As his burning-hot body pulled away from hers, Xie Yao watched Gu Changze stumble out of the room; only then did a measure of clarity return to her misty eyes. She steadied herself against the daybed with pale, slender fingertips, her heart pounding like a drum in her chest.
Recalling the words Gu Changze had whispered against her ear just before leaving, she glanced down at her disheveled clothing, a flush instantly rising to her cheeks.
It had all started so simply—with Gu Changze merely asking if she was thirsty. How had it ended up like this?
They had tumbled onto the daybed together; his hand had been on the verge of undoing her sash, and his kisses upon her neck were scorching and frantic. It had been a hair’s breadth away—had someone not called out from outside, would they have actually… right there…
“Truly reckless.” Biting her lip, Xie Yao murmured in a husky voice before walking to the table to pour tea. Even after downing a cup, she still felt parched. Just as she reached to pour a second, a large hand suddenly clamped around her wrist, firmly pressing the cup back down.
“A-Yao, are you truly happy about marrying him?” A low, cold, and furious voice sounded right beside her.
Startled, Xie Yao took two hasty steps back; when she looked up and saw who it was, her body went rigid. This was the first time she had seen Xiao Min since their betrothal was annulled. He had grown much thinner over the past month. His once-spirited face was now shrouded in gloom, and his eyes—red-rimmed and fixed upon her—were filled with a mixture of regret and anguish. His gaze lingered especially on her vivid, striking red lips, and he could not suppress the urge to reach out and touch her.
“Why have you come here?” Xie Yao took two steps back, avoiding his outstretched hand.
“I was only unconscious for a few days, and when I woke up, my fiancée had become someone else’s Crown Princess. Shouldn’t I have come? Xie Yao, how can you ask something like that? Do you even have a heart?” He suddenly stepped forward and seized her wrist. The last sentence came out almost as a growl.
With her wrist trapped in his grip, Xie Yao was forced backward until her back struck the wall behind her. The pain made her wince, and anger flared in her chest.
“Xiao Min, don’t forget who spent the last three months avoiding me and refusing to see me. And a month ago, whose residence sent the letter breaking off our engagement first? You know better than anyone why this marriage arrangement came about.”
How dare he stand here and accuse her? They had grown up together, sharing more than a decade of childhood friendship. Yet after her father’s death, Xiao Min began avoiding her under the pretext of being busy with official duties. She had thought he was upset because she had been too occupied to pay him enough attention. Once she finished her household affairs, she went to the Xiao residence to see him. But in the bitter winter cold, she waited in the main hall for two full hours before he finally appeared. Even when she left, he hadn’t offered her a single word of concern.
Her family had suffered a sudden upheaval. Relatives with hidden agendas circled around her. Neighbors mocked her misfortune and watched her struggles with amusement. Madam Xiao constantly sneered at and belittled her. Xie Yao endured it all in silence, gritting her teeth. She hadn’t uttered a single complaint, not even when the Xiao family broke off the engagement.
But of all people, Xiao Min had no right to blame her. Back then, she had desperately hoped that during those three difficult months, Xiao Min would stay by her side. Instead, what she received was a letter of broken engagement.
Perhaps because she rarely spoke so fiercely, Xiao Min’s lips trembled. His eyes reddened as he tried to explain himself. “I…”
“Things have reached this point; I am now the Crown Princess. If you feel even the slightest shred of guilt regarding those three months and the broken engagement, then leave through that door immediately—and never see me again.” Xie Yao quickly composed herself and turned her face away.
The attending palace servants and the matron in charge of the wedding rituals would arrive soon. The Emperor, the Empress, and the court officials were all present at the Eastern Palace; if they discovered another man in the bride’s chamber, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Hearing her speak this way, Xiao Min finally panicked; his tone instantly softened. “I only woke up yesterday. When I learned you were to marry into the Eastern Palace, I dragged my sick body out here. A-Yao, I waited for you on the long street all night, but you never came to see me.”
