Chapter 103 Only her.
In the silent hall, his voice echoed, reaching Yuan Chaolu's ears again and again.
Yuan Chaolu struggled for a moment, but her wrist was only pressed down even tighter. The man's tall body completely covered her, and the chill from his still-present black fox fur coat enveloped her, immediately sending a shiver down her spine. Instinctively, she turned around to try to escape.
The next moment, he flipped her over again, their bodies pressed together, the fabric rubbing together making an embarrassing sound.
Yuan Chaolu's breathing became erratic. She was only wearing a thin nightgown when she felt the man's five fingers slip into the fabric and hold her waist.
Like a stone thrown into a lake, her eyelashes trembled, creating ripples.
Xiao Zhuo asked her who she wanted to divorce, seemingly coaxing her, but it was not so much to get an answer as it sounded more like a threat, suggesting that she could try saying it and see what the consequences would be.
But Yuan Chaolu still said, "His Majesty said he would give me an imperial edict, and if I am unwilling, I can leave the palace at any time. His Majesty said it himself, have you forgotten?"
Xiao Zhuo said, "The Empress said this?"
He pulled a finely rolled-up imperial edict from his sleeve; it was exquisitely sized and made a soft rustling sound when unfolded.
"My relationship with Lady Yuan has come to an end. We are now estranged and our affections must be severed. I hereby terminate the marriage contract, take back the Empress's imperial seal, and from this day forward, we shall never see each other again, in life or in death, in marriage or in other people's lives. This is hereby proclaimed to the world."
After reading it to her word by word, he looked at her and asked, "Is this what the Empress intends?"
The words were cold and hard, devoid of any warmth, cutting off all avenues of retreat.
Yuan Chaolu gazed at the imperial edict, which shone brightly in the moonlight, her chin slightly raised, looking at him with haughty arrogance. She was about to speak—
His lips were already pressed down.
Yuan Chaolu: "Waaah..."
The imperial edict was thrown onto the bed, hitting the carved wooden railing with a dull thud.
The entire Qifeng Terrace was silent, save for the wet sounds of lips entwined, the rising and falling breaths of the man and woman, and the howling wind outside the window.
Yuan Chaolu's cheeks flushed slightly, her breathing became disordered, and she kept shaking her head, her long hair scattered on the pillow becoming disheveled.
Her chin was held down, forcing her to endure the kiss. Gradually, the light in her eyes began to flicker, like a drowning fish.
Such a reaction seemed to please Xiao Zhuo. He kissed her even deeper until he saw that she was about to suffocate, then he released her lips. Yuan Chaolu's nose caught the air and she was finally able to catch her breath. However, the next moment, he covered her again, this time even more than before, covering up her whimpering sounds of resistance.
Each passionate kiss, reaching the point of breathlessness, would end with him releasing her, watching her gasp for breath, before pressing down on her again, one kiss after another, like an endless tide.
However, they did not give her a chance to answer the question about "divorce".
“Xiao Zhuo…” Yuan Chaolu’s teeth were pried open by him, and his tongue forcefully invaded, teasing and provoking her, causing her to retreat step by step.
In the darkness, the rapid, overlapping heartbeats echoed.
After an unknown amount of time, he finally released her lips. Yuan Chaolu's lips had been rubbed until they were red. Before she could rest, he came again, this time taking her earlobe into his mouth.
That was Yuan Chaolu's Achilles' heel; almost instantly, Yuan Chaolu's toes curled up.
He seemed to sense something, and his lips moved even more gently as he asked, "Who do you want to divorce?"
Without her even turning around, she could see those phoenix eyes staring intently at her.
His lips slid down her neck, gently tracing the contours of her skin between her collarbones with the tip of his tongue. He slowed his pace, inching forward inch by inch, watching as her skin flushed.
She craned her neck, gripped the mattress, her body tense, clearly on the verge of collapse.
Yuan Chaolu's mind was in turmoil. Her consciousness told her to push him away, but her body wouldn't obey. As she raised her hand, she touched his palm, which had slipped into her long hair, and could clearly feel his fingertips starting to heat up.
