Seeing Zu'an in a daze, the Queen finally came to her senses, a blush spreading across her gentle face: "What are you thinking about? My injuries have flared up, I can't sit up, I can only lie in bed!"

Zuan chuckled sheepishly, "You scared me to death! I thought you..."

The Empress snorted coldly: "Did you think I invited you to bed? Your mind is full of filthy and disgusting thoughts. I don't know what Chu Yan has her eye on."

Zu'an was carrying her to bed when he heard this and was taken aback: "The Empress also recognizes Chu Yan?"

"I met her once in my younger days. Her character and appearance were both outstanding. Countless noblemen in the capital fell in love with her at first sight." The Empress's tone was full of praise.

Suddenly she froze, her brows furrowed, and she could no longer speak.

She felt something hard pressing against her. At first, she thought it was a dagger or the other person's weapon and didn't pay much attention.

She soon discovered that the thing could change, and then realized that this was the palace, and he couldn't possibly bring weapons in.

Her face flushed red at first, then darkened: "You brat, how dare you have such thoughts about me!"

Anger from Liu Ning +233!

She wasn't an ignorant girl, and naturally she wouldn't be shy or bashful like other girls; instead, she directly rebuked them.

Zuan secretly groaned, and could only try to explain, "You can't blame me for this. Any normal man would be abnormal if he didn't react at all when he was holding such a beautiful woman so tightly."

He himself felt that this explanation was somewhat shameless; what the hell was this all about!

The Empress sneered repeatedly: "But isn't Your Excellency's reaction a bit too exaggerated?"

Zu'an's skin had long since become thicker than a city wall: "This just proves how charming the Empress is."

The Empress laughed in exasperation: "Oh, in that case, I should be happy?"

Zu An laid her horizontally on the bed and sighed, "Your Majesty, you are not an ordinary woman. You should know that I did not do it on purpose. In fact, I never wanted to get involved in this matter from the beginning. It was you... cough cough, it was fate. So why bother about this little thing?"

The Empress, of course, understood this principle, but she was used to being high above others and felt that letting it go so easily would be too lenient on this young man: "Hmph, how can such a matter be considered a trivial matter for a woman? You are even disrespectful to me, which proves that you don't care about the emperor or the law at all. You are a complete traitor. Do you think I should tell the Emperor to have you beaten to death to prevent future troubles?"

She had barely finished speaking when she noticed a ruthless glint in Zu'an's eyes, and a heavy body suddenly pressed down on her.

"What...what do you want to do?" Feeling the oppressive presence so close at hand and smelling the long-lost masculine scent, the Empress panicked. The composure she had maintained on her face vanished, and she hurriedly shrank back.

Unfortunately, Zuan placed his hand directly on her shoulder, looking down coldly at the woman beneath him: "Woman, you don't understand the situation. I just saved you, and instead of thanking me, you're threatening me?"

The Empress glared at her: "That's no excuse for your disrespect towards me!"

She was filled with regret. In fact, her deliberate intimidation was just a normal power tactic, a carrot and stick approach. She had just swung the stick and was about to use the carrot to appease and win him over when, unexpectedly, this guy did not play by the rules and directly gave her a stick.

Doesn't this guy understand any court etiquette? And I am the Empress! How dare he treat me like this? He is indeed a traitorous villain who has no emperor or father at heart.

Unfortunately, little did she know that since entering the palace, Zu An had been on edge the whole time, because the surrounding forces were simply too powerful. Whether it was the emperor, the Prince of Qi, or even the families in the capital, if they really wanted him dead, he had no power to protect himself.

He had been walking a tightrope, always managing to get along with everyone, and was already extremely nervous, suppressing a lot of anger in his heart. Then he ran into the Empress, and seeing her repaying kindness with enmity, he could no longer contain his anger.

Ultimately, he was a time traveler, and he didn't have the same reverence for the native emperors and empresses as most people did.

Zu An looked at her coldly: "Your Majesty needs to understand, you were the one who offered yourself to me. I haven't even suspected that you were seducing me, and yet you're accusing me of being disrespectful to you?"

"I seduced you?" Even the Empress, who was usually good-tempered, couldn't help but be furious. "I am the mother of the nation, a dignified Empress. Would I seduce a scoundrel like you?"

Anger from Liu Ning: +444 +444 +444...

Zuan snorted: "That's hard to say. The Empress may look glamorous on the surface, but she's lonely in the deep palace and might not be immune to thoughts of men."

The Empress's face immediately turned cold: "You scoundrel, do you know that just because of those words, it would be enough for either me or the Emperor to execute your entire family several times over?"

Liu Ning's anger level increased by 999+999+999...

They're quick to threaten to exterminate entire families!

Zu'an was also furious: "Your Majesty probably doesn't understand the situation. There are still so many assassins outside. Even if I kill you, people will only think it was done by the assassins and will not suspect me at all."

The empress's breathing quickened, her swollen chest heaving rapidly, but she ultimately didn't dare utter the words "You dare?"

From the very beginning, everything this man did proved that he was capable of anything, and she didn't want to die here just because of a moment of pleasure.

Her eyes darted around, and she had already made up her mind. Her tone softened: "Alright, I was wrong just now. I apologize to you. You can go down now and we can talk things out."

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