Substituting one person for another was the single best plan—it altered his identity while simultaneously preserving Cody’s public standing. He didn’t even need to change his name; once the marriage took place and his divine purity was broken, he would lose his priest’s powers completely, rendering him entirely unable to prove he had ever been the High Priest.
The man had calculated everything brilliantly. Unfortunately, matters rarely unfolded strictly according to his wishes.
With the King personally orchestrating the arrangement, the substitution proceeded with surreal smoothness. By the time Lin Yao regained consciousness, he was already inside Cody’s private bedchamber.
Candlelight flickered gently in the room. Cody sat by his bedside, the warm glow painting his golden hair in the hues of a morning sunrise—impossibly striking.
Lin Yao instinctively reached out to coil a strand of gold around his fingers, asking with faint confusion, “Your Highness, why am I here?”
“Because this is where you belong,” Cody’s hand brushed lightly against the side of his neck as he laid out the King’s entire plan without reservation. “Yao, starting today, you are no longer a priest. You are my royal consort, and mine alone. How does that make you feel?”
“His Majesty arranged this? Why?” Lin Yao appeared moderately surprised as he slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. “Was he not particularly opposed to it before?”
“He likely had a sudden change of heart,” Cody had no intention of laying out the full extent of his political maneuvering before his little priest. After all, using a woman as a political pawn was hardly a noble tale to tell. “We can finally be together openly and honorably. Yao, are you happy?”
Lin Yao’s eyes curved softly as he nodded: “I am happy.”
“Now that your identity has changed, it isn’t just the priestly robes that must be set aside,” Cody’s hand loosened the sash of his white robes, coming to rest over the silver mask. With the slightest tentative pressure, he could feel the youth beneath him instantly tense up, yet Cody acted as though he hadn’t noticed at all. “You can no longer wear this mask, either.”
“Your Highness.” Lin Yao raised a hand to stop him.
Cody applied a fraction more force, a dark intensity surfacing in his eyes: “Yao, what are you afraid of?”
“I, I have simply worn it for so long. Taking it off so suddenly frightens me a little,” Lin Yao murmured, his hand trembling despite his desperate effort to suppress it.
In the next moment, Cody pulled him firmly into his chest. His arms encircled him tightly, his hand stroking his back with comforting intent: “I told you before—no matter what you look like, I want only you. You may not believe in oaths made to the gods, but my word is absolute.”
Lin Yao’s hand gradually loosened its grip. The silver mask—worn continuously for over eight long years—was gently unclasped and removed from his face.
Rosy lips pressed together softly in apparent nervousness, above which sat a delicate, perfectly sculpted nose bridge. Long, sweeping eyelashes fluttered like butterfly wings over eyes brimming with clear water. At the outer corners, a faint, natural trace of crimson added an utterly mesmerizing, soul-stirring charm to an already flawless face.
Paired with such a body and such a voice, it seemed he was simply born to look like this.
Cody’s breath caught in his throat. His fingers glided down the youth’s cheek. Even after years of remaining hidden from the sun, his skin bloomed with a soft, healthy flush. His beauty was so absolute that Cody felt the urge to shower him with every word of praise ever penned for a beauty.
His heart thundered heavily in his ears. Narrowing his eyes, Cody leaned down and claimed those slightly parted, breathless lips.
Gentle nips turned into deep, possessive kisses. The face he had only been able to imagine until now was finally laid bare before him—exuding an irresistible, enchanting allure. The sight of the youth gasping softly beneath him was truly enough to drive any man to madness.
“Your Highness.” Lin Yao called out softly, only to invite an even more fervent kiss. Sliding down his cheek, Cody buried his face against the crook of his neck, sending waves of delicate numbness and stinging heat through his skin, stirring the deepest, most burning desires within his body.
Bracing his arms on either side of the youth, Cody looked down at him and let out a low chuckle: “Yao, I never expected the day would come when I, too, would be completely undone by physical beauty.”
No wonder his little priest had been utterly unmoved by Princess Elina’s legendary looks. No wonder he had been so reluctant to remove this mask. Such beauty truly shouldn’t exist on a mortal—it was a sin, a sweet temptation that made a man willingly march into hell just to win a single smile from him.
It was terrifying, yet undeniably real. What Cody felt most fortunate about was that this little priest belonged to him.
Before he had even been spellbound by his true appearance, he had already claimed the youth into his embrace, forbidding anyone else from casting a lustful eye upon him.
A night of passionate kisses and indulgence followed, yet Cody still refrained from taking him completely. Only his parting words made Lin Yao’s heart tremble faintly:
“Once we are wed, I will make sure you cannot even crawl out of this bed.”
Perhaps it was the moral restraint of this era at play, but more than that, this man’s self-control was terrifyingly formidable.
Lin Yao had encountered many men who had been spellbound by his face. Once they obtained him, they wished for nothing more than to lock him away in a dark, sunless room, hiding him from the world while reducing his entire existence to serving their physical desires.
Meeting a man like Cody was truly a rarity.
Yet as he pondered those past mission worlds, he realized that while he remembered their existence, the finer details had grown somewhat hazy and distant in his memory.
“Time to get up, Yao,” Cody’s voice sounded beside the bed, forcing Lin Yao to open his eyes with a reluctant sigh.
Though they hadn’t taken the final step, being brought to the absolute brink had left him genuinely exhausted.
Setting aside the bulky priestly garments, Cody selected a soft robe of exquisite cloud-silk. In a pristine white shade, it was bound at the waist by a carved jade belt, accentuating a frame that could only be described as slender and delicate.
