Chapter 66

A clear breeze and bright moon, the night as tranquil as water.
Yun Pianpian looked up and her heart raced wildly.
Xiao Changyuan had actually reached out and grabbed her wrist.
With one hand gripping her and the other clutching the jade railing tightly, he held Yun Pianpian’s arm as they dangled from the white marble balustrade. Their bodies swayed in the air from the momentum. Xiao Changyuan’s fingers, wrapped around the railing, were pale and slender, the veins on the back of his hand bulging. He must have leaped after Yun Pianpian the moment she jumped from the high tower, without a second thought, which was why they now hung from the jade railing.
The cool night breeze brushed through the emperor’s waterfall, like black hair.
His dark locks danced wildly, and his dragon robes fluttered fiercely.
Yun Pianpian saw the emperor’s sinister, bloodshot cold eyes.
Like ice mountains stained with blood, chilling and terrifying.
Her heart tightened and her face turned pale with fear.
She struggled to breathe.
She knew she was done for.
The wrist held in Xiao Changyuan’s palm felt as if it were about to be crushed by him.
The pain left her speechless.
Her body swayed slightly as Xiao Changyuan lifted her arm as effortlessly as one would lift a rabbit by its ears. He mercilessly threw her onto the jade platform of the Moon-Snatching Tower. Yun Pianpian’s legs went weak with terror, and she collapsed to the ground, trembling all over.
She was so frightened she didn’t even have the strength to stand.
Xiao Changyuan climbed over the railing, his eyes blood, red as if stained with blood, his expression fierce and ruthless, his thin lips pressed tightly together.
He strode step by step toward Yun Pianpian.
His pale, frost, like handsome face, under the desolate moonlight, appeared like a bloodthirsty, enchanting specter come to claim a life. He was shrouded in a suffocating, storm, like tension, with frost and ice clinging to his eyelashes, radiating overwhelming fury.
“Why?”
The man’s voice was as gloomy as if it were seeping blood.
His icy, chilling tone did not sound like a question but more like a demand for her life.
Yun Pianpian trembled uncontrollably with fear, her lips quivered.
She couldn’t speak.
The man’s dark and terrifying shadow enveloped her petite, delicate frame.
He reached out with his pale, slender hand and harshly gripped her chin.
His eyes were sinister and bloodthirsty, his jaw taut.
Staring into her eyes, he asked her slowly, word by word.
“Why did you jump?”
His voice was as cold and biting as a blizzard on an icy mountain.
Yun Pianpian had never been as afraid of Xiao Changyuan as she was now. She had thought the Xiao Changyuan she’d seen beneath the bathing pool was terrifying enough, but she never imagined the current Xiao Changyuan could be ten times, even a hundred or a thousand times more horrifying.
She could even feel his murderous intent toward her.
The piercing chill radiated incessantly from him.
Yun Pianpian was too terrified to speak, her body trembling ceaselessly.
She was shaking so violently with fear that she didn’t notice the man’s fingers were also trembling uncontrollably.
From the moment Yun Pianpian jumped from the high tower, Xiao Changyuan had been seized with relentless dread, his body shaking uncontrollably. If he had been even a moment later, this wretched woman would have slipped from his grasp, plummeted through the air, and crashed to the ground, reduced to a bloody pulp.
It was precisely because of this that Xiao Changyuan could not suppress his raging fury.
Yun Pianpian was lost in her terror.
The man’s voice, laced with cold menace, reached her.
“Yun Pianpian, speak.”
Yun Pianpian’s eyelashes fluttered in fear, her red, rimmed eyes brimming with tears, on the verge of weeping.
Her lips trembled as she said, “I...I want to go home.”
“Go home?”
The man tightened his grip on her chin, his voice cold as ice.
“Why do you want to go home? Have I not treated you well enough?”
Upon hearing his words, Yun Pianpian's eyelashes fluttered, and hot, glistening tears welled up in her eyes, spilling over and tracing paths down her pale cheeks before dripping onto Xiao Changyuan's pale, slender hand. She looked utterly pitiful.
With tears in her eyes, she replied, “No, not at all. I don’t want to be your doll. I just want to go home.”
“A doll?”
The man let out a cold laugh, his fingers digging into her delicate chin as his voice turned bone, chilling. “You think I treat you like a doll?”
