The ties at her chest were drawn away like butterfly wings fluttering, and that begonia-red outer robe that had received worship from countless people and was adorned with countless gems quietly fell away, slipping down to her delicate ankles and pooling into a loose heap.

Under the lamplight, Xue Yu stepped on the black silhouette, wearing only two layers of thin gauze, her shoulders rounded like a piece of perfect, precious porcelain. Su You was much taller than her, but leaning against the chair’s armrest in this position, she could see the unshielded emotions in his eyes.

From the initial shock to the darkness moments before, like a burning fire that blazed up, and now that the fire had burned dry, revealing ashes that showed a kind of elusive danger.

It felt as if he had completely released the dam that had been concealing everything, no longer caring whether it would surprise or frighten her away.

If she wanted to see, then let her see.

So those surging, fervent, vigorous yet inexperienced emotions crashed into Xue Yu’s eyes with reckless abandon.

Wonderfully vivid enough to make one feel dizzy.

“Alright.”

He breathed out a brief syllable in response, embracing her around the waist and taking several steps to disappear into the layers of curtains within the hall.

At first, all movements were green and awkward. Su You gripped her hands with a surprisingly burning temperature, kissing and caressing her with great momentum yet internal timidity, igniting scattered fires and leaving patches of rolling, hot breath by her ears.

Gradually, intermittent sounds of water began to arise.

Xue Yu couldn’t bear it. She opened her eyes in bewilderment, her pristine skin trembling uncontrollably at his every touch.

“…Don’t dawdle.” She turned her face away, staring straight at the canopy overhead, grasping Su You’s fingers that were slick with moisture, her eyelashes trembling violently. “Just do it directly.”

Su You looked down at her cold composure breaking apart, one snow-white leg tensed straight and tight in his palm. A bead of sweat hung from his chin, restrainedly clinging to the edge, and as he spoke, it dropped with a soft patter, disappearing into the side of her neck: “It will hurt.”

“I’m not afraid of pain.” She answered him almost through gritted teeth.

Xue Yu, noble in two lifetimes, had never imagined that on the very night of her Crown Princess ennoblement ceremony, she would face such a vulnerable predicament.

Only now did she truly and profoundly understand what her grandfather meant when he first saw her and said, “This child has very concentrated snow bloodline.”

The moment her body was stretched open, Xue Yu had no mind to look at Su You’s dissolute expression. She turned her head, muffled a groan, and buried herself deeply into the soft pillow.

She felt she had truly become a handful of snow.

About to be melted by the heat.

From dark to dawn, throughout the entire night, Sui Jinyu waited for Su You, but he never returned. He lost countless rounds of cards, and by the end, he was thoroughly drunk, his arm resting on Sui Yu’s chair back as he finally couldn’t help saying: “No good—I have to go check.”

Jiu Feng, busy as she was, spared him a glance and snorted: “Check what? How long have you known your brother? And how long has he been in Yedu? If we’re being honest, the Sui family isn’t his home—Yedu is.”

“Chu Yaoxiang.” Sui Yu, who could drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, pushed out the cards that would determine victory or defeat and slowly raised an eyelid: “I don’t like hearing those words.”

“Good medicine tastes bitter. Think about it yourself.” Jiu Feng was addicted to gambling. Seeing the sky brightening like fireflies in the distance, she became interested again: “By the way, do you know the demon capital’s Whirlwind Curse? When applied to flower cards, there’s a new way to play. Want to try?”

Throughout this night, the demon capital’s variations were dazzling, amazing, and eye-opening. Others were essentially watching for entertainment, but Sacred Land successors like Yin Ling, Lu Qin, and Ji Tingxi were genuinely envious.

“Does the demon capital have nothing to manage normally?” Yin Ling asked Jiu Feng: “I’ve seen you traveling in the mortal realm, tinkering with these tricks, but I’ve never seen you enter a study.”

Jiu Feng lazily shifted to a more comfortable position and smiled at these words: “There are plenty of matters—all sorts of miscellaneous things. Among the top five families in the demon capital, not two have brains, so all the thorny issues get sent to me.”

“I let Feng Shangyu handle them.” Jiu Feng’s thumb rubbed the intimate red mark at the base of her neck, meeting everyone’s envious gazes as she said leisurely, “Don’t look at me like that. Coaxing him to read ten days or half a month’s worth of reports, I also paid no small price.”

Yin Ling understood perfectly and laughingly pushed Jiu Feng.

