Ruan Ning stammered, “Your Majesty, I just wanted to look around…”
“I know,” Yan Xuan replied carelessly. “I’m tired and want to sleep.”
He soon began to emit soft snoring.
Ruan Ning sat trembling, not daring to move. He was a ruthless person. She had cursed and hit him, but now her life was in his hands.
What a surprise.
Afraid and regretful, she felt dizzy and soon fell asleep with a bitter heart.
When she woke, the carriage had stopped in the palace courtyard. Yan Xuan was awake, lazily resting on her leg and playing with a jade ring. Ruan Ning recognized it as the ring she had lost by the cliff, recalling her past actions towards him with despair.
“Awake?” Yan Xuan grinned, raising himself. “My beloved, it’s time to repay me.”
Before Ruan Ning could react, warm lips pressed against hers, first licking, then biting—not enough to draw blood, but enough to leave a clear mark.
Ruan Ning stayed silent.
Well, if a bite could prevent him from holding a grudge, it was still a good deal.
“Let’s go wash up. We’re heading back to the palace,” Yan Xuan said, satisfied with the taste on his tongue, and pulled her up, walking hand in hand from the carriage.
Sui Huan waited by the carriage, finding reality far more cruel than his imagined scenarios of Ruan Ning’s situation with Yan Xuan. He stood nearby, separated by a curtain, watching another man with her.
Seeing the fresh tooth marks on Ruan Ning’s lips, Sui Huan’s expression changed.
Ning Ye lay on the bed, looking weakly at Ruan Ning as she entered. She had choked on water, was still taking medicine, and appeared thinner with a poor complexion. Sui Huan had found her unconscious for several days, severely weakened.
“That night, I had just gone to bed when the fire started. I called for a long time but no one came to save me, so I had to jump out the window,” Ning Ye said, staring directly at Ruan Ning. “Sister, I was calling so loudly. Didn’t you hear me?”
Ruan Ning indeed hadn’t heard anything. That night had felt very quiet, with almost no sound except for water.
“Sister, don’t you like me?”
