With her deceased husband as her dowry, would Your Highness dare to marry her?

For several days in a row, Lin Ci did not see Pei Jinxuan again. It must be because of the disarray of that night that he did not know how to face her.

Lin Ci was trapped in darkness, her days dull and stagnant. She prepared medicine by touch and smell, each dose precise to the millimeter, yet she always lost her balance on the last ingredient. The medicine was always missing a trace of its essence. No matter how sharpened her other four senses, they could never compensate for the loss of her sight.

As January draws to a close and the weather warms, the base of the brick wall is already damp, and most of the snow under the eaves has melted. This season of renewal for all things is, for a corpse, a true demise.

Song Xuan has been lying down for long enough; if this continues, even ice blocks won't be able to protect him. But the art of bringing the dead back to life hasn't been fully mastered yet, and her eyes show no signs of improvement.

Can't wait any longer.

She needs eyes that can see the world clearly.

Lin Ci spent half a day in the cellar, carefully recounting her past with Song Xuan. Thinking of his appearance and his smile, she repeatedly murmured four words in her heart: "It was beyond her control."

"When you are resurrected, we will return to the mountains. From then on, we will live without concern for worldly affairs, as if nothing had ever happened."

She pressed herself against the coffin, as if whispering in his ear. In the empty cellar, only her intermittent sobs could be heard. She couldn't hear anything else, so she took it as a yes.

Lin Ci emerged from the cellar and headed towards Pei Jinxuan's bedroom. She tapped her bamboo stick on the ground, cautiously probing the path along the doorway. She didn't know if he was inside; she simply walked forward without looking back.

Pei Jinxuan was fast asleep when he vaguely heard a tapping sound coming from afar and heading straight into his bedroom.

Who is so bold as to barge in without being announced?

He lifted the curtain, about to lash out, when he saw Lin Ci standing in the room, looking flustered, as if searching for something. He was startled, and after regaining his senses, he instinctively hid back behind the curtain.

"Your Highness."

Her voice followed him relentlessly, leaving him nowhere to hide.

He had no choice but to step out from behind the curtain, feeling utterly disheveled and embarrassed for the first time.

"What do you want?" He lowered his head, not daring to look her in the eye. His greeting lacked confidence; he didn't even dare to apologize in person, only writing it down on paper and having someone deliver it. But he forgot that Lin Ci couldn't see anything.

"What happened that night..."

"It was my fault," Pei Jinxuan quickly admitted, without mentioning Xiao Jingyuan's drugging of her. There was no point in saying more now.

Lin Ci pursed her lips, even more nervous than him, her cheeks slightly flushed with embarrassment.

"I know you ate something you shouldn't have," she said. "I don't mean to blame you."

Upon hearing this, Pei Jinxuan's pent-up frustration not only didn't dissipate, but actually deepened.

He expressed his feelings; did she hear him, or not?

If you heard it, why didn't you respond at all?

If he didn't hear it, how could he speak again?

Lin Ci tapped the ground with a bamboo stick, groping forward with her other hand. Seeing her helpless appearance, Pei Jinxuan couldn't bear it and stepped forward to support her.

"I know the antidote to Xuanjing's Gu poison," she said in a voice barely audible.

Pei Jinxuan didn't hear clearly, so she leaned closer and asked, "Hmm?"

"The poison... I know how to cure it."

"Really?" Pei Jinxuan's eyes lit up, the gloom that had been weighing on him for the past few days vanished. "How do you solve this? What do you need me to do? Just tell me."

Lin Ci took out a pill from her bosom and handed it to him: "Take this."

"What kind of medicine is this?"

"Avoid having a child."

Pei Jinxuan was stunned. Before he could even consider the weight of those two words, the pill was shoved into his mouth and slid down his throat. His Adam's apple bobbed as he stared at her, dumbfounded.

Lin Ci raised her hand to untie the knot of her clothes, and the clothes slipped off her shoulders, revealing a section of her smooth, delicate shoulder.

Pei Jinxuan's pupils contracted, and he hurriedly reached out to pull her clothes back. His fingertips touched her warm skin, and he withdrew them as if he had been electrocuted.

Lin Ci took his hand, her cheeks flushed, "Do you remember what happened that night? Do it again from beginning to end."

"No...don't do this...I drank alcohol that night, and there were drugs in it. I didn't mean to...um..."

Her lips pressed against his. He retreated step by step until he had nowhere left to go, his legs hitting the edge of the bed, and he slumped down.

Lin Ci removed her hairpin, and her jet-black hair cascaded down, covering her shoulders. Her remaining clothes were half-undone and half-concealed. She leaned slightly forward, revealing a glimpse of her jade-like skin, dotted with two dots of cinnabar, all of which fell into Pei Jinxuan's eyes.

He lost his composure and his mind went blank.

"Xuan Jing used a love potion. I had only heard a little about it before, but I only suddenly understood how to cure it that night. Your Highness, please don't tell anyone about this. Only Heaven, Earth, you, and I know."

Before she could finish speaking, she was already in a warm embrace.

He eagerly kissed the lips he had longed for, without the slightest hesitation.

He wanted her. He had thought about it for a long time, and his burning desire consumed him, burning away all his reason.

Everything that followed unfolded naturally, just like that night, except this time, there was no alcohol or medicine involved.

He greedily savored the jasmine scent from her neck, wishing he could meld her into his very bones. She tilted her head back, letting desire engulf her inch by inch. The stronger the desire, the thinner the mist covering her eyes became.

She saw it! The glass lamp hanging from the beam, its halo of light swaying and blurring into shape. She saw the half-open window in front of the bed, the night outside deep and dark.

She could finally see him...

"Ah Xuan," she murmured, tears welling up in her eyes.

Pei Jinxuan had already walked from beginning to end and was eager to complete the last step. But when he reached the crucial point, he suddenly stopped, unsure of where to exert his strength, suspended above her, unable to move forward or backward.

Lin Ci suddenly pushed him down, flipped over and straddled him...

As the world spun around him, he couldn't help but groan.

She raised her hand and covered his mouth to stop him from making a sound.

The glass lamp swayed violently, its light and shadow flickering and shimmering throughout the room. Before her eyes, the world gradually brightened.

He became her medicine, willingly losing himself to her.

In a mere instant, he gave himself away, so quickly that even he himself was ashamed.

Lin Ci remained seated on him, preventing him from moving. She was like a deeply rooted vine, absorbing the earth's spiritual energy to cultivate herself.

She lowered her head, her hair loose, and looked bewitchingly beautiful. Her dark eyes had never been so bright, fixed intently on the prey beneath her.

His hot breaths reignited his desire.

Pei Jinxuan refused to accept this, turned around, and took the initiative.

"Again," he whispered in her ear, finding the right spot and becoming unusually fierce.

Having practiced martial arts makes all the difference, and this time she was finally defeated.

"I'm going to die... have mercy on me..."

Once you've tasted the sweetness, how can you easily give up?

Turn over, change position, and fight again.

Until death do us part...

After a night, his eyes were clear, but his body was paralyzed, and even the strands of his hair were in pain.

It was already high in the sky, and no one was up yet. The steward lingered by the window, hesitant to go in, acting suspiciously.

Lin Ci wanted to cover up her one-night stand and was about to escape when Pei Jinxuan held her soft body tightly, saying, "I'm yours now. You can't abandon me."