"...What is this?" The Emperor finally asked, breaking the silent standoff that had been going on for too long.

Prince Yi knit his brows and then went, "I do not understand the question...Your majesty." He "respectfully" added after a slight pause.

The Emperor let out a breath and clarified, "What is it that you're planning now?"

Prince Yi raised his eyebrows and blinked up at him in "confusion", "Planning? I am not planning anything ... Unless a blissful marriage qualifies as a plan then perhaps I-"

"Stop with the games." The Emperor calmly interjected, irritated with prince Yi's coy response, "You must think that the fact that you still live means that I am foolish. Otherwise why else would you continue to be so brazen in your actions."

Prince Yi frowned, "All I ask is permission to marry. How is that being brazen? Al-"

"Leaving aside everything else you have done over just the last few months. Today, you not only dared to have a frivolous affair with a foreign Princess under my care, you got her pregnant, and then you had the audacity to barge in here to proudly announce this "great" deed of yours. If this is not being brazen, then what is? I can turn a blind eye to what you do in private, but I cannot tolerate you undermining me in public!" The Emperor angrily said, raising his voice. He has been really trying his best to be understanding with his brother and had overlooked one thing after another but Prince Yi just kept pushing the line, tempting his own death.

Prince Yi knit his brows and looked down at the ground, "It's not like I "planned" for her to get pregnant, we simply got carried away in a moment of passion...It was my mistake but we cannot punish Princess Nalan for it, she is already suffering enough and so I ask that you grant me this marriage so I can make this right for her!" He beseechingly said, cupping his hands.

"So your idea of making this right for her was to destroy her reputation like this?" The Emperor asked with a frown, the hypocrisy of Prince Yi's words were too pungent to be simply glossed over.

Prince Yi frowned, he obviously could not tell the Emperor that it was because he wanted to make it so there was no room for the Emperor to manipulate things and ruin his plan. And since there was really no other excuse that would make sense, he opted for silence.

The Emperor let out an irritated, somewhat weary sigh and said, "I have tolerated your antics so long because I felt pity for the life and dreams you have lost and perhaps I felt some measure of guilt for the role I may have played in diverting your course. But you must agree with me that whatever debt I might have owed you has long been paid. I have spared your life where you would not have spared mine. I have turned a blind eye where you would have persecuted me. I have given you chance after chance yet you show no signs of turning back..."

Prince Yi knit his brows, he did not understand where the Emperor was going with this, but he was sensing danger so he switched gears and tried to appeal to the Emperor's sensitive side, "I know I have made a mistake, it was just that seeing you so blissfully happy in your marriage made me realize that I too wanted that in my life, to find my own happiness..."

Prince Yi paused and looked up at the Emperor, who seemed to be skeptically observing him, he continued, "I too long to live a happy life. I had not expected to find such happiness so soon and not in Princess Nalan, but it happened and I - we got carried away with it. Now that it's come to this, I am pleading with you to grant me this. I know it is not a difficult thing for you, if you approve, the Zou king cannot refuse you so please grant me this...It is my first and only ask of you." He finished, kowtowing to the ground.

The Emperor blinked and then knit his brows as he stared down at the kowtowing Prince Yi. He had not expected these soft words or sincerity from Prince Yi so he was a bit taken aback, "You found happiness in the Zou princess?" The Emperor quietly asked after a moment of silence.

"Yes." Prince Yi loudly said, raising his head and looking up at the Emperor with as sincere an expression as he could muster. On the inside, Prince Yi was all smiles. He knew he had won the Emperor over.

Since their last spat over the kiss incident, Prince Yi had realized that the Emperor still held a sentimental side for him, however small it was. But it should be enough to give the extra push for compliance that he needed, especially after that debts and life course. Especially considering the Emperor had no choice but to agree, there was nothing he could do but agree so all this - making him beg for it, was simply the Emperor flaunting his power over him.

But he would indulge the Emperor's whims and beg today for the chance to flaunt tomorrow.

"Is it the girl or the princess in which you have found happiness?" The Emperor suddenly asked, cutting through Prince Yi's thoughts and bursting the little victory bubble that had been forming in Prince Yi's head.

Prince Yi slightly knit his brows, hesitated for a moment before responding, "...The girl and the princess are one the same, just as I am a man and a prince. "

"Hm...Perhaps." The Emperor quietly commented, knitting his brows and going silent again.

In all honesty, it was just as Prince Yi said, sanctioning the marriage was not a difficult thing for him to do. After all, the Zou king had sent Princess Nalan here with marriage in mind. But it was not the marriage or pregnancy that truly concerned him, it was what Prince Yi's thoughts with this marriage, his motive.

While the Emperor would like to believe that Prince Yi held no ulterior motive, he could not fully bring himself to believe that, not even with Prince Yi seemingly pouring his heart out to him here. Especially not after he had just seen Prince Yi looking at Lei Xing with those lovelorn eyes, he was not even sure Prince Yi was aware of how much his eyes revealed. He saw nothing of that now when Prince Yi was speaking of Princess Nalan and the happiness he felt with her.

It could not be that simple, especially not given Prince Yi's ambition for the throne and past attempts to connect with Zou. It needed to be looked into, starting with how his men had missed this relationship forming between Prince Yi and Princess Nalan. The fact that they even had enough time to get pregnant meant there was a huge blindspot in the surveillance and that was very concerning.

Prince Yi started feeling uneasy again and tried to persuade again, putting on an even more earnest expression, but before he could even begin, the Emperor went, "You have still not explained why you chose to announce her pregnancy here, knowing what damage it would cause to her reputation...I want your answer."

Prince Y stiffened and then frowned, his irritation starting to rise to the surface. He honestly did not understand why the Emperor was dragging this. After all, it was not like the Emperor actually cared about Princess Nalan and her reputation, he was simply just trying to make Prince Yi's life difficult. The situation was simple, the solution was simple, him pleading was pointless and he was getting tired of it.

"You still don't have an answer...do you?" The Emperor asked after a stretch of silence, "You once used to be the most considerate person I knew, but now it seems that you have become too selfish. Selfish enough to hurt those you claim to care for without any thought for their wellbeing...It is quite unfortunate."

Prince Yi glared at the Emperor, his anger rising. The look of pity in the Emperor's eyes as he looked down at him further infuriated Prince Yi. He was prepared to beg, even grovel if he had to, but seeing the Emperor looking at him condescendingly with those eyes of pity kicked him over the edge and pretending for his future "good" was kicked out of his mind and his bitter honesty took over and he honestly said, "I was driven to it...by you."