Chen Wanqing tried to ignore the frantic THUMP-THUMP of her heart. She feigned composure as she answered Zhao Jing, "Why would I be hiding from you? It’s not like you’re going to eat me."

It was hard to tell if Zhao Jing believed her, but he chuckled in delight anyway.

The young man was past the age where his voice would crack, and it had settled into a magnetic, clear timbre.

Now, whether due to the night air or his current mood, his usually bright voice carried a deeper, huskier magnetism.

It was like the lingering note of a zither, or shattered jade sinking into a deep chasm. The sound reverberated by her ears, making her heart flutter and her knees feel weak.

Chen Wanqing had no idea how they had gotten back to the room. The next thing she knew, she was sitting on the edge of the bed. Zhao Jing was squatting in front of her, removing her shoes.

Greatly startled, Chen Wanqing shot to her feet. "I can do it myself."

"Sit still, Wanqing. I’ll take them off for you."

"But... I haven’t taken off my outer clothes yet."

"I can help with that, too."

Despite Chen Wanqing’s repeated insistence that she could do it herself, it was no use. In the end, Zhao Jing assertively helped her remove the cumbersome garments, piece by piece.

The February nights were still quite chilly. She had been washing clothes at the kitchen door just moments before, and her fingertips had ached from the cold.

Now, though she was only in her undergarments and ought to have felt cold, a thin sheen of sweat covered her skin.

The sweat felt sticky and uncomfortable on her skin. Chen Wanqing thought about getting up to wipe herself down with a damp towel.

But the moment she expressed this intention, Zhao Jing’s eyes grew darker.

"Feeling hot, Wanqing? Then you should take off your undergarments, too."

As he spoke, he reached for her, as if to do it for her.

Frightened, Chen Wanqing turned and scrambled to the far side of the bed.

She stared at Zhao Jing. "Jing, do you have any idea what you’re doing?"

Zhao Jing’s gaze was profound and dark, like a bottomless oceanic abyss.

He nodded. "Of course I do."

"Then do you remember what you said at Second Aunt’s house, before we were engaged?"

Back then, Zhao Jing had said their engagement was a matter of mutual convenience. That when she wanted to leave, he would let her go freely.

’Looking at him now, acting as if he wanted to devour her alive, was he really so sure he would let her leave in the future?’

Zhao Jing let out a low chuckle.

He sat on the edge of the bed, reached out, and caught Chen Wanqing’s foot, holding it tightly in his palm.

"I lied to you, Wanqing. If I hadn’t, how would you ever have married me?"

Even though she had long known the answer in her heart, hearing Zhao Jing say the words aloud still made Chen Wanqing feel deceived and played for a fool.

She couldn’t stop herself from kicking at him with her captured foot. "You scoundrel! You went back on your word!"

"This isn’t the first day you’ve known how I feel, Wanqing. Haven’t you been tacitly allowing it all this time? If you hadn’t indulged me so much, how would I have dared to push things this far?"

His words left Chen Wanqing speechless.

’She wasn’t a complete idiot. How could she not have known that those earlier promises were just Zhao Jing’s way of tricking her?’

’Even if she hadn’t known at first, after they were married, Zhao Jing had been silently, gradually closing in. If she still couldn’t see it, she’d have to be a true simpleton.’

’But she had seen it and done nothing to stop him. Wasn’t that the same as letting him do as he pleased?’

Chen Wanqing fell into a sullen silence. Zhao Jing took off his shoes, climbed onto the bed, and gathered her completely into his arms.

"Wanqing, the spring nights are cold. Allow me to warm the bed for you."

The spring nights were indeed still a bit chilly, but that night, Chen Wanqing was slick with sweat, time and time again.

She had never known that simple skin-to-skin contact, with no clothes in the way, could be so thrilling and soul-shaking.

Several times, she couldn’t stop herself from poking her head out from under the covers to gasp for fresh air, like a dying fish desperate for the salty, boundless sea.

But just as her breathing would begin to even out, the rapid rise and fall of her chest steadying, she would be pulled back under. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The brocade quilt would fall, her lips would be captured, and he would devour her hungrily, concealing the intimate scene from view.

Pushed to the brink of sensation, Chen Wanqing even had the fleeting illusion that she might die on this bed tonight.

But she didn’t.

It was only kissing and simple... skin-on-skin intimacy. They didn’t go all the way.

But even so, the feeling was so intense that she suspected several times that she might simply die from it.

He carefully wiped the thin layer of sweat from her body.

Zhao Jing then took out a waterskin and carefully helped her drink half a cup of warm water.

Her face was flushed, her charming almond-shaped eyes hazy with an intoxicating desire. Her lips were a deep crimson and, upon closer look, slightly swollen. In the dim, yellow candlelight, they held a decadent gleam, beckoning to be kissed again.