Wen Yu was slightly startled and asked, “Why are you here?”

“I can’t very well be married off by you in a muddle-headed daze, can I?” Xiao Li walked out from the shadows. Moonlight filtered through the mottled tree shadows and fell upon him. The lake breeze blew his forehead hair into slight disarray. His handsome features were immersed in the cold white moonlight, making his eyes appear even more sharp and profound, though the corners of his eyes were tinged with the faint red of intoxication.

His gaze seemed to have hooks, pinning itself darkly onto Wen Yu.

Wen Yu smelled the wine scent wrapped in the wind blowing toward her. She furrowed her brow slightly and said, “You’ve had too much to drink?”

“Perhaps.” Xiao Li’s voice was very low. As if forgetting his usual propriety due to drunkenness, he strode closer to Wen Yu.

Wen Yu calmly watched the approaching figure, showing not the slightest intention of avoiding him.

Xiao Li stopped when he was only one step away from reaching her. He leaned forward slightly, displeasure locked between his brows. He stared unblinkingly at Wen Yu’s face, which could be called perfectly flawless under the moon, his breath carrying wine vapor: “Why did you arrange a marriage for me?”

The absolute advantage in height made the oppressive feeling he gave off even stronger at this moment. Those eyes staring at Wen Yu were black as obsidian.

Wen Yu turned her face slightly to the side, avoiding the wine breath he exhaled, and said, “Lord Chen intends to take you as his son-in-law. If you can gain the Chen family’s assistance, your path ahead will be easier…”

“You think I care?” Xiao Li interrupted her, his black lashes lowering, a cold smile pressed at the corners of his lips.

Seeing his hidden anger, Wen Yu slightly pressed her brows together, though her eyes remained calm as before: “The Chen family has this intention and requested my approval. This is also beneficial to you. Naturally, I had no reason to refuse on your behalf. I only said everything depends on your wishes. This shouldn’t count as arranging a marriage, should it?”

Hearing these words, the stifled fury that had been blocking Xiao Li’s chest since before the banquet finally dissipated somewhat. Yet his expression still showed no brightness. He laughed mockingly and asked in return, “Didn’t you already make the decision for me to stay in Pingzhou?”

Wen Yu looked at the youth’s cold and handsome features. After a breath of silence, she said, “From the very beginning when I kept you by my side, I said I would arrange for you to stay in Pingzhou.”

Xiao Li pressed one step closer to her. His tall form had almost completely enveloped her. His voice was low and sharp: “I never agreed.”

This distance was too close. But Wen Yu did not step back.

Their gazes intertwined like hunters facing off against each other, as if the next instant they would tear at each other.

Yet they remained in a stalemate. Neither moved.

Xiao Li scrutinized the excessively beautiful yet excessively indifferent face before him. He felt as if his chest cavity was being flooded with lava—scorching and burning with pain. His throat rolled lightly: “What I said back then was that I would decide after arriving at Pingzhou.”

Wen Yu remained silent.

Her silence at this moment was more like a wordless confrontation.

Xiao Li’s hands hanging at his sides unconsciously clenched into fists. His voice was suppressed: “Why did you remove me from the list of those escorting the wedding party?”

The moon reached its zenith. Frog croaks rose and fell in the lotus pond.

Wen Yu had been strangely calm from beginning to end. Even now, being questioned by him like this, she only raised her eyes and said, “Because I don’t think General Xiao is a suitable candidate.”

The three words “General Xiao” immediately created a sense of distance.

This reason almost became the last straw that crushed Xiao Li’s rationality. He seemed to laugh in anger. His drunken eyes were brilliantly red under the moon. Following her lead, he also changed his form of address: “May I ask Wengzhu—in what way is this subordinate unsuitable?”

Wen Yu calmly met his gaze and said, “General Xiao’s behavior tonight is unsuitable in every way.”

The two were separated by less than half a foot. If not for this tense atmosphere, this distance could already be called quite intimate.

Hearing Wen Yu’s answer, Xiao Li turned his face and laughed lowly.

All the unwillingness and anger clamored in the depths of his heart. Under the numbing effect of the strong liquor, it burned until not even half a fraction of his remaining rationality was left.

He suddenly took another step, continuing to press closer toward Wen Yu.

Wen Yu sensed danger and instinctively retreated backward. But she forgot this was a corner bend in the rockery forest by the lake. The moment her back pressed against the artificial mountain stone, Xiao Li directly braced his arms and trapped her between his own chest and the mountain stone. In an instant, his burning breath carrying wine vapor completely enveloped her.

Wen Yu’s heart jumped violently. Not expecting him to be so bold, she lowered her voice and rebuked him: “Xiao Li!”

Xiao Li carelessly examined her hibiscus face, which was extremely beautiful even when concealing anger. Hidden beneath his black eyes burning hot from alcohol was a heart-stopping possessiveness. He asked softly, “Was Wengzhu’s decision to remove me made only after tonight?”

It had been a long time since Wen Yu had experienced such a feeling of being controlled by another. She was like prey forced into a trap. Her chest rose and fell from being startled, though her face still maintained its usual calm. She said coldly, “You’ve overstepped your bounds.”

He was too close to her. Her nostrils were filled entirely with that cold and subtle fragrance from her body.

Xiao Li struggled mightily to restrain the desire to bury his head in the hollow of her neck and breathe in that scent deeply. He mocked himself: “Even when I follow rules and propriety, aren’t I still summoned and dismissed at Wengzhu’s will?”

Wen Yu felt his burning, slightly heavy breath spraying on the side of her neck. That patch of skin exposed to the air trembled uncontrollably, raising fine goosebumps. She turned her face and said coldly, “You’re drunk. Step aside. I’ll treat tonight’s events as if they never happened.”

But Xiao Li said, “I’m not drunk.”