Seeing his dark and terrifying expression, Yun Pianpian couldn't suppress the fear rising within her.
She had once experienced the feeling of near, death when Xiao Changyuan had held her underwater, suffocating her. But the look on his face now was even more terrifying than it had been then. Yun Pianpian felt certain that she would die today. Faced with death, an urge to speak her mind surged within her, since she was doomed, she might as unburden herself of all her grievances before the end.
With reddened eyes and tears streaming down her face, she cried out, “Am I not just a doll in your hands? You control my words, my actions, my very breath, you even want to control my death. Being by your side, I can’t breathe. Do you remember the day I said I’d forgotten how to breathe? It wasn’t that I’d forgotten, I was simply terrified of you. You suffocate me.”
Finally, Yun Pianpian had poured out all her grievances, tearing apart any pretense of harmony between her and Xiao Changyuan.
Her neck stiff with defiance, tears fell like rain as she stared at him with red, swollen eyes. She was waiting for her death, feeling a sense of near, despairing liberation.
Xiao Changyuan had not expected it.
He never imagined Yun Pianpian harbored so much resentment toward him.
His thin lips pressed together, and he lowered his dark, cold eyes to gaze at her face.
The girl’s complexion was pale, her lips colorless, and her long, thick lashes were adorned with glistening teardrops.
Her delicate lashes trembled slightly, enhancing her fragile, pitiable appearance. Beneath those dense black lashes, her almond, shaped eyes were moist and red, their dark pupils pure and innocent, like the eyes of a cat, gentle and guileless.
His Pianpian, not only did her eyes resemble those of a cunning cat, but her temperament was just as feline.
A cat will obediently nestle in its owner's arms, affectionately rubbing against their skin, nudging their palm with its head, stealing all their attention, and then gazing at them with pitiful, innocent eyes. It loves clinging to its owner, but that doesn't mean the cat loves them, it's simply accustomed to their embrace, too lazy to leave. Beneath that pitiful, innocent exterior lies a cold and indifferent heart.
His Pianpian was the same.
She loved curling up in his arms, yielding to his every whim, granting his every request. She would look at him with those same pitiful, innocent eyes, begging for his affection, urging him to hold her. Occasionally, she would unsheathe her claws to scratch him or take the initiative to kiss him. She was so docile and well, behaved it was almost unbelievable.
Yun Pianpian had tried to escape once before.
But Xiao Changyuan believed that her previous escape was because he hadn't held her tightly enough. So, after he brought her back, he intensified his grip on her, thinking that by treating her this way, she would never leave his side again.
Yet he never expected that she still wanted to flee from him.
And in such a cruel, heartless manner.
She appeared so obedient, so compliant, yet her actions were always so ruthless, so unfeeling.
It was only at this moment that Xiao Changyuan realized his overly tight embrace would not draw Yun Pianpian closer to him but would instead hasten her departure, making her push him away without hesitation and leave him behind.
Xiao Changyuan seemed to understand the root of the problem.
He released her chin.
His dark, profound, icy eyes fixed quietly on Yun Pianpian's face.
He swallowed hard, his voice low and hoarse.
“Why are you afraid of me?”
Yun Pianpian was taken aback, not expecting Xiao Changyuan to remain calm instead of immediately losing his temper. She had thought that after saying those words, he might choke her to death, that she might not live to see another day.
Xiao Changyuan raised his hand and pinched her delicate chin.
“Pianpian, speak.”
Snapping back to reality, Yun Pianpian replied with red, rimmed eyes, “Because you want to kill me.”
Xiao Changyuan frowned in confusion. “What nonsense are you talking?”
Tears streamed down Yun Pianpian's face as she lifted her tear, streaked, delicate visage and cried, “You still want to deny it? Last time, in the bathing pool, you tried to kill me. You even threatened me, saying your woman should only fear you.”
At this memory, she sobbed uncontrollably, nearly gasping for air.
The incident had shaken her deeply. Though she had always sensed danger in Xiao Changyuan, she had never truly feared him because she knew he would protect her. When he rescued her in Sixian County, she even saw him as her guardian angel. She was willing to repay his kindness by being his rag doll forever. But everything changed in the bathing pool.
He had actually tried to kill her.
