The Lu family mansion was silent in the early morning, the kind of silence that whispered of secrets behind every polished door and marble floor. Tang Yuhan sat alone at the breakfast table, untouched food before her, dressed in a pale lavender robe provided by the housekeeper. Her fingers traced the edge of a porcelain cup as if it could give her answers.
This wasn't a marriage.
It was a transaction.
And yet everything in this place screamed otherwise—the photos of the Lu ancestors, the neatly arranged cutlery, the crisp morning newspapers. It was all too real.
"Is the food not to your liking?"
The deep voice came from behind her. Lu Shenyan, freshly dressed in a dark three-piece suit, stood at the doorway with the aura of a man used to owning every room he walked into.
She looked up but didn't flinch. "I didn't realize I was hungry."
He sat across from her, casually picking up the paper. "You'll be expected to attend a charity gala tonight. As Mrs. Lu."
"So soon?" Her voice was calm, but her eyes sharpened. "You really want to show off your new purchase that badly?"
His eyes met hers over the rim of his coffee cup. "Wife. Not purchase."
Yuhan scoffed quietly and stood. "You can dress it up in silk, but a cage is still a cage."
He didn't stop her from walking away, but his voice followed. "A cage can become a palace, Tang Yuhan. If you know how to survive in it."
---
Later that evening, she stood in front of the mirror in a deep sapphire gown, its low back and shimmering fabric hugging her frame like liquid starlight. The stylist had outdone herself. But what truly changed Yuhan's reflection wasn't the dress—it was her eyes.
She didn't look like the girl begging at a hospital door last week.
She looked like Lu Shenyan's equal.
The car ride to the gala was quiet. She sat beside him, his presence overwhelming, but she refused to shrink. At the red carpet, flashbulbs exploded the moment they stepped out.
"Mr. Lu! Is this your wife?"
"Is this a private ceremony or will there be an official announcement?"
"Mrs. Lu, how does it feel marrying the nation's most elusive bachelor?"
Yuhan smiled flawlessly, taking Shenyan's arm like it was scripted.
And perhaps it was.
Everything about this life was scripted.
Until now.
---
Inside the gala, lights sparkled off the crystal chandeliers. High-society guests turned, curious and calculating. Lu Shenyan introduced her with grace and cold efficiency, and Yuhan played her role, charming and elegant.
But then—
"Yuhan?"
A familiar voice. One that shattered the glass around her heart.
She turned slowly.
Jiang Rui.
Her ex-fiancé.
The man who vanished the moment her family lost everything.
He looked stunned. "You… You married him?"
Lu Shenyan moved smoothly between them, placing a hand possessively at her waist. "Is there a problem, Mr. Jiang?"
Rui's jaw clenched, eyes flicking between them. "This doesn't make sense. Yuhan, you hated people like him."
She smiled politely, her voice steel hidden in silk. "People change. Or maybe they just stop pretending."
Lu Shenyan leaned closer, his lips near her ear. "Good girl."
Her stomach twisted—but not from his words.
From how a part of her… didn't hate the way it felt.
---