Pei Yan suddenly opened his eyes, his usually cold and dark pupils now completely filled with blood-red streaks.
“Miss, what... what’s wrong with him?”
Cuizhu, after all, was still an unmarried girl, with no idea what pouring a basin of animal aphrodisiac would do. Her voice trembled with fear.
“Run!”
Chu Mingzhao didn’t even bother to worry about whether the system would consider her fleeing a dereliction of duty. Alarm bells clanging in her mind, she grabbed her skirts and turned to bolt.
Forget it, worst case she’d lose some experience points—but staying meant risking her life.
However, a delicate young lady’s escape speed was nothing short of a joke in front of Pei Yan, who was teetering on the edge of losing control.
Chu Mingzhao hadn’t even taken three steps before her wrist was clamped in an iron grip.
“Ah! Pei Yan, how dare you! Let go!”
Chu Mingzhao screamed, struggling desperately to break free. But his hand didn’t budge; instead, it yanked her back with brutal force.
The world spun as she lost her balance and was dragged stumbling and staggering toward the depths of the stable.
Pei Yan’s eyes were bloodshot, wordless, as he hauled her into the dim hay shed.
Bang—
The battered wooden door slammed shut with a vicious kick from his foot, cutting off the terrified shouts of the servants outside.
Inside the stable, the light was dim.
Chu Mingzhao was flung onto a waist-high pile of hay, stars spinning before her eyes.
“Chu Mingzhao.”
A cruel grin twisted Pei Yan’s lips as he lunged down, pinning her against the haystack.
“Since you dared to dose me, you must know how potent this drug is. What do you think—if I did something I shouldn’t right here, would the mansion’s guards arrive in time to save you?”
Forced to tilt her head back, Chu Mingzhao met those scarlet eyes.
She tried to pry his wrist free, but his arm was as hard as a branding iron, completely immovable.
“How dare you! You lowly slave, you think you’re worthy of touching me? Get your filthy hands off!”
Filthy.
That word struck Pei Yan’s frayed nerves like a blade.
Yes, he was now a wretched slave, lower than a dog or pig, his body smeared with sewage and livestock aphrodisiacs.
He was filthy.
But the very woman who kept calling him dirty had that damned rose scent wafting from her, seeping into his lungs through his nostrils, making his whole body burn with unbearable heat.
Pei Yan’s breathing grew heavier, his chest heaving violently.
Last night’s scene behind the rockery surged uncontrollably through his mind again.
The red mark he’d bitten into the side of her neck was hidden perfectly by her high collar.
The more she concealed it, the more he wanted to tear that fabric away and see what lay beneath.
“Pei Yan!”
Feeling his breathing grow even more ragged, genuine fear crept into Chu Mingzhao’s eyes.
From her vast experience reading novels, a male lead dosed with an aphrodisiac—what he’d do next was obvious even to a child.
This was ancient times. He was a deposed crown prince; she was the legitimate daughter of the prime minister.
If anything really happened here, Pei Yan wouldn’t live to see the next sunrise, and her reputation would be shattered.
It wouldn’t be mutual annihilation, but it would be close.
“Snap out of it! If you lay a hand on me, you’ll never wash away the stain on your name! Don’t you want to overturn your case? Don’t you want to return to court?!”
Pei Yan’s whole body jolted violently.
Inside the stable, only their ragged breaths intertwined.
The raging fire still coursed through his veins, screaming at him to tear apart the soft, fragrant body beneath him.
But his gaze suddenly turned ice-cold, his movements freezing mid-air.
He hadn’t scraped by with his life just to become a rutting beast in a straw shed stinking of horse manure.
He still needed those who had betrayed and trampled on him to pay in blood.
If he really did anything to Chu Mingzhao today, when the clarity returned, even he would be disgusted with himself.
Pei Yan stared fixedly at Chu Mingzhao beneath him.
The terror in her eyes seemed genuine. Her lashes trembled like a dying butterfly’s wings.
A sudden absurdity struck Pei Yan.
He released her wrist abruptly, jerking backward as if electrocuted.
“Get out...”
His voice was hoarse beyond recognition, laced with barely suppressed gasps.
“...Before I change my mind, get out of here now.”
Chu Mingzhao scrambled off the haystack as if granted a pardon. Her legs were weak as noodles, almost causing her to collapse.
[Ding—]
The system’s cold, mechanical tone rang in her mind.
[Po Value Rating: SSS-level (unprecedented). Experience points gained: +150. Current experience points: 300/500.]
Chu Mingzhao let out a long, silent breath of relief.
Thank heaven. Her life was spared, and she got the experience points. This high-risk, high-reward game was no job for humans—a few more rounds and she’d have a heart attack.
“At least you lowly slave knows your place!”
She smoothed her disheveled hair, lifting her chin in a proud arc, though her voice still trembled uncontrollably.
“Consider this a lesson for today! Another time, and I’ll have your skin flayed!”
After tossing out her threats, Chu Mingzhao didn’t stay a second longer. She fled the stable in frantic haste.
In the courtyard, Cuizhu and a few servant women huddled together, weirdly brandishing brooms and sticks as if they wanted to save their mistress but dared not step forward.
Seeing Chu Mingzhao stumble out with her clothes in disarray, they panicked, falling to their knees in a heap.
“M-Miss! Are you all right? This servant will go fetch the guards...”
“Fetch the guards? Haven’t I embarrassed myself enough already?!”
Chu Mingzhao raised her voice guiltily, making a show of clutching her collar tighter as she shot them a vicious glare.
“All of you, shut up. If anyone dares whisper a word of what happened today in the mansion, I’ll send them to the estate in the outskirts! Now leave!”
Chu Mingzhao led her servants through the courtyards and corridors.
The biting wind stung her face but barely managed to suppress the unnatural heat on her cheeks.
Yet her mind refused to settle.
[Ding—Po value ongoing assessment. Experience points gained: +5.]
[Ding—Po value ongoing assessment. Experience points gained: +10.]
[Ding—Po value...]
The rapid-fire alerts made Chu Mingzhao’s temples throb.
As she walked, she ranted furiously in her head: [Are you glitching? I’m half a mile away—why’s the experience still piling up?]
The system’s mechanical voice replied matter-of-factly: [System running normally. The continued increase in experience points is due to the narrative effect not yet ending. Pei Yan is still in a deep state of arousal.]
[Supplementary explanation: The direct trigger of this state and the object of his fantasy both point to the host. Therefore, experience points will continue to be generated until the male lead fully exits this state.]
Chu Mingzhao: ...
She understood instantly.
Pei Yan was a normal man full of vigor. Drenched in a powerful aphrodisiac and now locked alone in the stable...
What could he do? What would he do?!
