Xiao Zhi had no time to brace herself.
Kabil's hand shot out, fingers closing around her throat. The grip tightened so suddenly that her breath caught in a sharp, strangled gasp. Her hands flew instinctively to his wrist, trying to pry him off, but he squeezed harder, forcing her back against the bedding.
"All Hua women," he growled, his face twisting into something monstrous, "are trash."
Her pulse thundered under his palm. Her mind spun out of control.
This couldn't be happening. She wasn't prepared. She should have, but the plot had changed to be kinder. And now it's back to being cruel and twisted, just like the story she had read.
Her vision blurred around the edges, the room dipping in and out of focus. She could barely recognize the world in front of her. Everything twisted, wrong, spinning violently away from anything she thought she understood.
Xiao Zhi's head whipped to the side, her cheek exploding with heat. For a heartbeat, she didn't even process the pain. She was too stunned. Too shocked.
"…Y-you…" she choked out.
The word wasn't finished before Kabil laughed.
It wasn't the light, easy laugh he had shown her before.
This laugh was jagged.
Cruel.
Dripping with malice.
He crouched in front of her and caught her chin between his fingers, squeezing until it hurt.
"Why?" he whispered, eyes gleaming. "You're surprised?"
Xiao Zhi's breath trembled.
"You actually thought I liked you?"
Kabil leaned closer, wine thick on his breath. His face hovered inches from hers, twisted with mockery.
"You. A Hua woman." His lips curled into a sneer. "You're disgusting."
Xiao Zhi felt the floor tilt beneath her. A cold rush swept through her veins. She shook her head weakly, not because she had a rebuttal, but because her brain refused to accept what she was hearing.
Kabil stood, pacing slowly, savoring his every word of his own. Like a long planned victory.
"All those nice things I said?" he mused. "The gifts? The smiles? The concern?"
He turned, eyes glinting wickedly.
"The little compliments I fed you?"
A soft chuckle escaped him.
"Fake. Every single one."
He tapped his temple with one finger, smirking.
"I was studying you. Playing with you."
He gestured toward her trembling form on the bed.
"And now look."
Another slap. Sharp, ringing, humiliating.
Xiao Zhi fell sideways on the bed, vision blurring.
She tasted iron.
She tasted betrayal.
And far outside the door, Ruhan stood in the shadows of the corridor, fists clenched so hard his knuckles cracked.
He could hear everything.
The slap.
The laughter.
Her choked gasp.
Each sound carved into him like a blade, slicing deeper and deeper until something inside him felt ready to split open.
He had known Kabil was cruel.
He had known the kindness was a mask, a performance tailored perfectly to deceive.
He had known the moment the wedding door closed, Lian Zhi would be walking into the hands of someone who would destroy her.
But knowing did nothing to prepare him for the sound of her pain.
Hearing her cry out…
It tore through him like a blade.
He shut his eyes. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe.
Fate.
That cursed word.
He was the Khan. He could command armies, yet he couldn't take a single step toward her. He couldn't interfere. He couldn't save her.
His jaw tightened until it hurt. His chest burned and his throat closed.
He heard another scream, Soft, broken.
Ruhan flinched.
He pressed a fist to his mouth to stifle the sound of his own anguish.
"She walked into that room because I let her." His voice dropped to a whisper, trembling with guilt and fury. "And now she's suffering because of me."
Another muffled cry drifted through the corridor.
Ruhan's eyes stung.
He turned his face away from the light, trying to steady himself, but the pain was too sharp, too loud, too suffocating.
He couldn't take it.
"Ark—" his voice cracked. He swallowed, trying again.
"Arkaan!!"
The shadow beside him shifted. Arkan stepped out, silent as ever, but his eyes sharp and deadly beneath the calm.
Ruhan didn't speak. He didn't need to.
Seeing the pain in his master's eyes, Arkan knew what he wanted him to do.
He nodded once and vanished, swift as a blade through the wind.
And a few moments later, a single scream erupted from the bride's chamber.
"ARGH—!"
Then…Silence.
Moments later, Arkan reappeared beside him, breathing steady.
"It has been handled," he said quietly.
Ruhan's hands still shook.
He didn't look at Arkan. His gaze stayed fixed on the chamber door.
"Princess Lian Zhi?"
Arkan nodded. "She is unconscious. I laid her on the bed."
Ruhan swallowed, "And Kabil?"
"I left him on the floor."
Ruhan closed his eyes. Then:
"Take him to his room. I don't want him near her when she wakes u.p"
Arkan bowed his head.
"Understood," and with that, Arkan disappeared again.
The corridor fell silent.
Completely, painfully silent.
For a long moment, Ruhan stood there motionless. The weight in his chest refused to loosen. His breath felt too shallow, too tight, as though the walls of the palace themselves were pressing in on him.
Only when the wind shifted, brushing past him like a cold reminder of reality, did he finally take a step backward.
Then another.
He turned slowly, each step felt heavier than the last, dragging like chains against stone.
His throat tightened painfully. He kept walking.
His hands were still trembling. His jaw clenched so hard he tasted blood.
It wasn't until he reached the dim passage near his own quarters that the trembling in his limbs finally threatened to give out. He paused, bracing a hand against the wall, and closed his eyes.
He could still hear her.
The gasps.
The startled cries.
The sound of her body hitting the bed, helpless and afraid.
The sharp crack of Kabil's hand across her cheek.
"I'm sorry…Lian Zhi" he whispered softly, the name breaking slightly on his tongue.
He shut the door behind him. This…is his punishment.