Xiao Zhi's breath caught.
She lifted the veil with trembling hands, revealing her shocked expression.
"Prince Kabil…? What—?"
He stared at her with red, hateful eyes.
Then he laughed. A low, mocking sound that didn't belong to the man she thought she knew.
This wasn't the gentle prince who had been kind to her for the past weeks, the one who had taken her on romantic dates, the one who had spoken to her in a warm, kind voice.
This was someone else entirely.
"You Hua trash." The look of disdain was written all over his face.
SLAP.
The second blow sent her sprawling back onto the bed, her vision fading. Her cheek burned, and her ears rang.
The world tilted.
"K-Kabil…" Her voice was trembling uncontrollably. "Please… why are you—?"
He stepped forward, towering over her on the bed. Then he took her by the neck, lifting her head roughly.
His face twisted with pure hatred.
"Don't think," he spat, each word dripping with venom, "that I would ever honor you as my bride."
Xiao Zhi tried to crawl away, pressing herself backward on instinct, her fingers gripping the bedding.
He leaned down, so close she could smell the alcohol on his breath.
"I despised you," he hissed, voice low and cold enough to freeze her blood,
"from the moment I saw you."
Xiao Zhi had no time to brace herself.
He grabbed her throat and squeezed. She couldn't breathe. She tried to pull his hand away, but he squeezed harder, forcing her back against the bedding.
"All Hua women," he growled, his face twisting into something monstrous, "are trash."
Her pulse thundered under his palm. Her mind spun out of control.
This couldn't be happening. She wasn't prepared. She should have, but the plot had changed to be kinder. And now it was back to being cruel and twisted, just like the story she had read.
Her vision blurred, the room dipping in and out of focus. She could barely recognize the world in front of her. Everything twisted, wrong, spinning violently away from anything she thought she understood.
Xiao Zhi's head whipped to the side, her cheek exploding with heat. For a heartbeat, she didn't even process the pain. She was too stunned. Too shocked.
"Y—you—" she choked out.
The word wasn't finished before Kabil laughed.
It wasn't the light, easy laugh he had shown her before. This laugh was harsh. Cruel. Dripping with malice.
He crouched in front of her and caught her chin between his fingers, squeezing until it hurt.
"Why?" he whispered, eyes gleaming. "You're surprised?"
Xiao Zhi's breath trembled.
"You actually thought I liked you?" Kabil leaned closer, wine thick on his breath. His face hovered inches from hers, twisted with mockery.
"You. A Hua woman." His lips curled into a sneer. "You're disgusting."
Xiao Zhi shook her head weakly, not because she had a rebuttal, but because her brain refused to accept what she was hearing.
Kabil stood, pacing slowly, savoring every word of his own, like a long-planned victory.
"All those nice things I said?" Kabil mused, pacing the room like a predator. "The gifts? The concern? The little compliments?" He turned, his eyes glinting with a sick kind of joy.
"Fake," he whispered. "Every. Single. One."
He tapped his temple, smirking at her. "I was just watching you. Seeing how a Hua princess breaks. And look at you now."
Another blow landed, and Xiao Zhi fell sideways. She tasted the salt of her own tears mixed with the copper of blood. But the physical pain was nothing compared to the cold realization.
She had been played.
***
Far outside the door, Ruhan stood in the shadows of the corridor, fists clenched so hard his knuckles cracked.
He could hear everything. He could feel everything.
Each sound of her crying out made his own breath hitch. He was a man who could command thousands, yet he was trapped behind a wooden door, forced to listen to the woman he cared about being broken.
Ruhan knew what kind of man Kabil actually was. He knew the kindness was a mask, a performance tailored perfectly to deceive Lian Zhi.
He had known the moment the wedding chamber's door closed, she would be walking into the hands of someone who would destroy her.
But knowing did nothing to prepare him for the sound of her pain.
He shut his eyes, unable move. He couldn't even breathe.
Fate. That cursed word.
His jaw tightened until it hurt.
He heard another scream.
Ruhan flinched. He bit his own hand to keep himself from shouting out the anguish inside him.
"She walked into that room because I let her." His voice was trembling with guilt and fury. "And now she's suffering because of me."
Another muffled cry drifted through the corridor.
Ruhan's ears stung. He turned his face away from the light, trying to steady himself, but the pain was too sharp. They were too loud and suffocating.
He couldn't take it.
"Ark—" his voice cracked. He swallowed, trying again.
"Arkaaan!" he shouted in desperation.
The shadow beside him shifted. Arkan stepped out, silent as ever, but his eyes were sharp and deadly beneath the calm.
Ruhan didn't need to say anything. Seeing the pain in his master's eyes, Arkan knew what he wanted him to do.
He nodded once and vanished, swift as a blade through the wind.
And a few moments later, a single scream erupted from the bride's chamber.
"ARGH—!"
Then… silence.
Moments later, Arkan reappeared beside him, breathing steady.
"It has been handled."
Ruhan's hands still shook. He didn't look at Arkan. His gaze stayed fixed on the chamber door.
"Princess Lian Zhi?"
Arkan nodded. "Unfortunately, I was late. She was already unconscious. I laid her on the bed."
Ruhan swallowed. "And Kabil?"
"I took care of him. I left him on the floor."
Ruhan closed his eyes. "Take him to his room. I don't want him near her when she wakes up."
Arkan bowed his head. "Understood," and with that, he disappeared again.
The corridor fell silent. Completely, painfully silent.
For a long moment, Ruhan stood there motionless.
"I'm sorry… Lian Zhi."