"Miss, in two days it will be your wedding day with Young Master Biao. Why do you seem to be in a bad mood today?"

Xi'er, the maid who was combing Lu Fuyue's hair, looked at her mistress's face in the bronze mirror—a face that could make most women in the world pale in comparison—and tentatively asked a question.

Lu Fuyue paused, then lowered her eyes and put her hand down. "Xiao Xi, do you think I'm really going to marry my cousin in a few days?"

"But why do I feel nothing at all?"

Xiao Xi's expression changed. She called the other maids out of the room, then hurriedly closed the door and whispered to Lu Fuyue, "Miss, please don't say such things again. If it gets to the ears of the young master, it might affect your marital relationship."

Her young lady is the most outstanding woman in Yucheng, impeccable in both appearance and talent.

Ten days ago, Miss was supposed to marry the City Lord and become his wife. Unfortunately, on their wedding day, the entire Yu City changed hands overnight. The City Lord died under the sword of the young master, and Miss was forced to become his soon-to-be wife.

However, the young master has never liked the young lady, and even despises her. It is estimated that his forced marriage to the young lady is probably for the power held by the master.

Upon hearing this, Lu Fuyue's eyes flickered, and her gaze fell again on the bronze mirror, where she was slightly lost in thought, looking at her flawless brow.

A gentle breeze blew into the house from outside the window. In the courtyard, under a huge peach tree, pink and white peach blossoms fell continuously.

Suddenly, a pair of large, well-defined hands took the jade comb from Xiao Xi's hand and slowly ran it through Lu Fuyue's dark, glossy hair.

The crisp scent of cedarwood instantly filled her surroundings, both familiar and strange.

Lu Fuyue regained her composure, looked up at the tall man standing behind her in the bronze mirror, whose eyes were extremely aggressive, and was stunned.

A deep, cold voice rang out, "What, it's only been a few days, and my cousin doesn't recognize me anymore?"

Lu Fuyue quickly came to her senses. Relying on her memory, she pursed her lips and said, "Cousin, the wedding is imminent, and according to the rules, we cannot meet."

Qi Yuan paused, then scoffed disdainfully, "Rules? Who do you think is in charge of the rules in Yucheng these days?"

"Is it your husband whom I killed with a single sword strike, or your identity as the eldest daughter of the Lu family?"

A hint of confusion flashed in Lu Fuyue's eyes. They were clearly talking about the rules of the wedding, so she didn't understand how this person had brought this up.

Qi Yuan noticed the woman's distraction, his face suddenly darkened, he casually tossed the comb in his hand onto the table, then leaned forward and scooped her up from behind.

Startled by the sudden movement, Lu Fuyue instinctively pushed against the man's hot, broad chest and exclaimed, "Cousin, what are you doing?"

Qi Yuan sneered, raised his hand and waved it, and all kinds of cosmetics, powders and jewelry on the dressing table fell to the ground with a clatter.

Then he leaned forward and pinned her slender body tightly against the dressing table. "Cousin, it seems you still don't understand."

Lu Fuyue's expression changed, and a bad premonition welled up from the bottom of her heart. She struggled violently, "Let me go!"

However, the next second, Qi Yuan forcefully turned Lu Fuyue's face towards the bronze mirror. He looked at the beauty with flushed cheeks in the mirror, and his Adam's apple bobbed unconsciously. "As expected of the number one beauty in Yucheng, this face is very much to my liking."

After saying that, Qi Yuan lowered his head and gently bit and tore at Lu Fuyue's small earlobe, then moved down, leaving red marks. He reached into her clothes with one hand and rubbed her with his hot and rough palm.

Lu Fuyue leaned weakly against the cold dressing table, breathing heavily.

Her memories, and the rules she had been taught since childhood, told her that as a noblewoman, she should never have a relationship with her fiancé before the wedding.

But Qi Yuan is a madman. He dares to change the ownership of the entire Yu City overnight, and he might kill her too.

When it comes to life, innocence isn't that important.

In the mirror, her hair was disheveled, her clothes were messy, and her eyes were tinged with red and misty.

"Cousin, don't forget, you are the wife I stole."

“In the entire city of Yucheng, none of the rules apply to me.”

Lu Fuyue felt a series of sharp, tearing pains on her neck. She frowned slightly as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her whole body radiated a delicate, alluring beauty, but her eyes remained indifferent and ruthless.

The person on top of her seemed dissatisfied, biting hard on the fair skin of her collarbone, their warm breath spraying over her. "Cousin, concentrate."

After a long while, the man held her in his arms, casually straightened her disheveled clothes, then lowered his head to kiss Lu Fuyue's forehead and chuckled softly.

"When we were kids, didn't you look down on me the most, this down-on-his-luck disciple from a fallen family? How come you're willing to let someone like me touch you now?"

Lu Fuyue was stunned. Images of her childhood, when she often mocked Qi Yuan, who lived under someone else's roof, flashed through her mind. Her body stiffened, and after a long while, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

She never imagined that her childhood was like this.

No wonder Qi Yuan killed her husband on her wedding day and then planned to force her to marry him.

In her memory, Qi Yuan and she were cousins, but their blood ties were already very thin, and strictly speaking, they were not important relatives.

But Lu Fuyue's father felt sorry for Qi Yuan, who had lost his father at a young age and whose mother had died while giving birth to him. So he brought Qi Yuan back to the Lu family and made him the young master of the Lu family.

However, as the only young lady of the Lu family, the young Lu Fuyue was extremely arrogant and disdained to be siblings with someone like Qi Yuan who appeared out of nowhere. Therefore, she would always mock and ridicule him every time they met, which led to an extremely bad relationship between the two.

Even though she grew up and Lu Fuyue no longer treated Qi Yuan the same way as before, Qi Yuan still didn't like her.

Especially after Lu Fuyue got engaged, Qi Yuan's gaze towards her became even colder.

...

Time passed, and Lu Fuyue became Qi Yuan's wife. Soon after, she became pregnant and gave birth to a girl, but she never became pregnant again.

Therefore, countless people secretly offered beautiful women to Qi Yuan, but he never accepted any of them.

All the women in Yucheng envied her for having such a loving husband.

Only Lu Fuyue remained largely unmoved.

To be fair, Qi Yuan was a good father and a qualified husband. At first, Lu Fuyue thought he was after her looks and, out of malicious revenge, forced her to marry him on their wedding day.

But later she discovered that it wasn't like that.

Qi Yuan's feelings for her were genuine, but she had never understood them, nor did she want to.

In the blink of an eye, decades have passed, and the two of them have spent their lives like this.

In the end, Lu Fuyue passed away first. Before she died, Qi Yuan sat by her bedside, holding her hand tightly, and said, "In the next life, shall I come to find you?"

After these words were spoken, the surroundings fell silent.

Lu Fuyue lay on the bed, slowly closed her eyes, and shook her head, refusing to look at him.

Qi Yuan suddenly lost his senses, muttering blankly, "Why..."

Just as Lu Fuyue was about to breathe her last, a guqin appeared before her eyes in a daze. The next second, the guqin turned into a white light and suddenly pierced into her heart.