On the Lantern Festival, the Ai Mansion was adorned with lanterns and decorations, its dazzling lights illuminating the night sky as bright as day. The grand gates stood wide open, welcoming a multitude of guests. The capital's dignitaries and young talents gathered together, their elegant attire and flowing hair creating a scene of opulence and splendor as cups clinked and toasts were exchanged.
Ai Mu wore a solemn and intricate court dress for noblewomen. Her crimson brocade robe featured a phoenix embroidered in gold thread, poised to take flight. Her jet-black hair was piled high, adorned with a crimson-gold phoenix crown studded with jade. The intricate beaded net draped over her face partially obscured her vision, yet added an air of distant, commanding authority. Seated below the Ai King, she wore a polite yet distant smile as she received the homage and greetings of arriving guests.
Her gaze swept seemingly absentmindedly across the banquet hall, yet always unerringly found that pale-gray figure seated in the corner.
Gu Liang. Today, he was dressed with unusual simplicity, standing out starkly among the surrounding young nobles—some reserved, some lively, others deliberately showcasing their talents to attract the attention of noble ladies. He kept his head bowed, his posture deferential, scarcely engaging in conversation. He sat there quietly, like a delicate yet fragile porcelain figurine, enveloped in an inescapable aura of melancholy and vulnerability.
Many eyes—curious, disdainful, or pitying—rested upon him, yet he seemed oblivious. Ai Mu, however, sensed beneath those seemingly lowered lashes a focused, almost tangible gaze that occasionally settled upon her, carrying a lurking, heart-stopping patience.
She forced herself to ignore that gaze, exchanging pleasantries with several young ladies from prominent families who came to offer toasts. Her tolerance for alcohol was never strong, and combined with this body's recent recovery, a few cups of imperial wine left her feeling dizzy and lightheaded, an unnatural flush spreading across her cheeks.
"Your complexion seems rather poor, Lady Ai Mu. Are you not accustomed to wine?" a princess with whom she shared a friendly bond inquired with concern.
Ai Mu rubbed her temples, her voice tinged with just the right amount of weariness. "I am feeling a bit lightheaded. Perhaps it's because I've only recently recovered from illness and haven't fully regained my strength. My tolerance for alcohol... seems to have diminished considerably." A faint alarm rang in her heart. This body's tolerance for alcohol appeared to be even lower than she had perceived.
"In that case, why not retire to the side hall for a moment? We shall see to things here," Prince Ai, seated at the head of the table, noted her discomfort and spoke with his usual calm.
Ai Mu, eager to escape the suffocating social obligations and that shadow-like gaze following her every move, readily rose. Supported by Qing Dai, she left the banquet and headed toward the warm chamber near her courtyard. She needed to clear her head and escape that invisible pressure for a while.
The warm chamber was already prepared with a sobering broth and a brazier, filled with the faint scent of calming incense. Ai Mu dismissed Qing Dai, sending her to the small kitchen to see if she could find some more effective plum juice to counteract the alcohol. She herself leaned against the soft couch by the window, closing her eyes to rest.
Yet the dizziness not only failed to ease but intensified. An unfamiliar, unsettling heat began surging through her body, rising from her lower abdomen and swiftly spreading to every limb. Her breathing grew ragged, her cheeks flushed, and an uncontrollable, hollow craving took root, gnawing at her reason.
This wasn't drunkenness!
A terrifying thought exploded in her mind like thunder—drugs! She had been drugged!
Who? Who dared to target the young mistress at the prince's banquet?! Was it those concubine-born sisters coveting her position? Or a plot by the Prince Rui's household? As her thoughts raced, the most unwelcome yet logical answer surfaced—it was that madman! Only he would resort to such a devastating, merciless method! And his choice of this time and place spoke volumes: he intended to exploit the rules of this world, using his most "precious" male chastity as a chain to bind her utterly!
The door to the warm chamber creaked open as someone entered.
Ai Mu forced open her dazed eyes. Against the light, she saw that familiar, slender figure approaching steadily, without a hint of hesitation.
It was him, indeed.
The last shred of hope shattered completely. Her heart plummeted into an icy abyss, replaced by despair at the realization of her worst fear and a raging fury that threatened to consume her. Gone was the meek vulnerability he'd displayed at the banquet. In its place was a deep, resolute calm, his eyes churning with long-suppressed desire and a pity bordering on cruelty.
"Gu Liang... you madman!" Ai Mu's voice was hoarse, each word ground out between clenched teeth, dripping with endless hatred. She tried to struggle to her feet, but her body was limp and weak. The fire within her burned even more fiercely as he drew near.
"It's me." He admitted it without hesitation, his voice low and mesmerizing. He knelt down, his cool fingers gently brushing her burning cheek, sending a shiver through her. "Ai Mu, I told you, I will never let go. "
"You... shameless!" Aimu tried to brush his hand away, but lacked even the strength to lift her arm, only managing to glare at him furiously.
