Insects and birds were silent, fallen leaves made no sound, making the heartbeats within the room particularly clear.

Strong arms wrapped around her waist, familiar masculine scent rushed into her nostrils, causing Yuanxi to indulge for a moment, nearly reluctant to pull away from this embrace.

But she quickly came to her senses, struggling desperately to escape his restraint. However, his arm strength was simply too great. No matter how hard she tried, she could only futilely rub against him in his embrace, finally becoming breathless from exhaustion. She could only turn back to glare at him fiercely, gritting her teeth: “If you don’t let go, I’m going to call for help!”

Xiao Du could finally hold her in his arms once again, feeling his entire heart burning with satisfaction. Even her angry appearance seemed adorable to him. He restrained the urge to kiss her, pressing close to her ear: “Go ahead and call if you want. Even if they beat me severely, injure or cripple me, as long as I still have this life, I won’t give up coming back to find you.”

Yuanxi’s body trembled slightly, not knowing what she felt in her heart. She greedily breathed in his scent and said softly: “Why do you torment yourself like this? You know full well I won’t go back with you. Rather than suffer in the future, it’s better to now…” The remaining words stuck in her throat, unable to swallow or spit out, finally turning into a sigh that was scattered by the cold wind drifting through the window.

Xiao Du’s eyes reddened slightly, his arms tightening around her even more as he said harshly in a low voice: “Don’t even think about it. I absolutely will not let you go.”

Yuanxi hardened her heart, suddenly pushing him away and lowering her head to bite her lip: “In a few days, I’ll write a letter requesting divorce.”

Xiao Du became frantic, almost shouting: “An imperial marriage – how can you divorce just by saying so!”

Yuanxi also became stubborn, staring at him coldly: “Then I’ll have Father take me to the palace to petition His Majesty. As long as I can leave the marquis’s mansion, I’ll do anything!”

“You!” Xiao Du hadn’t expected her to be so heartless. A surge of blood rushed up, and he bent over coughing violently. His usually robust body swayed unsteadily, nearly collapsing. Yuanxi was startled and quickly rushed over to support him, asking in a trembling voice: “What’s wrong with you!”

Xiao Du finally regulated his breathing with difficulty, but his heart still churned with pain. He turned his head away stubbornly: “Nothing. You don’t care about my life or death anyway, so why bother with me!”

Yuanxi was both angry and anxious. Looking down, she discovered that his trouser leg was actually soaked with a large patch of blood. She couldn’t help gasping in shock, asking urgently: “Are you injured? How did you get hurt!”

Xiao Du smiled bitterly, crouching down to slowly roll up his trouser leg. A wound several inches long stretched across his calf, with torn flesh and bone visible in the depths, making Yuanxi’s heart clench painfully.

She quickly helped him sit on the edge of the bed, then soaked a handkerchief for him and carefully cleaned the wound. Then she found a clean strip of cloth from her trunk and simply bandaged the wound for him. Looking up to see his face extremely pale, even his lips somewhat blue, and thinking of how she had just treated him, she couldn’t help but shed tears of distress.

Xiao Du lowered his head to wipe away her tears, smiling gently: “You still can’t bear to part with me, can you?”

Yuanxi turned her head away, wiping her tears and saying angrily: “You keep saying the burden on your shoulders is heavy, yet you’re so reckless with your own body? Saying you’ll take poison, you take poison; saying you’ll get injured, you get injured. If something happens to you, what about the Old Marquis? What about everyone in the marquis’s mansion?”

Xiao Du took advantage of her distraction to grab a strand of her loose hair, winding it around his palm to play with. The fine, soft texture made his heart tremble.

He sighed, his voice seeming to contain a pool of water: “But I really wanted to see you, what could I do…” Then he frowned slightly, muttering: “Your family’s dog is really fierce. Despite your husband’s skills, I carelessly fell into that beast’s trap.”

Yuanxi couldn’t help but lower her head and laugh secretly, then immediately put on a stern face, glaring at him reproachfully: “Who told you to force your way in during the middle of the night? You’re lucky it didn’t bite you to death.”

