Shao Yutong’s entire body went rigid. Her hands instinctively pressed against Gu Wangchuan’s solid chest, and she could feel the warmth of his body through the fabric. Yet this intimate contact brought her not the slightest sense of comfort. Instead, it made her feel as though she had fallen into an icy abyss.
“V-Valley Master, please put me down. I can walk on my own…”
“Did I frighten you?” Gu Wangchuan’s voice was deep and pleasing, carrying a strange, magnetic quality.
His features were refined and handsome, and a trace of warmth curved his lips. But deep within those eyes lay a dark, unfathomable pool, cold enough to send shivers down one’s spine.
Shao Yutong couldn’t help struggling, her voice trembling uncontrollably. “V-Valley Master…”
“Don’t be afraid.” Gu Wangchuan lowered his head and leaned close to her ear. His warm breath brushed against her skin, and his voice dropped into a husky murmur laced with coaxing. “Stay obediently by my side. All the rare treasures and countless miraculous medicines in Heartless Valley—and even the exalted position of the Valley Master’s wife—will belong to you in the future…”
The Valley Master’s wife!
Those four words were like cold vines, winding around Shao Yutong’s heart until she could barely breathe.
Her mind filled with the image of the Valley Master’s wife: a skeletal, deranged woman, covered in wounds, neither human nor ghost. She didn’t want this! She would rather die than become like that!
Overwhelmed by terror, she nearly screamed and fought back, but what little reason remained clamped tightly around her throat.
She couldn’t provoke this man!
In this isolated Heartless Valley, surrounded by layers of formations, Gu Wangchuan was the absolute ruler. The consequences of angering him might be even more dreadful than what had happened to that madwoman.
She forced out a smile more painful to look at than tears, her body stiff as she allowed him to carry her. Her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s hum. “Th-thank you for your favor, Valley Master. However, Yutong is as plain as a willow branch. I truly wouldn’t dare aspire so high…”
Gu Wangchuan acted as though he hadn’t heard her resistance. Carrying her to the soft couch by the window, he sat down and continued to hold her in his arms. His long fingers combed through her slightly disheveled hair. The movement was gentle, yet it carried an unmistakable possessiveness that allowed no refusal.
Shao Yutong scarcely dared to breathe. Her delicate body trembled without pause.
She wanted to push away these bloodstained arms, but it was as though all the strength had been drained from her limbs. She could only remain pressed against his warm chest, listening to the strong, steady beat of his heart.
She feared his strange behavior, feared this sudden intimacy, and feared everything in the valley. Yet whenever his arms tightened around her without warning, a ridiculous sense of security would rise within her.
Tears welled uncontrollably in her eyes, but she bit her lip hard, not daring to let them fall. Contradictory emotions surged over her like a tide, threatening to drown her.
The old nanny entered carrying a bowl of fragrant soup.
The moment she saw Gu Wangchuan holding Shao Yutong so intimately, the old nanny froze. Then her face broke into a delighted smile, tears of joy filling her eyes. With a loud thud, she dropped to her knees.
“Miss! This is wonderful! You’ve finally come to your senses and agreed to return to the Valley Master’s side! If your master and mistress could know of this from beyond the grave, they would surely be overjoyed.”
She was so excited that her words tumbled over one another. “Miss, you must never do anything foolish and run away again. Just stay with the Valley Master and live a good life with him. Have a few big, healthy boys. Why, your days will be sweeter than honey!”
Shao Yutong’s scalp prickled with horror. She could endure no more. With a sudden burst of strength, she broke free from Gu Wangchuan’s arms and staggered to the floor.
“Nanny! You’ve mistaken me for someone else! I’m not your young lady! I have my own name—I’m Shao Yutong! I’m engaged! My fiancé is the heir to the Marquis of Dingguo!”
The delight on the old nanny’s face instantly froze, replaced by anger and bitter disappointment.
