Do You Like Me?

With his two most respected elders seated before him, the Crown Prince could only suppress his temper and try not to let his glare fly toward Shen Tingjue. In as calm a tone as possible, he said, "I need time to consider it."

The Empress Dowager clicked her tongue. "Enough with that perfunctory excuse. Every time I arrange a marriage for you, you say the same thing. I've heard it no fewer than eight hundred times. Hey, why are you looking at Xiao Jue? Don't even think about secretly intimidating him. Look at me and your imperial aunt and make yourself clear. Once you've made yourself clear, you can leave."

Xiao Hanye: "..."

Make what clear?

This was something that could not be explained away at all!

Xiao Hanye looked at his imperial grandmother, who had been completely dazzled and was now siding with an outsider, and gave up struggling. "Fine. Do it however you want."

The Empress Dowager was displeased. "Listen to that. Why make it sound as though I'm forcing you into marriage? I'm asking whether you like him."

Xiao Hanye remained expressionless. "I like him. Very much. Far too much."

Pretending not to hear the sarcasm in his words, the Empress Dowager laughed happily. "I know. I could tell. If it were anyone else, even if I pressured you like this, with that rotten temper of yours, you'd have stormed off long ago like usual, spouting nonsense about staying in the Northern Frontier for the rest of your life and never coming back."

Xiao Hanye: "..."

Right.

Why had he actually stopped when told to stop?

He could clearly have stormed off. It was not as though he had never done it before.

"My Xiao Jue truly is beloved by all." The Empress Dowager wrapped an arm around Shen Tingjue's shoulders, smiling warmly. "There's no need to care about worldly conventions. Besides, there have been precedents of male consorts in our ancestral line. So when shall we hold the wedding?"

Her grandson had become her granddaughter-in-law.

Wonderful.

The Empress Dowager was already impatient.

Xiao Hanye slowly let out a breath. "There's no rush."

Shen Tingjue rubbed his hands together eagerly. "But I—"

Xiao Hanye cut him off in time. "You're not in a rush either."

Please just shut up!

The Grand Princess had already endured the pain of losing her son. Now, she wished she could pour all her motherly love into Shen Tingjue. Even if he wanted the stars and moon from the sky, she would find a way to pluck them down for him, so long as he was happy.

So what if he liked men?

Even if he wanted to keep a whole nest of male favorites in his rear courtyard, it would not be a problem.

And liking the Crown Prince was not much of a problem either.

After all, he was worthy of him.

The Grand Princess was in a fine mood, and the Empress Dowager was especially delighted as well. Shen Tingjue was nestled between them, his eyes curved in a smile, looking quite happy too.

Everyone except the Crown Prince.

Xiao Hanye propped his temple with one hand.

His head hurt terribly.

Snowflakes like grains of salt drifted through the sky and fell from the eaves, quickly melting into droplets. The moment Shen Tingjue left the Palace of Longevity and Wellbeing, the Crown Prince dragged him all the way to the East Palace, shut the door, and began interrogating him.

Xiao Hanye cornered him, one hand braced against the wall and the other gripping Shen Tingjue's chin. He looked fierce as he demanded, "You're quite something, aren't you? You put on that pitiful little act so convincingly. Who told you to spout nonsense in front of the Empress Dowager?"

Shen Tingjue's black hair fell loose beside his face, making his red lips and white teeth stand out all the more. His gaze was innocent.

"Hm? What do you mean, nonsense? Sooner or later, we had to make things between us clear. We couldn't keep hiding it for the rest of our lives, could we? Once it was out in the open, you wouldn't have to keep being pressured into marriage, and no one would think that His Highness the Crown Prince can't perform."

By the time Xiao Hanye heard the last part, his expression had turned even darker. He practically squeezed the words out through his teeth. "Then I should thank you."

