"No!!"
Mu Nanyin's eyes snapped open, her face deathly pale, cold sweat dripping down in rivulets.
The next second, the dagger in her hand was kicked away by someone, and she was hoisted up like a helpless chick.
"Mu Nanyin, let me tell you, this marriage was bestowed by His Majesty himself. Don't even think about calling it off unless I die! Stop playing your tricks on me!" The man grabbed her by the collar, threatening her viciously.
"Cough, cough—"
The familiar feeling of suffocation returned, and Mu Nanyin instinctively reached out to strike the person before her.
Wait—
Her hands… hadn't they been severed?
The man's furious words echoed in her ears. She abruptly looked up at the person before her and exclaimed, "Call off the engagement?!"
Wasn't the incident of her calling off the engagement something that happened when she was sixteen?
She glanced around and only then noticed the surroundings adorned with lanterns and colorful decorations, red candles, and festive silk drapes. Both she and the man before her were dressed in bright red wedding attire.
She… had she been Reborn back to the night of her wedding to Shen Junlin, when she had threatened him with death to force him to call off the engagement?
Hearing the words "call off the engagement" from her lips again, the man flew into a rage. Without a shred of pity, he grabbed her by the neck, pinning her tightly against his chest.
"Mu Nanyin, I'll say it one more time. With the three matchmakers and six betrothal gifts, the phoenix crown and ceremonial robes, even if you refused to bow during the ceremony, this marriage is sealed. You belong to me for the rest of your life. I advise you to abandon those filthy thoughts you have for Shen Sichen, or else…"
Perhaps the man was too enraged. His handsome, god-like face was now contorted with bulging veins, his eyes bloodshot and glaring, like a demon ready to devour someone.
The ferocious face before her perfectly overlapped with the memory of the man who had drawn his sword and taken his own life. Tears instantly welled up in Mu Nanyin's eyes as she threw herself into his arms.
"Shen Junlin, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was wrong. From now on, I will never hurt you for the sake of others again. I will make it up to you, I promise."
The unprecedented softness in his arms made Shen Junlin pause mid-motion as he leaned over her. Through gritted teeth, he said, "What new trick are you trying to pull?"
Mu Nanyin's heart ached. "I'm sorry. It was all my fault before. I was blinded and foolish. But now I understand everything. I won't see Shen Sichen anymore. I'll cut all ties with him completely and stay by your side wholeheartedly from now on. Let's not call off the engagement, okay?"
Wholeheartedly?
For a moment, the ferocity on Shen Junlin's face froze, then, as if remembering something, a flicker of anguish crossed his expression.
"Mu Nanyin, to preserve your purity for Shen Sichen, you truly spare no effort. What, since trying to kill yourself didn't work, you're now playing hard to get with me? Well, today, I refuse to let you have your way!"
Before his words faded—
"Rip—"
A chill swept over her neck as her bright red wedding dress was torn open, revealing large patches of snow-white, porcelain-like skin beneath. The loosely tied red undergarment faintly outlined the full curves within.
The man's breath hitched, and he bit down fiercely…
A sharp pain from the bite spread across her shoulder, the faint scent of blood permeating the air. The entire room was filled with an intense, heated atmosphere.
"No, Shen Junlin, don't, not like this…"
Mu Nanyin struggled frantically, but the more she resisted, the harder the man bit down.
At this moment, he resembled a raging beast more than ever, uncharacteristically losing his usual rationality and composure. Instead, he bared his claws and fangs, savagely devouring what belonged to him.
Mu Nanyin, as if struck by a sudden thought, abruptly ceased all resistance.
"Shen Junlin, everything I said is true. I genuinely want to make amends to you. If you don’t believe me, I… I can give myself entirely to you."
After speaking, she resignedly closed her eyes. Two streams of hot tears slid from the corners of her eyes, tracing down her cheeks and into the depths of her neck, finally dripping onto his lips.
The man’s biting movements came to an abrupt halt. He licked the tears on his lips.
Salty.
Scalding.
Like boiling water, they poured over his heart, scorching all his pride and dignity.
When had he, Shen Junlin, fallen so low as to force someone against their will?
Shen Junlin suddenly pushed Mu Nanyin away. His pitch-black eyes were filled with thick self-mockery and disappointment, dense as ink, impossible to dissolve.
"Mu Nanyin, do you truly love Shen Sichen so much? Love him to the point of abandoning your own dignity? If that’s the case, if that’s the case… I shall grant your wish."
After saying this, he cast a deep glance at her and strode straight out the door.
Only when that flash of red had completely vanished from sight did Mu Nanyin collapse entirely.
Two deep bite marks on her shoulders burned with a searing pain, but she paid them no mind. Instead, she stared blankly in the direction he had left, unsure how long she had been watching, before suddenly wiping away her tears and smiling.
In her memory, Shen Junlin was the infamous Iron-Blooded King of the Lin Dynasty—brutal, murderous, a ruthless demon who killed without blinking.
The current Emperor doted on his younger brother as if his life depended on it. To satisfy Shen Junlin’s bloodthirsty inclinations, he specially ordered the establishment of the Hall of Law Enforcement. It was said to house the cruelest tortures from across the land—a place of perpetual darkness, rivers of blood, and endless wails of agony.
Even in ordinary households, disciplining unruly children required nothing more than uttering the name "Shen Junlin" to reduce them to terrified sobs—a method more effective than any other.
In her past life, it was fear of his reputation, combined with Shen Sichen’s sweet words and the incessant persuasion of others, that drove her to desperately seek to annul their engagement.
