Within the bedchamber, warm fragrance drifted through the air.
Unlike the quiet sandalwood scent in the study, the incense here carried a cloying floral and fruity aroma that could easily stir a person's most primal desires.
Jingmei—or rather, Mei Terumi.
She had already bathed and changed.
She wore a nearly transparent lotus-pink silk gown, her long hair cascading down her shoulders, still damp.
Droplets of water slid along her fair skin and disappeared into the deep valley between her breasts.
She knelt before the soft couch, where a pot of wine was warming on the small table in front of her.
Tonight, she was the wine waiting to be tasted.
Though she had rehearsed this countless times in her heart, when footsteps sounded outside the door, her heartbeat still quickened beyond her control.
There was both the humiliation of offering herself up and the anticipation of the plan's success.
Creak!
The doors to the hall were pushed open.
Chiba Ran appeared at the entrance. He wore loose casual clothes, shedding some of his authority and gaining a touch of ease.
In Mei Terumi's imagination, the daimyo should have been unable to wait to dote on her.
But he did not.
Chiba Ran merely glanced at her casually before walking straight to the couch, lying down, and letting out a comfortable breath.
As though a beautiful woman like her was not even as appealing as a comfortable couch.
Mei Terumi's heart tightened.
This was not the script she had envisioned.
The seductive charm she had deliberately displayed today was meant to awaken this man's desire to possess her.
Yet his reaction was far too indifferent.
"Come here. Pour the wine."
Chiba Ran spoke with a trace of laziness in his voice.
Mei Terumi suppressed her doubts, answered obediently, and rose gracefully.