"You're too polite. Between you and me, saying thanks is awfully distant." Shen Tingjue's lower back was pressed, not too hard but not too lightly, and half his body went numb. Yet he still had the strength to flirt. His thumb brushed across Xiao Hanye's chin and Adam's apple as his eyes swept suggestively over his handsome face. The more he looked, the more his heart stirred.

Shen Tingjue leaned in to kiss him.

Xiao Hanye seized the back of his neck and pulled him away. "Stay away from me."

Shen Tingjue clung to him again. "Are you angry?"

Warm breath fell against his ear. Xiao Hanye's Adam's apple bobbed faintly from the heat as he cupped Shen Tingjue's face in both hands and gave it a fierce kneading. Even then, his irritation did not subside.

Shen Tingjue's face was rubbed red. He stared at Xiao Hanye with burning eyes. "Does Your Highness intend to have an affair with me for the rest of your life and never give me a proper status?"

Xiao Hanye: "..."

What affair? He made it sound so ugly.

When Shen Tingjue received no answer, he pressed his lips together.

In the memories that had gradually returned, there had been no intimate moments between them, only the proper conduct of a subordinate and superior. Every time he appeared at Xiao Hanye's side, he stood three or four steps behind him, showing due respect. Even after they had fought side by side on the battlefield, there had been no closeness or tenderness between them. Even when he was injured, all he received was a simple order to go get his wounds bandaged.

If Xiao Hanye liked him, he should have held him painfully close, bandaged his wounds while whispering sweet words to comfort him.

Shen Tingjue began to doubt their mutual feelings again. Perhaps that lingering intimacy in his memories had merely been an accident. One was the Crown Prince, the other a shadow guard; their statuses were worlds apart. It seemed only in storybooks could they become a happy pair.

In reality, it was hard to say.

Once Shen Tingjue started overthinking, he could not stop. The light in his eyes gradually dimmed.

Seeing him suddenly look as though he were about to cry, Xiao Hanye felt there was an eighty or ninety percent chance he was pretending. He wanted to ignore him with a cold face, but that tiny shred of conscience in his heart got the better of him. With a helpless sigh, he roughly ruffled Shen Tingjue's hair. After pondering his words for a long while, before he could speak, he heard the other ask, "Do you like me?"

Shen Tingjue's gaze was earnest, fixed unblinkingly on him. They were so close that there was only each other. Both hands clutched the lapels of Xiao Hanye's dragon robe, as though he would never let the matter rest without an answer.

Xiao Hanye fell silent, as if the question had stumped him.

He had not figured it out himself either.

He was not lacking loyal shadow guards who protected their master, nor capable and dependable subordinates. But if someone else had lost their memories and, in a muddled state, claimed that they had once shared a romance with him and wanted to renew their old bond, he probably would not indulge them as much as he indulged Shen Tingjue, would he?

Xiao Hanye imagined Yuchi Sheng in Shen Tingjue's place. His scalp immediately tingled, goosebumps rising all over his body. He felt he might punch him on the spot to knock some sense into him.

They said that you only indulged someone if you liked them.

Xiao Hanye thought it over carefully for a long time, yet still could not figure out exactly when, or over what, his heart had begun to stir. It seemed as though there had been no such moment, yet it also seemed as though there had been.

Because their relationship had already changed, everything now seemed only natural.

Shen Tingjue puffed out his cheeks, leaned closer until his face nearly collided with Xiao Hanye's, and said unhappily, "Answer me!"

A vein throbbed at Xiao Hanye's temple.

How insolent.

He actually dared to speak to me in that commanding tone!

...Sigh.

Forget it. There was no need to argue with someone whose mind was not right.

Xiao Hanye rubbed his brow. "Say what?"

Shen Tingjue pouted, and his eyes reddened.

Xiao Hanye: "..."

Xiao Hanye felt rather weary. "Didn't I just say it in front of my imperial grandmother?"

Shen Tingjue said, "You were being perfunctory. I could tell."

Xiao Hanye argued, "I wasn't."