Jiang Zheyu looked at Jiang Yi, hesitating to speak.

"Princess Yu Yu, you can say whatever is on your mind," Jiang Yi said, his gentle face breaking into a soft, doting smile as he looked down at her.

Hearing this, Jiang Zheyu paused for a moment. Her expression shifted, and her pink lips moved slightly. "It’s nothing."

In the end, she decided not to ask him directly.

"I’m going back to my room to rest," Jiang Zheyu told Jiang Yi, then turned and slowly walked up the stairs.

’The main reason is that I don’t feel like I know Jiang Yi that well yet.’

’What if I expose his identity? Wouldn’t he fly into a rage out of shame and anger?’

’Besides, there’s plenty of time. I’ll eventually find out what this new butler’s motives are.’

’The Lonely Wanderer Star Thief Group is coming again tonight.’

After washing up, Jiang Zheyu lay on her large, soft bed and began scrolling through the system’s store.

’I plan to catch all of these Star Thieves who are delivering themselves to my door, every last one of them.’

’I’m a female with Level 4S Spiritual Power now, after all. I should be able to control and attack these Star Thieves while their guard is down.’

’Otherwise, my upgrade to Level 4S Spiritual Power would have been a waste, right?’

Jiang Zheyu decided she couldn’t let these Star Thieves continue to be so brazen.

’Of course, if the Star Thieves still choose the heroine tonight, I’ll just pretend I don’t know anything.’

Midnight arrived. Jiang Zheyu had once again left a gap in the french doors, making it easier to hear any sounds from outside.

The wind blew in, lifting the floor-length curtains. As moonlight streamed in, it cast the curtains’ graceful, dancing silhouettes in sharp relief.

Lying in bed, Jiang Zheyu felt herself about to drift off to sleep.

’Why aren’t the Star Thieves here yet? Could it be that the chosen female tonight isn’t me again?’ 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

’Has my luck really gotten this good?!’

Just as Jiang Zheyu was wondering when the Star Thieves would arrive, her mind racing with various thoughts, she suddenly felt something slippery slither under her covers and coil around her ankle. Before she could react, a sharp pain shot through her.

She couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath. "HSSS!"

The pain jolted Jiang Zheyu wide awake. She threw back the covers, her eyes landing on a snake with vibrant, colorful patterns coiled around her ankle. It had bitten her. Two small puncture wounds marred her snow-white skin, trickling bright red blood.

Goosebumps instantly erupted all over her skin.

’Maybe it’s because I’ve seen Su Yan’s snake form so often that I’m a little immune to them now.’ In the next instant, she grabbed the snake, about to fling it away.

But unexpectedly, someone grabbed her wrist, stopping her mid-motion.

Jiang Zheyu whipped her head around to see a darkly handsome man with a wicked, gloomy expression beside her.

"Why throw it away? Isn’t it cute?" the man asked, looking at her with a sick innocence. "Look. Your ankle has blossomed with beautiful flowers. Isn’t it lovely?"

As the morbidly handsome man spoke, he abruptly leaned in close to Jiang Zheyu, his rose-purple eyes widening as he stared at her.

Her heart skipped a beat, startled by how close he had suddenly gotten.

’After all, anyone would be scared if a psycho suddenly got in their face and started spouting nonsense.’

"Tonight, I chose you. Aren’t you happy?" A grotesque smile spread across the pale, sickly man’s face.

The patterned snake allowed Jiang Zheyu to identify the psycho in front of her.

’Gu Ying. A gloomy, morbid, psycho Star Thief.’

Gu Ying, for his part, was patiently waiting for the beautiful, delicate young woman before him to show a flicker of fear.

But she showed no fear. Her light brown eyes simply stared back at him, calm and still.

Once she recovered from her initial shock, Jiang Zheyu reached out and hooked her arms around the handsome man’s neck. A faint smile touched her lips, though her heart was pounding. ’After all, this is my first time trying to capture a Star Thief.’

"I’m not scared. On the contrary, I’m delighted," Jiang Zheyu murmured.

Gu Ying felt the warmth of her arms on his neck. For a moment, a jolt like an electric current shot through him. The skin of his neck, where her arms rested, seemed to grow scorching hot.

The unfamiliar sensation left him dazed for a moment, unable to react.

In the next second, his vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

The man slumped onto the comforter beside her.

Jiang Zheyu’s pounding heart finally began to settle.

’Success!’

’Level 4S Spiritual Power is no joke. It knocked him out instantly.’

Jiang Zheyu felt a cold sweat break out on her back. ’I’m really not cut out for acting like a psycho, or for this kind of high-stakes thrill.’

"Princess Yu Yu!" Jiang Yi burst into the room.

Jiang Zheyu instinctively looked toward Jiang Yi in the doorway.

In a few quick strides, Jiang Yi was at her side, grabbing her arm. Jiang Zheyu’s gaze instinctively followed his, down to her own arm.

She saw that the patterned snake had somehow coiled around her wrist and was opening its mouth to strike.

’This snake must have been trained to bite on contact.’

Before it could bite, Jiang Yi snatched the snake. With a sharp tug, he ripped it from Jiang Zheyu’s wrist and flung it out the french doors.

He gripped Jiang Zheyu’s shoulders, his usually calm and gentle expression now icy and grave. "Princess Yu Yu, are you alright?"

Jiang Zheyu was about to say she was fine, but just then, Jiang Yi knelt and took hold of her ankle. A wave of numbness was spreading from the joint.

The words "I’m fine" died on her lips.

Her gaze dropped to her ankle. The veins on her lower leg were already turning black!

"That snake... it wasn’t venomous, was it?" Seeing the black veins on her calf, a chill ran down Jiang Zheyu’s spine and her scalp tingled with dread. She was starting to feel dizzy. "I think something really is wrong with me."

Jiang Yi gripped her lower leg, swiftly tore a strip of fabric from his own clothes, and tied it tightly around her thigh, closer to her heart, to slow the venom’s spread.

A robot from the doorway instantly appeared at Jiang Yi’s side, handing him a medical kit.

Jiang Yi quickly pulled out an antiseptic and began cleaning Jiang Zheyu’s wound.

Then, he swept her up from the bed in a princess carry. "We’re going to the hospital now."

Watching Jiang Yi handle her wound so methodically, Jiang Zheyu’s earlier panic began to subside, replaced by a sense of calm.

Jiang Yi turned to leave, still carrying her.

"The Star Thief..." Jiang Zheyu suddenly remembered and called out.

"I’ve already notified the Guard Captain," Jiang Yi said, looking down at her. "He’ll be taken into custody."