Matchmaking

"To kill you? Or to betray Her Highness?"

The moment the words fell, the air froze.

Not only Gu Chengyin, but even Luo Zhao, hiding behind her consciousness puppet, fell silent.

Looking at Shangguan Yunying's tear-soaked eyes, an indescribable emotion surged in Gu Chengyin's heart.

Shangguan Yunying's question carried far too much weight.

As Luo Zhao's chief lady-in-waiting, this loyalty had long been carved into her bones and blood, becoming a part of her very existence.

If, in the future, she truly had to choose between loyalty and emotion...

It would be enough to tear anyone's soul apart.

Gu Chengyin couldn't help but sigh.

His mind-control quota seemed so painfully insufficient at this moment.

If possible, he really didn't want to release Shangguan Yunying from her hypnosis.

At least in that state, her emotions were rigid, and her loyalty was mechanical.

Rather than being like this, looking at him with tearful eyes and asking such heavy questions.

But things had already come to this, and running away wouldn't solve anything.

Gu Chengyin looked at Luo Zhao on the bed.

Shangguan Yunying hadn't lowered her voice just now. Such a commotion was enough to wake anyone from a deep sleep.

So, unsurprisingly, Luo Zhao woke up.

She sat up, the brocade quilt slipping from her shoulders to reveal a thin nightgown and an expanse of snow-white skin.

There was no sleepiness in her phoenix eyes, only a submissive blankness.

Her gaze first landed on Shangguan Yunying, then shifted to Gu Chengyin.

Throughout the entire process, her expression did not change at all.

It was still that perfect, hypnotized obedience.

As if she couldn't understand what was happening before her, or as if she simply didn't care.

Gu Chengyin withdrew his gaze and looked back at Shangguan Yunying in his arms.

"So..."

Shangguan Yunying seemed to have anticipated what he would ask. Without hesitation, she picked up the thread.

"So, I am giving you a chance."

"A chance to set your mind completely at ease."

"As long as you don't cross the final bottom line, I can turn a blind eye to the rest."

The meaning hidden in these words was too deep.

So deep that Gu Chengyin couldn't fully comprehend it for a moment.

Shangguan Yunying didn't give him time to think and continued:

"But only this once."

"After tonight."

"When the sun rises as usual."

"Let everything return to its original track, okay?"

Gu Chengyin froze.

These words... were too familiar.

The first time he went to the Shangguan Manor, Shangguan Yunying had said the exact same thing that night:

"After tonight, when the sun rises as usual, everything will return to its original track."

And tonight, she repeated it.

But this time, the underlying meaning was so complex that even he couldn't see through it.

Was this a promise?

A transaction?

Or... a compromise?

Gu Chengyin looked carefully into Shangguan Yunying's eyes.

Those eyes held only sincere expectation.

She was waiting for his answer.

Finally, Gu Chengyin slowly nodded.

"Alright."

Seeing Gu Chengyin agree, Shangguan Yunying breathed a sigh of relief.

She let go, took a step back, and cleared the path to the bed.

Then she lowered her head, her gaze falling on the tips of her toes. Her voice was very light, yet it clearly reached Gu Chengyin's ears:

"You may begin."

Gu Chengyin: "..."

He stood there, momentarily not knowing how to react.

Begin?

Begin what?

Gu Chengyin looked at Shangguan Yunying; her head was bowed like a silent statue.

He then looked at Luo Zhao on the bed. She was still sitting there, her eyes hollow, her expression blank, as if she had no idea what was about to happen.

This scene...

Was indescribably bizarre.

The dignified Crown Princess, Her Royal Highness the Eldest Princess of Great Luo, was currently sitting on the bed in a thin nightgown, revealing a stretch of snow-white neck and collarbones, waiting for what?

And Shangguan Yunying, the absolutely loyal chief lady-in-waiting, was standing by the bed right now, head bowed, unmoving, just watching helplessly?

Just how had things escalated to this current situation?!

Gu Chengyin only felt a throbbing headache.

This was completely different from what he had envisioned.

He had come to the Crown Princess's Palace tonight originally intending to send Shangguan Yunying away so he could privately confirm Luo Zhao's condition.

But now?

Not only had he failed to confirm anything clearly, but he had also dragged Shangguan Yunying into the mess.

And now he was pushed into such an absurd predicament.

Gu Chengyin wasn't the only one with a headache.

Hidden behind her consciousness puppet, Luo Zhao was also suffering a headache.

An unprecedented headache, at that.

Shangguan Yunying had actually sold her out!

Although it wasn't a complete sellout, since she had demanded that the final bottom line not be crossed.

But what did she mean by turning a blind eye to the rest?!

Was this woman still her chief lady-in-waiting or not?!

Luo Zhao's mind was currently a tangled mess.

What to do?

Did she really have to switch out of her puppet state and stop Gu Chengyin?

But if she did that, her disguise would be completely exposed.

Gu Chengyin would know she was acting, that she had never truly been under his control.

Then all her previous arrangements, her endurance, and her various schemes would all be for nothing.

But if she didn't stop him...

Was she really going to let Gu Chengyin do something to her?

Luo Zhao was genuinely panicking now.

She had never imagined such a scenario.

The previous plan was obviously not like this.

This scheme was clearly meant to trap Gu Chengyin.

She was supposed to be sitting firmly on the fishing platform, watching Gu Chengyin struggle in his probing and suspicion, watching him flip-flop between trust and doubt, watching him walk step by step into the trap she had laid.

But now...

How did she end up trapping herself?!

This realization drove Luo Zhao nearly insane.

Just then.

Luo Zhao suddenly jolted awake.

She suddenly recalled the words Shangguan Yunying had just said.

The true meaning behind those seemingly absurd and treacherous words.

Shangguan Yunying didn't want to choose between her and Gu Chengyin.

So...

She was trying to play matchmaker for her and Gu Chengyin?!

This thought was like a bolt of lightning, splitting through Luo Zhao's chaotic mind.

She understood.

She understood the true intention hidden behind Shangguan Yunying's seemingly treacherous behavior.

Shangguan Yunying didn't want to watch her continue pretending.

Didn't want to watch her continue struggling between hatred and admiration.

Didn't want to watch her continue wandering between exploiting and being exploited.

So she used this method to deliver her into Gu Chengyin's hands.

Using this self-destructive method to force the two of them to directly confront this complex and dangerous relationship.

The moment Luo Zhao figured all this out, she almost laughed out of sheer anger.

Did this Eldest Miss Shangguan get water in her brain?!

She and Gu Chengyin were the exploiter and the exploited.

The schemer and the schemed against.

They were destined to be opponents slaughtering each other in the arena of power until the very last moment.

How could there ever be that kind of possibility between them!

It was absolutely!

Absolutely!

Absolutely impossible for them to be together!

Luo Zhao screamed frantically in her heart.

But at the same time...

Her heartbeat uncontrollably quickened.

She could feel Gu Chengyin's gaze falling upon her.

She could feel his breath.

Could feel his approach.

What to do?

What should she do now?

Switch out and stop him?

Or...

Continue to endure in silence?