Regent, please maintain your aloof image.

Mu Jinchen took the document and opened it, then glanced at it briefly before asking, "You just said you wanted to see me, is there something you need?"

"It wasn't me, it was Chang Le. She saw that we slept in separate rooms last night, so she asked me if we had a fight. I told her it was because you were busy with official business, and she said she wanted to have a good talk with you. If she knew that we were still sleeping in separate rooms tonight, she might really come to see you tomorrow."

"Chang Le is alright, but the main problem is Lord Su. How do you plan to explain this to him?"

"Just say you're busy with official duties. You're known for your diligence in politics anyway. Besides, my dad doesn't know that we usually sleep in separate rooms, so he won't suspect anything."

"What about the others? You can't explain to each and every one of them."

"They can't possibly go back and tell everyone, can they?"

"It's hard to say, so to avoid unnecessary trouble, I will stay here tonight."

“You…” Su Qianrou was at a loss for words and could only look at him.

"It's getting late, you should get some rest."

"I...I'm not sleepy yet," Su Qianrou said, somewhat at a loss.

Mu Jinchen could tell at a glance that she was overthinking things, but he didn't explain. He simply said, "Whatever," and then picked up a book to read intently.

Su Qianrou secretly glanced at him, and seeing his expression, she couldn't quite figure out what he meant.

After an unknown amount of time, Su Qianrou propped her head up, feeling drowsy, her head swaying.

"If you're sleepy, go to sleep."

"I'm not sleepy, I'm not sleepy," Su Qianrou said, still trying to stay awake.

"What, do you want me to carry you over?"

"No!" Su Qianrou jumped up and said excitedly.

Mu Jinchen didn't speak, he just looked at her.

Su Qianrou felt a little uncomfortable under his gaze, so she said, "I'm going to sleep now," and quickly went to bed and lay down.

Mu Jinchen chuckled, then continued reading.

Su Qianrou lay on the bed, feeling extremely nervous. However, after waiting for a while, there was still no movement beside her. So she turned around and saw that he was still reading a book. She subconsciously asked, "Aren't you going to sleep yet?" After saying that, she realized that her words sounded like an invitation to him, so she felt a little embarrassed.

Mu Jinchen looked at her and said, "Go to sleep. I will stay here for the night."

"You want to sleep on the couch?" Su Qianrou was somewhat surprised.

Mu Jinchen did not respond.

Su Qianrou didn't say anything more and lay down to sleep, but she couldn't fall asleep no matter what. She tossed and turned in bed, and finally sat up and said, "Um... I can't sleep. Why don't you talk to me for a while?" After saying that, she looked at him.

Mu Jinchen put down the book in his hand and walked towards her step by step.

Su Qianrou couldn't help but feel nervous.

Mu Jinchen walked up to her, looking down at her. "What do you want to talk about?" His voice was deep and charming, and coupled with his handsome face, it was impossible to resist him.

Su Qianrou looked at him, her mind a beat slow, "Let's...let's just chat."

"Make me stand up while I talk to you."

Without thinking, Su Qianrou said, "Why don't you sleep on the bed? It's quite big; it can fit two people." After saying that, she realized what she had said and lowered her head in annoyance, thinking, "How pathetic! I was so bewitched by a man's good looks. I've completely lost face."

Just as she was deep in thought, Mu Jinchen lifted the covers and sat on the bed.

Su Qianrou sensed something was wrong, looked at him, and exclaimed, "What are you doing?"

"Didn't you ask me to sleep in your bed?"

“I…”, Su Qianrou was speechless.

"It's getting late, let's go to sleep," Mu Jinchen said, then lay down first and closed his eyes to sleep.

Su Qianrou looked at him, unsure of what to do. After hesitating for a while, she slowly lay down, then moved further inside to stay as far away from him as possible before closing her eyes.

The two slept perfectly still, but neither of them was asleep.

Last time, the situation was urgent, and Su Qianrou didn't have time to think much. Besides, she fell asleep soon after, so she didn't have many thoughts.

But this time was different. There were only the two of them in the room, so quiet that they could hear each other breathing. She could also faintly smell the fragrance of moon scales on him, which made her restless and unable to fall asleep for a long time.

"I can't sleep," Mu Jinchen suddenly said.

"Ok".

Mu Jinchen remained silent. Just when Su Qianrou thought she was hallucinating, he said again, "That day at the Su family, I heard your brother say that Liu Chengjun gave their ancestral sword to your younger brother."

"Ok".

Why?

"Didn't I tell you? Once, I passed by a chess club and accidentally broke their chess game. Actually, I was going to the Sword Treasure Pavilion that day, thinking of buying Xiaoyu a sword as a birthday gift. However, I don't know much about swords. Fortunately, Young Master Liu knew about them, so he went with me. During our chat, Young Master Liu learned that Xiaoyu wanted to join the army, so he suggested that we play a game of chess. If I won, he would give me the Cold Light Sword. At first, I didn't know the importance of the Cold Light Sword. I thought it was just an ordinary sword, so I agreed. It wasn't until that day, when Xiaoyu and Li Hong were fighting, that I learned about the origin of the sword from Xinyue."

"You never thought of returning it to him."

“I returned it, but he didn’t want it. He said that the cold light was useless in his hands and would only be covered in dust. Rather than that, it would be better to give it to Xiaoyu. At least, it would still have a chance to be useful.”

"Speaking of which, you already knew his leg could be cured, so you never thought of marrying him," she said, looking at Su Qianrou.

Su Qianrou also looked at him and said, "Doesn't Your Highness know whether I've ever thought about marrying him?"

Indeed, he knew it very well.

Then, Su Qianrou turned her head and looked at the ceiling of the bed, and said, "Young Master Liu, Xinyue, and General Liu are all very good people. Their lives are already difficult, and I don't want to drag them into this mess. That's why I refused when Young Master Liu offered to help me that day."

"How can I help you?"

"Refuse to arrange a marriage alliance."

"How does he plan to help you refuse?"

"We publicly announced that we were already engaged."

"When did he tell you that?"

"On the very day we decided to get married."

Mu Jinchen didn't speak, seemingly lost in thought. After a while, he wanted to say something, but seeing that she had fallen asleep, he couldn't help but smile, and then closed his eyes.

The next day, Mu Jinchen woke up first and felt something pressing down on him. He looked down and saw Su Qianrou sleeping soundly in his arms. He couldn't help but reach out and stroke her head, pulling her into his embrace, a slight smile unconsciously curving his lips.

When Su Qianrou woke up, it was already Chen Shi (7-9 AM). She mumbled sleepily, "Chunzhu."

"This servant is here," Chunzhu said as she entered. "Your Highness, you're awake."

Seeing her beaming smile and happy expression, Su Qianrou asked, "What's making you so happy?"

"The princess and the prince have been married for half a month, and they finally consummated their marriage last night. Of course, I am happy."

Su Qianrou then remembered that she and Mu Jinchen had slept in the same bed last night, and couldn't help but feel a little shy. "Don't overthink it, nothing happened between us last night."

"But at least we shared a bed."

Su Qianrou felt a little awkward, so she changed the subject and asked, "Where is the Prince?"

"His Highness got up early this morning and is currently discussing state affairs with the officials across the way... Oh, by the way, His Highness asked the Princess Consort to wake up and come over."

Su Qianrou didn't say anything more, and then got up to wash and dress.