He pulled back the covers, and a blast of cold air rushed in, making Yuan Chaolu shiver instantly.
He looked down at her, his hand resting on the fabric of her dress. A moment of silence followed, then a sharp, tearing sound echoed in the night.
Then, her wrists were bound with a small garment, and her slender fingers were held up above her head by the man and firmly tied to the railing, from which she could not break free.
That imperial edict lay scattered beside her.
The moonlight, like a ribbon, poured down from the window, illuminating the two people inside the tent.
Yuan Chaolu said, "Your Majesty brought an edict to imprison me in the cold palace or to depose me. You could have just done it quickly. Why go through all this trouble?"
"Depose you? Give the edict to the Empress, and you'll truly be fulfilling her wishes."
He gazed at her, his chin tracing down her collarbone inch by inch, his breath brushing against her skin, feeling the subtle shiver.
"You say I forcibly broke off your engagement with the Prince of Yan and Pei Xi, but I never told you—"
He stopped when he reached her lower abdomen, resting his cheek on her stomach and looking at her. That one look made her feel hot all over.
"Whether you are my sister-in-law or my wife, I will forcibly take you into the palace. I wouldn't have let you go before, but now..."
Yuan Chaolu immediately realized what he was about to do.
Next, she felt the man's tongue was wet and hot. Yuan Chaolu curled up into a ball, trying to push him away, but she was already bound and couldn't break free.
His black fox fur coat had been carelessly tossed onto the bed. He was extremely patient, even when devouring his prey, he was unhurried. He repeated the way he had kissed her collarbone, sometimes with a heavy touch and sometimes with a light touch. After several repetitions, Yuan Chaolu bit her red lips, almost drawing blood.
Under the moonlight, the girl's tattered silk robe partially concealed her snow-white skin, and her neck flushed pink with emotion, revealing delicate veins.
Where the moonlight couldn't reach the shadows, the fine snow melted...
Her knees involuntarily bent and pressed against his cheeks, but he covered them with his hands and pushed them aside.
“Be good,” he said.
He couldn't be obedient. Yuan Chaolu kept shaking his head. How could he speak? How could he speak in this situation?
His damp breath clung to her skin, as if seeping into her body, brushing against her heart like feathers. She finally parted her lips slightly, letting out a sound.
This sound was like a sigh, or perhaps a sob.
The surrounding air was distinctly frigid, yet she felt as if she were immersed in lava, with heat seeping from every crevice of her bones, scorching her reason. His black fox fur coat still draped over her upper body, retaining the warmth of his body, as if his presence had repeatedly invaded her entire being.
"Xiao, Xiao Zhuo..."
When Xiao Zhuo heard her call his name, the hand gripping her knee suddenly tightened.
Yuan Chaolu was rendered speechless by his tongue. In her dazed state, she felt that he was extremely hateful, yet he was still talking, asking her, "Who do you want to divorce?"
Yuan Chaolu: "We want to make peace..."
He kissed her again, but Yuan Chao's lips tightened instantly, and she said, "No..."
He leaned close to her ear, his voice hoarse as he asked her how she felt, his lips still glistening with tears, determined to force her to say those unpleasant words and describe her feelings.
"With the Empress so moved, can any other man suffice?" He brushed her chin with his fingertips, wiping the dampness from his fingertips against the skin of her neck. "After the Empress divorces me, can she find a man in the world more compatible than me?"
Yuan Chaolu remained silent.
"When you're with me, the bedding has to be changed every day, and you always cling to me. Are you sure you can do that with other men?"
The voice was so soft that it made you want to cover your ears.
"Why not?" she finally spoke, but her voice was so soft and weak that it lacked any strength.
She noticed it too, and a blush appeared at the corners of her eyes, like a begonia in spring.
"Is that so?" Xiao Zhuo chuckled, enjoying her uncontrolled reaction. "However, the Empress still owes me something. She cannot leave until the debt is paid off."
"What?"
"You faked a pregnancy and owe me an imperial heir. How are you going to repay that debt?"
His tone was cold and detached: "If you can't conceive tonight, then tomorrow night. If not tomorrow night, then the night after. Right here on this bed, you will give me an imperial heir."