The redness in his eyes gradually intensified: “I’ve never been as clearheaded as I am now.”

“Wen Yu, to you, am I nothing but an object from beginning to end? When you can use me, I can follow by your side. When you can’t use me anymore, I have to roll as far away as possible?”

Wen Yu’s heart was viciously pierced. Meeting Xiao Li’s pained gaze, she said, “When I go to Southern Chen, how many ministers must remain to guard Pingzhou and Tao Commandery? By your logic, are they also objects?”

Xiao Li stared at her fixedly: “If you’re truly making this decision for the greater good, naturally I have nothing to say. But since Elder Li has already personally recommended me, yet you have me remain to guard Pingzhou—I’m not convinced!”

Wen Yu didn’t speak again for quite a while. Beneath her eyes, still as stagnant water, lay complete desolation.

Wind stirred the hems of their clothes brushing against each other. It also blew a strand of hair from her temples across Xiao Li’s cheek. She asked in return, “Have you escort the wedding party to Southern Chen, and then what? Will you remain in Southern Chen for a lifetime?”

His feelings for her—obscure, unable to see the light of day, yet tacitly understood between them for so long—were ultimately completely exposed in this questioning.

Xiao Li was momentarily speechless. All his anger and bitter resentment were also drained by these questions.

Yes, even if he went to Southern Chen to escort the wedding party, what about after the escort was complete? He would still have to return.

Even if he chose to remain in Southern Chen for a lifetime, what would that change? Watch her become the Chen King’s consort, then watch her raise children with the Chen King, becoming a story of romance celebrated among the common people?

Just imagining these things made Xiao Li feel the hostility growing in his heart would almost drive him mad.

He retreated a step, as if returning to that snowy night when Xiao Huiniang died. In his heart fell another vast expanse of heavy snow, and thus he could no longer see the path ahead clearly, like a homeless stray dog.

He understood clearly that all his suffering originated from that vain and greedy thought in the depths of his heart.

—He wanted to possess her.

To possess Great Liang’s most brilliant pearl shining like the sun.

He had done everything possible to make himself stronger, but she couldn’t wait until the day his fangs were sharp enough to tear apart all formidable enemies.

Unable to obtain, unable to let go, unwilling to accept—what remained for him was only the ever-increasing torment.

Sometimes he even thought, if only she weren’t the Great Liang princess.

If she were just an ordinary girl from a wealthy family, he could have a thousand, ten thousand ways to marry her home with glory and honor.

But in this world, there had never been any “ifs.”

Wen Yu saw the barely suppressed wretchedness Xiao Li felt at this moment. For that instant, her gaze also concealed hidden pain, only to be quickly covered by calm. She took a slightly deep breath and said, “When all is said and done, it is I who owe you. Knowing full well that you remained in Pingzhou not out of loyalty to me…”

Xiao Li was too familiar with what her saying this meant. His eyes filled with resentment. He immediately interrupted her, his voice hoarse: “This subordinate is alarmed. I cannot bear Wengzhu’s words about disloyalty.”

The rest of Wen Yu’s words were all blocked in her throat.

After he retreated, he stood right in the shadow beneath a tree, his back to the moonlight. Wen Yu could no longer see his eyes clearly. She only said, “You know what I mean.”

“This subordinate is slow-witted and doesn’t know.”

As if he felt that as long as he denied it, she wouldn’t continue speaking further.

Wen Yu’s chest suddenly filled with a sour, soft bitterness. When she spoke again, her voice also carried a trace of hoarseness: “If you truly didn’t know, you wouldn’t have appeared here tonight.”

Xiao Li didn’t respond.

Wen Yu said, “Some things ultimately need an answer. Continuously avoiding them doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”

She had once also thought that as long as she avoided it, as long as she remained silent, she could pretend nothing had happened.

But that was only her self-righteous and self-deceiving idea.

Every time she saw Xiao Li’s gaze, she was acutely aware that she had bound him using his feelings for her.

That wolf wore a collar covered in sharp thorns. He bowed his head and pledged allegiance to her. She gripped the chain he handed into her hands, yet she would not choose him.

This wasn’t fair.

The conversation had reached this point. Xiao Li could no longer pretend to be deaf and mute. His breath trembled and fell in the darkness. He seemed to laugh, making it impossible to tell whether his words held more mockery or more self-deprecation: “So, is Wengzhu driving me away again?”

Hearing that word “again,” Wen Yu recalled all the life-and-death experiences the two had shared together. She felt as if a soft thorn had pierced her heart, bringing forth a nearly numbing pain.

She said, “Whether you stay or go has never been something I could decide. All I can do is tell you which path to take when you cannot make the correct choice yourself. With your current reputation and ability, wherever you go, you will be honored as a distinguished guest. If you are willing to continue remaining in Pingzhou in the future, I will naturally be deeply grateful. But I hope that whatever decision you make is for your own future and ambitions, not swayed by romantic feelings between man and woman. To me, you will forever be a benefactor, a friend, family.”

For a long while, Xiao Li didn’t speak again.

In the empty silent night, only the frog croaks from the nearby lotus pond could be heard.

Wen Yu turned her head and quietly looked for a long time at the pavilion in the middle of the lake with its swaying lanterns in the distance. Finally, she said, “The night is already deep. This Palace will return first. General Xiao should also go back and rest early.”

After walking a few steps, she suddenly heard Xiao Li call hoarsely from behind her: “Wen Yu.”

Wen Yu didn’t turn around, but her footsteps halted.

The night wind carried Xiao Li’s hoarse voice: “If there had been no catastrophe befalling our realm, if I had become a general and went to the Prince’s Manor to propose marriage—would you have married me?”

The lake breeze was too cold. It suddenly blew until Wen Yu’s eyes stung painfully with soreness.