Li Mu should be considered a handsome man.

Although he was completely different from the innate bearing and grace that Luoshen was accustomed to seeing in her father, brothers, and Lu Jianzhi, Luoshen didn’t find him ugly.

Just in that brief moment when he leaned toward her, smiled gently, and tenderly called her pet name to ask if she had awakened, her mind seemed flooded again with that feeling of old familiarity that had seemingly struck her entire being when she first glimpsed his smile from afar on the boat during the day.

But this feeling quickly disappeared.

With his leaning approach, Luoshen clearly smelled an unfamiliar scent rushing toward her.

The smell of alcohol. Mixed within it seemed to be a masculine aura carrying intense body heat.

Aggressive and overwhelming.

Her breathing became difficult, her hair stood on end instantly, and the sensitive, delicate skin of her exposed neck and earlobes quietly erupted in tiny bumps.

She immediately held her breath, frowned, and leaned her face back in disgust, avoiding that oppressive feeling that came with him and made her extremely uncomfortable.

Li Mu obviously noticed her reaction. His shoulders paused slightly, then he slowly straightened his body.

“Are you hungry?”

He looked at her, the smile on his face gradually disappearing, but his tone remained very gentle.

That inexplicable oppressive feeling finally disappeared.

Luoshen secretly exhaled, glancing at the red candles on the candlestick.

The red candles had burned down to only half their original height.

That meant at this moment, at least half the night had passed.

Before being brought ashore by that Shen Shi woman in the evening, she had eaten something on the boat.

But with her mind full of worries then, after just a few bites, she couldn’t swallow anymore.

Having slept so long and awakened, when he asked, Luoshen felt her stomach was indeed empty and somewhat hungry.

“I’m not hungry.”

She coldly turned her face away, not looking at the two gazes he directed at her.

Even one more glance from him would increase her discomfort.

Li Mu raised his eyebrows: “Very well then. Sleep.”

His tone was casual. After speaking, he turned around.

Luoshen secretly twisted her neck back a little, using her peripheral vision to watch him with his back to her, unfastening the nine-section belt around his waist.

He quickly removed it, casually placing it on a clothes rack at the bedside, right on top of the blue-green wedding dress with gold brocade threads that she had earlier removed and placed there.

The bronze hook of the belt dropped and struck the wooden surface with a soft “tap,” making a slight collision sound.

Luoshen’s heart jumped, her eyes widening as she watched him continue removing his clothes.

First layer: the crimson male wedding outer garment.

Second layer: the dark black inner robe.

Third layer: the white silk shirt…

Amid rustling sounds, garments were removed from his body one by one.

As he stripped off his clothes piece by piece, Luoshen’s heart pounded wildly, beating so hard it nearly leaped from her throat.

Although this marriage, starting with A’Ye, brought no joy to anyone in the Gao family and cast daily gloom, ultimately, she still had to marry.

So before the wedding date arrived, A’Ju had secretly told Luoshen about some intimate matters concerning women’s marriages.

For sixteen years, this was the first time Luoshen learned what “marrying” actually meant.

As for the bridal chamber, it was the beginning of a woman’s transformation from maiden to wife.

She was utterly shocked and found it extremely disgusting.

She couldn’t imagine having to do those things A’Ju had told her about on her wedding night with this strange man called her “husband.”

Unacceptable, completely unacceptable!

Li Mu removed his outer garments, leaving only an undergarment, then turned around and glanced at her.

She still sat on the bed in the same position, hands tightly gripping the blanket edge, motionless.

He knew she had been turning her head away at first, probably only willing to peek at him with her peripheral vision.

But now she had turned back her face, eyes wide open, staring at him with a gaze full of wariness and disgust.

Looking at her like this, his mind suddenly flashed to their first wedding night long, long ago.

At that time, he was already past thirty, the all-powerful Grand Marshal, a schemer and usurper in others’ eyes.

She and her family had to depend on his favor, their fates grasped in his hands.

Even then, he knew she hadn’t married him willingly.

But on that wedding night, she had been so gentle, even showing a careful, wronged, and accommodating manner before him.

For many years, she had always been a completely different existence from other women in his heart.

She was high above, truly existing yet vaguely ethereal, like a fairy in the clouds whom he could only look up to.

Later, when his power grew enough to overturn heaven and earth, occasionally in the emptiness of deep nights, he had felt desires to possess her.

But he knew this wouldn’t be her wish.

So such thoughts only flashed by.

Until before that wedding, he had never imagined that one day she would truly descend from the clouds to become Li Mu’s wife.

That night, such a living, breathing her—no longer from fantasy—completely awakened his infinite tenderness for her.

When they faced each other in the tent, he who never blinked when killing suddenly felt his blood boiling, his whole body trembling, as if returning to naive youth.

He just hadn’t expected that what awaited him in the end would be such a blood-painted conclusion.

