He had gotten too close.
Tianyin could feel the wall against her back, cold, hard, with nowhere to escape.
Yanlong had stepped closer slowly, deliberately, as if he had all the time in the world.
As if the space between them were something he could reduce at will, without asking for her permission, without even caring what it did to her.
She should have looked away.
Said something.
Thrown out a jab.
Anything rather than remain there, her back pressed against the cold stone, letting him come even closer.
But she hadn’t moved.
And neither had he.
Their gazes lingered.
The silence between them was thick, charged, like the air just before a storm, when the sky holds its breath and everything waits.
Tianyin felt something tighten in her chest.
A gentle pressure.
Persistent.
Difficult to ignore.
Stop looking at him like that.
Stop.
But her eyes refused to obey.
The crack tore through the silence.
A whip.
Thrown with precision.
Aimed at Yanlong.
He didn’t even need to turn around.
His hand rose, a sharp, almost lazy movement, and he caught the strap in his palm, winding it between his fingers as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
The tension in the whip vanished instantly, neutralized, rendered harmless within a fraction of a second.
Yanlong lowered his eyes to the strap in his hand.
Then slowly raised them toward the darkness at the end of the corridor.
His expression had not changed.
Not an ounce of surprise.
Not even a shadow of anger.
“What are you doing here?”
His voice was cold.
As if the intruder did not deserve the energy required to raise his tone.
As if her presence were merely a minor nuisance to deal with, nothing more.
A crystalline laugh shattered the silence.
“Why wouldn’t I come and see my fiancé?”
She stepped out of the shadows.
Tianyin saw her.
And immediately understood why that voice carried such confidence.
The woman approaching wore a mauve dress with pearlescent reflections, embroidered with golden threads that caught the light with every movement, as though the stars themselves had been woven into the fabric.
Her hair was styled with studied elegance, held in place by a jade hairpin.
Her face possessed a beauty that seemed almost otherworldly—delicate features, a sharp gaze, and lips slightly curved into a smile that asked no one’s permission.
She wasn’t entering a corridor.
She was taking possession of it.
Tianyin felt something contract in her chest.
Not fear.
No, something more uncomfortable than that.
Something she did not yet have a name for and had no intention of searching for.
Pei Ruxue approached Yanlong with the ease of someone who had done so a thousand times.
Her fingers came to rest lightly against his chest, casual and effortless, as though the gesture belonged to her by right.
As though the space between them had a history Tianyin knew nothing about.
Tianyin held her breath.
Yanlong looked at the hand resting against his chest.
One second.
No more.
He unwound the whip from his hand and let it fall to the ground without a glance, then seized Pei Ruxue’s wrist and moved it away without the slightest hesitation.
Like putting an object back where it did not belong.
Pei Ruxue laughed again.
Not offended.
Not surprised.
As if this rejection were part of a game whose every rule she had known for a very long time.
Her gaze then slid to the side.
And found Tianyin.
Tianyin didn’t have time to compose her expression.
“Well, well…” Pei Ruxue said, that smile still in place, sharp as a blade.
“So you’re the famous Celestial Princess.”
It wasn’t a question.
Pei Ruxue crossed her arms and began to circle her.
Slowly.
Methodically.
Like a merchant examining a rare piece before deciding whether it was worth the price.
Tianyin didn’t move.
She wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing her retreat.
Not one step.
Not even a tremor.
She could feel Pei Ruxue’s gaze traveling over every detail—her hair, her dress, her posture—with the precision of an inventory.
Pei Ruxue’s fingers brushed a strand of her hair, lifting it before letting it fall again.
Then it was her dress, the fabric pinched between two fingers, inspected, then released as though she were evaluating the quality of merchandise.
She’s playing with me like I’m a doll.
She’s playing, and she wants me to know it.
Tianyin felt her anger rising.
Slowly.
Steadily.
Like water beginning to boil.
Then Pei Ruxue stopped in front of her.
Her hand rose and seized Tianyin’s chin.
“Let me see your face.”
Tianyin’s jaw tightened.
Her fists clenched at her sides, her nails digging into her palms.
She said nothing.
Because if she opened her mouth now, it wouldn’t be words that came out.
Pei Ruxue studied her.
For a long time.
Her eyes traveled over every feature with calm attention, comparing them to whatever she had imagined.
The rumors said the Celestial Princess was ordinary.
Unremarkable.
Some random girl her father had hidden from the world out of shame.
The rumors had lied.
There was nothing ordinary about this face.
A delicate, almost fragile beauty.
But those eyes…
Sharp.
Intense.
The kind of gaze that burned even when the mouth remained silent.
Pei Ruxue released her chin.
She laughed—a brief, genuine laugh, almost admiring.
“I see why you didn’t reject her like all the others.”
She didn’t even turn toward him.
As if it were obvious.
As if it were a defeat she accepted with grace.
Yanlong had not moved throughout the entire exchange.
He had not looked at Pei Ruxue even once.
But Tianyin…
Her jaw tighten.
That flame in her eyes rising, rising, restrained by an iron will, yet burning all the same.
He took a step forward.
Just one.
But it was enough.
He pushed Pei Ruxue aside with one arm, without a word to her, the way one would push aside a door blocking the passage.
Then he firmly seized Tianyin’s wrist.
“Let me go!” she hissed immediately.
His brows furrowed.
She struggled.
Once.
Twice.
With all the energy of someone who refused to concede anything.
Yanlong completely ignored her.
He bent down and swung her over his shoulder in one smooth motion, as though she weighed nothing, as though her protests were merely a minor detail to be dealt with later, once they were back.
“Put me down!
Put me down right now!
You are…
you are impossible!
You…”
He began walking.
At an unhurried pace.
Deliberate.
Tianyin continued struggling with all her strength over his shoulder, pounding his back, her hair scattered in every direction, her protests echoing through the corridor as if she wanted the entire manor to hear her.
He did not turn around.
But as he passed Pei Ruxue, he said, still in that same flat tone, still without looking at her:
“You should return to your father’s residence before he starts worrying about your disappearance, Pei Ruxue.”
Pei Ruxue did not answer.
She watched them disappear down the corridor, Yanlong walking as though nothing had happened, Tianyin struggling like a wild animal over his shoulder while showering him with insults.
Then her smile returned.
Slower this time.
More thoughtful.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Tianyin had stopped struggling.
Not because she had surrendered.
But because she was out of breath and it was useless.
He continued walking as though she were nothing more than ordinary luggage, unperturbed, silent, as always.
From his shoulder, she watched the corridor pass by upside down.
Stone tiles.
Columns passing one after another.
And Pei Ruxue disappearing into the distance, that smile still on her lips.
Her fiancé.
The word caught in her throat like a fishbone.
She hadn’t asked.
She hadn’t wanted to know.
But now that the word was there, lodged inside her mind, she could no longer ignore it.
It remained.
It took up space.
Yanlong had someone.
Someone real.
Someone who knew his corridors, his habits.
Someone who placed her fingers against his chest with the ease of familiarity, as though she had every right to do so.
Something that had been granted to her.
What could that possibly have to do with me?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.