Zhan Qingcheng’s gaze darkened, his aura growing colder still: “You should have been this Prince’s woman long ago!”
Feng Jiu’er pursed her lips, neither agreeing nor disputing this. What did it mean, “should have been” — she had not the faintest notion.
But one thing was perfectly clear: she did not wish to be the Ninth Imperial Uncle’s woman. Not because she did not feel anything for him — but because the question had simply never entered her mind.
“Ninth Imperial Uncle…”
“When I return from battle, we will wed.”
“Ninth Imperial Uncle, what are you saying?” Feng Jiu’er was nearly shocked into a stupor by these words. Return from battle and then wed? The two of them?
“Ninth Imperial Uncle, I believe there has been a misunderstanding.” Jiu’er immediately moved to explain. If this was not cleared up, the misunderstanding would only deepen.
“Ninth Imperial Uncle, what I feel toward you is admiration — even reverence. But I have never once thought about…”
“This Prince will not repeat his words. Whether you agree or not is of no consequence.”
He had no patience left for circling around the matter with her. What good had giving her time done? That had been Mo Bai’s idea, and it was not a good one at all.
The result of giving her time was that she had grown more and more accustomed to treating herself as someone beyond reach — as the magnificent Ninth Prince, a person who existed in a world entirely apart from hers.
Everything he wanted — when had he ever had to wait for it? He had never waited for anything in his life. What he wanted, he simply claimed.
This was the one and only time in his life he had ever steeled himself to wait with patience — and it was also the one time in his entire life he could least afford to wait.
Yet the longer he waited, the further she drifted.
“Ninth Imperial Uncle, I understand that you are powerful, but matters of marriage — I…”
“Who do you think you could marry, other than this Prince? Your body has been seen and held by this Prince. Just now, this Prince came close to taking you completely.”
Feng Jiu’er’s face turned red all at once — both mortified and indignant. Who spoke with such bluntness? What had happened just now was something she found shameful to even dwell on, and he actually dared to say it out loud!
“Ninth Imperial Uncle, I will defer to you on everything else — but matters of marriage… Ah! Ninth Imperial Uncle, do not go too far!”
How could he do this? One word out of place and he just snatched her over! Did being supremely powerful mean he could do whatever he liked? Did knowing how to use the Star-Absorbing Technique mean he could do whatever he liked?
But after meeting his deep, unfathomable gaze — the kind of gaze that compelled one’s respect whether one wished it or not — Jiu’er could only swallow her grievances down.
He truly was that remarkable. There was simply no denying it.
He lowered his head, and Feng Jiu’er immediately raised a hand and pressed it flat against his chest: “Ninth Imperial Uncle, even if you truly are remarkable, even if your power over the realm is absolute…”
“Little creature — say such things outside, and you won’t fear losing your head?”
Because of his anger, his breathing, which had been slightly unsteady, gradually eased somewhat.
Although his cold aura remained, Jiu’er found — it did not seem quite so terrifying as before.
At the very least, now that she was in his arms, he seemed to be, perhaps, the tiniest fraction easier to deal with.
But it was truly only the tiniest fraction.
“I won’t say it, then.” Such words truly could bring down a mortal sentence upon one’s head with ease — though was that not precisely because this was not the outside world?
This thought flickered through her mind, and Feng Jiu’er suddenly paused in a moment of startled realization.
Why was it that even though she was so afraid of the Ninth Imperial Uncle, she always felt as though she could do as she pleased in his presence — always sensing that he would never truly harm her?
For instance, certain things she said — things that would genuinely be considered offenses if spoken elsewhere — could be let out so carelessly and freely before him, without the slightest restraint.
Her eyes held a look of puzzlement. This expression — this look of puzzlement — had appeared often on her face when she looked at him since she had come back after what happened to her.
The cold aura around Zhan Qingcheng faded a little more. He finally, at last, settled into calm, and was willing to confront the condition that might be present within her.