Just then, the spirit talisman at Yin Ling’s waist began to burn. Seeing the words “Shan Shu,” she lost her smile and became serious: “What’s wrong?”

“I found a lax opportunity in the palace and passed the message to Prince Zhao’s consort. In two days at Jade Fragrance Studio, she wants to meet with us.” Shan Shu added gently: “There’s one more thing. Grand Eunuch Bai Su is dead. I saw him before his death and used some methods. Perhaps understanding that his master was ruthless, he gave me some clues. The last Jade Green Pill that flowed from Xue Rong’s hands in Yedu was used by Qiu Tong on a great demon in the mortal realm.”

“A great demon in the mortal realm.” Jiu Feng also lost interest in cards. She pressed her brow and rubbed it: “Though the demon capital has severed connections with the mortal realm, we still have people acting as scouts in the mortal realm. The great demons are currently each holding their territory, with vague signs of joining forces. If we count them up, there are four in the north, three in the area south of Su Prefecture, and two within the tens of thousands of li territory belonging to Tai Hua’s cities. Nine great demons in total, each claiming kingship and leading their regions, but the demon clans under them aren’t strong; many are small demons who’ve been bullied long-term. They shouldn’t be able to stir up much trouble.”

“Don’t act rashly yet.” Cang Ju glanced at the sky and said concisely: “Yin Ling and I will go over later.”

After the spirit talisman’s light dimmed, Ji Tingxi, who had immediately gone into seclusion after leaving Feiyun Summit and only emerged yesterday to rush over, said: “This Human Emperor matter—if I calculate it, Sacred Land successors have had more grand gatherings recently than in the previous fifty years combined.”

Indeed, Sacred Land successors were busy, each in their way. Cultivation couldn’t be neglected, and serious matters couldn’t be neglected, so their appearances naturally became less frequent. For this Human Emperor incident, if not for the hints from the Feiyun Summit, they actually wouldn’t have paid such close attention.

Jiu Feng gathered all the cards and looked toward Lu Qin: “I remember there’s another teleportation array in a city not far from Yedu, right?”

“I asked around—that’s also owned by Chen Longzhi’s family. Chen Yu Pavilion was just built about a year ago.” Lu Qin couldn’t help clicking his tongue: “Nothing else to say, but their family is quite enthusiastic about building teleportation arrays.”

Jiu Feng and Sui Jinyu both fell silent.

“Then there’s no choice.”

Sui Yu used his foot to push his chair in a circle, looked toward Chen Longzhi, who was playing at a table three tables away in fairly good spirits, knocked his knuckles, and called out: “Chen Longzhi, come over here. Want to discuss something with you?”

When Xue Yu woke, the sky was already bright, but inside the curtains it was still dim. She moved her arm slightly, and the man’s face, so close to hers, had eyelashes peacefully drooping. Hearing the faint movement, those deep shadows moved upward, revealing jet-black, star-bright pupils.

Unseemly images flooded her mind. Honestly, Xue Yu wasn’t very satisfied with her performance last night.

But it was hard to control.

It was almost the most honest instinct deep in her blood and bones, trembling as it drifted with the current in that grand torrent, battered until the tributaries shattered, then silently melted away.

She pressed her dry lips together, but saw him extend his arms to gather her close, their skin touching under the cool, silk-like brocade quilt.

“It’s barely dawn.” He fumbled to place a burning kiss on the back of her neck, his voice containing lingering passion that made her heart flutter: “…Lie down a while longer?”

Xue Yu wasn’t particularly sleepy, but she stayed in this position for a while, rarely showing a drowsy, lazy air.

“I’ve been thinking. About things between us.” This was Jiu Feng’s reminder, but Xue Yu was intelligent—she might not understand everything at once, but she would investigate things from subtle clues and reach fairly reliable conclusions.

Hearing such words, Su You stroked Xue Yu’s abundant black hair scattered like seaweed over his arm, tensing silently.

Speaking of serious matters, almost instinctively, Xue Yu sat up holding the quilt, leaning against the bed’s edge, her eyelids lowered, like a butterfly dampened by rain.

Rather than the judgment that would make Su You nervous, it was a kind of low, heartfelt confession: “I don’t remember much from childhood. I only know that when I was born, my father was still Yedu’s most romantic second young master. At first, he didn’t know of my existence—it was my mother who brought me before him.”

“She disappeared the next day. No one knew where she went.”

