In the dim, damp dungeon, only a few candles were lit, their light flickering erratically.
SPLASH.
The unconscious Su Qinghan jolted, her eyes flying open as she awoke.
The first thing she saw was Jiang Lan, sitting leisurely on a stool before her.
He was looking down on her, a peculiar look in his eyes.
An empty bucket sat to the side; the cold water must have been his doing.
Su Qinghan quickly came to her senses and glanced down at her clothes. They were completely intact.
But they were soaked through with cold water, clinging damply to her body.
"You certainly slept soundly, Miss Su. I truly didn't want to disturb your sweet dreams..." Jiang Lan's light chuckle echoed.
Su Qinghan saw the chains binding her hands and feet. She gritted her teeth, her gaze growing colder.
She pretended not to hear his teasing words.
When they were taking her away, she hadn't even had time to react before she felt something heavy, like the back of a blade, strike her on the neck. She had blacked out instantly.
"What's with that look, Miss Su?"
"As I recall, I haven't done anything to you."
Jiang Lan rose from the stool and walked toward her.
"What exactly do you want, Young Master Jiang?" Su Qinghan asked, shrinking back slightly.
"What do I want? Do you really have to ask?"
Jiang Lan smiled, his gaze sweeping over her graceful figure, which was clearly outlined by her damp clothes.
Su Qinghan's entire body went taut. To her dismay, she found that her cultivation had been sealed. The chains on her hands and feet left her completely immobile.
Seeing the fear in her eyes, which she tried to hide with a veneer of composure, Jiang Lan just laughed.
"So, Miss Su can feel fear after all?"
"In that case, why did you dare to try and assassinate me?" he asked, intrigued.
Su Qinghan didn't answer. 'Why did I take such a great risk? Doesn't he have any idea?'
'How does he have the nerve to ask me that?'
Recalling the rumors about the young master of the Prime Minister's Mansion and his depraved tastes, she suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
According to the rumors, this infamous, second-generation scion was nothing more than a complete waste who relied on the Prime Minister's prestige to throw his weight around and bully people.
But based on her interactions with him so far, there was no way he could be considered a waste.
'Using my sister as bait to lure me here, then capturing me under the charge of attempted assassination.'
Su Qinghan wasn't a fool. Although her mind had been clouded by rage before, causing her to lose all reason.
But looking back now, she could see all the holes in the plot.
'What had she, a mere lady of the Su Family from little Yu Yi City, ever done to deserve this?'
'And what was he scheming to get by doing all this?'
'Was this fun for him? Was it just to satisfy his depraved tastes?'
'Treating me like prey, watching me fall step-by-step into the trap he laid? Watching me struggle helplessly? Did he enjoy the process?'
"Are you worried, Miss Su, that I'll use this charge of assassination to threaten you? To force you into doing... things you'd rather not do?"
Jiang Lan asked nonchalantly.
'He could naturally guess what Su Qinghan was thinking right now. Given his current identity, it would be perfectly normal for him to take a fancy to her and simply seize her by force.'
'But if her master, that Sword Immortal, found out about it later, he would definitely intervene on her behalf. In that situation, even his father, the Prime Minister, would have to consider the bigger picture and give the Sword Immortal some face.'
'After all, in the Great Xia Dynasty, the power wielded by a Sword Immortal was not to be taken lightly.'
'But if Su Qinghan had no justification on her side—if she was, in fact, the one who tried to assassinate him—then it wouldn't matter if her Sword Immortal master showed up. Not even the Heavenly Emperor himself could save her.'
'Afterward, with his father's cunning, he could even force the Sword Immortal to swallow a bitter pill in silence.'
Hearing this, Su Qinghan looked up at him.
'The Jiang Lan standing before her was dressed in spotless white robes. His face was incomparably handsome, his bearing as elegant as jade. Aside from looking a bit thin and pale, he even had a somewhat otherworldly, transcendent air about him?'
'What a waste of a handsome face.'
As the meaning of Jiang Lan's words sank in, she couldn't help but grit her teeth again.
"You worry too much, Young Master Jiang. How could I dare to judge a gentleman by my own petty standards?"
"My clothes are intact, and there's nothing amiss with my body. That's enough to prove that while I was unconscious, Young Master Jiang did nothing to me."
"This just goes to show what an upright and trustworthy man Young Master Jiang is."
At least, that's what Su Qinghan said.
"You're mistaken, Miss Su. I'm no gentleman. I've been a villain from the very beginning."
"I came to Yu Yi City today specifically for you, Miss Su."
But Jiang Lan just gave a soft laugh, rose to his feet, and, to Su Qinghan's look of stunned disbelief, reached out and grabbed her fair, delicate chin.
Su Qinghan gritted her teeth, forcing herself to endure the humiliation and indignation.
He stroked her nearly flawless, jade-like face, seeming to drink in all the humiliation and fury in her expression.
'In the original story, he was a "psychopath" who loved using his power to bully others, anyway.'
Su Qinghan felt as if countless ants were crawling on her face. Goosebumps broke out all over her skin, and she tried to recoil away from him.
"Young Master Jiang, please conduct yourself with respect. I am a married woman," she said, her tone icy.
Jiang Lan just smiled nonchalantly and withdrew his hand. Then he took out a clean embroidered handkerchief and began to slowly wipe his fingers, as if trying to scrub away any trace of where he had just touched her face.
'The original owner of this body was a bit of a germaphobe. After their memories merged, Jiang Lan had subconsciously inherited the habit.'
Su Qinghan noticed his gesture. Her gaze remained icy, but the humiliation and anger in her heart intensified.
'What did that mean?'
'If he found me so repulsive, why touch me at all?'
As if reading her thoughts, Jiang Lan just smiled faintly. "It's no problem. I happen to have a taste for married women like you, Miss Su. That live-in husband of yours... he's never touched you, has he?"
Su Qinghan froze when she heard this. A flicker of suspicion crossed her eyes, followed by a dawning realization.
'So that was the reason.'
'Now she finally understood why this disaster had befallen her out of the blue.'
'A "married woman" who was still a virgin was indeed a rarity.'
'In that instant, her resentment toward that waste, Lin Fan, deepened. If it weren't for him, how could she have become so unlucky?'
"Actually, I'm interested in taking you as my concubine, Miss Su. What are your thoughts on the matter?"
"If you agree, I'll let you go right now."
"Otherwise... down here in this dark dungeon, you could scream until your throat is raw, and no one would come to save you."
Jiang Lan said casually, ignoring the look of utter shock and disbelief on Su Qinghan's face.
'His original host was, after all, a complete and utter waste. If he carried out this whole scheme without a suitable reason, he would inevitably arouse his parents' suspicion.'
'It's not that I'm actually lusting after the heroine's body. If I'm lusting after anything, it's her destiny... '
"Are you joking, Young Master Jiang?"
Su Qinghan reined in her emotions. Although waves of helplessness washed over her, she managed to restore the calm to her face as she asked coolly.
'The situation was already set in stone. Unless she possessed enough power to make the Prime Minister's Mansion hesitate, there was no way she could change the outcome of today's events... '
'At a time like this, who could possibly save her?'
She never would have expected Jiang Lan to actually say he wanted to take her as a concubine.
Jiang Lan looked at her and said, in a seemingly earnest tone,
"You should give it some serious thought, Miss Su."
"I can't make any other guarantees, but I can at least promise that I won't treat you poorly. From now on, I can provide you with all the resources and Cultivation Techniques you need for your training."
"You'll no longer have to rely on the whims of your sect. Everything other Celestial Prides possess, a woman of mine will naturally possess. And you will have even what other Celestial Prides do not..."