His expression softened as well; he reached out as if to take her hand but hesitated, not daring to make contact. “Come away with me, A-Yao. You dislike the imperial palace, and the Emperor will certainly never allow the Crown Prince to ascend the throne. How can I possibly rest easy knowing you are by his side?”
He resented fate’s fickleness—how a sickly weakling had swooped in to win the prize, while he couldn’t even touch the woman he had loved for so many years.
As he spoke, Xiao Min reached out to embrace her; Xie Yao struggled to break free, glaring back at him in angry frustration. “Xiao Min, if you want to die, don’t drag me down with you.”
“Are you afraid too, A-Yao? Are you afraid that if he walked in right now and saw us embracing like this, his grand wedding would become a laughingstock?”
As he said this, Xiao Min pulled her into his arms and lowered his head to kiss her.
Furious, Xie Yao raised her hand to strike him; just as they grappled with one another, voices grew louder, approaching from outside the door.
“The Crown Princess must have been waiting a long time; Your Highness, please hurry.”
“His Highness has been drinking. Would you like this servant to bring a bowl of sobering soup?”
On the other side of the wall, Xie Yao’s body stiffened.
When Gu Changze pushed the door open and entered, the room was perfectly quiet. Red wedding candles burned brightly, and a slender figure sat at the edge of the bridal bed.
Beneath her veil, Xie Yao quietly let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, Xiao Min still knew where the line was. At the last moment, he jumped out the window.
The wedding matron approached with a cheerful smile. After offering a respectful greeting, she picked up the ceremonial happiness scale and said,
“The auspicious hour has arrived. Your Highness, please lift the bride’s veil.”
The lively chatter in the room faded into silence. Taking the scale from her, Gu Changze raised his hand and gently lifted the red bridal veil from Xie Yao’s head.
A beautiful face, delicate as a lotus blossom, came into view. Though he had seen her only a quarter of an hour earlier, under the glow of the lamps, Xie Yao possessed a different kind of beauty altogether. Her disheveled strands of hair had not yet been completely smoothed back into place, and her slightly swollen lips stirred memories that left Gu Changze wanting more. His gaze drifted from her lips to her wrist, and when he clearly caught sight of the faint red mark there, the smile in his eyes darkened.
Xie Yao, however, noticed none of this. The wedding matron was still offering auspicious congratulations. Setting the veil aside, Gu Changze took her hand and led her toward the table.
“May the Crown Prince and Crown Princess share the nuptial wine.”
Gu Changze personally poured two cups. He and Xie Yao each drank half a cup, then crossed their arms and finished the wine in each other’s cups.
“Congratulations to Your Highness and Her Highness on your joyous wedding. May you live in perfect harmony, and may you grow old together with white hair.”
Gu Changze laughed and applauded lightly. “Reward them all.”
The servants gratefully accepted their rewards and offered another round of auspicious congratulations before filing out one after another and closing the door behind them. Only the two of them remained.
Setting down the wine cup, Xie Yao looked up, only to find Gu Changze staring at her without blinking. “W-What is it?”
The look in his eyes was so intense and focused that it inexplicably reminded her of the way he had leaned close and spoken into her ear a quarter of an hour earlier. Instinctively, she avoided his gaze.
“A-Yao looks very beautiful today.” Gu Changze let out a soft chuckle. He raised a hand and brushed her hair back from her temple, then removed the phoenix coronet from her head.
The weight on her head suddenly disappeared, and Xie Yao bit her lip as she looked at him. “Why did Your Highness return so early?”
“I told you before I left, didn’t I? I couldn’t very well keep you waiting for too long.” Gu Changze looked at her meaningfully. His dry, warm hand brushed along the side of her neck, and Xie Yao’s body trembled almost imperceptibly. “Your Highness…”
She had barely begun to speak when Gu Changze’s slender, pale fingers rested against her lips.
“It’s nearly the Hour of Xu.”
“Mm…” Xie Yao responded softly.
