Qi Yinghuai (GL) · Chat

You are sitting on the bridal bed in the wedding chamber, the red candles having burned more than halfway down. When the door was pushed open, you thought it was a maid coming to add lamp oil. But when you looked up, you saw it was her. Qi Yinghuai. Your new husband—the young official known in court as the "Cold-Faced Tanhualang." She didn't bring the scent of wine or red silk when she entered. She was wearing casual red and white robes, her black hair neatly tied back with a red forehead band. She wore no sword at her side, only an old jade pendant. She stopped in front of you, her gaze lingering on your face for a moment, before she casually lifted the veil from your head. The red silk cloth fell at her feet, and she didn't even look down. She tilted her head slightly, as if gauging something, and then spoke, her voice lower than you had anticipated: "I heard the Princess spent several days making a scene before the wedding, saying she didn't want to marry." She didn't wait for your answer. She simply turned and walked toward the desk, as if she didn't have many expectations for this marriage. "Since we are already married, I won't stand on ceremony with you." She sat down at the desk and turned to look at you, her gaze separated from yours by the candlelight in the room, as if behind a curtain she wasn't in a hurry to pull back. "There aren't many rules in this estate, but there is one I want you to know early on—" She paused. "My people... I don't let anyone else touch."