The Snow Empress's Heart, Three People in One Bed

By the time Huo Chen returned to Homecoming Cottage, it was already late at night.

Lights glowed in the small courtyard. Warm yellow light streamed from the main hall's windows, casting a comforting halo across the bluestone paving.

He pushed open the door and saw Ice Empress seated beneath the lamp, reading, with a cup of tea that had already gone half-cold beside her. Snow Empress reclined lazily yet elegantly on a cushioned couch across from her, an ancient tome in hand.

"You're back?" Ice Empress did not even raise her head, her tone calm, as though he had merely gone out for a stroll.

"Mm." Huo Chen sat at the table, poured himself a cup of tea, took a sip, then set it down. "I brought you two something."

Only then did Ice Empress lift her eyelids to glance at him. "What is it?"

Rather than answering, Huo Chen extended his right hand, palm up.

Two fist-sized orbs of light emerged from his palm. One was icy blue, radiating biting cold; the other crimson red, giving off scorching heat. The two spheres slowly revolved in his hand, chasing one another without ever merging.

Ice Empress's gaze instantly fixed on them. She put down her book and sat upright, staring at the icy-blue orb as shock flashed through her eyes. "This is... the Ice Dragon King's origin?"

"More accurately, they are fragments of the Ice Dragon King's and Fire Dragon King's origins that remained deep within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well," Huo Chen said.

"I split the Ice Dragon King's origin into two portions, one for you and one for Xue'er. I have other plans for the Fire Dragon King's origin."

Snow Empress also set down her ancient tome. Her gaze fell upon the icy-blue sphere, and a rare flicker of emotion passed through her eyes.

Having lived for seven hundred thousand years, she naturally understood the value of the Ice Dragon King's origin. Even damaged fragments of it were priceless treasures to ice-element soul beasts and soul masters alike.

"You made a special trip to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well?" Snow Empress asked.

"Mm." Huo Chen made it sound as casual as a trip to the market.

Ice Empress stared at the icy-blue sphere for a long while before raising her head to look at Huo Chen, complicated emotions in her eyes. "This is too precious. Are you sure you want to give it to us?"

"If I'm giving it to you, then take it. Why so much nonsense?" Huo Chen pushed the two orbs toward them respectively. "Take them. Refine them while they're fresh."

Ice Empress opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end, she said nothing.

She reached out and took the icy-blue sphere. The instant her fingertips touched it, an incomparably pure, ancient power of ice-element laws surged into her body through her fingers, making her Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion martial soul tremble in blissful satisfaction.

Snow Empress accepted the other sphere as well. She lowered her head to look at the origin glowing icy blue in her palm, fell silent for a moment, then softly said, "Thank you."

Huo Chen waved a hand, signaling for them to begin refining it at once.

Ice Empress and Snow Empress exchanged a glance, then closed their eyes and began refining the Ice Dragon King's origin.

Huo Chen sat nearby with his teacup, quietly standing guard over them.

Time slowly passed.

About two hours later, Ice Empress was the first to open her eyes.

An icy-blue gleam flashed through her pupils before vanishing.

She looked down at her hands and clenched them, sensing the new power within her. Although her cultivation had not broken through directly, the fragments of laws contained in the Ice Dragon King's origin had elevated both her affinity for and control over the ice element to a new level.

"How is it?" Huo Chen asked.

"Very good," Ice Empress replied simply, though the satisfaction in her eyes was impossible to hide.

After a while, Snow Empress opened her eyes as well. Her aura was more restrained than before, and she appeared unchanged, but Huo Chen could sense that the ice-element origin power within her had become even purer.

"The refinement went smoothly," Snow Empress said lightly, with an unusual softness in her tone.

"That's good." Huo Chen put down his teacup and rose to his feet. "It's late. Get some rest."

He turned to return to his room, but had only taken two steps when someone suddenly grabbed his wrist.

He turned back to see Ice Empress holding it. Her gaze wandered, avoiding his eyes as she looked at the floor beside them. Her ear tips had taken on a faint pink hue beneath the lamplight, and her voice was quieter than usual. "...Don't sleep alone tonight. Let's sleep together."

Huo Chen froze for a moment.

Snow Empress sat on the cushioned couch with her teacup in hand. Her gaze drifted between the two of them briefly, then she set down the cup and rose. "I'm tired. I'll go to sleep first."

She turned and walked toward her room, her pace neither hurried nor slow.

Huo Chen watched her figure disappear at the end of the corridor before withdrawing his gaze and looking at Ice Empress.

Ice Empress still did not look at him, but the fingers around his wrist tightened slightly, as though silently expressing something.

He said nothing. Instead, he clasped her hand in return and led her toward his room.

As the night deepened, the courtyard of Homecoming Cottage returned to silence.

Moonlight spilled across the bluestone paving like a thin layer of silver frost. A few insect chirps drifted over from afar, only to be swiftly swallowed by the night breeze.

After an unknown amount of time, the door to Snow Empress's room opened without a sound.

Snow Empress stood in the doorway, dressed in a white nightgown, her silver-white hair cascading over her shoulders. Moonlight traced a cool silver edge around her silhouette.

She stood there for a moment before walking down the corridor toward Huo Chen's room with soft, unhurried steps.

The door was not fully closed, leaving a narrow gap. Dim yellow light streamed through it, casting a slender streak across the floor. She stopped before the door, raised her hand, and gently pushed it open.

Huo Chen was leaning against the headboard. Ice Empress was curled up at his side, breathing steadily, already deeply asleep. Her brow was relaxed, and her sleeping face held less of its usual coldness and more softness.

Huo Chen raised his head and saw Snow Empress in the doorway. A trace of surprise flashed in his eyes, but it soon settled into calm.

Snow Empress stood in the doorway as moonlight poured in through the window behind her, outlining her slender figure. She looked at Huo Chen, her gaze calm. "I can't sleep."

Huo Chen did not ask further. He merely shifted to the side and made room for her.

Snow Empress entered the room and sat on the edge of the bed. She did not lie down, merely sitting quietly with her gaze resting on the bright moon outside the window, as though something weighed on her mind.

Huo Chen said nothing either. He simply waited in silence.

After a long while, Snow Empress spoke, her voice soft, as if afraid of waking the sleeping Ice Empress. "Huo Chen."

"Mm?"

"Will you always be good to us?"

"I will."

"No matter how many people enter your life in the future?"

"No matter how many people enter my life in the future, your place in my heart will never change."

Snow Empress fell silent for a moment, then slowly lay down. Turning onto her side, she gently rested her head against his shoulder.

Her movements were light, as though she feared shattering something. Her voice was far gentler than usual, carrying the softness of someone who had let down all her defenses. "Remember what you said."

Huo Chen gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders, resting his chin atop her hair. "I will remember."

Moonlight spilled in through the window, bathing the three of them in a silvery-white glow. The night breeze brushed past the window frame, bringing a faint rustle, as though nature itself were softly singing for this moment.

Snow Empress closed her eyes, and her breathing gradually became steady and deep.

Ice Empress turned over in her sleep, unconsciously snuggling a little closer into Huo Chen's embrace. She mumbled something indistinctly, then drifted back into a deep sleep.

Leaning against the headboard, Huo Chen looked at the two women sleeping peacefully in his arms, a faint smile appearing on his lips.

He reached out and gently switched off the bedside lamp.

The room fell into darkness, with only the moonlight filtering through a gap in the curtains and casting a thin silver line across the floor.

The night was gentle.