Shen Tingyu frowned, a flicker of displeasure rising within him. Just then, footsteps echoed from a corner of the long, covered walkway ahead.
In the blink of an eye, several figures appeared before them.
The man in the lead was dressed in dark, close-fitting martial attire, his hair bound by a jade crown. Tall and ramrod straight, he exuded a frigid, heavy aura, like a spear standing ready after drawing blood.
Even from a great distance, an imposing, undeniable sense of authority washed over them.
Cui Mingrui, who had just lifted her into his arms, paused and looked up.
Behind him, Shen Tingyu and the others had already bowed with clasped hands. "This subordinate greets Your Highness, Prince Yu."
Prince. Yu.
As the title registered, Cui Lingyao, her mind already ablaze, went rigid. She slowly lifted her head from within Cui Mingrui's arms.
Her gaze met a pair of dark, forbidding eyes.
The chill radiating from them was so palpable it actually managed to beat back some of the heat coursing through her body.
Xie Jinbai.
The Xie Jinbai she hadn't seen in three years.
His face hadn't changed much in three years, but...
At twenty-four, he should have been at the peak of his youth—dashing, carefree, and full of vigor. Instead, he appeared grim and cold, radiating a chill that could make one's blood run cold with a single glance.
In the past, he had been aloof and proud, but never so forbiddingly unapproachable.
He was like an executioner, hands stained with the blood of countless souls, a merciless killer fundamentally at odds with the world of the living.
'How... how had he become like this?'
Their gazes met for a fleeting instant before Cui Lingyao dropped her head as if she'd been scalded.
She realized the tide of passion surging through her was growing even more difficult to suppress now that he was here.
'It made her want to just pounce on him.'
'...Damn it all!'
Xie Jinbai's gaze faltered.
Those misty almond eyes... they were far too familiar.
And that guilty, avoidant reaction after their eyes met was also familiar.
And his heartbeat... it was also doing something abnormal.
His fingers, hidden within his sleeves, slowly clenched. Xie Jinbai stared at the young woman who had buried her face in Cui Mingrui's arms, leaving only the curve of one ear visible. His eyes narrowed. "Who is she?"
Silence fell all around.
Everyone was clearly surprised that he would show curiosity about a young woman's identity.
Shen Tingyu answered, "She is my paternal aunt's daughter, my cousin. Her name is Pei Shuyao."
...Yao.
That single, ethereal syllable made Xie Jinbai's breath catch. A familiar, suffocating ache swept through his chest, so intense he had no capacity left to question his own strange reaction.
He averted his gaze and said coolly, "You seem to be in high spirits, Brother."
The "Brother," of course, was addressed to Cui Mingrui.
As for being in "high spirits"...
He had seen that the young woman in his arms had been given an aphrodisiac and assumed Cui Mingrui was holding her because he intended to...
Realizing the implication behind his words, Cui Lingyao could hardly describe how she felt.
Cui Mingrui's lips thinned. "I dare not accept being called 'Brother' by Your Highness."
Everyone in the Capital City knew that Prince Yu's first wife had been the eldest daughter of the Changping Marquis Mansion—Cui Mingrui's own younger sister.
And three years ago, Prince Yu had, with great fanfare, taken a young woman from the Marquis Guangping Mansion as his concubine.
But on the very next day, both Princess Consort Yu and the new concubine fell into the water and died suddenly.
This was no secret in the Capital City.
As the late Princess Consort's brother, Cui Mingrui's coldness toward his former brother-in-law was entirely understandable.
Xie Jinbai seemed accustomed to the Cui family's attitude. His expression remained placid as he simply reminded him, "Before you act, think of An Ning."
Princess Anning was the daughter of Prince Yong, making her Xie Jinbai's older paternal cousin. Four years ago, she had married into the Changping Marquis Mansion to become the Heir's wife.
She was, in fact, Cui Mingrui's wife.
Such a reminder, coming from someone close, would naturally be seen as well-intentioned.
But this was Xie Jinbai saying it.
Cui Mingrui was in no mood to appreciate it.
His eyes turned cold, and he gave a derisive laugh. "Rest assured, Your Highness. I will be far more considerate than you ever were."
With that, ignoring the sudden frost that fell over Xie Jinbai's face, he tightened his hold on the woman in his arms and started toward a private room.
Just then, Cui Lingyao lifted her head again. She swallowed, her throat parched, and asked with difficulty, "Is there an antidote for the seductive powder?"
'If she really had to sleep with a man for the drug's effects to fade...'
'Then... could she really let Xie Jinbai leave?'
'Compared to Shen Tingyu and the other two strangers, her body was more inclined to accept Xie Jinbai, a man with whom she had been intimate before.'
'Her muddled mind even considered exposing her identity right then and there if it meant keeping Xie Jinbai to serve as the antidote.'
'As for Cui Mingrui...'
'Even in a different body, he was still her brother.'
'He was not an option for an antidote.'
She asked with such sincerity, as if she truly didn't know the effects of the seductive powder.
But *she* was the one who had gotten the drug in the first place.
Coupling that with her series of strange words and actions, a seed of suspicion was planted in Shen Tingyu's mind.
A few theories flashed through his mind, but his expression remained impassive. "You don't need an antidote," he said. "Just endure it for four hours, and the effects will wear off on their own. By my count, it's already been over two hours."
'So, she just needed to bear it a little longer and the effects would vanish. She didn't need to sleep with a man.'
Cui Lingyao was completely relieved. With a tilt of her head, she once again buried her face in her brother's embrace.
Xie Jinbai stood frozen, watching Cui Mingrui hurry into the private room with her in his arms. Shen Tingyu and the others also bowed to him to excuse themselves before following.
Seeing his master standing motionless, Li Yong, who was behind him, bowed and reminded him, "Your Highness, we should be heading to the palace."
"There's no hurry,"
Xie Jinbai turned his head toward the private room and ordered, "Go and find out when Cui Mingrui became involved with the cousin from Duke Shen Mansion."
'From the deft way he'd swept her up, was he really planning to take her as a concubine?'
'And that young woman, Pei Shuyao... She was lucid enough to ask about the aphrodisiac she'd been given, yet it never occurred to her to pay her respects to him.'
'She wasn't intimidated by his status, nor was she afraid of his powerful presence.'
'It was a completely natural reaction.'
'Not a deliberate act.'
'And that was precisely what made it so abnormal.'
'Under normal circumstances, a cousin from a Duke Mansion would never have reacted that way upon seeing him.'
'They had only shared a single glance.'
'In those desire-filled eyes, there had been shock and panic, but not a trace of awe.'
'She wasn't the least bit afraid of him.'
'Simply astounding.'
Those eyes... they felt familiar to Xie Jinbai.
He remembered, during those three years, the many times he had teased her too harshly. Her eyes would redden just like that, and she would stare up at him, her lashes wet...
It made him unable to resist the urge to kiss her.
To kiss her with all the tenderness he possessed.
And he had done exactly that...
An indescribable agitation roiled in his chest.
It wasn't the sharp, twisting pain that dogged him like a shadow, but a different kind of vexation.
It was the vexation of having a carefully guarded treasure inadvertently glimpsed by an outsider.
Xie Jinbai's brow furrowed, and he raised a hand to press hard against the bridge of his nose.
Three years ago, he had been all too familiar with this particular vexation.
He knew exactly what it was: jealousy.
But ever since... she was gone, he hadn't felt it again.
'Is it because I miss her so much?'
'Is that why a pair of similar eyes can stir up such an unwarranted sense of possessiveness in me?'