040 Nearly Despair

Returned to the Pavilion of the Dark Moon as part of her dowry, Yun Xueyan’s heart brimmed with dread, her feet involuntarily retreating. She did not wish to enter, she did not! Yet, none of this was within her control.

Dragged inside by Duan Nanyu’s relentless grip, Yun Xueyan could only squeeze her eyes shut, too fearful to meet the fury etched upon his face.

He flung her onto the bed, the dull thud of her body against the bedding deepening the furrow in his brow.

"Open your eyes!" His voice thundered, and Duan Nanyu clamped her delicate jaw, the anger in his gaze chilling to the bone, his thin lips pressed into a hard line.

The woman on the bed kept her eyes closed, trembling uncontrollably, her lips parted in silent protest, unable to utter a sound.

"I told you to open your eyes! Did you not hear me?" His grip tightened, his anger mounting.

He had gone out merely to pursue someone, only to catch her with Feng Xilou. No matter how he treated her, she was his woman!

She could never be so intimate with another man!

"You dared to sneak out and meet another man while I was away from the palace! Yun Xueyan, your audacity knows no bounds! What now? Are you so afraid you cannot even look at me?"

Slowly, she opened her eyes, gazing at Duan Nanyu with a void, indifferent look, devoid of feeling—even fear had vanished.

"Does Your Highness truly see me as a woman to be shared among men?" Her voice flowed cool and serene, echoing faintly in the chamber.

"Your Highness, I am well aware of my place. Please do not insult me or the Prime Minister. There is nothing between us."

He snorted disdainfully, looking down at her. "Nothing? Then do you even know the meaning of propriety between men and women? If I hadn't witnessed it myself, would you have deceived me?"

What had he seen? Was there anything between her and Feng Xilou that should worry him?

She shook her head in denial, swallowing the last bitterness in her heart, closing her eyes once more, unwilling to argue further. He would never listen.

"Open your eyes! Look at me!" Releasing her jaw, he seized her slender neck, desperate to snap it, his anger burning unbearably within.

He envied her calling Feng Xilou by his given name, envied her until madness threatened, yet could only vent his rage through cruelty.

He had declared he loved only Yun Xiyin. No matter how beautiful the woman before him became, it could never change his resolve—she was no more than his favored slave.

"If you like Feng Xilou so much, I’ll oblige you—shall I gift you to him, as a present?" He mocked, leaning in close to her tightly shut face. "Would you like that?"

Her hands clutched the bedding, ignoring the insults that rang in her ears. She would offer no reply. A gift? Even if she were truly given away, she lacked the strength to resist.

Yet, would Duan Nanyu really do such a thing? Would he let her go so easily? Even if he did, Yun Xiyin would not!

The woman before him remained silent, refusing even to look at him, fueling his mounting rage. He seized her collar with one hand. "No answer? So you consent? Very well! Yun Xueyan, tonight I’ll show you that you will never escape my grasp! You are fated to endure my pleasure, my pain, forever my slave and servant!"

Her whole body rigid with terror, Yun Xueyan’s eyes flew open, pleading with the man before her who teetered on the edge of madness.

"Please don’t…" Her hoarse entreaty was swiftly drowned out by the sharp sound of tearing fabric, echoing painfully through the room…