The night was as deep as ink.
Within the master bedroom of Shadowmoon Manor, the air was saturated with the heavy scent of alcohol and loneliness.
Chu Tian sat listlessly on the carpet, his back against the cold edge of the bed.
Mottled light and shadow were cast upon him.
He did not light a lamp, leaving the moonlight to spill its cold radiance over him through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows.
A recording crystal floated in mid-air, playing silently.
On the low table in front of him, a pile of empty wine bottles lay scattered.
On the screen, a blonde girl smiled like a flower, standing on her tiptoes to press a fleeting, dragonfly-like kiss to his lips.
Her sky-blue eyes were filled with undisguised love and attachment.
Her sweet, soft voice seemed to echo in his ears.
“Husband, I love you.”
Chu Tian reached out, his fingertips trembling as he tried to touch the smiling face in the projection, only to pass through a void of light and shadow.
His heart felt as if it were being fiercely gripped by an invisible hand, causing him to choke on his breath.
Regret and pain left Chu Tian with no choice but to numb himself with alcohol.
He picked up a half-full bottle from the table and tilted his head back to drink.
The spicy liquid burned his throat, yet it could not dull the agony that had seeped deep into his marrow.
Just then in the central courtyard of the manor, the space rippled.
A flash of purple light flickered and vanished, and a delicate figure appeared instantly.
This was the “Dragon Landing Pad” exclusively for Su Nian, a designated area where roaming was prohibited.
As such, it had become the spatial coordinate for Little Violet to teleport to Shadowmoon Manor.
“Is that Miss Su Nian?” A few maids carrying lanterns on their night patrol were the first to spot her, their gasps piercing the silence of the courtyard.
“Is that Miss Su Nian?”
“Oh my heaven, Miss Su Nian is back!”
For the past 2 days, other than having people bring wine into the room, Mo Yuan Sir had locked himself away, his entire demeanor dreadfully dark.
They had all guessed it had something to do with the sudden disappearance of Miss Su Nian.
‘Now that Miss Su Nian had returned, the Master’s mood might improve.’
However, when they tried to approach to get a better look at Su Nian’s condition, they were stopped.
“Don’t… don’t come over.”
Su Nian struggled not to make any strange sounds, keeping her voice cold and detached.
The girl who stood there now bore no resemblance to the cold, dignified Star-Moon Saintess of ordinary days.
She wore only a thin silk nightgown, and due to the overwhelming heat, she had tugged it into a state of disarray.
Her skin, which should have been as white as snow, was now flushed with an eerie, feverish red.
Her long golden hair clung messily to her sweat-dampened cheeks and neck, and her sky-blue eyes were glazed, covered in a veil of moisture.
The effects of the [Charm Veins IV2] had fully erupted.
The fire originating from the depths of her body threatened to incinerate her remaining sanity.
In her world, nothing remained but the urgent, desperate craving to be…
In this state…
She did not want to be seen in such a pathetic, indecent manner by others.
That was why she had spoken up to stop the maids from drawing near.
However, if she fainted here, she would eventually be discovered.
The space above her head suddenly warped.
Just as Su Nian’s consciousness was about to be completely swallowed by the tide of desire—
‘Someone save… someone…’
To be precise, she needed Chu Tian to come and save her.
A figure, carrying the heavy scent of alcohol and the cold wind of the night, appeared from thin air.
Su Nian felt a familiar presence.
For a moment, her anxious, restless heart instantly calmed, creating the illusion of being saved once again.
Clearly the man who had suddenly appeared in the night sky was Chu Tian.
The manor was filled with magical arrays he had set up; no spatial fluctuation could escape his senses.
When the spatial ripples belonging to the familiar Little Violet occurred, Chu Tian, who had been numbing himself with alcohol, snapped to clarity.
‘Was she… back?’
Ecstasy and disbelief exploded within Chu Tian’s chest.
He straightened his messy clothes and hair slightly, then teleported directly to the scene.
Then, he saw the girl collapsed on the ground, looking disheveled and enticing.
Chu Tian’s heart gave a sharp, painful twitch.
Without a second of hesitation, he immediately took off his heavy coat, which still held his body heat, stepped forward, and bent down to gently wrap the coat, large enough to cover her entire body, around the girl.
The coat retained the man’s unique scent.
It was a potent smell of alcohol, mixed with a scent that was intimately familiar to Su Nian, one that carried a faint hint of aggression.
The moment this scent completely enveloped her, the unbearable heat seemed to encounter a cold front, and was suppressed instantly.
‘It feels so much better…’
In her hazy consciousness, Su Nian felt a subconscious sense of relief.
Chu Tian looked at the girl in his arms, her posture one of subconscious dependence.
His gaze was complex, like a small boat drifting in a storm that had finally found a harbor to dock.
He extended his arms, moving with a gentleness as if he were handling a rare treasure, and carefully scooped her up from the cold ground.
The girl’s body was light, yet burning with alarming heat.
The feeling of her delicate, smooth skin against him made his heart leap.
He dared not think too much; with a flicker of his mind, the two disappeared in a faint glow, and the next second, they were back in the master bedroom, which was still heavy with the smell of alcohol.
Chu Tian gently placed her on the soft, large bed.
Only then did he have the time to truly look at the face he had missed to the point of insanity.
Under the moonlight, the girl’s cheeks were flushed an abnormal red, crystal tears hung from her long eyelashes, and her slightly parted red lips gasped, exhaling scorching breaths.
That look, at once painful and alluring, made Chu Tian’s heart tighten.
He had thought that once Su Nian left, she would never come back.
He would lose her forever.
He didn’t expect that after only 2 days later, she would reappear before him in such a way.
‘Is this a dream?’
Chu Tian reached out, wanting to stroke her cheek, but his fingertips stopped an inch from her skin, trembling slightly.
He dared not.
He feared this was merely a hallucination from his drunkenness, and that at a single touch, she would vanish into smoke.
Even more, he feared that his own hands, stained with sin, would soil and hurt her again.
Chu Tian slowly withdrew his hand and clenched it into a fist.
He remembered everything he had done to her.
He had taken her body by force, compelled her to kneel, taken photos to blackmail her, forced a collar upon her…
He did not deserve her forgiveness, let alone her.
Yet she, when she had lost her memory, had given him the purest form of love.
Even if… she had only returned to get something, for work, or just for a brief stay.
That she could come back was enough for him.
He shouldn’t stay here.
Given her attitude toward him, seeing him might only cause her pain and disgust.
‘Let Su Nian rest well.’
Chu Tian took one last greedy look at the girl on the bed, as if to carve her image deep into his soul.
Then, he turned around and took heavy strides, preparing to leave the room.
To return this place to her.
However, the moment he turned, his sleeve was tugged tightly.
A soft but burning hot little hand had grabbed the hem of his garment.
The force was not great, but it held an irresistible, determined finality.
“Don’t… go.”
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