He chuckled at the accusation.

"Do you hate me?"

She stared at him for long moments, her expression cycling through confusion, anger, and something she couldn't name.

"I don't even understand you, let alone know the reason to hate. You're... confusing."

The admission seemed to frustrate her even more. Men were supposed to be simple—driven by pride, lust, or power. But he defied every category she tried to place him in.

"So tell me," he said, his voice carrying that gentle insistence, "what do you want?"

Her jaw set with determination.

"I will never give up my dignity."

Looking at her, he chuckled, but there was something different in his expression now.

"You know what? I always thought you were an ambitious woman who, to be honest, could fall to any low."

Her body flinched as if he'd struck her, her heart thumping irregularly.

Why did his judgment matter?

Why did the thought of him seeing her as someone without dignity cause such a strange ache in her chest?

It was strange, maybe he was different from other men in a way that was unpredictable. That's why she felt his judgment of her seemed to matter so much.

"But hearing you say that," he continued, his voice softer now, "it feels I wasn't wrong at choosing you."

He retreated a step, then another, giving her space as he extended his hand toward her in a formal gesture—as if asking for a dance.

The absurdity of it, given his still-exposed state, should have been laughable.

"I am a pervert but a gentleman," he said, his crimson-gold eyes meeting hers directly.

"You are ambitious but dignified. How about we have children together who will be both gentle and dignified?"

Yu Xiang blinked, her violet eyes wide with disbelief as his words echoed in her mind.

Children?

With him?

Her mouth twitched, lips parting as confusion and shock warred across her features.

"What?" she breathed, the single word escaping before she could stop it.

But before the question could fully form, he moved.

His hand shot forward, fingers wrapping around her wrist with gentle but insistent pressure. One smooth pull, and her body was flying toward him, her feet stumbling over the silk carpet as momentum carried her forward.

'!'

Her chest collided with his in a soft thud, the impact sending tremors through her as her breasts pressed against his muscled torso.

Her face buried itself against his shoulder, black hair spilling over his arm as his other hand came up to rest on the crown of her head.

The embrace was warm, solid, completely enveloping her smaller frame.

For a moment, she froze in his arms, her body rigid with shock.

His scent filled her nostrils—the scent of two women and something distinctly masculine that made her pulse quicken as she instantly recognized what it was.

"Let me—" she started, her hands pressing against his chest as she tried to push herself away.

But then the memory hit her.

The sharp crack of her palm against his cheek.

The way he'd simply stood there and taken it, never flinching, never retaliating. His calm acceptance of violence from someone so much weaker than him.

Guilt crashed over her like a cold wave.

She knew no man would have been able to hold back after such humiliation... it was how their brain worked.

It was how she knew how to tame them... it was how...

'I don't know anything...'

Her fingers trembled against his chest, then slowly clenched in the fabric of his robes instead of pushing.

The silk was smooth between her fingers, expensive and fine, but all she could focus on was the steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath her palm.

"Let me leave," she whispered, but there was no force behind the words. No cultivation-enhanced strength, no attempt to break free.

Just a quiet plea that sounded more like surrender than demand.

His chuckle rumbled through his chest, vibrating against her cheek.

"I'm not even hugging you."

The words made her freeze completely.

Slowly, as if waking from a dream, Yu Xiang became aware of her own actions. Her arms had somehow wound themselves around his waist.

Her fingers were fisted in his robes, clinging to him like he was an anchor in a storm.

She was the one holding him.

Heat flooded her cheeks as the realization struck.

When had she—? How had she—?

Slowly, so slowly it felt like moving through thick honey, she lifted her head to meet his face.

He was looking down at her, those crimson-gold eyes holding something she couldn't quite name. Not mockery, not triumph, just... attention.

As if she were the only thing in the world worth watching.

Her mouth parted, lips trembling as she tried to find words.

Her analytical mind—so sharp, so calculating—seemed to have completely abandoned her.

Finally, she managed to speak, her voice barely above a whisper:

"How can a man like you even exist in this world?"

The question carried all her confusion, all her frustration at being unable to categorize him.

Every man she'd ever encountered had been predictable in their desires and weaknesses.

But him? He was strong but weak at heart, loyal but to too many, pervert but even that had love, manipulative but not cold-hearted... someone like him.

How had a man like him not vanished or lost one of those qualities that made her see his loophole?

She couldn't even seduce him—yet she could. But strangely she didn't want to, because she knew she couldn't.

'It's frustrating!'

He shrugged, the motion causing his shoulders to shift under her hands.

"They do exist everywhere," he said simply, his voice carrying that same casual confidence that had both infuriated and fascinated her from their first meeting.

"It's just they don't get to have such a beautiful woman beside them."

The compliment hung in the air between them, and Yu Xiang felt her lips tremble as she processed his words.

Despite everything—even though she had heard this word many times from men as they flirt—she knew she could still not guess anything even if she tried.

Her teeth caught her lower lip, biting down gently as conflicting emotions warred across her features.

"So you know how to flirt," she said finally, her voice carrying a note of accusation mixed with something that might have been admiration.

Tianlong raised an eyebrow, that familiar smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.

"I know too much about women."

The statement should have sounded arrogant, boastful even. Instead, it came out matter-of-fact, like someone observing the color of the sky.

Yu Xiang's violet eyes locked onto his crimson-gold gaze, and she found herself unable to look away.

"I saw in their eye," she murmured, more to herself than to him, as if she had already seen how even Zhao Chen's mother looked at him.

There was something hypnotic about the way his eyes seemed to see straight through her carefully constructed facades, past all her ambitions and calculations, down to something raw and honest she'd forgotten existed.

He began to lean closer, his face descending toward hers with deliberate slowness.

The scent of him—masculine and complex, tinged with the lingering traces of his other women—filled her senses as his breath ghosted across her cheek.

"I promise," he whispered, his voice soft and surprisingly gentle, "I will not hurt you."

The words sent a tremor through her entire body.

Her hands, still fisted in his robes, tightened involuntarily as she trembled against him.

He was not the first man who had ever made such a promise to her. Most had wanted to use her, to take what they could, only to later discard her.

That's how she used men. They were so predictable.

But his words carried a weight of sincerity that made her chest ache—as if recalling how dangerous he was.

"I am a woman who is ambitious and heartless," she said, her voice barely above a whisper as he continued to lean in.

"I will ruin your life."

Even as the warning left her lips, she could feel them parting unconsciously, as if her body was preparing for something her mind hadn't yet accepted.

Her violet eyes fluttered, lashes casting shadows on her cheeks as she blinked slowly, like someone emerging from a long dream.

He slowly leaned, his lips hovering just inches from hers, close enough that she could feel the warmth radiating from his skin.

"Can you be gentle while ruining it?" he asked, and there was something almost vulnerable in the question—as if he were asking for mercy from someone who held all the power in the world.

Yu Xiang's breath caught in her throat.

"Shouldn't it be a woman saying that?" she muttered, confusion evident in her voice even as her body leaned into him.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.