"Are you going to the state banquet?"
Sheng Huai Zhi couldn't bring himself to harm the girl before he was discovered.
It was Su Ru.
She had come looking for the missing princess.
Sheng Huai Zhi was then recognized as the illegitimate young master of the Sheng family.
"Yes," he replied flatly, his emotions barely visible.
But the girl was quite excited, "Then let's go together!"
Without waiting for Sheng Huai Zhi's agreement, she immediately took his hand.
The darkness in the young man's eyes was gradually swallowed by light, which slowly began to shine from within them.
He clasped her small, soft hand in return.
Her hand, just like her, was so soft.
"His Royal Highness the Princess has arrived."
Yun Yao Yao was the only princess in this palace, and everyone knew who had arrived.
Consort Shu's face showed a flicker of displeasure, but her expression changed when she saw Sheng Huai Zhi.
Her daughter, she hoped, would not disappoint her...
"Thank you, Your Royal Highness, for bringing back the lost child." Father Sheng bowed to her in thanks.
Her deer-like eyes swept over Father Sheng and then landed on Sheng Huai Yu.
"Brother, you are so handsome, the most handsome man besides my own brother!"
This direct praise amused everyone.
After all, she was just a six-year-old girl, and her frankness made her seem adorable.
The light in Sheng Huai Zhi's eyes was once again swallowed by darkness, and his gaze instantly dimmed.
Darkness raged endlessly in his heart, as if trying to consume him.
"Your Royal Highness is too kind."
Sheng Huai Yu smiled gently at the little girl before him.
"Your Royal Highness is also very beautiful!"
It was meant to be a polite remark, but Yun Yao Yao blinked her star-filled eyes and asked, "How beautiful?"
Sheng Huai Yu was momentarily unsure how to answer the little girl, when she asked again, "Brother must have seen many older sisters, and they must all be more beautiful than me."
She then seemed slightly dejected, like a girl who cared deeply about her appearance.
Sheng Huai Yu said without hesitation, "Your Royal Highness is the most beautiful person I have ever seen."
Sheng Huai Yu had been born on the battlefield and was therefore not good at lying; what he had said was the truth.
Setting aside the fact that he had rarely seen women, Yun Yao Yao's appearance at such a young age was truly unimaginable.
Her red dress, in particular, had stunned everyone.
It seemed no one could remove her from their minds.
...
Seven years passed in the blink of an eye.
Sheng Huai Zhi was now fifteen years old, old enough to accompany his father and brother to the battlefield.
With the Kingdom of Man Luo stirring, the Sheng family's father and two sons set off for the battlefield together.
At the city gate, hundreds of thousands of soldiers stood in formation as the Emperor personally bid farewell to the Sheng family.
Yun Yao Yao had also secretly run to the city wall.
Sheng Huai Zhi stood beside his brother and looked up at the city wall.
He saw a figure in red, her black hair cascading to her waist, fluttering in the wind.
The wind seemed to carry her very scent.
Sheng Huai Zhi hid all his darkness, for the girl was born into the light.
Or rather, her outward appearance was bathed in light, while her inner self was unfathomably deep.
Yet, it was this very her that made him unable to let go.
He couldn't bear to part with her, but if he let her go, she would be a deadly poison.
"Yao Yao, wait for me two years!"
Sheng Huai Zhi clenched his fists in secret.
Two years later was her wedding day with Sheng Huai Yu!
Sheng Huai Zhi looked to the side and saw the man who had lived in his shadow since childhood, bathed in light, smiling at the figure on the city wall.
That red figure had been a presence in his life for the past seven years, yet he had never been able to grasp her.
Only the ever-radiant Sheng Huai Yu could easily hold her in his arms.
Sheng Huai Zhi couldn't help but recall the wild cat he had killed in his youth. If Yao Yao also became like that, would she, would she then belong to him forever?
But reality told him no.
If the vibrant person became like that wild cat, he would not be so infatuated, nor so persistent.
Yun Yao Yao was like a flower dipped in poison, making one approach it despite knowing the danger.
...
Two years passed quickly.
Sheng Huai Yu died on the battlefield.
Everyone thought it was an accident, but only Sheng Huai Zhi knew the immense effort he had put into it.
Even Father Sheng believed that his most proud eldest legitimate son had simply fallen on the battlefield.
Sheng Huai Zhi thought Yao Yao probably wouldn't know either.
Until—
"Yao Yao, I'm back!"
He desperately sought the light, wanting to embrace her like this, but what did he receive in return?
Disdain? Revulsion?
Two people who were too alike couldn't be together.
Yun Yao Yao seemed to have told him so.
But Sheng Huai Zhi wanted to say they were different.
He would find a way to obtain whatever he desired.
That day, as he bloodied the imperial palace, this was what he thought.
Yao Yao wanted revenge for her brother, and this was the only way.
Because her brother was killed by her father and mother, and by the merciless imperial palace of Yun Chao.
If he killed them, destroyed everything, Yao Yao would be reborn, and then Yao Yao would be his alone.
But what did he see?
Yun Yao Yao, clad in red, sat astride a horse, with Xie Qing behind her, the man she had fallen hopelessly in love with in just two years.
She even said she would fulfill their wishes for her brother.
But shouldn't someone like Yao Yao have destroyed him?
Yet she let go!
Sheng Huai Zhi would never understand why Yun Yao Yao had changed so drastically in these short two years.
She seemed to have become someone he no longer recognized.
Xie Qing, that man, it was that man who had made her change!
Even though Sheng Huai Yu hadn't won Yun Yao Yao's heart in seven years, that man had made his Yao Yao drift away from him in just two years.
Sheng Huai Zhi searched for Yun Yao Yao like a madman, not hesitating to kill more people.
The blood he shed was exchanged for Yun Yao Yao's return two years later.
He felt it was worth it.
But Yun Yao Yao was pregnant.
Sheng Huai Zhi found it unbearable. For her, he was willing to be blind, deaf, to be manipulated, to obey, to be her captive.
But Yun Yao Yao had changed completely.
She only cared about Xie Qing and the child in her womb.
But he, he only had her!
So he couldn't let go!
No one knew the true Sheng Huai Zhi. Everyone thought he was like Sheng Huai Yu, a man of gentle jade, but they didn't know he was born into darkness.
Slaughter kept him clear-headed.
"Yao Yao, will you marry me?"
Yun Yao Yao, however, clutched the child in her arms protectively, her eyes on him filled with disgust.
Her eyes shouldn't be like this. That night, the look she gave him was clearly not the same.
Sheng Huai Zhi had completely lost his mind!