His slender finger traced lightly across her lips. This gesture brought an immediate look of full wariness flooding into Feng Jiu’er’s eyes.
“Even if you guard yourself against this Prince, it will do you no good. When this Prince returns triumphant, that will be the day we take our vows.”
These words fell calmly, as though spoken in passing — and yet those who knew the Ninth Imperial Uncle well would understand: words like these, once spoken, carried an absolute weight. They were never spoken in jest.
Jiu’er moved her lips, wanting to protest — on what grounds should her marriage be decided by him alone?
But in the moment she raised her eyes and met his deep, profound gaze, something suddenly stirred and surged in her heart.
In her mind’s eye, fragments seemed to flash — scene after fragmentary scene, unnamed and unaccounted for. The two of them holding each other. Her willingly giving herself over to him — body, and life alike…
“Mmh!” Feng Jiu’er suddenly furrowed her brow, her complexion shifting slightly. Why did her head ache a little?
“What is it?” The tips of Zhan Qingcheng’s long fingers came to rest between her brows, trying to gently ease open the crease that had gathered there.
At this moment, the Ninth Imperial Uncle was so gentle — even carrying within it a tenderness that could not quite be put into words.
Such tenderness left Feng Jiu’er staring, half in a daze.
“Ninth Imperial Uncle…”
“Mm?”
“Did we… know each other before?” She had always felt that between herself and the Ninth Imperial Uncle, many memories had been made to disappear.
“Made to disappear” — not because she was unwilling to recall them, but because something truly prevented her from doing so.
In truth, she should not be guarding herself against the Ninth Imperial Uncle. She always felt that even if everyone in the world betrayed her, the Ninth Imperial Uncle would never harm her.
If that was so — then why was she still guarding herself against him? Still resisting?
It was simply that… she truly could not remember those things. So many, many things. So very many… things connected to the Ninth Imperial Uncle.
The ache in her head — still there. A dull, lingering ache.
Her brow furrowed again, and Zhan Qingcheng’s gaze settled and grew a shade deeper, as once more he gently smoothed away the crease between her brows.
“If the past cannot be remembered, then let it go. You need only remember — you will be this Prince’s wife. In this life, the one and only.”
The one and only…
Something moved in Feng Jiu’er’s heart. Even though so many things still lay beyond her recall, in that instant, she felt her heart melt entirely — as though it had dissolved completely away.
To be the Ninth Imperial Uncle’s wife. His one and only in this life… Perhaps — that was not quite so unwelcome a thing as she had imagined.
As for what lay in the past…
“Mmh — it hurts!” That dull, lingering pain, in the very instant her heart was moved, suddenly drove itself into her head like a blade striking with full force. What had been bearable became unbearable agony.
She had just barely been able to suppress it before. Now, it could not be held back at all.
The pain was real. Searing.
“Ah… Ninth Imperial Uncle — my head… my head hurts so terribly, mmh…”
Feng Jiu’er bit down hard on her lip, straining with her inner energy to suppress the pain — but it was utterly useless.
A nameless, sourceless agony — it made her entire body convulse, draining her face of all color, leaving it as white as paper. She was on the verge of losing consciousness.
Zhan Qingcheng immediately seized her hand and gripped it firmly, channeling a steady, dense flow of his inner energy into her body — yet her complexion showed no improvement at all. On the contrary, the pallor deepened and deepened — white as a sheet, white as blank paper.
“Mo Bai!” The man’s urgent voice rang out. Yu Jingfeng, standing guard in the courtyard, jolted to alertness at once and immediately went to find him.
Inside the room, Feng Jiu’er’s body continued to tremble with the force of the pain.
“Ninth Imperial Uncle…” She gripped his robe with all the strength she had. She knew that drawing closer to him would only make the pain worse — and yet at this moment of extremity, she bit down through the agony and forced the words out: “Ninth Imperial Uncle… it is not that I… not that I am unwilling to remember. It is not that. Ninth Imperial Uncle — someone… someone is keeping me from getting close to you…”