She rose to her feet and pointed at Shao Yutong, looking like a parent utterly exasperated by a wayward child. “Miss! How can you still say such foolish things? What Shao Yutong? What heir to the Marquis of Dingguo? Those are just lies told to you by those wild men outside! How could he possibly compare to our Valley Master? Following him will only bring you hardship and misery! Stop being so stubborn!”
The more she spoke, the more agitated she became. She actually stepped forward and pinched Shao Yutong’s arm several times, using considerable force. The pain brought tears to Shao Yutong’s eyes.
“This old servant will beat some sense into you today! Let’s see if you still dare dream of eloping with that heartless man!”
“That’s enough.” Gu Wangchuan’s indifferent voice cut in, stopping the old nanny from administering any further “lesson.”
The old nanny was clearly afraid of him and reined herself in somewhat, though she continued glaring angrily at Shao Yutong as if she were a disobedient child.
She placed the soup on the table, bowed, and withdrew. Before leaving, she actually pulled the door shut and locked it from the outside with a distinct click.
Hearing the clear sound of the lock, Shao Yutong felt ice run through her entire body. She was utterly helpless.
Only she and Gu Wangchuan remained in the room.
She looked at the man still sitting there, his bearing ethereal and otherworldly, and steeled herself. She decided to lay everything out in the open.
Dropping to her knees, she wept bitterly and assumed the most humble, pleading posture she could.
“Valley Master Gu, please hear me out! I truly am not the person you’re looking for! I am the daughter of the Shao family in the capital, and I am engaged to the heir to the Marquis of Dingguo. My heart belongs to him alone—I have no designs on anyone else! Please, Valley Master, let me go! In my next life, I’ll repay your great kindness by working like an ox or a horse for you!”
She had thought that invoking the Marquis of Dingguo’s household would at least give Gu Wangchuan pause.
However, the instant she mentioned the “heir to the Marquis of Dingguo,” the refined, gentle mask on Gu Wangchuan’s face shattered like porcelain.
The air around him turned dark and icy. In those originally deep eyes surged a vicious fury and possessiveness so savage they were almost feral.
“The heir to the Marquis of Dingguo?” He slowly rose and began walking toward Shao Yutong, who was kneeling on the ground. His voice was cold as the dead of winter. “He’s the only one in your heart?”
Terrified by the sudden change in his presence, Shao Yutong retreated again and again. “Y-yes…”
Before the words had even left her mouth, Gu Wangchuan bent down, seized her chin, and forced her to raise her head. Then he kissed her fiercely.
It was not a kiss. It was more like an animal’s biting punishment, brutal and forceful, charged with an overwhelming sense of possession. Shao Yutong’s eyes widened in terror as she struggled desperately, pounding both hands against his chest.
Gu Wangchuan’s movements were rough. He did not release her until he tasted blood. Then he abruptly let go and hurled her onto the soft bed as though she were a piece of trash.
Shao Yutong was left dizzy from the impact. Before she could recover, Gu Wangchuan had already loomed over her, his tall figure casting down a terrifying pressure. He reached out and began tearing at her dress.
“No… Let me go!” Shao Yutong let out a shrill scream. At that moment, all her pretense and schemes were replaced by the most primal terror.
She remembered the fate of that madwoman, and despair surged over her like a tidal wave.
“Valley Master, please, I beg you—don’t do this to me…”
Pretending to be weak and pitiful had failed. Shao Yutong fought with both hands and feet, even recklessly trying to ram her head into Gu Wangchuan.
But it was like an ant trying to shake a tree. Her dress was torn apart piece by piece like so much scrap cloth.
Gu Wangchuan remained unmoved.
A look of resolve flashed through her eyes. She suddenly opened her mouth and lunged to bite through her own tongue.
At that critical moment, Gu Wangchuan’s movements abruptly stopped.
Looking down at the tear-streaked woman beneath him, her hair disheveled and her eyes brimming with the hatred and desperate resolve of a cornered beast, he felt the violence roiling within him strangely subside. In its place emerged a far more complex and inscrutable interest, tinged with the faintest hint of admiration.
