Chapter 127: Chapter 127: She Finally Admits Her Identity

The man’s brow was strong and defined, more imposing than the distant mountain ranges. His eyes, like cold stars, gleamed with a daunting light.

Ji Qingwu gulped and mumbled, "So handsome..."

Realizing what she’d said, she dropped her gaze and hastily explained, "No, no, I mean... I’m done looking."

She tried to pull her hand back, but he held it fast in his palm, and she couldn’t break free.

As if that weren’t enough, Emperor Wu Su asked, "Have you touched it enough?"

The tips of Ji Qingwu’s ears burned. "Your Majesty was the one who insisted I touch you," she whispered. "I didn’t want to."

She had only said she was here to see him, never that she wanted to touch his face.

Emperor Wu Su lowered his arm but didn’t release her hand. "Ah Wu can force me in return," he said casually.

’Is this his idea of returning the favor? Forcing him to take advantage of me?’

Ji Qingwu nearly choked. Waving her free hand, she stammered, "No, that’s quite all right!"

Emperor Wu Su said, "Very well. Then we’ll call it even."

Ji Qingwu looked up at him, puzzled. ’I didn’t do anything,’ she thought. ’How could we possibly be even?’

Emperor Wu Su raised an eyebrow and met her gaze directly. "Speaking of forcing someone... has Ah Wu forgotten what you once did to me?"

’What I once did.’

Those four words struck her like a deafening thunderclap.

In the time since her return to Lin’an City, Ji Qingwu had buried her head in the sand, secretly delighted that the Emperor hadn’t recognized her. She’d even dreamed of marrying, supporting her husband, raising children, and managing an apothecary.

But as Emperor Wu Su gradually dropped hints that he knew everything, Ji Qingwu realized she could no longer deceive herself.

She had to reject him, and clearly at that.

That was her plan, and that was exactly what she had done at the teahouse.

No one likes the taste of rejection, least of all a high and mighty emperor. But aside from his expression turning terrifyingly grim, he hadn’t flown into the rage she’d anticipated. In fact, his reaction had been... the complete opposite.

That very night, he had even deigned to sneak into her courtyard just to give her a green jade ring as an apology.

Everything that followed made Ji Qingwu increasingly aware of how dangerous this man was. At first, she had been unable to avoid him due to his status, forced to let him have his way.

But it was the tenderness he showed from time to time that she found hardest to resist.

It was as if he were weaving a fine, intricate net, intending to ensnare her.

Now, he was bringing up the past again.

Ji Qingwu’s palms began to sweat. "Y-Y-Your Majesty..."

There was no pity in Emperor Wu Su’s eyes. "Playing dumb with me now is useless," he stated flatly.

’Has the moment I can no longer avoid finally come?’ Ji Qingwu stared nervously into his eyes, which no longer held any of their previous warmth.

Emperor Wu Su said, "I will ask. You will answer."

She knew what he was going to ask. It felt as if a hand had suddenly squeezed her heart.

"Who was the female military doctor at the Northern Border Camp, the one who went by the alias Ji Xiaowu?"

Ji Qingwu bit her lip, the pressure draining the color from it. Ji Xiaowu was the name she had used while in the Northern Border Army.

When she didn’t answer, Emperor Wu Su asked again, "Who is Yuan Heng’s birth mother?"

Hearing Yuan Heng’s name sent a terrible ache through Ji Qingwu’s heart. She had been forced to leave the little one behind back then, but thankfully, Yuan Heng had grown up safe and sound.

Her face was deathly pale, and her slender frame shivered in the wind, yet she stubbornly kept her lips pressed together, silent.

Emperor Wu Su’s brow furrowed as he pressed on. "Five years ago, who was the woman with the harmless face who drugged all the soldiers in the camp, pushed open the main general’s tent flap, and climbed into his bed?"

Ji Qingwu didn’t realize she had bitten through her lip until she tasted blood. She quickly let go.

Her eyes, as she looked at him, were filled with helplessness, sorrow, and a pitiful plea.

Emperor Wu Su suppressed the urge to pull her into his arms and comfort her. "Answer me," he said, his expression cold and hard.

In truth, they both already knew the answer, but he was intent on using this method to force her to admit it aloud, to make her confront the past she dared not recall.

Before him, Ji Qingwu was utterly defeated, all her defenses stripped away. All that remained was the final veil hiding her shame, and now, he was determined to rip that away, too.

Emperor Wu Su repeated, "I told you to answer me."

When his face grew cold and his aura turned heavy and oppressive, Ji Qingwu couldn’t help but be afraid.

A mist began to form in her eyes.

After a long moment, her voice, choked with sobs, finally came. "It was me... It was me... It was all me..."

By the end, she was sobbing uncontrollably.

She had finally admitted it.

She was finally willing to face that deeply painful past.

Emperor Wu Su reached out and wiped away her tears. His touch wasn’t gentle; it chafed her delicate skin, leaving it red.

He had thought they had plenty of time, that he could wait for her to slowly come around.

But circumstances had changed. The investigation into the incident at the women’s hunt—where a black bear had appeared, endangering Ji Qingwu and Qingyun—had yielded results. It was the Fourth Prince of Xijin Country who had been fanning the flames from behind the scenes. They had actually dared to extend their reach into Lin’an.

Emperor Wu Su, who had been holding back for the moment, had sent a secret decree to the army overnight. A major move was imminent; he planned to eliminate the Fourth Prince and all his cronies.

And once Wei Chi Lianping arrived, Wei Ting would have to break camp and return...

Dealing with chaotic political affairs and urgent military matters gave him less of a headache than this petite woman standing before him.

Ji Qingwu’s tears didn’t fall in a frantic rush. Instead, large drops rolled down one at a time, each one heavy with sorrow.

"Are you trying to make me go soft by crying?" Emperor Wu Su asked.

Ji Qingwu quickly wiped away her tears, not wanting the Emperor to think she was using them to curry his sympathy.

She truly had no intention of playing the damsel in distress this time; she simply couldn’t help it. Her heart was just aching with a sorrow that made her want to cry.

Gazing at her red-rimmed eyes, Emperor Wu Su sighed. "Tears can be a weapon, but they only work if you cry in front of someone who cherishes and cares for you."

Ji Qingwu sniffled, looking up at him through tear-filled eyes. "Someone who truly cherishes and cares for a person wouldn’t make her cry in the first place."

He saw that even while weeping so pitifully, she could still refute him with a clear head.

Emperor Wu Su pinched her face, his fingers forcefully kneading the soft flesh until her cheek was misshapen.

The pinch made her delicate skin ache, but it also dispelled much of the stinging sorrow in her heart.

His expression softened considerably. "Did I say anything harsh? Isn’t it just that a certain someone has a guilty conscience and is panicking? You do something wrong, but you can’t handle the pressure. You’re made of water, really. The moment my back is turned, the tears start to fall, DROP, DROP, DROP, as if you can cry your way out of your sins."

’Thinking back, the Emperor hadn’t said anything too harsh,’ Ji Qingwu mused. ’But he *had* pinched my cheek, and not gently, either.’

She reached up to touch her own face, pushed his hand away, and quickly rescued her cheek.

Emperor Wu Su gazed at her reddened cheek, the faint blush at the corners of her eyes and the tip of her nose. "And you’ve saved all your tears for me," he said meaningfully.