“I followed Father back to Yedu. He was carefree, dissolute, unrestrained, but a good father.” Xue Yu frowned slightly: “Within a few years, Yedu fell into great chaos. He was appointed in a crisis, and I began learning countless things.”

There were many trivial matters in between that she didn’t plan to elaborate on, glossing over them entirely.

“Grandfather once told me something—people bearing heavy responsibilities on their shoulders cannot freely and recklessly pursue other things.” She moved her little finger: “Due to my personality, I don’t have anything I particularly love. If I must say, it would be the night lamps of Ancient Long Street, fireworks in the darkness, and the steaming hot glutinous rice balls of the mortal realm. Father said I was fortunate—my loves happened to align with my responsibilities, and I had some ability to change the current situation, but I needed to become even stronger.”

Both fortunate and unfortunate, but there are no perfect situations in this world.

“So, from childhood, people around me felt great pressure. They found it oppressive.” Xue Yu looked at Su You and said slowly: “Chao Hua has been by my side doing things since she was very young. She suffered greatly to reach where she is today, with almost no time to relax.”

“You too.”

The ten years, thirty-five years in the return journey—this relied not merely on talent, but more on diligence, perseverance, and patience.

Even though she demanded nothing, never required Chao Hua and Chou Li to reach any particular level, never asked Su You to provide her with any specific assistance, it still created a suffocating feeling. Because she was too excellent, to keep up with her pace, one had to stand at the same level as her, or at least not fall too far behind.

“When I agreed to be with you, it wasn’t because of your outstanding abilities or because you could help me with many things.”

Xue Yu looked carefully at Su You’s rich and beautiful face. Speaking of vulgarity, at the very beginning, she had first noticed him because of his appearance, then came to appreciate his intelligence, and gradually, seeing his childhood experiences in the Flying Heaven Diagram, she accompanied him through those lonely, solitary nights when he was drunk.

Too many subtle emotions piled together—individually insignificant, but collectively, she couldn’t say what it was.

She seemed to be watching a tree shake itself as it grew, gradually developing into a towering form, with such tenacious vitality, such flexible perseverance. And this tree later, to entice her, dressed itself up as a flower, brilliant, beautiful, blooming solely in her palm.

It was hard not to be moved.

Xue Yu stroked his sharply defined profile, seeing him cooperatively lift his head slightly, before speaking in a slow, complex tone: “But if it becomes so serious that even your joys and sorrows are hidden away, given to outsiders, Su You, I’m a bit unhappy.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“No.” Su You hadn’t expected her to have such thoughts. After her words fell, he was rarely forceful, pulling her into his embrace, his Adam’s apple sliding as he said with difficulty: “…It’s just that before separation, selfish motives took over, wanting you to see a relatively good side.”

He simply hadn’t been loved much and lacked confidence in keeping her, so he instinctively wanted to face her with his most beautiful aspect. This way, when facing other men, she would hesitate and then refuse, rather than accept readily. He wanted to perform excellently, to be worth her giving up others.

“It’s not pressure.” He grasped her fingers, intertwining them root by root, his long lashes slowly drooping: “I like you, and I want to like the lanterns, fireworks, and glutinous rice balls you spoke of too.”

That’s why he was even stricter with himself.

“I understand now.”

His breath rolled hotly as he licked her white, tender earlobe: “I’ll change. I won’t do this again next time.”

He had gotten trapped in a dead end. Compared to his insistence, his passion, Xue Yu’s reactions were always a bit cooler, as if she always had many choices and could withdraw and leave at any time if dissatisfied with him.

This sometimes made him forget that this was simply Xue Yu’s personality.

From when they first met, she had been like this—coldly saving people, coldly caring for people, but toward him, she had indeed given indulgence never given to others, tolerating his step-by-step presumptuous approaches, tolerating his boundary-crossing words and actions.

And now, no matter how busy, she would still spare some time for him, would slowly learn to say she missed him. She never forced him in the slightest, completely respecting his wishes when the Sui family came looking. Even though she couldn’t speak sweet words or express her feelings, she would wait for him after her Crown Princess ceremony, and after he admitted his fears, she offered that sash capable of igniting everything.

It was an irrepressible emotion, and also to give him peace of mind.

Su You’s chest moved slightly. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then turned Xue Yu around, removing a layer of perfect concealment and slowly allowing the helpless panic in his eyes to show: “…I have to go to the demon capital.”

“In the future, whatever it is, just tell me like this. We won’t fight, and we won’t say anything about separating, alright?”