淫欲的代价

The next morning, it was announced in court that the emperor had finally decided to accept women into his harem. The ministers were elated by the news and the people even more so.

Wei Yun\'er, on the other hand, flipped the table when she heard this. How dare he?! After all she had done for him! He had promised to love and accept only her so what was this?!

No this wouldn\'t do. She stood up and went over to Xian Taiwen\'s study to confront him but was denied entrance at the door. She threw a fit, how could she be denied entrance?!

So she attacked the guards but the more she attacked, the more guards that appeared. Even when she mobilized her silver needles, the number of guards ended up outnumbering her needles!

Xian Taiwen, who was distracted by the commotion outside his study, was beyond pissed. What a wild woman! Nothing like an empress at all. What did he even see in her?!

Wei Yun\'er soon realized that she wouldn\'t be able to see Xian Taiwen so she went back to her plum blossom courtyard in a huff. That scum man! He should better keep hiding because once she caught him, she would never let him off!

The servants who witnessed this scene gingerly spread another rumour. The empress had fallen out of favour! This caused those noble families that were still hesitating to send their daughters to the imperial palace to quickly change their minds.

What a great opportunity to be connected to the imperial family! If the empress was no longer in favour then there was no need to worry about their own daughters being neglected. If luck would have it, their daughters might even be the ones to produce an imperial descendant!

Wei Yun\'er waited until nightfall before sneaking back to Xian Taiwen\'s courtyard to hop on the roof and lie in wait. Did he think he could hide from her forever?

Xian Taiwen finally returned to his courtyard late at night. He\'d contemplated going over to the plum blossom courtyard but then decided against it. He didn\'t need to see that scheming woman.

He\'d just crossed the threshold when a black clad figure suddenly hopped down from the roof and stood before him. He was a bit slow to realize someone was lying in wait because there was no killing intent coming from this person.

Xian Taiwen raised a hand to halt the movements of his guards and took a closer look at the figure. He was stunned. Wei... Yun\'er? What was really wrong with this woman? What was she doing on his roof? What the heck was with this rogue behaviour?!

He pinched his forehead with his fingers. His predecessors were right. It was truly a man\'s bad luck of eight lifetimes to marry a bad wife. "Empress what is the meaning of this?"

Wei Yun\'er scoffed. "Empress? No longer Yun\'er or Ah Yun? Ah Xian Taiwen I had truly underestimated you."

"Impudent! How dare you refer to the emperor by his name?"

He Yuan who was \'conveniently\' passing by: \'...\' But she has been calling you by your name all these while, both in secret and in public. Does your face not hurt from shamelessly calling her out for it now?

Truly when love crumbles even the aspects of a person that once seemed particularly endearing to you becomes a terrible eye sore.

Wei Yun\'er puffed out her chest in annoyance. "Xian Taiwen, how could you be so shameless? Are you just realizing that I always refer to you by your name? What a hypocrite!"

"Still so audacious? Guards! Escort the phoenix empress to the cold palace." That would teach her a lesson. So what if she was a medicine genius? In this nation he ruled supreme and in the end, she still needed to depend on him on order to survive!

Wei Yun\'er\'s eyes widened and she cursed Xian Taiwen as she tried to fight off the guards using all she had. It got so bad that even Xian Taiwen had to step in to completely apprehend her.

Before she was led away, Xian Taiwen had the guards thoroughly search her and confiscate all the tools and pills she had on her. Even after that, he assigned a company of soldiers to guard her and ensure she was being watched at all times.

What Wei Yun\'er was truly capable of, no one knew clearer than he did.

Qi Qi, who was watching all these from the sidelines, had tears in her eyes as she accompanied her mistress to the cold palace.

This wasn\'t right. Her mistress was supposed to be loved by all and not become abandoned in the cold, desolate, palace. She\'d done nothing wrong. She was only fighting because she didn\'t want to share her love with others, was that a crime?

Now that Wei Yun\'er was locked away in the cold palace, Xian Taiwen had his hands full as he shifted through the list of noble ladies that had been offered up to become his consorts.

Normally, this was a task that was supposed to be carried out by the virtuous mother of the nation, aka, the empress but at this stage, if Wei Yun\'er did not whip these women to death that would be a good thing.

It was really fortunate that she was stuck in the cold palace. There were times when Xian Taiwen was tempted to go to her in the cold palace. After all, this was a women he\'d loved for a long time, but he held himself back.

He couldn\'t let her get the upper hand, if she wasn\'t properly taught a lesson then she would never learn. Also, he was still not clear about her external affairs with other men.

He Yuan observed both persons involved in the relationship and shook his head. In the end, this was how far their so called love was able to carry them.

The only reason he was able to make it this far and actually dig a huge hole in Xian Taiwen and Wei Yun\'er\'s relationship was because they themselves had conditions for completely loving each other.

They would only love and cherish each other as long as their love doesn\'t directly clash with their goals. Xian Taiwen might love Wei Yun\'er but in the end, he loved his throne more and as for Wei Yun\'er, a woman from the 24th century who had grown up in an assassin organization, she cherished her freedom the most.

And that was why, even as an empress, she took every little opportunity she had to escape and go on various trips. She had married Xian Taiwen before fully understanding the ways of the ancient times.

And even when they got married, she was still sheltered by Xian Taiwen in a way so she never really had to face direct rebuke from the people or the court ministers.

Now that she\'d lost Xian Taiwen\'s favour, everything would come crashing down on her. The realization, the suffocation, the ramification of all her actions.

At this point, He Yuan\'s task was 95% done. He didn\'t need to lift a finger to do anything else. The \'special ones\' were already capable enough to chew off each other\'s throats without his further meddling.