A whole group of us snuck off toward the Cold Palace in the middle of the night, acting all suspicious. The Seven Husbands were totally confused—what were Ivy and Mama Yun up to at this hour instead of sleeping?
Ivy, leading the way, was too busy listening to Yvonne Yun’s excited chatter and caught up in the thrill of sneaking around to notice the tails trailing behind her.
"Shh, we’re here!" Yvonne Yun whispered suddenly, all nerves, and dragged Ivy down to crouch and peek ahead.
This was the Cold Palace Lake—so remote that hardly anyone ever came here, though honestly, the scenery was pretty great.
Little bridges, flowing water, the works—no wonder the late emperor’s consorts loved this spot.
Following Yvonne Yun’s pointing finger, Ivy looked over. In the distance, a blazing red figure gazed lovingly at Nina Xu. At some point, those big hands had grabbed Nina’s, and their eyes were totally dripping with romantic vibes.
"Do you think they’ll actually hook up here?" Yvonne Yun asked Ivy, tilting her head.
"Mama Yun, if they really start going at it here, would you watch?" Ivy asked, dead serious.
Yvonne Yun squinted and grinned, "Let’s say it together."
"We would!" They answered in perfect sync, then shared a wicked little smile. Honestly, they were a pair of troublemaking mother and daughter.
"Wait, when did those two get together?" Butterfly Rogue blinked, surprised. They hadn’t seen each other for a few days and now they were suddenly a couple?
"Right? Just the other day, Nina was saying she liked girls," Liam Willow said, equally baffled, though secretly wishing Adrian Night could be this bold too.
"Heh," Lucian Vane smirked, shrugging. "Isn’t this better? That’s one less rival for us."
But Lucian’s comment just earned him a massive eye-roll from Ethan Chu. "Please, we never saw her as competition, because..." He trailed off, but his sleazy little grin said it all—only they could satisfy Ivy, so why would she go looking for a woman?
"Tonight’s my turn in bed!" Eli Crane suddenly declared.
"Yeah, it’s my night, for real! Look how late it is," Butterfly Rogue said, realizing how much time they’d wasted. He jumped up and bellowed, "Ivy! Let’s go back to bed!"
Butterfly Rogue’s shout startled Ivy and totally freaked out the two lovebirds.
"You guys..." Nina Xu realized something was up and blushed hard.
"Your Majesty—how could you spy on us like that?" Fire God’s face went bright red, and he shot Ivy a look of pure contempt for peeping.
Ivy stood up, gave an awkward little laugh, and shot Butterfly Rogue a deadly glare—her look clearly said, "You’re toast. You are so dead."
Butterfly Rogue instantly shivered, whipping his head around to beg his bros for help—only to find all six had vanished without a trace!
Oh crap, so...
Did that mean he was the only one left holding the bag? The ultimate scapegoat?
Meanwhile—
"Good thing I bailed fast!" Adrian Night, seeing Butterfly Rogue about to get in trouble, grabbed Liam Willow and sprinted off. The rest, all martial arts masters, followed suit—except Butterfly Rogue, who was so spaced out he got left behind, a total tragedy.
"We—we were just out moon-gazing, right, Mama Yun?" Ivy grinned at Yvonne Yun, who was still hiding in the bushes.
Yvonne Yun could only roll her eyes—her daughter-in-law was way too good at this, good enough to throw her under the bus too.
"Haha, totally! Just look, the moonlight’s gorgeous tonight!"
Nina Xu glanced up at the sky, then mumbled, "It’s cloudy tonight."
Awkward!
Yep, both of them were instantly embarrassed. Seriously, what was the moon’s problem tonight? It was shining just fine yesterday!
Of course, Ivy wasn’t your average person. She straightened up, marched over, and declared, "This is my turf. If Mama Yun and I can’t sleep, we’re allowed to take a walk, right? But you two..."
"Exactly, you two..." Yvonne Yun, seeing the attention shift, jumped in to stir the pot, grinning mischievously.
Nina Xu quickly stepped away from Fire God, face burning red. "We—we were just taking a walk," she stammered, voice getting quieter and quieter.
"Oh? Just taking a walk, huh? What about you, Fire God?" Ivy turned to Fire God, ready to grill him.
"Me?" Fire God glanced at Ivy, then at Nina Xu. Seeing Nina’s worried frown, he really wanted to deny it, but thought better of it—he couldn’t act like some king, or else he’d be doomed. So he blurted out, "Your Majesty, I’ve fallen for her. I want to marry her!"
"Fire God..." Nina Xu’s face went even redder—she wished she could just dig a hole and disappear.
"Nice! That’s great news!" Yvonne Yun chimed in. She loved weddings—so lively! Too bad she’d missed all of theirs.
"Who—who said I’d marry you?" Nina Xu covered her burning face, totally flustered.
"Nina, I really love you! You can’t not marry me!" Fire God blurted, getting desperate.
Ivy asked, "Are you a man or not?"
"Huh?"
"Don’t just stand there—head forward, take a left, there’s a palace. It’s got everything you need, even a bed and blankets. You know what I mean, right?" She finished with a sly grin.
"Ivy..." Nina Xu grew even more embarrassed, her voice trembling.
