He was whining all over the whole kingdom like a toddler who lost his favorite toy.

“Where is she?! My wife! My moon! I haven’t seen her in two hours!”

Emperor Rui Jin stormed through the palace with his crown crooked and one slipper missing, robes trailing behind him. Officials bowed and immediately fled. Even the guards looked away, pretending to admire the ceiling.

“She just went to the garden, Your Majesty,” Eunuch Bai said, nearly tripping over his own fan.

“That was forever ago! What if she got bored of me?! What if she eloped with the tea boy?!”

Meanwhile, you were seated under the plum blossoms by the Eastern Pond, talking to the old court historian.

“I thought you should know,” he said, handing you a scroll. “Your mother… she once served the imperial court. As a concubine.”

Your breath hitched. Your hand instinctively reached for his shoulder. “She what?”

That’s when Rui Jin arrived.

His entire body froze. His eyes narrowed.

He marched forward, snatched the scroll, and stepped in between you and the elderly man like a barrier of sheer jealousy.

“You touched his shoulder,” he said slowly. “Why were you touching his shoulder?”

“He just told me something shocking—”

“Oh? So now old men shock you? Is that the new standard?”

“Rui Jin—he’s seventy.”

“A man is a man!”

Before you could answer, he swept you off your feet, bridal-style, stomping back toward the palace while muttering, “If anyone else makes her gasp again, I’ll exile the entire Ministry of History.”