Zhao Changhe laughed. He could not even be bothered to argue. Don’t tell me you couldn’t feel the lap rocket threatening you this whole time. If that’s “incapable,” then we need to redefine the word. Ye Jiuyou murmured, “If you play the game of restraint for too long, it stops being meaningful. Don’t regret it later...” “I’m not playing any games,” Zhao Changhe said slowly. “You’ve already got my mark. I’ll chase you for as long as I have to, and one day, I will catch you. You can’t escape. But today... all you needed was someone to hold you. If I only wanted your body, I’d have taken it earlier when you first lost control. Why wait until now?” Ye Jiuyou fell silent. Yes... Escape is no longer an option. Not from the moment he said that he did not want to take advantage of me. It was as if he could read her mind, her heart. He could read it so precisely that it felt like cheating. But it was not that he could read minds. It was that he was genuine. Only someone who truly cared could speak so precisely. He had proven to her yet again that she was not merely Ye Wuming’s shadow. Everything he said, everything he did, had backed that up. After a long moment, Ye Jiuyou whispered, “...Then I want to sleep. I want you to hold me while I sleep.” Since the day she was born, Ye Jiuyou had never truly slept. The only time that came close was the deathlike slumber that followed the collapse of a previous era. She did not need sleep. In truth, she had never dared to sleep. Even meditation required vigilance, let alone the vulnerability of sleep. But now, for the first time, she could. Because there was someone beside her that she could trust completely. Someone who let her taste what every mortal man and woman had the possibility to taste: When grief and confusion gnaw at your soul, you can crawl into the arms of someone warm, and fall asleep in their embrace. Zhao Changhe said nothing. He simply lifted her out of the pool and sat down at the edge, letting her rest her head on his lap. In the darkness, Ye Jiuyou stared up at Zhao Changhe for a long, long while before finally forcing herself to sever her divine sense and surrender to sleep. Having never slept before, Ye Jiuyou had no concept of how long she had slept. All she knew was that it had been deep and sweet. No thinking, no awareness, no cultivation, no healing-induced slumber... just the purest kind of rest. To be honest, it did not feel entirely pleasant. In sleep, she could not sense her own existence. That sensation was normally intolerable for someone like her; it should have been unbearable. However, the warmth of the “pillow” beneath her head and the human heat that radiated from it were so real, so grounding, that they canceled all discomfort into nothingness. The benefit was clear: the emotional chaos from the day before had completely settled. There were still faint ripples in her heart, but none of it had anything to do with inscriptions anymore. When she opened her eyes, Zhao Changhe was still seated as before, unmoving. She wondered whether his legs had gone numb. Ye Jiuyou looked up at him. Zhao Changhe seemed to sense her gaze and looked down with a smile. “Morning.” She realized that he had said that exact word before, back when he spent the entire night guarding the abyss outside. And somehow, that simple word felt incredibly warm. So did waking to his smiling face. Because of his presence, even this dead and desolate abyss felt as though spring had come and flowers had bloomed. Ye Jiuyou sat up lazily, stretching with a smile. “How long did I sleep?” “You slept for over six hours. Most mortals don’t nap that long. You’d be called a lazy pig.” “You’re the Fire Pig of Shi, aren’t you? Then I fit you perfectly.” Ye Jiuyou gave him a sideways glance and looked into the mirror nearby. The woman in the reflection was no longer soaked in sheer silk. The suggestive allure was gone, but strangely, her complexion was not pale. It had taken on a healthy flush, glowing faintly from within. She froze, then it dawned on her. She had drunk his blood the day before. He was not a mortal but a god-tier being. His blood held immense power, and its life force had subtly altered her constitution. Looking at her reflection now, there was no need for cosmetics. No powder could match the vitality of a demon god touched by divine blood. Zhao Changhe leaned in, peering at the mirror beside her cheek, and grinned. “Beautiful.” Ye Jiuyou said, “Will you help me do my makeup?” “No need.” Zhao Changhe picked up her hand. “Here, something new for you.” Ye Jiuyou looked down and saw that he had taken out a jet-black jade ring from seemingly nowhere. He gently slid it onto her ring finger. She immediately recalled what he had said in Chang’an, that he would make her a storage ring, and that in his homeland, giving someone a ring meant a proposal. So... he really did go and make one? “I used divine descent to find Ying Five while you slept. I asked him for a piece of obsidian jade. I also harvested some of your abyssal crystal and forged it into this. It’s sturdy, so it won’t be damaged in battle unless someone deliberately targets it, and who’d be that crazy?” He slipped the ring into place with a smile. “Now, I’m just not sure whether I should propose to Miss Li of the Li Clan... or to Jiuyou herself.” Proposing to the young lady of the Li Clan was easy. She had always used that identity to give him an excuse, a staircase to climb. But