Hearing this, Dai Weisi finally released the lid he had been using to stir the tea leaves and gently set it back on the cup with a crisp little clink.
"Grand Marshal, you're a smart man."
"Since you're smart, you should know that trouble comes from the mouth. Sometimes, pillow talk can cut far deeper than swords on the battlefield."
He paused and raised his teacup, but this time he did not drink. Instead, he poured the warm tea onto the carpet at his feet.
"Don't let a few foolish words leave the Zhu Family's vast legacy stained like this."
With that, he stood up and did not spare Zhu Xiaotian another glance.
"Zhu Yun, let's go."
Dai Weisi rose, took Zhu Zhuyun's hand, and walked out of the reception hall toward the gates of the marshal's residence.
Zhu Xiaotian trembled, but merely said respectfully, "Farewell, Your Highness!"
The marshal's wife and Second Aunt went weak all over. Had they not been supporting each other, they would likely have collapsed to the floor.
The tea had not been poured onto the carpet, but onto their hearts, chilling them to the bone!
Only after the two had left did Zhu Xiaotian look at the wet patch on the carpet, then back at his distraught wife and sister-in-law. A flash of ruthlessness crossed his face.
Without a word, he gave his sleeves a sharp flick and strode away.
Zhu Zhuyun had walked the path from her bedchamber to the Zhu Family's gates countless times, but never had it been like this.
The hand of the man beside her was broad and warm. The strength it conveyed gradually warmed her heart, which had been frozen by fear and despair.
She turned her head slightly and looked at Dai Weisi's sharply defined profile. His deep eyes held nothing but a calm whose depths could not be seen.
It was that very calm that gave her a sense of security she had never known before.
These past days, she had been like a moth caught in a spiderweb, watching helplessly as she slid toward the abyss of being discarded and traded away, unable to struggle free.
And now this man, her fiancé, had descended like a god and crushed that impenetrable web beneath his foot.
The gates of the marshal's residence stood open. Sunlight streamed in and fell upon Dai Weisi, gilding his silhouette.
In Zhu Zhuyun's eyes, that figure seemed so tall and imposing.
Only after they had boarded the carriage back to the palace and the curtain had fallen, shutting out the gazes of Zhu Xiaotian and the others seeing them off, did Zhu Zhuyun's taut nerves suddenly relax.
She looked at Dai Weisi, who sat upright across from her. Her lips moved several times before she finally found her voice, which held a tremor and a dreamlike sense of unreality.
"Weisi, is all this... real?"
Dai Weisi did not answer immediately. He simply reached out and drew her into his arms.
Back in his own palace, he dismissed all the attendants and had Shi Mo stand guard outside the palace gates like a true stone statue.
Only the two of them remained inside.
Zhu Zhuyun leaned against his chest, feeling his strong, steady heartbeat. The bewilderment and doubts in her heart finally found their way into words.
"That old gentleman at your side... and my father's attitude... Weisi, what exactly happened?"
Dai Weisi did not launch into a lengthy explanation of the struggles at court, and naturally he would not reveal the slightest information about the system!
He simply lowered his head and looked at the beautiful eyes in his arms, which still held a trace of unease, and gently wiped away the lingering dampness at the corner of her eye with a finger.
"Zhu Yun, do you trust me?"
His voice was quiet, but filled with certainty.
"From now on, no one in Star Luo City, or in this entire empire, can wrong you in the slightest ever again."
That one sentence was worth a thousand words.
Zhu Zhuyun stared at him, her eyes reddening in an instant.
All the fear, hurt, and despair that had accumulated over these days became a flood bursting through a dam at that moment.
"I trust you!"
Of course she did!
She suddenly tightened her arms around him and buried her face deep in his chest, her muffled, suppressed sobs sounding from within his embrace.
"Of course I trust you... Weisi, I was so scared... I was really so scared..."
"I thought, I thought my life was over, that my family would treat me like a useless pawn to be discarded and marry me off to..."
She had thought she would follow in the footsteps of those royal women who had lost in the struggle for power, spending the rest of her life in misery and humiliation.
Feeling the delicate body in his arms tremble, Dai Weisi felt a surge of tenderness.
He gently patted her back, letting her give vent to all her emotions.
After a long while, her crying gradually subsided, leaving only soft sniffles.
Zhu Zhuyun raised her lovely, tear-streaked face, her eyes shimmering with moisture and holding a hint of hazy allure.
The relief of surviving a calamity and the joy of regaining what had been lost intertwined, turning into the most primal impulse.
She rose onto her tiptoes and took the initiative to kiss Dai Weisi on the lips.
The kiss began with inexperienced testing, but quickly grew heated and intense, as though they wanted to melt completely into each other's bodies.
Feeling the softness and warmth of the body in his arms, Dai Weisi tightened his hold slightly and swept her up.
Zhu Zhuyun cried out in surprise and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, two patches of crimson instantly spreading across her cheeks.
Holding her, Dai Weisi walked step by step toward the large bed in the inner chamber.
Gauze curtains hung low, and candlelit shadows flickered red.
He laid her gently on the soft bed and leaned over her.
After an unknown length of time, the clouds parted and the rain ceased.
Zhu Zhuyun lay languidly on Dai Weisi's firm chest, tracing circles on it with her fingertip. A satisfied flush colored her face, and the gloom that had gathered between her brows had been swept away, replaced by the charm of a woman nourished.
She felt as though she had lived through a dream, a beautiful dream that had carried her straight from hell to heaven.
Just then, Dai Weisi's voice sounded beside her ear.
"Zhu Yun, I have a gift for you."
"A gift?"
Zhu Zhuyun lifted her head curiously.
Dai Weisi sat up, his expression turning serious.
"When you and I lost to Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing at the Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, did you really think it was because our talent was inferior to theirs?"
At the mention of it, Zhu Zhuyun's eyes dimmed for a moment.
It was a thorn in both her and Dai Weisi's hearts.
As the most legitimate pair of heirs to the Star Luo Imperial Family, they had lost to a younger brother and sister a full six or seven years younger than them. It was an utter humiliation.
"Wasn't it? They... their strength improved too quickly, so quickly that it defied reason."
"That's right. That's exactly the problem."
The corners of Dai Weisi's lips curved upward.
"They took a shortcut. And now, an even broader, brighter shortcut lies before us."
As his words fell, he turned his wrist, and a strange plant appeared in his palm.
It was a narcissus that looked as though it had been carved entirely from mutton-fat white jade. Its flower had six crystalline, translucent petals, as if it were not a creation of the mortal world.
A cool, delicate fragrance that refreshed the heart and spleen instantly filled the room. Just one breath of it made Zhu Zhuyun feel the Soul Power in her body grow livelier.
"This is..."
Zhu Zhuyun's beautiful eyes were filled with shock.
"An immortal-grade treasure, the Narcissus Jade Muscle Bone."
Dai Weisi explained.
"A true hundred-thousand-year-old Immortal Herb. Its nature is supremely yin and gentle, and its medicinal power is mild. It nourishes the sinews, reshapes the bones, and generates Qi and blood."
"Your Martial Soul is the Hell Spirit Cat, which places the greatest importance on speed and bodily flexibility. This can greatly improve your physique, making your bones like narcissus flowers in water, supple enough to bend a hundred times. It will give you a new body and cleanse your meridians."
He held the Immortal Herb out to Zhu Zhuyun.
"To take it, you don't need any special technique. You only need to hold its petals in your mouth and use Soul Power to guide the medicinal power throughout your body."
"Once that happens, if you and I join forces to fight again, what would Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing amount to?"