Cody personally dressed him, adjusting his collar step-by-step.
Unlike the loose, flowing cut of a priest’s robe, this garment laid bare his exquisite silhouette, revealing every trace of his soft, captivating grace.
In the mirror, the figure opened his arms, long black hair cascading like spilled ink. With just a subtle blink of his eyes, even the finest cloud-silk seemed to pale in comparison.
“This is the most precious silk imported from the East,” Cody embraced him from behind, propping up his chin with long fingers as he kissed his cheek.
In the mirror, they looked like a match made in heaven. Though Cody’s features were not as ethereal as Lin Yao’s, his face was sharp, cold, and imposing. Years of command had forged an overwhelming aura that ensured he was neither outshone nor diminished when standing beside the youth.
“I never imagined that even this silk would fall short of complementing my Yao,” Cody chuckled softly. “Looking like this, I am truly reluctant to let you step outside.”
Lin Yao offered a faint smile, resting his head gently against the prince’s shoulder. In the mirror, his beauty shone like polished jade and flawless pearls: “Then lock me away, Your Highness. Do not let anyone see me.”
Cody’s grip on his waist tightened slightly as he let out a helpless laugh: “Yao, do not say such enticing things next time, or I truly won’t be able to hold back. However, before our wedding, there is still one thing you need.”
He reached out and retrieved a mask—a half-face mask, far more exquisite than the one Lin Yao had worn before. When fitted across his cheekbones, it did not obstruct his vision in the slightest, yet allowed a glimpse of peerless beauty beneath.
Looking at his reflection, Lin Yao realized that while a full mask concealed everything, this half-masked appearance—partially revealing yet partially hidden—was far more tantalizing, driving onlookers to crave a closer look.
Adjusting the mask’s position, Lin Yao caught the darkening glint in Cody’s eyes beside him: “It seems I truly must hide you away.”
A maiden like Elina was already enough to incite conflict among men. Someone like Lin Yao. It was not that Cody disbelieved his little priest, but rather that he understood men all too well. If the youth walked out into the open with that face exposed, other men would want to devour him whole.
Inside Lin Yao’s mind, the system’s romance-obsessed brain had driven its intelligence straight down to negative infinity:
［Host, he personally dressed you! What a wonderful man.］
Lin Yao sneered inwardly:
［Do you know what it means when a man gifts you clothes and personally puts them on you?］
The system inquired eagerly:
［What does it mean?］
Lin Yao replied with quiet implication:
［Dressing you personally simply means he wants to undress you personally. Since he put the clothes on, he naturally knows how to take them off most efficiently.］
The system turned sheepish:
［That’s so intense.］
Lin Yao: ［??］
With their wedding date brought forward significantly, the palace preparations grew far more frantic than before.
Cody frequently took Lin Yao out—riding horses, hunting in the royal reserves. Within just three days, their public appearances carved a massive tear right through the gossip monopoly held by Princess Elina.
Prince Cody was about to wed his own consort. Rumor claimed it was a man who shared the same name as Priest Yao. Though reputedly unhandsome, Prince Cody was deeply and irrevocably in love with him.
Lin Yao easily guessed that Cody had deliberately leaked these rumors himself, precisely to numb the public’s suspicions.
However, such a move was bound to provoke dissatisfaction in one specific person.
“Do I truly not need to pay my respects?” Lin Yao stood at the base of the palace steps. The King’s inner bedchamber was right before them, yet Cody refused to let him enter.
“There is no need,” Cody patted his hair gently. “Wait for me here. I will be out shortly.”
“Very well then,” Lin Yao nodded, watching the prince step inside while he remained waiting outdoors.
The royal gardens were in full bloom with clusters of vibrant flowers. Feeling somewhat bored, Lin Yao wandered along the flowerbeds, his fingers lightly brushing against a white rose petal.
In his original world, others had always described him as cold and detached, assuming he favored delicate, subdued blooms. Yet no one knew that he secretly preferred flowers that burned with fiery, decadent passion.
A crisp, melodious voice sounded from behind him:
“Are you the consort Prince Cody is about to marry?”
The tone was immediately recognizable. Lin Yao offered a faint smile and turned around, looking at the small, strikingly gorgeous woman before him, speaking in a calm voice: “Princess Elina, good day.”
“You know who I am?” A flicker of surprise crossed the eyes behind her sheer veil. Yet when her gaze landed on Lin Yao’s turned face, that slight surprise transformed into total astonishment.
Both wore face coverings, yet through the exposed contours, one could easily discern the underlying quality of a person’s features.
The exposed features of the man before her were not inferior to her own in the slightest.
Comparing a man to a woman might sound absurd, yet a woman’s eyes and instincts were often terrifyingly accurate.
“You.” Elina bit her lip.
Lin Yao merely offered a faint smile, touching the half-mask on his face: “Please do not mind me, Princess. Yao’s face is hideously scarred, which is why I wear a mask—for fear of frightening you.”
Since Cody claimed he was ugly, he would gladly admit to being ugly.
That the renowned Prince Cody preferred to marry a “hideous” person rather than the most beautiful maiden in the world was an absolute insult to Elina’s pride.
Perhaps as a well-educated princess, she could not bring herself to utter vulgar insults, but as a jealous woman, her words were calculated to deal a crushing blow: “I do not know where you came from, but the person Prince Cody actually loves is Priest Yao of the Sanctuary—who happens to share your name. You are nothing more than a substitute.”
“Princess.” A gentle voice called out from nearby. It was Kathy.
Elina failed to recognize who had arrived, but Kathy’s eyes were far from blind.