Remember that you are mine.

After that day, Li Yexuan truly never came to find me again, and the mood I felt was indescribable. Even though I did not deliberately dwell on it, my heart still waited for him involuntarily. What came was not Li Yexuan, but Yun Heng.

At night, I pushed open the door. After a full day of busyness, I could finally rest. I believed that having labored all day until exhaustion, I could stop overthinking, stop thinking about Li Yexuan, and stop recalling that day's accusatory gaze that condemned me for having no heart.

Indeed, I had no heart. On the day the country fell, and on the day Yun Heng lay in bed with another woman, my heart had vanished completely.

As these thoughts filled me, terror began to bloom in my eyes, for there was a figure in my room—Yun Heng.

"How did you come here?" Yun Heng drew me close to his chest. "Mu Fan, I have missed you."

I shoved Yun Heng away. "General, please maintain your dignity. If Mu Fan has not guessed wrong, tomorrow is the day the general marries the Nineteenth Princess. Now that you appear here, what is your meaning?"

"I..."

"Leave..."

"Mu Fan..."

"Go, or I will call for help..."

Yun Heng's hand suddenly clamped around my throat, the expression in his eyes one I had never seen—terrifying.

"Do you truly wish me to leave?"

The word "truly" had not yet left my lips when they were sealed by his.

It hurt, it hurt unbearably. He bit until blood flowed.

I kicked upward, aiming at his lower abdomen.

Yun Heng, being a martial practitioner, sensed the strike and swiftly shifted his body. He considered only the lower part, not the upper. His lips loosened slightly, and I escaped.

"You madman." I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and glared fiercely at Yun Heng.

Yun Heng advanced relentlessly.

Wasn't this forcing my hand? The bracelet in my grip was aimed at him. A silver needle shot forth, and I retreated rapidly.

Yun Heng also retreated, yet ordinary silver needles could not wound the great general.

But I was different. Because I retreated too swiftly, my back slammed heavily against the shelf. The shelf, filled with porcelain, toppled.

Turning, I watched the shelf collapse. Escape was impossible.

Yun Heng seized me, and the two of us tumbled awkwardly to the ground.

A thunderous crash followed as the shelf and its porcelain fell together, impossible to avoid alerting those outside.

"Quickly, go." I pushed Yun Heng. He rose and fled through the window.

I sat up, only to realize one hand was completely embedded in the shards. Blood flowed from my palm, just as my love for Yun Heng slowly drained from my body.

The door burst open. Jin Hu charged in first, helping me up.

Then the Golden Jade Workshop's servants swarmed in a flurry, and it was not until the early hours that I drifted into a daze and slept.

The next day, Yun Heng married the princess.

I do not know if this was irony. Yun Heng, clad in celebratory robes, the wedding procession passed the Golden Jade Workshop's gate.

In the bright red bridal sedan, the Nineteenth Princess was veiled in a hazy red canopy, her noble bearing unable to be concealed.

Such a woman should be match for Yun Heng, though Qiao Ruqing's expression would surely be ugly.

I had expected my heart to tear apart in pain, but it remained untouched.

Gazing at the wound wrapped in my palm, I actually felt its ache.

No longer watching the grand wedding procession, I busied myself at the Golden Jade Workshop—whether checking the displayed items in the counter, flipping through account books, or observing the workers' labor, my presence was everywhere.

I thought I had endured the day, that Yun Heng was now a stranger to me, but I had not anticipated the nightmare unfolding at this very moment.

Exhausted from the day, I lay in bed, recalling every fragment of my time with Yun Heng, feeling a profound emptiness.

Suddenly, a heat surged through my body.

I rose, changing into a more cooling undergarment, yet the discomfort only deepened.

In an instant, I realized the situation was far more dire.

I desperately recalled if anything unusual had occurred that day. My eyes widened suddenly. After dinner, Qingmei had served me a cup of water with a strange taste. She claimed it was water she had brewed herself and asked for my opinion.

It was her. Who was she, exactly?

If I still did not know what drug had been administered, then I truly deserved to die in vain; the piece of tofu would have been too merciful.

Reason reined in the heat of my body. I rose and walked toward the door. The small lake in the back courtyard of the Golden Jade Workshop was not far from my room. If I immersed myself in its waters, perhaps I could still find a way to live.

I had underestimated the enemy's intellect.

Before I took more than a few steps, a man appeared before me.

Dressed in black, his features unhidden. That repulsive sight made me want to retch.

My teeth pressed against my tongue; I would rather die than submit to such a man beneath me.

Yet my body betrayed me again, heat rising, my teeth loosening of their own accord. It seemed I had no strength left.

The man seemed to perform a task, carrying me onto the bed.

Tears streamed from the corners of my eyes. The man paused his gaze for only a fleeting moment, then came the sound of tearing fabric, revealing the yellowish bellyband beneath.

I believed I was doomed, closing my eyes in despair.

