Deep in the corridors of the Zhu Residence, the rhythmic footsteps of patrolling soldiers still echoed in the distance. But in this cold fortress of war, time seemed to stand still because of that one embrace.
Gu Tian could clearly feel how unnaturally light the girl in his arms was, as though she were a weightless cloud. After being trapped in fear and despair for so long, her muscles had stiffened like cold iron. Even now, safe in his warm embrace, her slender fingers still instinctively clutched the front of his clothes.
"Na'er, let's go. It's too dangerous here." Gu Tian lowered his eyes to Zhu Zhuqing, who trembled with her eyes closed, and his voice took on an icy edge of murderous intent.
"Mm!" Na'er obediently put aside her usual playfulness. In the flickering lamplight, her delicate, doll-like face looked especially grave.
Gu Tian held Zhu Zhuqing around the waist with one arm and took Na'er's hand with the other. Na'er's slender fingers brushed through the air, and ripples of space concealed the three of them perfectly behind the cracks between planes.
The Zhu Residence's layers of heavily armed guards looked utterly laughable before Na'er's mastery of spatial law.
In less than half an incense stick's time, they had left the Zhu Residence's thick city walls and appeared before the hotel's floor-to-ceiling windows on the top floor.
Gu Tian landed steadily on the soft carpet with Zhu Zhuqing in his arms.
The hotel room was filled with warm, dim light. Xiao Wu and Gu Yue, who had been chatting beside the bed, were startled by the sudden fluctuation in space and jumped to their feet in unison.
"Brother Gu Tian, who did you bring back this time?" Xiao Wu bounded over, but the moment she saw the figure in Gu Tian's arms, she froze.
Gu Tian offered no explanation. He gently laid Zhu Zhuqing down on the soft velvet sofa. Only then, under the bright glow of the Soul Guidance Lamp, did he get a proper look at the state the little cat was in.
Zhu Zhuqing's black, close-fitting outfit was torn in several places, and the fabric was covered with dust and grime from the council chamber floor. Her exquisitely beautiful, aloof face was not only drained of color but streaked with dark smudges from where she had scraped against things while fleeing. Even her tangled hair was tangled with a few strands of dried weeds.
What pained Gu Tian most was her tightly pressed lips, now bitten raw and bloody. Dark-red scabs stood out starkly in the lamplight.
"Yue'er, Xiao Wu, don't ask yet." Gu Tian drew a deep breath, forcing down his anger, then turned to Gu Yue. "Go prepare some hot water and help her take a proper bath. Her body's cold; she needs to warm up. Xiao Wu, take out the red Brocade Pleated Skirt I bought you this afternoon."
Though Xiao Wu was full of questions, with even the slightest twinge of jealousy stirring in her, the sight of the girl curled up on the sofa instantly roused her sympathy as a fellow woman.
"All right, I'll get it." Xiao Wu quickly opened Gu Tian's Soul Tool.
The sound of water splashing came from the bathroom.
Gu Yue led Zhu Zhuqing into the mist-shrouded room. Throughout the whole process, Zhu Zhuqing didn't say a word. She was like a beautiful wooden doll stripped of its soul, letting Gu Yue remove her filthy clothes and letting the warm water wash the dust from her body.
She simply stared blankly at the warm yellow Soul Guidance Lamp beside the bathtub, her vacant gaze frightening to behold.
About half an hour later, the bathroom door slowly opened.
Zhu Zhuqing came out wrapped in a large white towel, her long hair still dripping wet. The warmth and steam had finally brought the faintest hint of color back to her once-pale cheeks.
When her gaze fell on the new red clothes Gu Tian had laid out by the bed, her body jolted.
What a beautiful outfit it was. The fabric was scarlet Cloud Brocade, its edges embroidered with golden koi. It shimmered in the light with a festive, comforting glow. To Zhu Zhuqing, that red was like a basin of burning coals, instantly rekindling the heart that had nearly frozen to death on the Antarctic ice sheet.
"Waaah—!"
A cry of anguish, choked and ragged, burst from the depths of Zhu Zhuqing's throat without warning.
She didn't even notice the white bath towel slipping to the floor. Barefoot, she dashed toward Gu Tian like a madwoman.
Before Gu Tian could react, a warm body carrying the fresh scent of soap crashed into his arms.
"Wuwuwu... wuwu..."
Zhu Zhuqing clung desperately to Gu Tian's neck, her whole body hanging from him as she buried her face deep in the crook of his neck. She trembled violently as she wept, as if she were pouring out all the grievance, anger, confusion, and fear she had bottled up for so long with her tears.
At that moment, all traces of a young woman's shyness and all the rules of propriety vanished from her nearly shattered world. She knew only that she was alive when she held on to the young man before her.
"Don't be afraid. It's all right now. I'm here from now on. No one will ever hurt you again."
"If you shed a single tear, I'll raze a city to the ground. If I raze a city to the ground, I'll raze a city to the ground."
Gu Tian sighed softly. His thoughts were entirely pure. He simply wrapped his arms tenderly around Zhu Zhuqing's bare back, his broad palm gently stroking her icy hair. His voice was low and resolute. "Cry. Cry all the filth out of you. From now on, you're no longer a prisoner of the Star Luo Empire. You're my Zhu Zhuqing."
Zhu Zhuqing kept crying and crying until her voice turned hoarse and, at last, she collapsed limply in Gu Tian's arms, utterly spent. Only her shoulders still gave an occasional shudder.
Heart aching, Gu Tian carried her to the bed and tucked her in. Then he went to the kitchen himself and used the ingredients in his spatial ring to make her a bowl of stomach-warming porridge.
After he fed her the last spoonful, Zhu Zhuqing finally succumbed to her utter exhaustion. Clutching one of Gu Tian's hands, she sank into a deep sleep. Even in her dreams, her brows remained slightly furrowed; clearly, the nightmare had not yet fully faded.
The atmosphere in the outer suite was oppressive.
Gu Yue and Xiao Wu sat nearby. Though they didn't know the details, Zhu Zhuqing's desperate sobs had filled them with a loathsome sense of what had happened.
Na'er held both their hands and sat in the middle of the sofa. In the lowest voice, she told them everything she had overheard in the Zhu Residence's council chamber, from beginning to end.
"What?! Be buried with him?!"
Xiao Wu sprang to her feet. Her rabbit ears, usually so lively, stood rigid with rage, and murderous intent flickered in her eyes. "That useless prince from the Dai Family ran away. What does that have to do with Zhuqing? What right do they have to make her die alongside that good-for-nothing?"
Gu Yue's dark green eyes were colder than ice, and the elemental power at her fingertips seemed close to slipping out of control. "The Star Luo Imperial Family... the Zhu Family... A place like that doesn't deserve to exist on this continent. To save face for their so-called family, they'd even turn their own daughter into a sacrifice. They're more revolting than the most vicious Soul Beast."
Xiao Wu's eyes were red with anger. She stared at the closed door to the inner room and gritted her teeth. "Brother Gu Tian was right to take her away! If it were up to me, I'd strip that man called Zhu Ganglie of his uniform and ask him if he had a heart at all!"