"Got it!" Fire God grinned wide. She was basically telling him to make it official.
With that, he scooped Nina Xu up and strode off.
Nina Xu shrieked, "What are you doing? Put me down!"
But her cries quickly faded. Ivy watched their retreating backs and smiled—no matter when they got together, this was the best ending. She’d always known Nina, deep down, liked men; she’d only hated them because her brother had been hurt by one.
But now, she’d finally figured out her feelings, and that was the best thing of all.
"Ivy, I’m getting sleepy. I’ll go check on Little Snowball." With that, Yvonne Yun slipped away, leaving Butterfly Rogue alone and miserable.
"Spying? Huh?" Ivy stalked over to Butterfly Rogue, her face darkening. This guy was always causing trouble—if not for him, maybe she’d get to see more of the good stuff!
Butterfly Rogue hurried to explain, "Darling, actually, actually..."
"No need to explain. I’m going back." Ivy ignored him and stormed off, so Butterfly Rogue scrambled after her, still trying to plead his case.
A while later—
"Darling, do you really have to do this?" Butterfly Rogue was tied up, hands bound and dangling from the bed frame, dressed only in his underwear, half-kneeling—a classic S&M scene.
Ivy cracked her whip, tossing her hair. "Wow!" She smacked her lips—she’d always wanted to try this, but felt embarrassed. Now that she had dirt on Butterfly Rogue, she was going to make the most of it.
"Darling, I’m scared it’ll hurt..." Butterfly Rogue, hair disheveled, his pale skin glowing pink, bit his lip and gave Ivy a plaintive look—playing the perfect victim.
But underneath all that ‘worry,’ he was clearly itching to give it a try.
Crack! Ivy’s whip hit the floor with a deafening snap. In the next instant, she pinned Butterfly Rogue down and straddled him, whipping the bed. "Giddy-up! Giddy-up!"
"Ow, ow, it hurts! Darling, go easy on me~~ Ow~~" Butterfly Rogue wailed, sounding pitiful, but his face was pure bliss.
"Crush you, crush you!" Ivy was deep into her roleplay, acting like a man and leaving a trail of hickeys all over Butterfly Rogue, making him shriek so loud the whole harem could hear.
The six husbands couldn’t sleep with all the racket. Adrian Night shot upright and paced the room. Did they really have to be that loud? Seriously?!
Did they have to be so loud? Was it really necessary? Was this a challenge? Definitely! Adrian Night clenched his fists, fuming.
Lucian Vane, meanwhile, started stabbing himself with silver needles. Calm, stay calm—damn it, Butterfly Rogue, why are you screaming? I’m gonna lose it!
Blue Mo Xuan fiddled with his golden abacus, muttering the math Ivy had taught him: "One times one is one, one times two is two, two times two is four, two times three is eight—wait, no, two times three is nine, no, no, what is two times three again?" He finally lost it, flung open the window and yelled, "Can you all shut up? I’m doing the household budget here!"
It was a great excuse—too bad...
"Ahhh, I can’t take it! Darling, harder—oh, oh, not like that, yamadie!" Butterfly Rogue moaned.
"Yamadie, huh? Is it really that good?" Ethan Chu grumbled. Every time Ivy was enjoying herself, she’d shyly cry out ‘yamadie’—he’d learned it was Korean for ‘no,’ a coy way of saying yes.
So now everyone knew what ‘yamadie’ meant.
Still, a grown man yelling ‘yamadie’—isn’t that kind of gross?!
"One dumpling, two dumplings, three, four... nine hundred ninety dumplings." Liam Willow hugged his blanket, eyes squeezed shut, counting dumplings—a pun for ‘sleeping.’ He hoped it would distract him, but after ages, he finally sat up and said, "I’m hungry!"
Eli Crane sat cross-legged, eyes closed, taking deep breaths. Ever since his recovery, he’d been practicing martial arts to get stronger—but now was clearly not the time for meditation.
Butterfly Rogue’s loud cries kept coming, driving Eli Crane to distraction. He thought, Maybe I’ve been too gentle with him!
"Haha, giddy-up!" Ivy straddled Butterfly Rogue, cracking her whip with glee. So this was what it was like for men to tease women!
Turns out, those cries were pretty exciting. No wonder men liked it when women moaned.
Butterfly Rogue really had a gift!
She should give him an award—the Best Actor, definitely deserved.
Acting?
Yeah, next time she’d get everyone in on it—it’d be hilarious! Ivy pictured Butterfly Rogue and Lucian Vane dressed as women, marrying the guys, with her as the bridesmaid. She cracked up—what a riot that would be!
"Darling, darling, it’s my first time, you have to be gentle! Oh, oh, gentle!" Butterfly Rogue crooned sweetly.
But that line made all six husbands scoff at once. First time, my foot—shameless!
Lucian Vane gritted his teeth, annoyed. Playing a woman was his specialty! That guy copied everything—so unfair!
So tonight, Butterfly Rogue had really ticked off all six husbands. The days ahead were bound to be rough for him!
********* Divider *********
PS: This chapter is 4,000 words, wow! Did you smile a little reading this one? Ah, yamadie~~~ pfft~~~ (Everyone, the finale is coming soon—I’m really going to miss you all!)