Faced with Wei Yi’s repeated cries of “Why?”

Ji Yunshu retreated several more steps backward, her back pressing against the wooden frame beside the window sill.

Hard and unyielding!

She told him very seriously: “Wei Yi, there aren’t so many ‘whys’ in this world, but if you continue like this, there truly will be no turning back!”

“I want you!” Wei Yi refuted sharply, declaring firmly, “Shu’er, as long as I can have you, I won’t regret anything I do, even if I have to risk my life—I won’t hesitate! Can you truly not understand my feelings?”

Ji Yunshu laughed softly: “It’s precisely because I understand that I told you so firmly back then—the person I love is only Jingrong! From beginning to end, it’s only been him. It was him before, it’s him now, and it will be him in the future!”

“Enough!”

“Even if you keep me locked up here for a lifetime, you can’t change my heart. No matter when you ask me, I’ll only have one answer: in this life, I will marry no one but him.”

“Enough! Stop talking.”

“If he lives, I live. If he dies, I’ll follow him in death. Life after life, I will follow him. And if you go ask him, his answer will be the same as mine.”

“Stop talking, stop talking…”

Wei Yi roared!

He was completely enraged by her words of “sworn devotion unto death.”

The resentment and sense of injustice in his heart were magnified countless times in an instant. He stepped forward several paces, gripping Ji Yunshu’s slender arms tightly, his eyes bloodshot, staring into her deep eyes as he said: “Originally when we were in Jinjiang, we had already arranged our betrothal. The person you were supposed to marry wasn’t Jingrong—it was me! If it weren’t for him, perhaps we would already be married. Then there would be no Linjing Case, no capital city, no imperial power or status! Just you and me.”

Ji Yunshu twisted her arms, but couldn’t break free from his restraint.

“Let me go!”

“The ones who should be together life after life are us.”

“No, that’s not it, that’s not it…”

“Yes!” After Wei Yi roared this single word, his violent aura diminished somewhat, and he continued: “Shu’er, as long as you nod your head, we can return to how things were before. For you, I can give up everything I have now. I can yield the throne to Jingrong. I can stop hating him too! I’ll take you back to Jinjiang, to live the life that belongs to us, and never return to the capital again for our whole lives. All right? All right?”

This Wei Yi was extremely twisted!

Yet that nearly pleading tone was also extremely pitiful!

Ji Yunshu shook her head: “It’s impossible! We can’t go back! You, me, Jingrong—none of us can return to the past. Why can’t you understand this? Why must you go to such extremes before you’ll give up? Wei Yi, wake up! Stop being so stubbornly deluded! In the end, you’re not just hurting one person—you’re hurting many, many people.”

Her voice was loud.

Trembling severely.

Trying to pull this lost lamb back.

But Wei Yi was struck as if by a blow to the head. His hands, which had been gripping her arms tightly, slowly released, and he retreated several steps.

He asked: “You mean… you would rather die than be with Jingrong, is that it?”

“Yes!”

Wei Yi laughed coldly, his face full of disappointment: “Your answers… are indeed the same.”

Hm?

Ji Yunshu vaguely sensed the meaning in his words and asked: “What have you done to him?”

Under her questioning, a flash of ruthlessness crossed Wei Yi’s eyes. With a cold expression on his face, he said word by word: “You don’t know yet, do you? He committed an offense against his superior, trespassed into Fuyang Hall, and even disregarded the protocols between ruler and subject to anger me, so… I’ve already issued an edict to have him imprisoned in the inner palace dungeon. It’s already been two full days!”

Ugh!

Ji Yunshu’s steps faltered, her body shaking: “Must you be so heartless?”

“I’m not the heartless one—he is! He’s the one who cruelly took you from my side. If not for him, I wouldn’t be like this!”

“Wei Yi, no one forced you. Reaching this point today is entirely your own doing. From the beginning, you never truly let go. You harbor a demon in your heart, and you’ve been completely controlled by it! You need to wake up and face reality.”

“Reality is that I can kill everyone in the world for you!” Wei Yi was utterly mad.

“Reality is that I can kill everyone in the world for you!”

These seventeen words echoed through the hall and in Ji Yunshu’s ears.

Lingering endlessly!

What grave words those were!

Wei Yi’s eyes turned crimson, his gaze falling on Ji Yunshu’s shocked face like that of a bloodthirsty hunting wolf. He slowly approached her, speaking as he moved.

“I want you to belong only to me forever!”

“…”

He suddenly picked up Ji Yunshu and threw her onto the bed.

When her back and elbows struck the bed platform, the pain made her brow furrow tightly. Unable to spare attention for the physical pain, as she struggled to rise, a tall figure pressed down upon her.

The next moment, her hands were seized.

Pressed above her head!

“Wei Yi, stop!” She struggled while shouting, trying to “wake” him up.

Wei Yi had completely lost his reason, pressing her small frame firmly beneath him, his once gentle and handsome face now utterly ferocious.

He declared in a tone of asserting ownership: “No one can take you from my side. You are mine, mine!”

Having spoken thus.

He changed to restraining Ji Yunshu’s hands with just one of his, while his other hand gripped her delicate chin with neither gentleness nor care.

He lifted it sharply!

And bent down to kiss her lips!

Ugh!

“Mmm mmm mmm…”

In that moment, everything around them seemed to freeze.

The only thing audible was their hurried heartbeats between them.

Tension!

Shock!

Helplessness!

Ji Yunshu’s eyes widened, completely forgetting to struggle, until the scorching sensation on her lips suddenly burned her awake.

Bringing her to her senses!

She began to struggle desperately.

But her hands were restrained by Wei Yi, her body pressed down firmly, and even her chin was gripped tightly in Wei Yi’s fingers.

She was like a puppet at someone’s mercy, unable to control her own actions.

And aside from compliance or resistance, her only recourse was to steel her heart and bite down hard on Wei Yi’s mouth.

“Ugh!”

Wei Yi immediately released her in pain.

His mouth was bitten bloody, and Ji Yunshu’s mouth was also stained with blood.

She glared at him fiercely: “If you continue like this, I will never forgive you for the rest of my life.”

Warning him!

“Then hate me!” Wei Yi couldn’t care about any of that—he had completely lost his reason.

Immediately after, he moved to kiss Ji Yunshu again.

No longer giving her any chance to struggle or resist.

This time, Ji Yunshu didn’t struggle anymore. She gave up, completely gave up!

Because she couldn’t fight against someone who had lost their reason, nor could she awaken someone possessed by demons.

Her eyes, suffused with tears, gradually lost focus, staring vacantly at the bed curtains swaying faintly above.

Until she was nearly suffocated by his kiss, only then did he release her.

Preparing to continue! But—