"Hm?" Yong Ji opened his eyes a sliver.
"Promise me Meng'er will never be hurt again," Li Youlong said, looking at him, her pale face faintly visible in the dim carriage, "and I will never leave the Yong family."
Yong Ji met her gaze. After a while, he said, "All right. I promise."
The carriage traveled down the quiet lane. No one knew it carried the most solemn and earthshaking marriage of the Renwu Year in Great Tang.
The Palace City remained as it always had, its walls cold, its tiles chill. Spring duly poked its head out here too, but people habitually overlooked it; in their eyes, it still wore winter's vast, desolate aspect.
When Li Xizhou left the palace during the day, there was no need to guard her in person. Li Jian's [Coexistence Law] permeated the Divine Capital. Besides, although Pei Ye had not verified it himself, he had more or less guessed that someone who never showed their face was watching over her.
But once she returned to the Vermilion Mirror Hall, she became entirely Pei Ye's responsibility.
Eating, reviewing documents, bathing, sleeping... whichever hall she occupied, Pei Ye sat outside its doors. The night was very quiet now, and he could hear her distinctly uneven breathing inside.
Pei Ye had never undertaken such a task. He was learning, little by little, to enclose every aspect of her daily life in an airtight guard: seeing her off when she left Gong, meeting her when she returned. Before their meal today, he had asked Little Cat to test for poison first, earning himself a swat from Little Cat and laughter from her.
But none of that was really the crux of the matter. He could be more cautious, but it would do little good. The real problem