Xiao Mo truly had not expected it.

The Yan clan’s daughter he was marrying was actually the young lady he had met several times before.

But thinking carefully, Xiao Mo felt that he should have noticed it the first time he saw her in the palace.

Back then, there was only Empress Dowager Yan in the rear palace. A woman who could enter the rear palace would naturally be Empress Dowager Yan’s relative or friend. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

And at the time, it had just so happened to be only a few days after his betrothal to the Yan clan’s young lady.

So it was perfectly normal for Yan Ruxue to enter the palace to visit Empress Dowager Yan.

“It really has been a long time since I last saw you, miss.” Xiao Mo set the jade scale down and sat beside Yan Ruxue. “Come to think of it, Your Majesty and you truly are fated.”

Yan Ruxue smiled softly. Beneath her long lashes, her beautiful eyes rippled gently, like a butterfly fluttering its wings.

“Does Your Majesty not think that the time in the palace was something this consort did on purpose? And that the two meetings afterward were also because the Empress Dowager knew Your Majesty’s itinerary and deliberately revealed it to this consort, so that this consort could ‘chance upon’ Your Majesty and win Your Majesty’s favor?”

“There’s no need.”

Xiao Mo smiled and shook his head as he answered.

“As for my situation, even if it cannot be spoken of openly, most people understand it in their hearts. Even the common folk in the mortal world know it.”

“Your Yan clan feels that marrying you to me is already somewhat unfair to you. What’s more, this match was arranged by the Empress Dowager, and I already agreed. It cannot be changed. So why would you need to deliberately win my favor?”

Hearing Xiao Mo’s words, Yan Ruxue nodded slightly. She did not speak, only silently acknowledged it.

The room fell into a brief silence. For a moment, neither of them knew how to continue the topic.

Yan Ruxue lifted her head and looked at the wine cups on the table. She spoke slowly.

“Your Majesty, it’s getting late. Shouldn’t we drink the spouses’ wine now?”

“We should.”

Xiao Mo stood and poured two cups of wine.

Yan Ruxue took the cup from Xiao Mo’s hand. The two of them hooked arms and drank the clear, crystalline wine in their cups in one go.

When °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° they set the cups down, Yan Ruxue lowered her head. A faint blush rose on her fair cheeks.

No matter how calm and poised Yan Ruxue usually seemed, on the most important night of her life, she still carried a bit of nervousness.

And a woman in red wedding finery, on her wedding night, with spring feelings stirring, was the most moving.

As a normal man, when Xiao Mo looked at Yan Ruxue’s profile, his heart naturally could not help speeding up.

Just then, a gust of night wind swept past the window ledge and blew out all the candles on the table.

Hazy moonlight poured in through the window. The clean, bright moonlight fell onto Yan Ruxue’s cheeks.

Perhaps the bed curtain had not been hooked properly.

The thin red gauze slipped free of the curtain hook and slowly fell, veiling the two of them.

Everything outside seemed to be cut off by that light gauze. The two of them sat on the bed, and the atmosphere gradually turned languid.

Xiao Mo leaned closer and closer. Yan Ruxue blinked, closed her eyes, and lifted her chin slightly. Her thin lips, painted with rouge, carried a sheen like candlelight.

When Xiao Mo’s hands rested on Yan Ruxue’s fair, tender shoulders, he could feel her delicate body tremble slightly.

The two of them drew closer. Xiao Mo could already smell Yan Ruxue’s faint breath.

Outside the door, Sili sensed something was wrong.

She felt she should make her move.

If she did not act now, her master would be eaten clean by this mortal woman.

But just as Sili was about to use spell arts to control this Yan clan woman, her dao heart blared a frantic warning.

Sili stood motionless. She felt an extremely terrifying spiritual pressure.

At the same time, inside the room—just as Xiao Mo was about to touch Yan Ruxue’s lips—

Xiao Mo felt his consciousness rapidly blur, like the wine’s strength suddenly surging to his head.

In only an instant, Xiao Mo lost consciousness. His head dipped, and his whole body slumped into Yan Ruxue’s high, soft embrace.

Yan Ruxue held her beloved in her arms. Her slender, jade-like fingers gently stroked through his hair.

Her lashes lowered slightly. She looked at the man in her arms with tenderness, as if she were looking at her most precious thing—afraid he would leave again, afraid he would be knocked and hurt, afraid he would be broken.

A fragrant breeze swept past. Sili felt herself growing drowsy. If she did not want to sleep, she only needed to use spiritual power to resist.

But if she did that, she would certainly be discovered.

After weighing it, even though Sili was very curious about who had come to the Hall of Congealed Snow, she ultimately gave up resisting. She let herself fall at the doorway along with that wafting fragrance.

Aside from Sili, the palace maids standing guard outside the door also lay sprawled all over the ground, unconscious, not a single one awake.

“Miss, coming to my Hall of Congealed Snow as a guest tonight is somewhat ill-timed.”

Yan Ruxue spoke calmly. Her tone remained gentle from beginning to end.

Her gaze also remained on Xiao Mo’s face, never shifting even a fraction.

As Yan Ruxue’s words fell, the door opened. Qin Siyao walked into the room, stood before Yan Ruxue, and dipped in a curtsey.

“Siyao pays respects to Sister Yan.”

Yan Ruxue gently placed Xiao Mo onto the bed, tucked the quilt over him, then rested both hands before her lower abdomen and slowly stood. She faced Qin Siyao head-on.

Under the moonlight, a clear breeze brushed past. Two women dressed in red wedding finery looked at each other. Their hems fluttered faintly, and their long hair lay against their slim waists.

The two women stood gracefully, like a painting of moonlit beauties.

Even though neither of them spoke, it was as if, in that silence, they had already said ten thousand things.

“Enough. Since Miss Qin has come, then please sit.”

Yan Ruxue made a “please” gesture.

“Siyao thanks you, Sister.”

Qin Siyao did not refuse. She sat down in the chair.

Yan Ruxue poured Qin Siyao a cup of tea and set it before her.

“In truth, miss should not call me sister.” Yan Ruxue smiled as she looked at Qin Siyao. “In fact, Miss Qin is quite a bit older than I am, isn’t she?”

When Yan Ruxue’s words fell, Qin Siyao’s eyes paused slightly, and then her smile grew even brighter.

“What is Sister Ruxue saying? From Siyao’s birth until now, it has only been a short twenty years. How could Siyao be older than sister? Siyao should be the one to call you sister.”

Hearing Qin Siyao’s explanation, Yan Ruxue did not make much of it. She only drank a cup of tea lightly.

“Since Sister Siyao insists, then Ruxue won’t say more. It’s enough that everyone understands it in their hearts.”

“Compared to that...”

Yan Ruxue raised a sleeve and tucked hair behind her ear, her gaze turning toward the window.

A woman in a white dress sat on the windowsill, arms around the long sword in her hands.

“Sect Master Jiang, since you’re here, why have you been sitting there all along? Won’t you come down and drink a cup of tea together?”