As a result, no other woman was favoured by the Emperor year after year, and corpses of certain beauties were ushered out of the palace from time to time.

It was said that the ones who died were those who misbehaved. His Majesty, who killed courtiers without blinking an eye, seemed to also be just as ruthless regarding matters of the harem.

Later, each family gradually stopped thinking about having their children enter the palace to compete for Imperial favour since they knew this Emperor was drastically different from the previous one. He only had ambition and a strong desire for power. With him wielding an uncertain temperament, everyone in the palace was in danger, so why would anyone else dare to send their daughters into the palace to their deaths?

Those unfortunate enough to be sent into the palace were also said to be ‘sent to death’.

In retrospect, the other beauties who survived in the palace were the ones who were as quiet as a church mouse. They huddled and grouped together for companionship and had no further requests— they all merely wanted to stay alive.

So, for His Majesty to respond to Princess Yong An’s every request obediently was surprising and frightening to everyone familiar with his bloodstained history.

However, this Princess Yong An also seemed a little too pampered. Relying on His Majesty’s favour towards her, she was asking for everything she wanted. Her life would end soon if His Majesty were to be unhappy with her at some point.

Seeing Princess Yong An happily running into the bigger house, the officials sighed silently in their hearts.

After the convoy set up camp, Lin Feilu took a comfortable bath after eating before finally feeling alive again. When Song Jinglan came over, she had just finished changing her clothes. Her hair was not dry as it draped over her back with droplets of water dripping from her forehead.

Song Jinglan took the handkerchief from Songyu’s hand and pulled Lin Feilu to his side. He dried her hair and asked with a smile, “There is a Fairy Lake(1) not far away from here, does the Princess want to see it?”

(T/N: There are a few lakes that are known to be gorgeously stunning, enough so that it was said to have fairies residing there. Those scenic locations are all given the nickname Fairy Lake)

Lin Feilu propped her chin and asked, “Are there any fairies in the Fairy Lake?”

He gently brushed the end of her hair with a pair of focused eyes, “We’ll know once we check it out.”

She pouted, “I don’t want to ride a horse,” After a pause, she added, “But I don’t want to walk either— I’m so tired.”

Song Jinglan laughed softly. After he finished drying most of her hair, he towered over her frame and carried her.

Lin Feilu blinked rapidly before putting her arms around his neck. Knowingly, she asked, “What are you doing?”

Song Jinglan looked down, and yet, he didn’t speak, merely gazing at her with a smile in his eyes.

Under his deep gaze, Lin Feilu gradually felt a bit guilty.

Was that too much?

In her defence, she didn’t know that she would become such an expert in acting coquettish once she fell in love.

The scene of His Majesty walking out of the campsite with Princess Yong An in his arms shocked everyone again.

A ruthless Emperor had suddenly become so gentle and kind. Not only did his abrupt change fail to comfort the people, it even managed to spark another wave of terror in their hearts! There was an unspoken thought among the soldiers that His Majesty would return with a sneer on his face, dragging the bloody corpse of Princess Yong An…

Lin Feilu was still blissfully unaware that she was practically as good as dead in everyone’s hearts.