Caught in the Act, Should This Stop or Continue

Fine. Facing Serena's teasing gaze, Ninth Royal Uncle Nolan found himself unable to say he came just to see her, or to ask for reconciliation.

He sighed silently.

Women—too foolish is bad, but too clever is also bad. Trying to coax a smart woman is truly difficult.

Seeing Serena's playful expression, Nolan really wanted to pin her to the bed and see how smug she'd be then. Unfortunately... this wasn't the place. He could only suppress the urge, pull out the scroll from his chest, and hand it to her: "This is for you."

"What's this?" Serena opened the scroll, raised her brows, and exclaimed in surprise, "My mother's portrait?"

"Yes, your mother's portrait. I found it in Skyvault Palace. I thought you might like it." Nolan considered for a moment, then revealed a bit of his whereabouts—just enough for Serena to understand.

Putting away the portrait, Serena asked, "Was the commotion outside caused by you?"

"More or less." Listening to the footsteps, Nolan could tell that the disciples of Skyvault Palace were heading toward his courtyard—Sean Xuan must have realized he wasn't in his room.

"Did you bring Lance Quinn here too?" Serena pressed. This time Nolan didn't even hesitate—he nodded directly: "Yes."

"Why did you come to Skyvault Palace? Don't tell me it was just for the portrait in my hands, or to lure the Three-Kingdom Coalition Army here. A mere hundred thousand men—surely that's not what interests you."

Serena rolled up the scroll, only to realize it was missing its axle. Her eyes dropped to the damaged portrait, and a knowing smile appeared on her lips.

He hadn’t repaired the scroll—not enough time, and besides, he didn’t intend to hide anything from Serena. Nolan admitted bluntly, "I came for what’s inside the scroll."

"What’s inside the scroll that’s worth all this trouble?" If it were anything else, Serena wouldn’t have asked, but since it was her mother’s portrait, she had to press further.

"A map. It has nothing to do with your mother’s portrait—the old Palace Master of Skyvault hid it in there." Until now, Nolan hadn’t even known Skyvault Palace had a portrait of Emma Lu; getting it was pure coincidence.

"A map?" Serena’s brows furrowed, then she nodded in understanding. "I knew it. There’s no way you’d go to all this trouble just to vent your anger on Skyvault Palace. So it’s the map Sienna mentioned."

If Serena still didn’t understand Nolan’s goal at this point, she’d have to be an idiot—it was so obvious.

"That’s right. I came for the Skyvault Palace map." In other words, Sienna’s loose tongue had brought disaster down on Skyvault.

Now that she knew Nolan’s real objective, Serena actually felt relieved. As long as it wasn’t something that would destroy Skyvault, she’d stay out of it. She put the scroll away and turned to ask, "Why tell me? You could easily keep this from me."

"No need." Nolan reached out and pulled Serena into his arms. "Even if I told you, you wouldn’t leak it."

"Oh? I thought you were trying to buy me off, get me to cooperate with your story and provide you with an alibi. Is that why you’re telling me?" Serena looked up, her red lips parting in a flirtatious smile, her eyes glimmering with seductive mischief.

Nolan's throat tightened, and he lowered his head, ready to kiss Serena's lips to comfort himself after days of coldness. But Serena was prepared; she turned her head, and Nolan's lips landed on her cheek.

Serena laughed triumphantly. Nolan pressed her waist, pinning her in place, half indulgent, half helpless: "Naughty."

He took the opportunity to lightly bite Serena's cheek.

In return, Serena bit Nolan's chest through his clothes: "It's your own fault for letting lust cloud your judgment—look where we are. I still haven't forgiven you for using me again."

He always has a motive for everything—this man is really something. Serena regretted not biting him harder just now.

"This isn't exploitation, just by the way," Nolan soothed Serena, his deep eyes burning with heat. His clothes were neat, but somehow he still looked inexplicably sexy.

His Adam's apple bobbed, and Nolan's voice was low: "You're right, this isn't our place. Once we're back on our turf, I'll collect with interest. Actually, we've never done it in Ninth Prince Manor—my manor has a hot spring, we should try it someday."

He did have other ways to prove his alibi—he didn't necessarily need Serena's cooperation.

But in any crisis, the first person he thinks of is Serena.

Doing it in the hot spring—was this man too open-minded? Serena blushed: "Do it, my ass! Get out... It's a mess outside. If you don't show up soon, there'll be trouble."

Sensing the man's change beside her, Serena quickly jumped up. A man left unsatisfied was the most dangerous. She didn't want to be so sensitive, but as a doctor, she was always attuned to people's bodies—especially Nolan's obvious reaction.

His arms empty, Nolan felt a sense of loss. He suppressed the urge to pull her back and muttered, in a voice only he could hear: "I really don't want to go out."

At this moment, he finally understood what it meant for a king to never attend morning court again.

Serena didn't hear him, but seeing the look on Nolan's face, she understood. Serena decisively turned and opened the door…

A cold beam of light poured in; Serena shivered, and all traces of desire vanished without a trace.

This was a night for battle, not for love.

"Let’s go." Nolan calmed the fire in his heart, got up helplessly, and walked out.

He didn’t want to leave either, but people were already shouting outside—Nolan was missing, and Sean Xuan had ordered a search for his whereabouts.

Serena knew Sean Xuan was already suspicious of Nolan. Before leaving, Serena said to Nolan, "Since you brought back my mother's portrait, I'll help you this once."

Nolan nodded expressionlessly, but his increasingly light steps betrayed his good mood.

Between Sean Xuan and Nolan, Serena chose to help Nolan.

Nolan quickened his pace, walking with Serena toward the noisy courtyard. Soon, they ran into a disciple searching for him, who shouted loudly: "Ninth Royal Uncle is here!"

That shout drowned out all the other noise. Sean Xuan immediately brought the Skyvault Palace disciples over, and William Wang Jinling followed at an unhurried pace.

He was curious about what Nolan was up to, but he hadn’t expected to walk in and see…

Uh… Maybe he could just go back to his room and pretend he hadn’t seen anything.

William Wang Jinling closed his open mouth, silently turned his head…

He hadn’t seen anything.