He had still underestimated the hatred those people bore toward him.

It was irreconcilable, life-or-death, bone-deep hatred.

The her in his final memories was so different from this obviously inexperienced girl before him, bristling with thorns.

She was still that woman who had once saved him as a child.

But she was no longer that gentle woman from memory who called him “husband,” murmured “my remaining life is entrusted to you, husband,” personally undressed him, understood him, was willing to love him, and made him tremble.

He lived with all his memories of her, his heart containing the lifelong regrets and love-hate of a man who had once overturned the world.

But she was merely still a little girl.

For that brief instant, Li Mu’s heart surged with intense loss and loneliness.

As if heaven were isolated and earth desolate, he stood alone on wasteland, looking around to find only solitary existence.

He slowly exhaled, quickly dispelling this ridiculous sentiment that didn’t suit him.

In this lifetime, there were still many things waiting for him to do. Perhaps even a full lifetime might not suffice to fulfill his wishes.

He had no extra energy to lament the times and world like those scholarly literati, making such pointless sighs.

He stepped toward the bed. Before he could sit down, she scrambled up, dragging the blanket to huddle in the bed corner, avoiding him as if he were a source of plague, then pointed to the spot before the bed, ordering him to stop.

“Li Mu, I have something to say to you!”

She called him by name directly to show her contempt, her tone proud and cold.

Li Mu glanced at her and obediently stopped.

“Li Mu, you know perfectly well how you came to marry me! You and I were complete strangers before. Your determination to marry me by every possible means was simply for personal advancement. You saved my younger brother, and I’m grateful. Now I’ve married over too—you should have achieved your goal. Starting tonight, you live your life and I’ll live mine—we have nothing to do with each other! If you need female companionship, go ahead and take concubines—I won’t say a single word against it! Later when you achieve success and fulfill your ambitions, if you feel I’m uselessly occupying your wife’s position, you can divorce me completely—I absolutely won’t cling to you!”

“I mean what I say!”

Luoshen finally voiced in one breath the thoughts that had circled countless times in her mind these past days.

Li Mu was somewhat surprised.

He was truly surprised.

He knew she must detest him and was prepared for her tears and tantrums.

But he hadn’t expected she had such plans in mind.

Li Mu looked at her, seeing her staring intently at him, her bright eyes clearly showing nervous expression, yet her face insisted on feigning coldness, proudly lifting that beautiful pointed chin, gazing at him with disdainful expression.

For some reason, facing such her, that desolate feeling that had just surged in his heart from remembering past events suddenly disappeared.

He suppressed the urge to laugh, casually responding with an “oh.”

Seeing his flickering gaze and neither-smile-nor-frown expression as he stared at her with very strange expression, saying only “oh” before falling silent, Luoshen couldn’t determine what exactly he was thinking.

She puffed out her small chest angrily: “Did you hear me or not?”

Li Mu smiled, suddenly lifting his leg to kneel one knee on the bed edge, unexpectedly leaning his entire body toward her without any warning.

“What if I’m unwilling?”

The distance between them suddenly shortened with his movement.

His face was right above her head. Luoshen again clearly felt that rushing wave of alcohol-scented, hot oppressive pressure.

His shoulders moved as if he was about to reach out toward her.

With a “whoosh,” all of Luoshen’s hair stood on end. She quickly crawled to the head of the bed, reached under the pillow to pull out the hidden dagger, and pressed it against her own neck.

“If you dare touch me, I won’t live!”

Luoshen was certain he wouldn’t dare harm her.

Having schemed and struggled to finally marry a Gao family daughter, regardless of his hidden motives, at least now he absolutely wouldn’t want any mishap to befall her.

The Gao family was already extremely dissatisfied with this marriage. If anything happened to her, even ten Xu Mis couldn’t prevent the Gao family’s revenge against him.

Luoshen gripped the dagger, eyes wide, staring intently at him.

He seemed stunned for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the dagger at her neck, yet he reached toward her again.

“Li Mu, don’t force me—”

Luoshen steeled her heart, about to exert force, when suddenly she felt warmth on her hand—his reaching hand grasped the hand holding her dagger.

He guided her to gently move the dagger away from her neck. His strength wasn’t great and didn’t hurt her at all, but her arm simply couldn’t resist the force from him. She could only watch helplessly as he took the dagger from her hand, lightly running his thumb across the bright blade as if testing its edge, then looked up, glanced at her, and said calmly: “Blades can hurt people. You’re a young lady—you’d better not touch them in the future.”

He stood up, placed the dagger on the table, then walked to the sitting couch, lay down on his back, closed his eyes and said: “Sleep.”

Luoshen sat on the bed, staring at the man for a long while. Seeing him motionless as if already asleep, she finally slowly lay down.

Her hands trembled slightly, her heart still pounding wildly.