The sun had already set by the time they performed the wedding rites, and after the subsequent flurry of activity, darkness had long since fallen outside. The clamor of guests drifted faintly from the front hall, while the red dragon-and-phoenix candles burned brightly, casting an increasingly intimate and amorous atmosphere over the room.
At some point, Gu Changze had moved closer to her; his clear, gentle eyes held a shimmering light as he gazed deeply at her. “Are you still hungry?”
Xie Yao shook her head. She had been hungry earlier, but after the commotion caused by Xiao Min, the feeling had vanished.
The moment she shook her head, Gu Changze rose; with a firm grasp around her waist, he swept her into his arms and strode toward the bed.
Startled, she instinctively clutched the lapels of his robe. “Your Highness…”
“It is getting late; let us retire for the night.” As Gu Changze spoke in a low, husky voice, the world seemed to spin around Xie Yao, and she found herself pinned down upon the bed.
Amid the sea of crimson, those deep, intense eyes remained fixed on her; under his gaze, Xie Yao unconsciously held her breath, her heart pounding ever faster.
“The nuptial wine I drank earlier didn’t taste very good. I wonder if the Crown Princess’s cup might be sweeter.” With slender fingers cupping her chin, he suddenly claimed her lips in a kiss.
Through the layers of her heavy wedding robes, she could feel the heat radiating from his taut body. The overwhelming kiss swept her away, leaving her breathless and unable to do anything but cling tightly to his neck, surrendering herself to his embrace. His large hand held her wrist in a firm grip; the red mark left by Xiao Min’s earlier grasp had not yet faded.
Xie Yao struggled to pull away but remained held fast by Gu Changze. His scorching lips lingered over that red mark, planting a series of tender, meticulous kisses until his own mark completely overlaid the redness; only then did he move on to her neck.
Xie Yao gasped softly. As she shifted her body, she felt something hard digging painfully into her from beneath. Gazing at Gu Changze with a dazed, misty look, she bit her lip and cried out in a voice tinged with grievance: “There’s something there… it hurts…”
Gu Changze’s dark eyes, heavy with desire, shifted slightly away from her to see the peanuts and longan scattered beneath her.
These items carried auspicious meanings, but Gu Changze had no patience for them then; he lifted Xie Yao and swept the items onto the floor with a wave of his sleeve.
“Your Highness… why did you throw them all away?”
“We’ll eat them tomorrow.”
Gu Changze clasped her wrist and pulled her back; a cool breeze touched her skin as he undid the intricate, delicate fasteners of her wedding gown one by one. Her shoulders, gleaming white as jade, came into view, and his kisses rained down in a wild, frenzied rhythm. She was compelled to surrender to the man’s ardent passion and love as his large hands roamed and teased her body.
Xie Yao felt as though her very consciousness were melting away; she tilted her head back to gaze at Gu Changze in a daze, utterly unaware of how bewitching she looked—her face flushed crimson and her eyes swimming with misty desire.
“It’s hot…”
“The heat will pass soon.”
Gu Changze let out a ragged breath as he slipped off the outer layer of her wedding robes. Clad only in a white undergarment, her hair disheveled, she felt her waist go limp beneath his touch.
The heat between them surged; Xie Yao felt his body grow taut, and wherever his hands grazed her skin, it felt as though she were being seared by flame. Overcome by an unbearable, feverish sensation, she arched her slender white neck, her toes curling tightly together. Her pale fingers clutched the corner of the pillow, and tears seemed to well in her eyes as his large hand clasped her limp wrist and guided it downward. Her fingers brushed against the cool, knotted fasteners at his waist, and she looked up to meet his gaze—eyes dark with desire yet held in check by sheer restraint—A gaze so deep and smoldering. Beads of sweat, born of his restraint, dripped from his forehead onto the side of her neck, causing Xie Yao to flinch instinctively.
Though the moment was already upon them—his hand already gripping hers and undoing the fasteners—he still paused to ask, feigning hesitation. “May I? A-Yao.”