The crown princess explained, “There are some maids inside, so I need you to help me knock them out.” She definitely couldn’t accomplish that with her cultivation.

“Why do you have to knock out your own maids?” Zu An asked, not understanding.

The crown princess said, “How can we let anyone else know after this sort of thing happened? I don’t want to entrust my own safety to the hands of more people than necessary. Furthermore, I can’t guarantee that these servants aren’t spies planted by other people, so it’s best if we knock them unconscious for now.”

Zu An understood. This woman was naturally suited to a high position. She considered things from a different angle compared to ordinary people. However, he had to admit that her plan was more dependable than the alternative.

The crown princess looked through a hidden hole. “There are two maids chatting by the southeastern corner. There’s a maid sorting out things to the west. There are two by the entrance.”

Zu An curled his lips. She wasn’t even inside the room, yet there were still so many maids standing guard. It was certainly fitting of her status as the crown princess. He moved over to take a look, memorizing where each of the maids were.

The crown princess backed up a bit. Her face was a bit red, but fortunately, it was too dark to tell. When Zu An had moved, he had touched her face by accident.

However, she quickly remembered that when Zhuxie Chixin found them, he had done more than just touch her face. The two of them had even kissed… Her face immediately became even more red, and her expression became conflicted too.

“Alright, I have an idea. How do you open the mechanism?” Zu An asked.

The crown princess came over. “When I count to three, you should charge in and restrain them. Don’t give them any chance to alarm the guards outside.”

“Okay.” Zu An focused his attention. He listened to the crown princess’ count. Once it reached three, light suddenly appeared above him. He immediately rushed in, and the maids turned around in confusion when they heard the noise. Unfortunately, a blur passed before their eyes and they fainted.

The two by the entrance began to run. Zu An decisively used Grandgale to instantly move behind them and knock them out, and their bodies fell back into the room.

The crown princess had crawled out from the secret passage by then. Zu An noticed that the secret passage was actually above the bed. Thinking about it, that made sense, as it would allow her to immediately escape if someone attempted to assassinate her  while she was sleeping.

“Thank goodness that maid Rong Mo of yours wasn’t here, or else it wouldn’t have been so easy.” Zu An sighed in relief.

The crown princess replied, “She went with me to the Hundred Flower Palace. She was waiting outside back then, and is probably looking for me right now. That’s why she isn’t here.”

Zu An nodded. Something so big had happened to the crown princess. It would be more strange if Rong Mo didn’t look for her. He gave the unconscious maids a look and couldn’t help but say, “You’re not going to kill them too, are you?”

The crown princess frowned. “Did they see your face just now?”

Zu An shook his head. “No.”

“Then there’s no need. Why would I kill them?” The crown princess harrumphed. “Am I really an indiscriminate murderer in your eyes?” Zu An chuckled awkwardly and remained silent.

The crown princess removed the mask covering her face. Then, she took out a set of clothes from a chest placed off to the side. She commanded seriously, “Come here.”

“Why?” Zu An was confused, but he still walked over.

“Help me get dressed,” the crown princess said indifferently, as if she were talking about something insignificant.

Zu An was stupefied. “You want me to help you get dressed?” He even felt as if he were looking at a child in that instant. Why do you need help putting on your clothes? You really are a match for that stupid crown prince.

As if seeing through his intentions, the crown princess said, “My clothes are always complex. I have several maids who help me get dressed normally. I can’t put them on alone.”

Zu An realized that he had overthought the situation. He moved over to her side and asked, “What do I do?”

The crown princess gave him a look. Then, she undid her waistband, allowing the dress to slide down her fine skin, and expose her shining white body.

Zu An’s breathing quickened. In an instant, he was left a little stunned. What kind of situation was this?

“You already saw everything you weren’t supposed to see anyway. What’s that look on your face?” The crown princess’ voice was surprisingly calm, but her rising and falling chest exposed that she wasn’t as composed as she seemed on the surface.

Zu An said with a bitter smile, “That was a situation I couldn’t control.”

The crown princess spread her arms. “Bring the clothes over there and help me put them on.”

Zu An felt as if he were being harassed right now, but what else could he even say in this type of situation? He could only obediently bring the clothes over. He had to admit that they were pretty, and they were indeed quite complicated. It was impossible for someone to get dressed in them alone.

As such, he silently helped her get dressed. The crown princess’ face was completely red during the entire process.

After some time, the crown princess spoke again. “I don’t want anyone to know about what happened today.”

Zu An said in agreement, “Alright, I won’t tell anyone about this.”

“I hope you can forget about it too.” The crown princess took a deep breath.

“Fine.” Zu An wasn’t as frivolous as usual. He knew that the other party cared a lot about this, so now wasn’t the time to joke around.

“I’ll do my best to raise you up in the future and give you more resources to repay you for your help today. As for anything else, you shouldn’ think about it. I am still the crown princess in the end, so our statuses…” The crown princess’ eyelashes trembled. Her emotions were clearly all over the place.

“Understood!” Zu An nodded continuously.

The crown princess hesitated. A while later, she suddenly said, “The crown prince and I have never done it.”

Zu An was stunned. “Why are you telling me that?”

The crown princess looked away, seemingly upset. “It’s nothing.”

Waves surged within Zu An. Even though he’d had some guesses before, those were just guesses. Now that he had heard her admit it herself, he experienced an entirely different feeling. What was even more shocking was the fact that she’d told him directly.

Don’t tell me she developed some positive feelings for me after seeing how dashing I was today?

But that makes sense too… With how upright and handsome I am, I’m better than that fatty in every single way. It’s not surprising at all that she likes me.

But why do I feel as if something isn’t right…

The bashful crown princess, who was currently sorting out her hair, looked at Zu An as he helped her put on her girdle. The back of his head was exposed. A cold glint suddenly flashed in her eyes.

She removed a golden hairpin and stabbed it viciously toward the back of Zu An’s head. The golden hairpin flickered with a faint blue radiance, clearly having been soaked in poison for a long time. Once pricked, the target would undoubtedly die.

However, the golden hairpin didn’t stab into Zu An’s head. Instead, it stopped an inch before it touched him. It wasn’t that the crown princess had shown mercy, but rather that it was clasped between two of Zu An’s fingers.

The crown princess’ expression changed. “How did you know I was going to kill you?!” she exclaimed. They were so close that the attack was almost impossible to guard against unless the other party had been wary the entire time.

Zu An flicked his wrist. A wave of force spread out, and the golden hairpin flew out of the crown princess’ hands and into his. Then, he slowly stood up and said, “To be honest, I was fooled at first.” He threw away the golden hairpin and sighed. “The beautiful and noble crown princess removed her clothes in front of me without holding back at all. What man in this world could resist such temptation?”

“Even the most inflexible man might feel that the crown princess felt something for him. Surely that would be the only reason for her to strip in front of him. His mind might even start roaming, and he might feel that he had a chance with the crown princess.”

“You even emphasized that you haven’t done anything with the crown prince. That would make a man’s thoughts go even crazier, creating a fantasy that this would be the perfect opportunity for him to take the crown prince’s place and become your man.”

“Then why did you suspect me?!” That was what the crown princess just couldn’t figure out. After all, this fellow seemed like the model example of a pervert. She had sacrificed herself to set up this huge honey trap, yet he had managed to see through it!