"Shameless?" Gu Liang chuckled softly, his fingertip tracing the damp corner of her eye, blurred by anger and the drug's effects. "When you chose to abandon me for that greenhorn, you should have realized I'm no saint. In that world, I dragged you down with me to die. In this world, I'll only use this world's methods to keep you by my side."
He leaned closer, his warm breath brushing her ear with a cruelty that seemed to see through everything: "Losing your virtue, having your betrothal annulled, being driven to desperation... None of that is enough. Only by making me your 'irrevocable responsibility'—by turning your power into your own shackles—can we truly be together 'forever.'"
Ai Mu's heart plummeted into an ice cellar. Fear and rage tangled within her, yet they couldn't withstand the surging potency of the drug. Her consciousness blurred, her body betraying her will as instinctively craving the cool source that eased her agony.
"Get away..." Her rebuke grew feeble.
Gu Liang watched her flushed cheeks and dazed eyes, knowing the moment had come. Without hesitation, he swept her into his arms and carried her toward the inner chamber, toward the bed draped in thick brocade quilts.
"This time, you have no choice," he murmured in her ear, delivering his final verdict.
As her body sank into the soft brocade quilt, the last remnants of Ai Mu's reason spurred a final attempt at resistance. She curled her body, her hands weakly pushing against his approaching chest. Yet this feeble struggle was no match for the drug's effects and the sheer disparity in their strength. Gu Liang easily seized her slender wrists, pinning them above her head. His other hand began slowly yet firmly undoing the intricate lacing of her garments. His movements carried an unquestionable command, yet were strangely laced with an almost reverent precision.
The crimson court robes of a noble lady and the man's pale blue-gray long robe eventually tangled together and slid off the bed. The cool air brushing her skin sent a shiver through her, only to be instantly smothered by his scorching body.
His kiss descended, a scorching, possessive claim. Ai Mu gasped in a suffocating dizziness, her body shamefully responding, involuntarily yielding to him. His palm traced her sensitive waist, sending a violent tremor through her. The unfamiliar sensation of violation tore at her, clashing with the raging desire within.
When he attempted to enter, what Ai Mu felt wasn't her own pain, but the sudden stiffness in the man's body and a pained, muffled groan forced deep into his throat.
This realization poured ice-cold water over her nerves, already scorched by the drug's effects, bringing a moment of eerie clarity. So, in this world, it was he who bore the pain of first time. This discovery brought no comfort whatsoever; instead, it deepened her humiliation—even this suffering had become part of the tools he used to bind her.
Gu Liang paused, fine beads of cold sweat forming on his temples, his face paler than before. Yet the obsessive flame in his gaze burned even brighter. He leaned down, whispering into her ear in that bone-chilling tone, a mix of pain and madness: "Now... we are the same... stained with each other's color... Never to be... washed away..."
What followed was an irrevocable, complete union, accompanied by the faint tremors of his body. Ai Mu could distinctly feel the tension as he suppressed his discomfort, yet it brought no pleasure whatsoever—only a cold, despairing plunge into boundless darkness. He was using his own agony as a sacrifice to complete this eternal confinement of her.
Before she lost herself completely, she heard Gu Liang whisper in her ear, his tone bordering on religious fervor and obsession: "You are mine, Ai Mu. Forever."...
After an unknown span of time, the drug's effects began to fade. A searing headache and the icy reality of the moment yanked Ai Mu from her haze.
Outside the window, dawn's faint light filtered through as the banquet's clamor had long since faded.
She lay stiffly on the disheveled bed, her gaze sweeping over the jarring crimson stain on the sheets—his blood. It was the crown of thorns he had placed upon himself, and the invisible shackles he had forcibly imposed upon her. The marks covering her body reminded her of last night's events, yet more vivid than the physical sensations was the icy chill of her soul nailed to the pillar of shame.
Gu Liang had already risen, fully dressed, standing silently by the bedside. His face remained pale, his posture seemingly stiffer than usual, but his eyes held a calmness bordering on tragic resignation, as if the dust had finally settled.
Ai Mu suddenly grabbed the jade pillow beside her and hurled it at him with all her strength, her voice shattering with rage and hoarseness: "Get out!"
The jade pillow whizzed past Gu Liang's temple, crashing to the floor with a dull thud. A trickle of blood slid down his cheek, starkly contrasting against his pallid face. Yet he merely fixed her with a deep, lingering look before turning away. His steps were slightly halting, yet resolutely firm as he left the warm chamber.
Ai Mu collapsed onto the bed, staring at the ornate canopy above her. It was over. Everything was over. He had used his own suffering as the price to execute a flawless scheme.
Yet, at the bottom of that abyss of despair, a cold, blood-tinged hatred and resolve began to surge like molten lava. She clenched the silk beneath her, stained with his blood, her knuckles turning white from the pressure.
Gu Liang, you even wield pain as a weapon.
Fine. Very well.
Then I'll show you how a cornered prey uses its teeth and claws to drag the hunter down into hell with it.