Chapter 12

Chapter 12

As many people as had rushed in now scrambled back out, leaving behind only Yue Tingyuan and Yue Chiyan-two siblings who didn’t get along on the surface, and even less so in their hearts.

The old square table and wooden stools in the room played host to the two most noble pairs of buttocks they would ever encounter in their lifetime.

Four people, eight eyes, quietly staring at one another. The atmosphere was suffocating.

I’ve always been a blunt person and couldn’t stand this kind of tension; I was so awkward I was practically curling my toes.

It just so happened that I was barefoot, so my toes were literally digging into the floor tiles…

I didn’t have the face to look at Yue Tingyuan, and I was even less willing to look at Yue Chiyan, so I could only steal a glance at Pei Jingcheng.

With one look, I immediately frowned.

Pei Jingcheng and I stood up almost simultaneously.

I took two steps toward the clothes rack.

He took two steps toward the bed.

When we turned back, he held a pair of cloth shoes in his hand, and I held an outer robe in mine.

The two members of the imperial family watched us with identical expressions of confusion.

I roughly tossed the robe onto Pei Jingcheng. After sitting back down, I said crossly, “This weakling can’t handle the cold. If he ends up dead, I won’t be able to explain myself.”

In contrast to my superfluous defense, Pei Jingcheng simply placed the shoes by my feet in silence.

Before I could reach out, he grasped my ankle.

I instinctively flinched.

His body temperature had always been on the lower side, and having been half-naked for so long, he was likely freezing.

In that brief moment of distraction, he had already fitted the shoes onto my feet.

Yue Tingyuan rapped the table twice and looked straight at us. “So, you two have been missing for months because you both lost your memories and mistakenly became husband and wife?”

“I really did lose my memory!” I immediately defended myself, then glared fiercely at Pei Jingcheng. “But someone here was lying!”

“When did I lie?” that certain someone asked calmly.

“You’re still making excuses-how many times did I ask if you’d recovered your memory? How did you answer? You said, ‘I haven’t’-”

“I haven’t.”

That someone extended a finger and slowly moved my hand away from where it was practically pressing against the tip of his nose. He said unhurriedly, “When I said ‘I haven’t,’ I meant that I hadn’t lost my memory to begin with, not that I hadn’t recovered it as you assumed. From start to finish, I never once admitted to having amnesia.”

Me: “…”

Memories are like a book, flipping page after page.

*Flip, flip, flip.*

From the beginning to the end.

He… he really never did!

My anger surged. “You dared to plot against me!”

“It hardly counts as plotting. It was merely…” The corners of his lips curved slightly. “A bit of a tactic.”

You have the nerve to say that!

If I hadn’t been mindful of the outsiders present, I would have slapped him through the roof.

“Chancellor Pei,” Yue Tingyuan said with a fake smile, “Ni Luo is a First-Rank General personally appointed by the Emperor, the commander of one hundred and eighty thousand soldiers of the Northern Frontier. Don’t you think you’ve gone a bit too far?”

Pei Jingcheng gave a thin smile. “I feel it is quite alright. A lucky stroke of fate, a match made in heaven.”

“Whether it’s a match made in heaven isn’t for you to decide,” Yue Chiyan said, uncharacteristically contradicting him. He spoke solemnly, “It’s one thing for General Huo to lose her memory, but you-let’s just say you were momentarily possessed. This matter absolutely cannot count.”

This was likely the first time in history that Yue Tingyuan and Yue Chiyan stood on the same side.

The logic wasn’t hard to follow.

In the three hundred years since the founding of Great Yin, the Pei Clan had seen eight Clan Heads serve as Chancellor, and their other sons and nephews all held high positions.

Meanwhile, I came from a family of career soldiers, the Northwest Huo Clan. We had guarded the Northern Frontier for generations and held the military’s power.

Before, I supported the Third Princess while Pei Jingcheng supported the Fourth Prince. The two factions were in a delicate balance.

Now that he and I were husband and wife, the two forces would eventually merge.

Looking at it from another perspective, once His Majesty learned of our marriage, things would spiral out of control.

For them, the best scenario was to maintain the status quo.

That would be best and safest for all four of us.

I understood the logic, but Pei Jingcheng didn’t care.

“Ni Luo and I have completed every ritual from the three letters to the six rites, and our status as a couple has been consummated in the bridal chamber. Why shouldn’t it count?”

Pei Jingcheng looked around, his gaze finally landing on my face. “Do you dare to acknowledge our status as husband and wife?”