“Knock, knock, knock.”
As the door was knocked, Chu Tian, who had been pacing back and forth in the room with a mix of nervousness and anticipation, immediately ran to open it.
The door swung open.
Chu Tian had already changed out of his formal attire.
He now wore an ordinary white shirt with the sleeves casually rolled up to his forearms, revealing firm and smooth muscle lines.
He seemed to have just washed up, as his short black hair was still slightly damp, making him look clean and refreshed.
When he saw Su Nian standing outside holding a massive pillow, with only her shimmering sky-blue eyes visible, he was clearly taken aback.
Su Nian also felt uncomfortable under his gaze.
She tightened her arms around the pillow, hiding herself even deeper.
The two of them stood across the threshold, one inside and one outside, staring at each other in silence.
The air was thick with a subtle awkwardness, a blend of tension and expectation.
Ultimately, it was Chu Tian who regained his composure first.
“Quickly, please come in.” His voice was low, carrying a hint of tenderness that he hadn’t even noticed himself.
Clutching her “shield pillow,” Su Nian lowered her head and took small, quick steps, almost hugging the wall as she shuffled into the room.
The room was large, even bigger than her own.
Outside the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, heavy snow fell like goose feathers, yet the room was as warm as spring.
The air was dry and comfortable, without the parched heat typically brought by a fireplace.
It seemed his constant-temperature ventilation Magic array was indeed a success.
At this moment, Su Nian was in no mood to study any Magic arrays.
Her gaze was uncontrollably and firmly drawn to the excessively large bed in the room.
The luxurious sheets looked soft and comfortable, large enough for four or five people to roll around on.
When Su Nian saw that bed, she subconsciously felt it was familiar…
Clearly, although she didn’t remember it now, it was a bed she should be acquainted with.
At the thought that she had slept on this very bed for countless nights in the past, and that… there would have been another person beside her, Su Nian felt her blood rush to her head once again with a bang.
Furthermore, she was going to sleep on it again tonight.
‘Ugh… How embarrassing.’
Thinking of this, Su Nian instinctively reached out to cover her burning cheeks out of shyness and nervousness.
As a result, the giant pillow she was holding fell onto the soft carpet with a soft “thud”.
Without the pillow to shield her, the girl was completely exposed to Chu Tian’s sight, wearing that white nightdress that was conservative to the extreme.
Chu Tian’s breathing suddenly grew ragged.
Moonlight filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows, plating the girl in a hazy, holy glow.
The pure white silk nightdress covered her from head to toe, yet it inadvertently revealed a breathtaking mix of purity and allure.
Particularly those cheeks, flushed red from embarrassment, and those eyes, shimmering with moisture from her nerves, drew his gaze like Magic.
The air in the room seemed to become thick and flirtatious.
Step by step, Chu Tian walked toward the girl.
Su Nian was a bit at a loss, but she didn’t retreat.
She simply lowered her head shyly.
Since she had confirmed that she and Chu Tian were indeed a couple and had already decided to stay in his room, there was naturally no need to back down now.
Chu Tian didn’t speak, he simply reached out and gently brushed away a stray lock of golden hair falling by her cheek.
The slight calluses on his fingertips accidentally grazed her burning skin.
That sensation made Su Nian’s body shudder violently, as if hit by a weak electric current.
Immediately afterward, the man in front of her suddenly leaned in.
In the next moment.
Su Nian felt a kiss—one gentler and more lingering than the one in the Maze Garden—seal all the cries she hadn’t had time to let out.
‘Again! Big bad guy, couldn’t he let me prepare first!’
However, Su Nian soon ran out of time to let her thoughts wander.
Her fists, which had been raised in front of her chest with nowhere to go, subconsciously reached up to embrace the man’s broad back.
As the man’s hand wrapped around her waist and began to move slowly up the elegant curve of her spine, Su Nian’s body instinctively stiffened.
But this time, she didn’t push him away.
She allowed that warm, large hand to touch her through her clothes.
The tremor originating from the depths of her soul made her entire body go soft.
Both of them were good-looking and young, longing for the mysteries of intimacy, and both believed they were already a couple.
For a moment, the two embraced and kissed, lost in each other.
Just as Su Nian was about to be completely swallowed by this unfamiliar tide of passion, a blurred yet familiar word escaped her parted lips without warning, “…Husband…”
The voice was as light as a feather, carrying a hint of trembling and dependence that she hadn’t even realized was there.
Su Nian’s eyes snapped open, she stared at Chu Tian’s face, which was inches away and filled with astonishment.
Her mind went blank.
Chu Tian slowly lifted his head, looking at the girl in his arms in disbelief.
She was just as shocked as he was.
The moment the word left her mouth, both of them froze.
What… What did she just say?
Husband?
Oh, heavens!
An unprecedented sense of shame flooded over her like a surging tide.
How could she have blurted out such a term…
She must be crazy!
But… but why did that word feel so familiar?
It was as if she had called Chu Tian that in countless days and nights in the past.
Could it be that she used to call him that often?
That meant… it was very likely that she used to call Chu Tian “husband” regularly.
That made sense.
Since they were intimate partners, perhaps…
Perhaps when no one else was around, that was how she addressed Chu Tian.
How… could this be?
She was so formidable when she was out in the world.
Was she actually like this in private?
While Su Nian was wondering why she had instinctively called him “husband,” Chu Tian across from her, after the brief shock and confusion, allowed an irrepressible, ecstatic grin to bloom on his face.
It was only polite to return the favor.
“Wife.”
Chu Tian was thick-skinned and decided to call her his wife immediately.