He had shattered the sense of security she had built around him.
That was why she left him without hesitation.
Seeing Yun Pianpian crying so pitifully, Xiao Changyuan frowned slightly. He reached out and wiped her tears with his thumb. “How can you be so foolish? How could I ever bear to kill you? What I did was to make you forget that bloody head.”
Yun Pianpian's tear, reddened eyes widened in surprise.
She lifted her gaze, her almond, shaped eyes moist and dazed as she looked at him.
“Really?”
Xiao Changyuan frowned and said, “After that day, have you ever thought about that bloodied head again?”
Yun Pianpian was momentarily stunned, then began earnestly recalling the incident.
After that day, she truly hadn't thought about that bloodied head again, because her fear of blood had been completely replaced by her fear of Xiao Changyuan. He had become the person she feared most in this world. When she was afraid of him, she couldn't think of anyone else at all.
Xiao Changyuan frowned and said, “I only didn't want you to be afraid, didn't want you to have nightmares. How could I possibly have any intention of harming you?”
He began to deeply regret it. If he had known earlier that Yun Pianpian would fear him so much because of this, he would never have frightened her like that that day. He would have surely thought of a gentler way, so that his Pianpian would neither fear blood nor fear him.
Yun Pianpian trembled her eyelashes and raised her moist, slightly reddened eyes.
“Does my husband truly have no intention of harming me?”
Xiao Changyuan said, “I will never have any intention of harming Pianpian.”
He would rather kill himself a thousand times over than harbor even the slightest thought of harming her.
Yun Pianpian lowered her eyelashes, her voice faint and distant.
“But I don't believe my husband.”
Xiao Changyuan frowned. “Why don't you believe me?”
Yun Pianpian said with red, rimmed eyes, “Because my husband no longer loves me.”
Xiao Changyuan's dark eyes deepened. “I love you.”
Yun Pianpian cried, “But my husband doesn't love me as much as before.”
Xiao Changyuan reached out and tightly embraced Yun Pianpian. “I love you even more than before.”
Yun Pianpian was held in his arms but said nothing. Tears streamed continuously from her eyes, dampening Xiao Changyuan's shoulder. Her body trembled slightly, and she could barely breathe from his tight embrace. She felt like a tattered, broken doll, deeply wounded by him, and she could no longer bring herself to trust this cold and cruel man before her.
“I don't believe what my husband says.”
Xiao Changyuan held her, silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke in a self, mocking tone, “From beginning to end, it was Pianpian who deceived me. So why is it that in the end, I'm the one who isn't trusted? Yun Pianpian, did you ever truly love me?”
His mocking tone pierced her heart.
Her chest tightened, the pain rendering her speechless.
The bright moon hung high in the sky, cold as frost.
Though the man and woman held each other tightly, their hearts no longer drew close.
After a long time, Xiao Changyuan slowly released his arms from around Yun Pianpian.
He let out a bitter, cold laugh, his voice tinged with mockery.
“So it was always my own wishful thinking.”
Xiao Changyuan gazed coldly at Yun Pianpian. “Your attempt to take your own life just now was to return home. That proves that as long as you die, you can go back. You said you fear me because I want to kill you. Don't you find these two things contradictory? If I truly wanted to kill you, and you so desperately wish to go home, shouldn't you be happy? Because after you die, you can return home.”
Under the cold moonlight, the young and handsome emperor's dark eyes seemed frozen over.
“In the end, you simply despise me and want to abandon me.”
Yun Pianpian's eyes reddened, and tears immediately fell.
“I don't.”
Xiao Changyuan asked coldly, “Don't what?”
Yun Pianpian, her eyes brimming with tears, said, “I don't despise you.”
Xiao Changyuan stared at her icily. “Then have you ever loved me?”
Yun Pianpian couldn't answer.
The cold light in Xiao Changyuan's eyes gradually dimmed.
Seeing him like this, Yun Pianpian felt an inexplicable pang of heartache. She said in a fluster, “I liked the you from before.”
Xiao Changyuan paused. “The me from before?”
Yun Pianpian's eyes glistened with moisture. “I liked you when you had lost your memory. You were gentle, restrained, and treated me well back then.”
Xiao Changyuan's extinguished gaze turned to Yun Pianpian.
“I will return him to you.”