Chapter 226

Chapter 226

Shen Si’s voice was deep and seductive.

Ji Hanyi’s hand trembled. A sudden prick of pain followed as the needle pierced her fingertip and a bead of blood appeared.

She stared blankly at it, unable to recover for a long moment. Her heart was beating inexplicably fast-faster than it ever had before.

She could no longer understand Shen Si’s nature. Last night he had been cold yet fervent; now he spoke with soft gentleness.

While she remained dazed, the shadow before her deepened. A large, long-fingered hand closed around her fingertip, and Shen Si drew it into his mouth.

She looked up in a trance and met his fathomless gaze. He licked her fingertip, and she snatched her hand back as though burned.

Shen Si raised a brow at her reaction. Then he bent, lifted her onto his lap, and set the embroidery hoop on the low table. Taking the handkerchief beside it, he pressed the cloth to her finger and sighed. “Are you so happy to hear that you are going home?”

“Be more careful next time.”

Sitting sideways upon his thighs, Ji Hanyi listened in a daze. Her mind was already tangled beyond reason. She wanted to protest that she was not happy, yet felt any denial would only deceive herself.

His remark about the empty bed curtains truly had stirred something in her.

Seeing that she was not paying attention, Shen Si took her chin and turned her face toward him.

Looking at her, he felt a touch of regret. He had meant to entice her, only to make her injure her finger. She looked so dazed that he could not be certain his efforts would not have the opposite effect.

The previous night had not satisfied him. He alone had pursued release in his urgency. He wanted Ji Hanyi to experience the same pleasure and willingly join him in intimacy.

What the Empress had told him yesterday had hurt. He had tossed and turned through the night, thinking that if Ji Hanyi had been beside him, the bed would not have felt so empty, nor would he have lain awake until dawn.

With a nearly imperceptible sigh, he pressed her into his arms and patted her back. “Let the maids handle these things in the future. You needn’t touch them again.”

Ji Hanyi lowered her eyes toward his back, breathed in his familiar scent, and softly agreed.

On the afternoon she was to leave the palace, the Empress told Ji Hanyi to wait in her room while her belongings were packed and Shen Si came to collect her.

She waited for some time, but he did not arrive. A palace attendant came to say that Shen Si had become occupied that afternoon and could not leave for the moment. He had already sent someone to wait at the palace gate and asked Ji Hanyi to return first.

Attendants were waiting outside to escort her, so Ji Hanyi first went to take her leave of the Empress.

The Empress knew Shen Si could not come. He was discussing an inspection of military and civilian defenses with His Majesty the Emperor and could not get away. She therefore sent two court ladies to accompany Ji Hanyi.

Ji Hanyi had few belongings of her own, and the gifts from the Empress and Crown Prince had already been delivered to the Shen Residence. Her Majesty the Empress also granted her a sedan chair. Unlike the first day, when she had walked in, she could ride out this time.

A carriage waited at the palace gate, surrounded by seven or eight guards. Wen’an came forward and said in a low voice, “The Marquis is detained by business. He sent me to escort Madam home.”

Ji Hanyi already knew. She asked no questions, merely acknowledged him and boarded the carriage.

It was spacious and traveled smoothly.

Inside the palace, the attendants rarely smiled. Every face was respectful, and silence often lay over everything.

Though the food and objects were all of the finest craftsmanship, there was little sense of happiness.
Now, as the lively sounds beyond the carriage gradually reached her, Ji Hanyi drew a deep breath. The depths of the palace truly did not suit her.

She often thought that although she had devoted herself to the Xie Family’s inner household, she had never been genuinely happy there either.

She had always wanted a free life filled with ordinary warmth, without being bound by etiquette, without presenting flawless dignity and beauty before others, without confining herself within a rigid circle of rules.

Before going to Wei County, she had imagined countless versions of her future-a painting shop, a bookshop, no prejudice of rank, no struggle for household advantage. There would be only her and her mother, and she would never need to exhaust her mind over intrigue.

But she also understood that everything had advantages and costs. Life was difficult for a woman who established an independent household, and far more dangerous than she had imagined.

So she had chosen the smoother, easier road.

Shen Si had given her a place of security.

She lifted the curtain and looked outside. The streets were crowded, the flow of people unending. As she watched, a sudden commotion erupted ahead. Before she understood what was happening, Wen’an’s alarmed voice came from outside. “Madam, hold fast to the carriage!”

His warning had barely fallen when rapid hoofbeats thundered toward them. Dozens of horses burst from an alley not far ahead, rampaging wildly down the street and charging straight at them.

Ji Hanyi dropped the curtain and braced herself against the carriage wall. A moment later, the carriage lurched violently. Chaos erupted outside, and someone seemed to be shouting that people had been trampled to death.

The interior spun. The ceaseless pounding of hooves filled her ears. Her vision darkened, and a strong, foul odor made her want to vomit.

Ji Hanyi tried to climb from the overturned carriage, but the moment she raised a hand, all strength deserted her body. She called Wen’an’s name, only to find her voice so faint she could barely hear it herself.

Her sight grew dim and heavy. Hoofbeats continued around her. She felt someone drag her from the carriage, but she did not have the strength even to open her eyes.

Frightened screams rose without end, mingling with the sound of the maddened horses trampling everything in their path.

Before long, even those sounds blurred.

When Ji Hanyi regained a trace of awareness, darkness surrounded her.

She tried to move, but her body was too limp to obey.

Men spoke quietly nearby. Their voices were rough and deliberately lowered.

Her consciousness remained hazy. She strained to understand their words, but could make out nothing.

Then she heard a familiar voice.

She recognized it the instant it sounded.

Her heart pounded. She tried to move, but could not. Nausea rose intermittently in her stomach. Her back burned, sweat seemed to cover her entire body, and even breathing was difficult. She felt unbearably ill.

She opened her mouth to call out, but no sound emerged.

After an unknown length of time, the voices gradually ceased.

Someone lifted her into his arms. She could not open her eyes and her awareness was faint, but she understood that she must have been drugged.

The person lightly patted her back twice. A deep voice sounded clearly beside her ear. “Do not be afraid. I will take you away.”

Hearing those words, Ji Hanyi felt only an icy chill.

Then consciousness slipped away once more, and she sensed nothing at all.