He pulled the girl into his arms, burying his face in her fragrant golden hair.
In a raspy voice that was almost a sigh, he whispered over and over, “Wife… my dear wife…”
Su Nian trembled all over at his response, her entire being turning soft in his embrace.
Now, what right did she have to blame him?
Whatever… anyway, they were a couple before, and now that they lived under the same roof, an intimate form of address was only normal.
However, what Su Nian didn’t know was the truth.
The so-called “husband” title was actually because she had been taken as a Slave by Chu Tian after her defeat, and she had been forced to satisfy his perverted demands.
Of course, because of the System task to “call him husband,” she had spent a period of time calling him that nearly 100 times a day to complete her missions.
It was precisely because she had said it so often that, as her memories began to recover slightly, this term was the first thing she recalled.
***
Outside the window, the snowflakes grew denser, silently tapping against the glass.
The constant-temperature Magic array in the room worked perfectly, circulating a warm current through the air and dispelling the chill of the winter night.
“It’s late. Let’s… rest.”
Chu Tian finally released the girl in his arms.
Su Nian’s body trembled slightly.
The word “rest” exploded in her mind, instantly igniting the tension she had been suppressing for so long.
Her gaze drifted uncontrollably toward the massive bed.
The silk sheets shimmered with a soft luster under the Magic lamps, wide enough to accommodate four or five people rolling around.
The bed radiated an inexplicable sense of familiarity, making her heart rate a mess.
Su Nian bit her lower lip, her voice as thin as a mosquito’s buzz, “Um… is there… is there another bed in the room?”
The smile on Chu Tian’s face deepened.
He suddenly leaned in, his warm breath brushing against her ear.
Before Su Nian could react, the man lowered his head slightly and gently took her small, exquisite earlobe—which was so red it looked like it might bleed—into his lips.
A lightning-like tremor instantly pierced through Su Nian’s nerves.
Her legs went soft, and she could barely stand, forced to lean against Chu Tian’s arm for support.
“You’ve already called me husband, and yet you won’t sleep with your husband?” the man’s low voice rang in her ear, filled with playfulness and absolute possessiveness.
Su Nian’s brain completely crashed.
“Wife, what are you thinking about?”
Blood rushed to her head, and her cheeks burned hot.
Her voice trembled violently, “But… but…”
“Fi… fine.”
Her will retreated step by step under the man’s powerful assault.
She felt her final line of internal defense collapsing.
The feeling of being unable to resist made her both afraid and inexplicably excited.
“However…”
Su Nian bit her lower lip, making one last struggle.
“We… we have to use that pillow I brought to separate us in the middle!”
This was her final line in the sand.
Chu Tian looked at the girl’s cute, shy, and fearful expression and let out a low laugh.
He gave her flushed cheek a light peck.
“Alright.” He agreed readily, “Anything you say, wife.”
Chu Tian took her limp hand and pulled her toward the bed.
Looking at the indulgent and tender smile on his face, Su Nian felt half of the weight on her heart finally lift.
What she didn’t see was that the moment she turned around, a burning light—like a hunter locking onto his prey—flashed in the man’s deep eyes.
Su Nian walked to the bedside and leaned over to pick up the giant pillow that had fallen earlier.
The soft cotton filling deformed in her arms, and the familiar texture gave her a sliver of a sense of security.
She carefully climbed onto the bed and placed the pillow right in the center.
She pointed at the pillow, her voice still trembling, “…Like this.”
Chu Tian nodded, a gentle smile hanging on his face.
“You sleep on that side, I sleep on this side. No crossing the line!”
“Alright.”
Su Nian also slid under the covers, tightly hugging her “boundary line” pillow.
The moment the silk sheets touched her skin, she shuddered.
This bed was indeed very familiar.
It wasn’t just visual familiarity; even the texture of the sheets, the firmness of the pillow, and even the elasticity of the mattress triggered some kind of memory in her body.
She must have slept here many times before with Chu Tian.
This realization made her cheeks even redder.
The Magic lamps in the room gradually dimmed, leaving only faint light.
Outside the window, the snow continued to fall silently, draping the world in silver.
Su Nian hugged the pillow tight, listening to the breathing of the man beside her.
His breathing was steady and powerful, carrying an inexplicable sense of security.
She found her heartbeat gradually calming, and her tense nerves began to relax.
“Wife.”
Chu Tian’s low voice came through the Darkness.
“Hmm?”
Su Nian responded instinctively, only to realize a moment later how naturally she had answered to that title.
“Goodnight.”
The girl’s voice was soft and sweet, carrying a hint of shyness, “Good… goodnight.”
In the quiet night, separated by a pillow, the two of them drifted into their own dreams.
What Su Nian didn’t know was that after she fell asleep, the man beside her opened his eyes.
Chu Tian turned onto his side, gazing at the girl’s peaceful sleeping face by the faint light.
Moonlight fell across her face through the window; she was so beautiful it made his heart tremble.
At this moment.
Chu Tian faced a dilemma.
With such a breathtaking beauty right beside him… and a beautiful girl who called him husband at that, was he really just going to sleep?
However, while Chu Tian was hesitating.
The girl, who had already entered dreamland, seemed to subconsciously let her sleeping posture go wild because she was in a familiar bed.
In one motion, she vaulted over the pillow she had brought and burrowed into Chu Tian’s embrace.
It seemed that because the man’s embrace was exceptionally warm and familiar, she instinctively clung to him like an octopus.
In an instant Chu Tian, who had still been hesitating and suppressing his own desires, suddenly found himself struggling to maintain control…