Volume Three, Chapter Eleven

"Being at my side is dangerous." He chuckled, oddly pleased. If he had known that exposing her secret would make her realize he was not only the ruler she served but also a man, he would have done it the moment her heart was broken. "But now isn't the time to reveal that you're a woman. Prime Minister Father is still waiting to catch you by the pigtail."

"..." She had forgotten. Even if His Majesty did not punish her for deceiving him, the Lord Prime Minister, who had long regarded her as a thorn in his eye, would never pass up such a perfect excuse to put her to death.

"So Xiaoru must play along with me."

As His Majesty spoke, he drew up the Soft Quilt beside them and tucked it gently around her. "To prove you aren't a woman, sleep with me."

"..." Why did that sound so strange? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Only women were summoned to sleep in the Dragon Bed.

As if he had read her confusion, His Majesty continued with a smile, "I never summon consorts to spend the night in my bedchambers. Apart from Little Jing, you're the second official to grace this bed."

"...Your—Your Majesty—" So that was it! She suddenly felt that her embarrassingly girlish thoughts had been an insult to His Majesty. He might be a habitual flirt, but right now he had no time to think about men and women. His head was full of ways to save her wretched life, while she had been fretting over the two lumps on her chest. "Since Your Majesty has so graciously invited me, I won't stand on ceremony when it comes to sleeping!"

"Mm. No need to stand on ceremony. My Dragon Bed is very comfortable."

Seeing