To break off the engagement, she had even resorted to many disgraceful tactics.
For instance, slipping laxatives into his tea, hiding snakes and rats in his bedding, and even sneaking women into his room.
Or, deliberately flaunting her affection for Shen Sichen in front of him, spreading rumors that he was uninterested in women and preferred men, and the like.
Yet, despite her provocations, the typically brutal Shen Junlin turned a blind eye, treating her with exceptional patience and even indulging her with near-doting leniency.
Shen Junlin’s permissive attitude only fueled her increasingly outrageous behavior in her past life.
Today was supposed to be the joyous occasion of her wedding to Shen Junlin, with officials offering congratulations and the Emperor himself gracing the ceremony to witness the event.
She and Shen Sichen had long planned to disrupt the wedding banquet during the ceremony, forcing him to annul the engagement publicly—all to humiliate Shen Junlin and strip him of the Emperor’s favor.
And in her past life, everything unfolded exactly as she and Shen Sichen had anticipated. During the ceremony, she cried and made a scene, stubbornly refusing to bow in reverence. The Emperor, livid, stormed off in a rage, while the civil and military officials pointed fingers and whispered about Shen Junlin.
The dignity of the royal family was utterly trampled.
That wasn't the end of it. After the wedding ceremony, she hid a dagger in her sleeve, pressed the blade against her own neck, and threatened to take her own life. In a fit of rage, Shen Junlin finally went to the palace to annul the marriage.
After the annulment…
Thinking of what happened after the annulment, Mu Nanyin's thoughts briefly drifted away from her memories. She lowered her eyelids, a deep pain flashing in her eyes.
On the day of her grand wedding with Shen Junlin, a palace banquet was held. After his outburst, Shen Junlin stormed into the palace and, in front of everyone at the banquet, requested the Emperor to annul the marriage.
At that time, she was still wearing her wedding gown, the one meant for Shen Junlin. She chased after him into the palace and, before the Emperor had even issued the annulment decree, she interlocked her fingers with Shen Sichen's and begged the Emperor to grant her marriage to Shen Sichen instead.
Shen Junlin went mad on the spot, drew his sword, and nearly severed half of Shen Sichen's arm.
Crimson blood spilled across the floor, starkly contrasting with the bright red festive decorations of the banquet hall—a sight both vivid and piercing.
The Emperor was furious. He issued a decree stripping Shen Junlin of his title as Your Highness, banishing him from the capital, and confining him to Jingyuan in the imperial mausoleum, where he was to remain until death.
On the very night of his confinement, he fell into madness.
Later, after she and Shen Sichen successfully became engaged, they went together to visit him.
Mu Nanyin would never forget that scene. A man once so dignified and handsome, reduced to nothing but skin and bones in just over half a month since the annulment.
She stood beneath the osmanthus tree by the entrance, watching from afar as he sat on the roof with his sword, disheveled and wild-haired. His sunken eyes stared vacantly at her and Shen Sichen's clasped hands as he laughed foolishly, endlessly, terrifying the servants around him into a state of constant dread.
It was said that after she left, he succumbed to his madness that very night. He took up his sword and slaughtered every servant in the garden. In the silent darkness, Jingyuan was filled with screams and wails, blood flowed like a river, and corpses lay scattered everywhere.
In the end, he took his own life in that pool of blood. Even in death, his eyes remained fixed on the osmanthus tree where she had stood during the day.
And what was she doing when Shen Junlin died?
After leaving Jingyuan, on her way back to the capital, she encountered assassins. To save Shen Sichen, she took a sword strike meant for him, injuring her lungs and losing all her martial arts skills. She fell into a coma and missed the news of Shen Junlin's death.
By the time she recovered and overheard servants casually discussing the incident, more than two months had passed. All traces of what happened in Jingyuan had been wiped clean, and even Shen Junlin's remains had long been buried in the imperial mausoleum, laid to rest.
Upon hearing the news, she merely sighed along with the servants for a few days before letting it go.
When Mu Nanyin snapped out of her memories, she realized her face was streaked with tears.
It felt as though a sharp blade had been plunged into her heart, and the wound had then been doused with strong liquor—every cell in her body ached with a wrenching pain.
Clutching her chest tightly, she wished she could slap herself twice.
What kind of despicable, wretched things had she done in her past life?
Spreading rumors, poisoning, self-harm, causing chaos at the wedding banquet… one after another, she had done so many things to hurt Shen Junlin.
Even after the annulment, Shen Junlin's confinement, his descent into madness, and his eventual slaughter of everyone in Jingyuan before taking his own life—all of it was because of her.
Though she didn't know why, in her past life, he hadn't died in the end but instead appeared in the dungeon to die for her.
Yet… the harm she had caused him in that life was undeniably real.
Counting carefully, she realized she owed him two lives!
But thankfully, she had been Reborn.
Rebirth came to her at the age of sixteen, on the very night of her wedding to Shen Junlin.
Though she had caused a great disturbance during the day, leading the Emperor to storm off in anger and drawing ridicule from the officials, things had not yet reached an irreparable point.
Shen Junlin had not yet entered the palace to annul the marriage, nor had she conspired with Shen Sichen to beg the Emperor for a new decree. Shen Junlin had not yet drawn his sword to strike Shen Sichen, had not been imprisoned, had not fallen into madness, and had not taken his own life.
There was still time.
Everything was still within reach.
This time, she was determined to make amends to him properly, never again doing anything to hurt him, and absolutely never allowing him to fall into the tragic fate of his previous life.