My body felt lighter, no longer pinned down.

Opening my eyes once more, I saw Li Yexuan before me, his gaze bloodthirsty, the man's corpse lying on the ground.

Tears spilled freely at this moment.

"Li Yexuan..."

Li Yexuan hurriedly removed his outer garment, wrapping it around me.

A figure emerged from the shadows, and I trembled.

"Do not cry. Do not be afraid."

The man saluted Li Yexuan respectfully and carried the corpse away.

"Li Yexuan, leave quickly."

My body heated again and again. I desperately pushed him away.

He held me tighter. He had guessed right—I had been poisoned with such vile medicine and nearly sacrificed to a stranger. I did not wish Li Yexuan to see me in such a wretched state.

My body began to shake. I bit into his arm, sweat beading on my forehead.

It was so painful. I could not help but reach for the clothes Li Yexuan had wrapped around me.

Li Yexuan eventually pressed me beneath him.

"Do not fear. I will take responsibility."

His lips covered mine, like a playful little snake slipping inside, kissing me until I could not breathe.

The breath that belonged solely to Li Yexuan enveloped me. I became dazed, consciousness fading. My hands unconsciously curled around his neck. Despite my desperate control, I could not suppress a soft moan.

Just as I had learned in my sex education class, making such sounds was an unmistakable seduction.

But I could not control myself either.

It hurt, a tearing pain that split my living body in half.

When he entered, tears fell from the corner of my mouth.

Rising and falling, I felt unending agony, the abnormal heat slowly receding.

I sank into a dreamy springtime scene. The sky would brighten, and Li Yexuan would depart. Nothing existed between us. Knowing it was a doomed fate, I let Li Yexuan send me to countless times.

Finally, darkness closed my eyes, and I knew nothing, swooning away.

Was this a kind of fate? That night, Yun Heng should have been consummating with his princess, while I was drugged and shared a bed with Li Yexuan.

Hehe.

It can only be described as a pain.

From this night onward, Yun Heng, we have no further ties.

It is only Li Yexuan; I do not know what to do with him.

Waking again, I was nestled in Li Yexuan's arms.

My clothes had been changed, presumably by him personally.

Recalling the events of the previous night, my cheeks flushed crimson.

"You are awake."

He hugged me tighter.

I shivered slightly, the pain of the night still vivid, my body utterly exhausted.

"Mmm."

"Your hand, how did you injure it?"

Since I was now Li Yexuan's person, I no longer concealed it. I told him everything, from beginning to end.

"Take me back to the prince's mansion."

"No. The prince went to great lengths to save me. I do not mind."

I broke free from Li Yexuan's arms.

Li Yexuan did not heed my resistance and dressed me in a robe.

Ignoring my thousand strands of hair still carelessly draped, he lifted me by the waist.

"Li Yexuan, what are you doing, do not..."

"Do not move. Remember, you are mine."

A kiss imprinted on my lips, Li Yexuan strode out into the open.

My hands could only hook around his neck, my head buried in his chest, as low as it could possibly be.

Li Yexuan disregarded the pointed glances around him, ordered a carriage prepared, and personally carried me onto it, then drove away.

My face burned hot.

Arriving at the prince's mansion, Li Yexuan placed me on the large bed in his private quarters.

He sat beside me, tucking my hair behind my ear.

"Why..."

It was impossible not to feel moved; I cried again.

"Do not cry, or I will not say it."

"Good."

I wiped my tears, only to hear Li Yexuan continue.

"Do not go. Mu Fan, I love you. I, Li Yexuan, love you."

"What did you say?"

I thought I had misheard. Li Yexuan saying he loved me?

"I love you. I, Li Yexuan, love you."

"Because I am the long princess's maid, because I resemble her?" I knew I could refuse to ask; Li Yexuan was undoubtedly a modern paragon of a man. As long as I did not inquire, I could enjoy his love in peace. But I was unwilling to ask.

Li Yexuan remained silent.

My heart sank. He still loved a phantom. I was eating my own vinegar, hehe.

"Prince, since I am already yours, may I ask the prince for one favor?"

"Say it."

"Mu Fan wants no titles. I beg the prince to grant Mu Fan a courtyard. Simply give the Golden Jade Workshop to the prince."

"Are you certain?"

"I am."

"Very well. You are the first who does not value this king."

Li Yexuan waved his sleeve and departed.

I, however, cried with tears streaming down my face.

Not long after, a man who claimed to be a steward brought me to a place named Qingran Pavilion. Many maids and servants had been prepared, all of which I refused. Later, since I could not endure it, I selected a maid named Zier to serve me.

The door of Qingran Pavilion remained always closed.

Li Yexuan came every day, yet I never smiled at him.

Whether he was gentle with me or used his hand to choke me, I remained expressionless.

Once he grew furious, I would be pressed beneath him.

An indifferent, closed-eyed appearance always drove him away.

Life offered me no choice, and I was unwilling to accept this substitute.