Jiuyou... that was serious. In that scenario, there would be no excuse and no retreat. Zhao Changhe was still not entirely sure how deeply Ye Jiuyou felt for him. He was testing the waters. So long as the staircase existed, he was not afraid to climb it. But Ye Jiuyou only smiled. “If it’s a proposal, are you not the one who should say it? What do you expect me to do?” “...Fine.” With the words cornering him, Zhao Changhe bit the bullet and said, “I, Zhao Changhe, seek to marry Jiuyou.” He faced no resistance. The ring slid on smoothly. Ye Jiuyou watched the ring slip down to the base of her ring finger, and in that moment, she felt as if she had been claimed, sealed with his mark. Her voice was soft. “Alright.” Zhao Changhe was caught off guard. He had not expected such a simple, direct answer. He froze for a beat, then recovered and raised her hand to kiss it. When he looked up again, Ye Jiuyou was gazing down at him. Their eyes met and both of them were reminded of that moment in the dark alley of Chang’an, their first encounter under the great pit left by Ye Wuming, when her hand had brushed his lips. Now, it felt like destiny. Zhao Changhe rose to his feet and said quietly, “We’ve been cooped up in here for a while. Want to go out for a bit?” Ye Jiuyou responded with a simple “Alright.” They left the abyss hand in hand—again, without speaking, they chose to teleport to Chang’an. Sitting in their familiar teahouse, enjoying breakfast, Zhao Changhe squinted at the sunlight and murmured, “I really am more used to bright places. Yours is just... too dark.” Ye Jiuyou also looked outside and replied casually, “You shouldn’t be able to see anything in there. I still don’t know how you managed it... Had I known, I wouldn’t have kept you and Piaomiao under house arrest so loosely.” “You say that like you regret it,” Zhao Changhe chuckled. “But your tone sounds awfully casual.” “I’m married to you now, what’s a little exploitation between husband and wife? There’ll be plenty more opportunities for you to take advantage of me in the future...” Zhao Changhe’s heart skipped a beat. Her charm now—subtle, teasing, effortless—danced between yesterday’s wildness and her usual aloofness. Every glance, every smile, tugged at his heart with irresistible grace. Zhao Changhe ventured, “Since you’ve already married me, how about we pay a visit to the King of Qin after breakfast?” Ye Jiuyou replied with the same word as always, “Alright.” It was the third time she had used that single word in response to his suggestions. It was as if, from this point on, she had wholly ceded the lead to Zhao Changhe. He finished breakfast thoughtfully, then took her hand and strolled with her through the main avenue. The citizens of Chang’an turned to watch as the two made their way toward the royal palace. Li Boping had heard in advance and came out personally to greet them. Most onlookers assumed this was a show of honor toward King Zhao—little did they know that when he finally laid eyes on the pair holding hands, his greeting was directed at her. The way his eyes locked on their interlocked hands made his face twist like he had bitten into a sour plum. Ye Jiuyou gave him a slight nod of acknowledgement, then pulled Zhao Changhe forward toward the inner palace. “Let me show my husband around. There is no need for you to .” Li Boping wiped his sweat. “Uh...” You’re just letting the leader of a rival power walk straight into our inner palace? Whose palace even is this? Ye Jiuyou clearly had no intention of explaining herself. Instead, she turned to Zhao Changhe with a radiant smile. “Your dowry... just as you wanted.” With Li Boping standing right there, Zhao Changhe kept his words brief, offering only a quiet smile. Though she said that she would show him around, they did not go far. Strolling casually, they naturally made their way to Ye Jiuyou’s private quarters. As expected, the master suite did not belong to Li Boping. It had always been Ye Jiuyou’s, even though she had only ever stayed in it for a grand total of three nights. From afar, Li Boping and his entourage followed anxiously, helplessly watching as their ancestor led a man into her bedchambers in broad daylight before closing the doors with a thud. He had been the one who pushed for this engagement, but he had not expected the results to be this overwhelming. All his little schemes and ambitions had been snuffed out before they had even had a chance to sprout. It was only when the two stood inside the perfumed and sumptuously appointed suite that Zhao Changhe finally chuckled. “You really gave Li Boping no face at all. I thought I’d at least have to make a few polite rounds.” “He’s a mere warlord. What about him is worth my deference? If not for the sake of needing a public-facing explanation, I would never have allowed myself to be paraded before the world as his so-called daughter. As for you, you’re my man. You can be King Zhao in your own time, but not when you’re with me. And if King Zhao needs to make nice with him, so be it. But my man does not.” Zhao Changhe slowly turned that phrase over in his mind, savoring it. Then he asked, “So the bargain I struck... what was the real gain? Was it Chang’an? Or was it you?” Ye Jiuyou lifted her gaze to meet his. Her eyes, always unfathomably deep, were now limpid and clear as water. “You gave me a place to rest my heart, so everything within my reach... is yours. And what’s Chang’an compared to that?”