His words filled her ears, but Yuan Chaolu's hands were raised above her head, preventing her from sealing his lips with her own.
She finally tried to silence him with her lips, biting down hard with a vengeful intent, but it didn't work. Instead, he gained the upper hand and began to play with her lips and tongue.
In the midst of their struggle, she heard him say, "You care about me."
Yuan Chaolu said, "No."
Xiao Zhuo always preferred to slowly lure people into his trap, like cooking them over a low flame, until they surrendered. He loosened his robe, and in the moonlight, the young man's taut, powerful waistline was projected onto the gauze curtains.
He loosened the restraints on her wrists, and Yuan Chaolu was finally able to brace herself with her hands. However, gradually, her arms fell limply to the side of the bed.
The man has broad shoulders and a narrow waist, with smooth muscle lines. His back muscles sometimes relax and sometimes tighten, and when he exerts force, he is like a cheetah.
Xiao Zhuo stroked the curve of her waist with his palm, put his arm around her shoulder, and kissed her smooth shoulder. He saw that her brows were slightly furrowed, and she avoided his breath.
Xiao Zhuo had seen too many hypocrites who flattered him, feared him, and submitted to him.
But the woman before him had never truly submitted to him.
"I met you a long time ago."
Yuan Chaolu said, "I know it, in that dilapidated temple in Longxi."
Xiao Zhuo chuckled lightly.
No, it was in Jiangnan that you broke into my house.
He remembered that the female slave brought by the Helan family caused a great commotion, refused to submit, and barged into his bedroom, breaking the peace.
She tremblingly reached out her hand towards the hem of his robe, begging for her life, but was quickly pulled away bit by bit by the Helan family members who arrived at the scene.
Soon the caravan set off again, and the female slave attempted to escape. The carriage blocked the middle of the road, and everyone stopped for her.
The heavy rain continued to fall, soaking her clothes. Her cries were faint and drowned out by the torrential rain.
Xiao Zhuo stood quietly on the balcony, his gaze fixed on that figure through the misty rain.
No one would stop for a female slave.
As she was being led into the Helan family's carriage, she looked up at the sky.
If gods and Buddhas protect heaven and earth, why would they stand by and watch living beings struggle to survive like ants?
From dusk till twilight, the Helan family's caravan carried her on and on until it stopped by the lake.
The next morning, a carriage rumbled along the road and stopped beside the Helan family's caravan.
Xiao Zhuo summoned Helan Yi inside. At the same time, his men were searching through the reeds for the carriage imprisoning the female slave, hoping to release her.
Helan Yi boarded the carriage and began to talk to him. Xiao Zhuo listened with a smile and then drew back the curtains.
Reeds like snow, catkins drifting in the air, and a figure running wildly.
Suddenly, she stopped and turned around, her gaze distant and serene.
...
Xiao Zhuo went to Jiangnan, where he lived in seclusion and left the world behind.
There's nothing worth remembering.
But in the dawn light of Jiangnan, he saw wild roses stretching their roots through thorns, struggling forward, with magnificent sunset clouds behind them, the wildfire unable to burn away the vitality within them.
Across many years, the faces of the people in my memory overlap with those of the person in front of me.
Everyone has things they yearn for, and they will pursue things that are the opposite of what they desire, won't they?
What he seeks is a vibrant and thriving life force, one that cannot be extinguished by wildfire and will spring back to life with the spring breeze.
Snowflakes were falling heavily outside the window. Xiao Zhuo buried his face in the crook of her neck and took a deep breath.
"So, do whatever you want to scheme against me, use me if you want, whatever you want, I really don't care," he said softly.
What he wants is control, acceptance, something that has a strong impact, something that stirs his inner emotions, something that makes him willingly submit.
Only her.
Yuan Chaolu was stunned by his words. She lowered her eyes and saw a dark color spreading between lust and darkness in his eyes.
He said, "I don't care anymore."
His Adam's apple bobbed slightly, his voice soft, yet sounded utterly sickly, "But Yuan Chaolu, you can forget about leaving me, about escaping me even a fraction."
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