The young girl was very light, her whole weight resting against the man as if she were nothing at all.

The man’s kisses grew more urgent than the wind and rain outside.

“Shao—” Qiao Zhao opened her mouth to call his name, but the moment gave him the chance to pull her closer instead. Dizzy and breathless, she could only cling to him, her words dissolving into soft, wordless sounds.

The man kissed her deeply, unhurried but thorough, and a shiver ran through her entire body in response.

Amid the lightning and thunder, the air in the small, dim room grew warmer and heavier.

The man suddenly rolled to his side, drawing the young girl down beside him instead. His hands gently gathered the fabric at her shoulders, and he pressed a slow, lingering kiss just above her collarbone.

“Shao Mingyuan—” Qiao Zhao’s eyes went wide with surprise, and when his lips brushed a particularly sensitive spot, her voice caught, higher and softer than she meant it to be.

Mortified, she wanted to disappear on the spot, scolding him under her breath: “Shao Mingyuan, have you lost your mind— mmph…”

He cut her off with another kiss, his hands still moving with careful, deliberate warmth.

Qiao Zhao felt warmth spreading through her limbs, leaving her too weak to properly push him away.

This man was absolutely shameless when he lost control like this!

She thought hazily, caught somewhere between annoyance and something far softer.

“Zhaozhao, Zhaozhao, I’ve missed you so much it aches…” Shao Mingyuan murmured, feeling her grow warmer in his arms. Everything he usually kept carefully contained inside him surged forward all at once, restless and aching for release.

“Zhaozhao, what am I supposed to do with all of this?”

“You… you absolute scoundrel…” Her scolding came out with no real force behind it at all.

“Zhaozhao, Zhaozhao…” Between kisses, Shao Mingyuan kept murmuring her name like it was the only thing steadying him, each repetition washing another wave of warmth through his chest.

Without quite meaning to, his hand began to wander, slipping toward the hem of her skirt before he caught himself.

In that instant, Qiao Zhao tensed, her whole body going still as she asked, quiet and uncertain: “Shao Mingyuan, what are you doing?”

Her voice was gentle, but there were tears gathering at the corners of her eyes.

The man, who had been lost in the moment, suddenly came back to himself completely.

He looked down at his own hand, realizing exactly where it had ended up, and froze in place, stricken.

“Zhaozhao, I—”

What had he just done?

Qiao Zhao’s whole face went red. “Get your hand away from there!”

“Right — sorry—” Shao Mingyuan yanked his hand back immediately, though the sight of her flushed and disheveled made him falter all over again.

He rolled away and got off the bed entirely, needing the distance.

Qiao Zhao quickly straightened her clothes, biting her lip and saying nothing.

Shao Mingyuan crossed to the table, poured himself a cup of tea, and drank it down in one go, not daring to look back at her just yet.

The rain outside gradually eased, and cool air drifted in through the window, clearing his head.

Once he’d steadied himself, Shao Mingyuan relit the oil lamp and finally worked up the nerve to turn around.

In the dim light, he found the young girl watching him with an unreadable expression, her gaze deep and impossible to place.

He crossed the room, pulled a chair up beside the bed, and sat down. “Zhaozhao.”

Qiao Zhao pressed her lips together and said nothing at all.

This so-called honorable man — there was apparently nothing he wouldn’t try.

“Zhaozhao, are you angry with me?”

“Shouldn’t I be?”

“You should be. You have every right to be.” Shao Mingyuan reached for her hand. “I was out of line. Say the word and I’ll take whatever punishment you think is fair.”

Qiao Zhao pulled her hand free and gave him a sharp look. “Enough of that. Now that you’ve come to your senses you’re all apologies, but what happens next time you lose control like that again?”

Seeing him press his lips together without an answer, she let out a short, humorless laugh.

He didn’t even try to argue — which meant he fully intended to try something like this again.

He’d already dared this much tonight. What would stop him from pushing even further next time?

“Zhaozhao, don’t be upset.” Shao Mingyuan’s voice was gentler now, still rough from everything that had just happened.

Qiao Zhao turned her face away.

Shao Mingyuan suddenly reached down, drew a small dagger from where it was strapped at his leg, and pressed the hilt into her hands.

Qiao Zhao looked up, confused.

He met her eyes steadily. “Zhaozhao — if it happens again, you have my permission to use this on me.”

She threw the dagger straight to the floor. “You absolute fool!”

If she’d truly been the type to go through with something like that, would she ever have let things go as far as they had tonight in the first place?

Using guilt like this — did he have no shame at all?

Following the fallen blade with his eyes, Shao Mingyuan couldn’t quite hide the small, helpless smile tugging at his mouth. He pulled her — still trembling slightly — into his arms and asked softly: “Zhaozhao. You couldn’t actually hurt me, could you?”

“Shao Mingyuan, you used your strength against me just now — where was your conscience then?”

He rested his chin on top of her head. “Silly girl. Whenever I’m close to you, I forget everything else — how am I supposed to remember something like conscience?”

This silly girl really had no idea how men worked.

A man might keep an iron grip over himself around everyone else in the world, but around the one person he actually loved, that control had a way of slipping. Only someone with no heart at all could stay unaffected.

Shao Mingyuan lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to it. “Zhaozhao. Marry me soon. At this rate I’m worried I’ll keep losing my head around you.”

“You’ve already lost it.”

“I have. I went too far tonight—” As he said it, his mind drifted back to the moment before, and he had to consciously stop himself from lingering there.

Sharp as ever, Qiao Zhao caught exactly where his thoughts had gone. She flushed and gave him a light kick. “Don’t you dare think about that again!”

The kick didn’t hurt in the slightest, but it made something in his chest lift anyway. He caught her foot gently and pressed it against his chest instead. “Zhaozhao. Kicking my leg won’t do much. Kick here if you really want to get to me.”

His heart was pounding in a way he barely recognized.

He genuinely hadn’t understood, until now, what it meant for his heart to belong entirely to one person.

Awake, he thought of her. Eyes closed, he still thought of her. He wanted to be as close to her as it was possible to be, inseparable, always.

Qiao Zhao tugged her foot back. “Let go of me!”

Ever obedient where she was concerned, the composed young general let go at once, though something in his chest ached with the loss of contact.

Watching him, Qiao Zhao didn’t know whether to be exasperated or to laugh. Finally she closed her eyes and said, “Shao Mingyuan. We can’t keep doing this. I… I haven’t even had my coming-of-age ceremony yet.”

He lowered his head like a scolded dog caught out in the rain, nodding earnestly. “I understand.”

She glanced sideways at him, sighed quietly to herself, and said, more gently now: “Even after my ceremony, it still wouldn’t be proper. Can’t this wait until we’re actually married?”

She wasn’t one to fuss much over convention, but there were some lines that mattered — and this was one of them.

“I’ll wait,” Shao Mingyuan said, taking her hand in his. “I can wait as long as it takes.”