Xiao Du felt he must be sick – even being glared at by her like this made his whole body feel comfortable. His heart suddenly surged with guilt, and he finally spoke: “I’m sorry. I knew you would be hurt, but I still deceived you.”

Yuanxi withdrew her gaze, slowly adjusting his trouser leg: “At first I was indeed very angry. When you were unconscious, I thought every day that if you could wake up and stand before me smiling, I would be willing to pay any price. But I never imagined that when you really woke up, the first time I saw you would be under such circumstances.”

Xiao Du reached out guiltily to take her hand, but Yuanxi pulled her hand back and stood up: “But after hearing your conversation with Father, I can understand your difficulties. For the marquis’s mansion, for the Xiao family army, you had to risk everything.” She took a deep breath, her throat choking up again as she stared into his eyes: “But the person you’re dealing with is my father. When the day comes that you must truly face each other in a life-or-death struggle, how should I conduct myself then?”

Xiao Du gazed at her clear yet resolute look, the coldness in his palm spreading to his heart. This had always been his burden too – Xia Mingyuan would always stand between them. No matter how different she was, she was ultimately a member of the Xia family. How could he bear to make her betray her father and entire clan for his sake?

This was the distance that would forever span between them, a knot that no one could untie.

The atmosphere in the room grew increasingly heavy, and neither was willing nor able to speak. Finally, Yuanxi hardened her heart, forcing herself to turn away: “You should go. Give me some time to think things through properly.”

But Xiao Du feared that once he left, he would drift further and further from her. He hurriedly tried to stand and pull her back, but his leg sent a dull pain through him. Suddenly inspiration struck, and he covered his leg, making hissing sounds: “My leg hurts so much, I’m afraid I can’t leave today.”

Yuanxi was indeed fooled by him and quickly rushed over to support him again, asking with concern: “What’s happening? Did the wound open again? Sit down quickly and let me look!”

Xiao Du took the opportunity to grab her hand, pulling it to his lips for a kiss, then looking aggrieved: “I climbed over the wall to get in earlier. Now I’ve alerted the guards, and with my leg injured, I’m afraid I can’t leave tonight.”

Only then did Yuanxi understand his scheme. She angrily shook off his hand and glared at him: “How wishful thinking! There’s no place for you to sleep here.”

Xiao Du’s body swayed from her movement. Steeling his heart, he deliberately scraped his wound against the table corner, immediately contorting his face in pain as he crouched down, looking at her pitifully: “It hurts so much!”

Seeing large beads of sweat appearing on his face, Yuanxi couldn’t bear it after all. She frowned and hesitated for a long while before finally saying softly: “Then you can stay here for one night, but you must leave first thing in the morning!”

Xiao Du immediately felt as if he’d received a great pardon, feeling like a bird was singing joyfully in his heart. He ignored the pain in his leg and quickly began undoing his robes in just a few moves, preparing to claim the bed.

Yuanxi’s eyes widened in shock. Before she could react, he had already stripped down to his undergarments and was crawling into the bedding with a triumphant smile. She couldn’t help becoming anxious, saying in a low voice: “What are you doing? Who gave you permission to get in bed!”

Xiao Du blinked innocently at her with a smile: “My outer clothes got all dusty outside, so naturally I had to take them off before getting in bed.” He glanced at the floor, then switched to a pitiful tone: “The wind is cold and the dew heavy. Surely my wife wouldn’t have the heart to make me sleep on the floor.” He even coughed a few times in feigned weakness.

Yuanxi glared at him fiercely but could do nothing about it, only blaming herself for being soft-hearted enough to agree to let him stay. Now she found herself in a difficult position.

Xiao Du contentedly buried his body in the soft brocade quilt, greedily breathing in her scent. His body inexplicably felt somewhat restless. Looking up to see Yuanxi still standing in place blushing and dazed, he smiled and called out: “Yuanxi, aren’t you coming to sleep?”

Yuanxi was both flustered and angry. She had just spoken of divorce, and now she was supposed to share a bed with him – what kind of situation was this? Seeing his triumphant smile wavering before her eyes, she couldn’t help stamping her foot and cursing: “Scoundrel!”