang placed the bottles on the table. "It's necessary since His Majesty planned to make you the Empress."
"What did you said?"
"His Majesty planned to make you an Empress."
"An Empress you said? An Empress..? Crazy bastard."
Jin Qiu stood up and stormed off of the room while Pan Zhiqiang quickly followed behind the man.
Where Jin Qiu wants to go, Pan Zhiqiang could have already guessed about it. He went to the court hall where the Emperor is having a court meeting. All this time, Jin Qiu has been invited to join the meeting, but he always refused since he still felt annoyed with Ren Zhengsheng.
The guard right outside the court looked surprised since Jin Qiu suddenly came, without a proper look that would show his status as First Concubine, not to mention, behind the man stood Pan Zhiqiang.
They're about to say something to Jin Qiu when Pan Zhiqiang silently shook his head. And thus, they're letting Jin Qiu barge into the hall just like that.
The hall became silent with his storming arrival.
Without looking at all those nobles, Jin Qiu strode towards Ren Zhengsheng and grabbed the man's collar. He could hear everyone gasped and could feel some of the warlords chuckling because his action.
"What is it that made my Qiu er so angry like this?"
"Do you really want to play ignorant like this? What do you mean by making me Empress? You know well enough that I'm going back to my place."
"No one knows what happen in the future, Qiu er. Even until now, you still don't know how to go back to your place, right?"
"You just keep doing something that I don't like."
"Being Empress means you will hold power as much as mine and you can move however you want. The position is also in order to protect you so no one would dare to lay a finger on you again."
Jin Qiu stared at the man in front of him. If he didn't know what Ren Zhengsheng did all this time for him, then he wouldn't believe that the man can become so considerate. The original Jin Qiu would be thrilled, but not him. He can't stand Ren Zhengsheng being kind to him because he will have feeling for the man, and later, it would cloud his desire to go back.
"Your Majesty!!!"
One guard suddenly runs through the opened door while calling for the Emperor, though when he saw the position that the Emperor have, he completely forgot about what he want to report.
Jin Qiu looked at the guard and then letting out a sigh while releasing Ren Zhengsheng. "Say." He said. "What do you want to report?"
"Ah, yes, yes, Your Highness, please forgive my rudeness." The guards lowered his head towards Jin Qiu who looked angry. It feels like the man was about to do something to the Emperor and he was the one who disturb it. "There's a report about some suspicious people at the capital. We tried to subdue them, but they're too strong."
That simple report enough to make a commotion inside the court hall.
Especially the nobles. They has been constantly feeling worried ever since the day Zhou Huizhong died and Jin Xiang assassinated. They always think that war will break out in no time.
Ren Zhengsheng slammed his hand to the table and made all the nobles went silent. He lifted up the tea cup in front of him and sipped on it. "Who are those people? Western Continent? Or some others? What did they do that the guards choose to try to capture them? Did they harm the citizens?"
"No, Your Majesty. They didn't do anything like that. It's just that they keep spouting some nonsense that we think they're suspicious. They might be the rebels that will try to meet the nobles."
For some reason, Jin Qiu felt a very bad feeling about it. He can't really explain why though.
"If that's the case, allow me to go there and check it, Your Majesty." Pan Zhiqiang offered.
"I want to go too."
Ren Zhengsheng looked at Jin Qiu who suddenly showing interest in the matter. "Why would you go there, Qiu er? You're still recuperating, so it would be bad if a fight break out there. Stay here and-"
"I feel like these people have something to do with me. You know what I mean, Zhengsheng."
Right. Ren Zhengsheng knows well enough what his concubine was talking about. If there's Jin Qiu and Xiao Changming, there might be other people like that.
"Then Zhiqiang, make sure that nothing happen to Qiu er." Ren Zhengsheng ordered.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Pan Zhiqiang bowed his head and walked out of the hall together with Jin Qiu and the guard from before.
"You sure you don't want to tag along with your beloved concubine, Your Majesty?" Luo Hai teased with a smirk on his face. He heard about the fight between the Emperor and Jin Qiu from Kang Ying, so he can't help but teasing the Emperor about it.
"There's no need to rush. Something that belongs to me will always come back to me." Ren Zhengsheng replied with a confident smile. "Let us continue our discussion."
❖
By using horse, the three managed to reach the location of the commotion in no time. There are no citizens around since the guards have already moved them away, but there are several guards that has been beaten up and wounded as well.
Jin Qiu checked on the wounds and recognizes it from a gun shot. A weapon that can be considered as rare in this world. And Ren Zhengsheng told him that no one in this world has the skill to use the weapon, but this shot wound is too precise. Something that can only be done by someone who has been trained with gun.
"This joke is not even funny." Said the man who seemed to lead the group surrounded by guards. "I told you that I came here to meet someone named Jin Qiu! I believed that your damned Emperor kidnapped him from us!"
❖❖❖