After My Death, The Villain Blackened Again: Chapter 25

ARC 1: THE EMPEROR SCHEMES TO GRAB A MAN’S WIFE (22)

When Emperor Yuan entered the room in high spirits, Yan Ge was lifting the lampshade to trim the wick.

The flickering candlelight softened her flattering features, causing her to appear beautiful and unique.

He approached silently and hugged her from behind: "Tomorrow's departure is early in the morning. Return to the palace with Zhen. Where is your family? Is it possible to have a word with them?"

Yan Ge's body stiffened. She snuggled in his arms and only spoke after a long time: "I can't return to the palace with Your Majesty."

Her voice may have been light and soft, but there was a kind of resoluteness in it.

It was a voice unique to her.

Emperor Yuan’s brows furrowed. He assumed she was worried about her status and immediately tried to persuade her: "Don't fear, Zhen helped arrange a status for you. You only need to be at ease ..."

Yan Ge tilted her head to the side and blocked the rest of his words with her fingers.

"Your Majesty." She looked at him, her thick eyelashes moved slightly, and the candlelight might have been the cause for the floating layer of light in her eyes. “I have already been promised to another. Please desist from calling me your woman after tonight.”

Her fingertips brushed over his lips. She faced him, and her eyes was full of his inverted image: “Your Majesty, I have been the one to steal these few days. From now on, can we return to our respective paths?”

The veins on the back of Emperor Yuan’s hands were bulging. He never expected her to say such words. Grabbing her shoulders, her gritted out: “Zhen does not believe it.”

He knew she was not willing to enter the palace and thought she said this as an excuse.

At that moment, he even felt humiliated. He had planned and schemed for her sake, he thought of everything for her, yet she used such a poor excuse to reject him.

"Your Majesty!" She bowed her head and her forehead rested on his chin: “I’m the third daughter of Jingcheng’s Luo family.”

"Jingcheng’s Luo family?" Emperor Yuan's voice choked. He thought she was a Jianghu person and never imagined she was from the capital. For a time, he could not understand her words.

"My mother and old General Ming's wife were close friends since they were young. When they fell pregnant at the same time, the two agreed to be in-laws if they gave birth to a male and female.”

She rubbed against his neck then raised her head to look up at him: "Your Majesty, I've been betrothed since I was a child. The parents order and the matchmaker canvasses¹; I cannot refuse, nor will I refuse."

Emperor Yuan felt he was incapable of thought as he looked at her unbelievably. After a long time, he found his voice. It was very calm, without any emotional fluctuations: "Old General Ming? You, have had a marriage contract with the Ming family since childhood?”

"My fiancé is Ming Lan, Supreme Commander and Marquis of Zhenbei," Yan Ge spoke softly: "If he had not observed filial piety for three years, I would have been the Ming family’s Madam by now."

"Don’t say anymore."

But she continued: "Your Majesty, I’m the one that has been reckless these few days. Would you forget all this once we part tomorrow?”

Grabbing his sleeves, she slowly slid to the ground and begged him: "Your Majesty, I was wrong. I should not have hidden this from you at the start. I should not have provoked you.”

His dark eyes bore into her as he looked down at her from a height.

Ming Lan, Ming Lan… As long as he heard this name, his teeth would gnash with hate.

From the day he sat on the throne, the Ming family has been a stumbling block in his endeavor to consolidate his regime. Without recovering the military power, he was an emperor without real authority.

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1. Parents’ order, matchmaker’s canvass (父母之命，媒妁之言 - fùmǔ zhī mìng, méishuò zhī yán)a strict feudal tradition of arranged marriages. They were upheld so staunchly that society practically regarded the engaged couple as a married pair even before the wedding↩︎

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Aiyah, that 'lying' meme song kept playing in my head during this chapter.