Poisonous Goddess: I'm just lazing around in the mortal realm.

Duan Yumou's long, narrow phoenix eyes locked onto the bright young girl before him.

The girl hurriedly looked away, trying to hide the flutter in her heart.

"They're just ordinary items. What? Does Your Highness have such a hobby? I'll have someone buy some for you later."

She tried to remain calm, but her palms were already sweating.

Seeing how stubborn the other party was, Duan Yumou couldn't help but let a trace of sadness cross his face. In the end, his heart clenched because of the girl's words.

He slowly lowered his head and sneered.

"Yes, Miss Gu is of such high status that she wouldn't care about such a small item."

Gu Shining's breath hitched upon hearing this. She instinctively grabbed the sword beside her, wanting to escape from there.

She ultimately lacked the courage to meet the Second Prince again here.

after all……

This was the first time in all the years she had known him that she wanted to bother him with family matters.

"If that's your opinion, then I'll leave now."

Before Duan Yumou could speak, Gu Shining abruptly stood up, intending to leave the room. She strode towards the door, but just as it opened, the person behind her spoke again, urging her to stay.

"Didn't we agree to a deal? Since Miss Gu has chosen to trade with a despicable person like me, it is naturally my honor. How could I dare to slight you?"

Duan Yumou stood up and walked behind Gu Shining in just a few steps.

With a wave of his hand, he closed the door again.

"What on earth are you going to do?"

Gu Shining felt that Duan Yumou's words were piercing to the heart. She turned around with her sword in hand, but unexpectedly ran into a burning gaze.

That intense yet restrained gaze instantly enveloped her.

Duan Yumou was much taller than her. He leaned his large hand against the wooden door and pulled the petite Gu Shining into his arms.

His eyes were lowered, and his thick eyelashes concealed most of his complex emotions.

In a daze, the two of them froze on the spot.

"you……"

Gu Shining's cheeks suddenly flushed red, perhaps as if she were bewitched by the other party. She raised her left hand and gently brushed away a few stray hairs from Duan Yumou's forehead.

Following those alluring eyes, her gaze slowly traveled down his handsome face to his thin lips.

A familiar scent wafted towards her, and she instinctively recalled that snowy night, quickly raising her hand to push him away.

Duan Yumou hadn't expected Gu Shining to push him away at this moment. He uncontrollably crashed into the wall beside him, letting out a muffled groan.

He quickly lowered his head, trying to suppress the scream that was about to escape his lips.

With that dull thud, he felt a surge of heat flow from his back, instantly soaking his clothes.

After pushing him away in embarrassment, Gu Shining subconsciously swallowed, her face flushed red, and naturally she didn't notice Duan Yumou's strange behavior.

Feeling guilty, she finally realized that the man in front of her was no longer the boy who was shorter than her when they were children.

In the end...

Everyone has to grow up.

Thinking of the ambiguous scene between the two of them just now, Gu Shining was immediately flustered. She simply put her sword on the round table, walked to the bedside, and looked at the scenery outside.

It seemed that only the gentle breeze blowing through the window could dispel the burning sensation on her face.

When Duan Yumou composed himself and turned back to look at Gu Shining, Gu Shining had already returned to her previous serious demeanor.

Before he could speak, Gu Shining said in a cold voice

"I don't want to beat around the bush with the Second Prince anymore. I've come today to make an exchange with you."

Duan Yumou raised an eyebrow slightly, swallowing the self-deprecating smile on his lips.

"Do you want me to help you arrest the person who secretly poisoned you in the mansion?"

"How did you know?" Gu Shining was quite surprised. Although she was the daughter of Marquis Gu, her family army had been guarding the border for many years, and there were simply not enough people in the capital.

As a result, several days later, she still had no clue who had poisoned her.

"The capital is so big, but I only care about you the most, don't you know that?" Duan Yumou seemed to have returned to his carefree playboy ways. He raised an eyebrow at Gu Shining, but his gaze fell on her waist.

His breath caught in his throat when he saw the object hanging from Gu Shining's waist.

He still hadn't expected that Gu Shining would keep that item close to her body all the time.

"If you had spoken to me like this a few months ago, I might have believed you. But now..."

Gu Shining composed herself, her hands clenched into fists within her sleeves, trying her best to control her panic. She realized she had greatly underestimated the Second Prince's strength.

"What now?" Duan Yumou walked straight towards her, sat down not far from her, and poured himself a cup of hot tea.

He pretended to drink tea and wiped the fine sweat from his forehead.

Right now, out of Gu Shining's sight, blood had already soaked through his back.

"Now all I can say is that since Your Highness wants to sever ties with my Gu family, you should stop saying things that could cause misunderstandings. My deal with you is simple: there is an old Gu family army in the capital, which I think Your Highness has already heard of."

"Gu Family Eagle Guards?"

Duan Yumou raised an eyebrow; he naturally remembered that team.

Back then, his father relied entirely on the Gu family army to break through the encirclement. When the late emperor passed away, he led his father into the palace gates, seized the late emperor's edict, and successfully became emperor.

That bloody battle also took the lives of several of his uncles.

It was precisely because of that palace coup that the world almost questioned the legitimacy of his father's ascension to the throne.

But after his father, the emperor, secured his throne, this Gu family army suddenly disappeared in Nanyang, and no one knew their whereabouts.

Some say the emperor was suspicious and feared that the army would one day repeat the same tricks with the new emperor, so he secretly executed them; others say they were afraid of the emperor's punishment, so they simply found a mountain forest to hide in.

Some people also say...

They remained hidden in the capital, obeying only Lord Gu's orders.

Thinking of this, Duan Yumou's thoughtful gaze fell on Gu Shining. He had underestimated the strength of the Gu family.

Gu Shining nodded slowly and lowered her voice.

“I know what you’re planning. This Eagle Guard was deliberately left behind by my father before he took me away from the capital, to protect the emperor. But I never expected…”

The words that were about to be spoken suddenly stopped.

Her face was serious, but the ruthlessness in her eyes was eventually noticed by Duan Yumou.

Duan Yumou chuckled lightly.

"Unexpectedly, my father suspected your father and wanted to forcibly take over this Eagle Guard. Unfortunately, your father was unwilling to hand it over and asked to stay away from the capital for several years in order to save the lives of the hundreds of Eagle Guards."

He still understood his father after all; that man was so inherently suspicious.

He himself had obtained the throne through the Gu family, so how could he allow any successor to use this clandestine organization for their own purposes?

His father, the emperor, naturally wanted to secretly find an opportunity to destroy the Gu family's Eagle Guard.