Even the rustling sound of the wind blowing through the treetops and rustling through the flowers and grass seems to be secretly laughing!
When Yun Lie carried her back to the bedroom and sat her down on the bed, she still nervously hugged his neck, her face burning with embarrassment, pressed tightly against his neck.
Yun Lie's neck was wrapped around her arm, so he could only place his hands on either side of her legs, leaning forward and half-leaning at her.
"Her face is covered up so tightly, isn't she afraid of suffocating? There's no one else around."
"Oh." Luo Cuiwei, hearing that there was no one else around, released his neck.
She awkwardly placed her hands on her knees, her face flushed, and looked down at his clothes, her stiff smile more cowardly than ever before.
Yun Lie chuckled and reached out his right hand, gently pinching her chin and lifting her blushing face.
"Did you think that by hiding your face, no one would know that I was hugging you?"
His Highness Prince Zhao swaggered into the palace and carried a woman back to his bedchamber. Who else could it be but Luo Cuiwei?
Luo Cuiwei was stunned for a moment, then suddenly raised her arm and pressed it against her face.
Yun Lie chuckled in a deep voice, "Why are you covering your face now?"
"I just suddenly realized how stupid I was," she answered softly, biting her lip with an embarrassed smile.
****
A small, unburnt red candle with decorative decorations remained on the bedside candlestick.
The candlelight burned all night last night, illuminating what should have been a tender and passionate wedding night—
However, the exhausted bride casually "slept soundly" and passed out.
In the ambiguous silence of the room, Luo Cuiwei lightly brushed her lower lip with her teeth several times before finally mustering the courage to straighten her back and sit on the edge of the bed with her knees together, almost at eye level with Yun Lie standing in front of her.
Yun Lie didn't speak again, but just looked at her with a burning smile, his handsome, light bronze face as beautiful as a sunset.
“I know I shouldn’t be so sentimental,” Luo Cuiwei felt his gaze was incredibly eerie, and dared not meet his eyes again. She simply lowered her head and gently rubbed the top of her hair against his chin. “I just can’t help feeling flustered…”
Yun Lie hummed in agreement, then extended two fingers and gently stroked her earlobe.
Although she lowered her head even further, she obediently let him knead her.
Her round, delicate earlobes quickly turned a deep red, as if about to drip blood, and the color spread downwards, staining her snow-white cheeks and jade-like neck crimson.
"It's probably because I'm too nervous," Luo Cuiwei said in a rare, barely audible voice, "No, it's not that I hate it when you're close to me, don't get the wrong idea."
Afraid that he would misunderstand, and not wanting him to overthink and get hurt, she had to bite the bullet and make things clear.
Yun Lieyin's deep, hoarse voice held a hint of amusement. "If you were calm and composed, I would really have misunderstood, wouldn't I?"
He put his arm around her waist and back, letting her lean against him.
Perhaps warmed by his considerate attitude, Luo Cuiwei finally relaxed from her previous tension, trembling as she raised her arms and silently wrapped them around his waist.
Yun Lie's body gradually became hot, but he did not move.
After a long while, he took a deep breath, as if calming his restless heart, and chuckled softly, "Didn't you see the thing I put by your pillow this morning?"
****
"What is that?" Luo Cuiwei raised her face in surprise, and at his prompting gaze, turned her head to look at the pillow on the inside of the bed.
A piece of gold and red cloud-patterned silk was rolled into a tube and rested quietly against the pillow.
The gold and red cloud patterned silk was woven by the weaving workshops under the Imperial Household Department and was not seen on the market; it was only supplied to the royal family.
Luo Cuiwei paused for a moment, then, under Yun Lie's smiling and urging gaze, she leaned forward and straightened her arm to take the scroll of cloud-patterned silk, which she then slowly unfurled.
After reading the edict on the silk scroll bearing His Majesty's private seal, she stared in astonishment at Yun Lie.
"How could His Majesty issue such an absurd edict..."
Shocked and bewildered, unable to laugh or cry, speechless.
What does it mean that "Luo Cuiwei has the right to refuse to sleep with Yun Lie before the wedding ceremony"?
His Majesty actually interferes in the... bedroom affairs between his own children and their respective partners?
Yun Lie's face turned slightly red, and he looked up at the roof: "Of course, cough, I begged for it."
He should have taken his time getting to know her, like any ordinary couple, patiently letting her become familiar with and understand him.
Only then can you naturally and without reservation give yourself to your partner on your wedding night.
However, due to the sudden movements of the Northern Di people, he was eager to settle her down and bring her into his own world before heading to Linchuan, which led to the rapid progress between the two of them almost going out of control.
When they faced each other, there were many things that were unclear to them, and they had not yet had time to fully understand and become familiar with each other.
It's perfectly understandable that she would be nervous and scared.
He can be unreasonable to others, but he can't bring himself to be cruel to her.
After all, she liked him so much that, driven by her overwhelming romantic feelings, she dared to boldly agree to be tied to him.
"I told you, I would treat you very well." Yun Lie's cheeks were flushed, and his voice was hoarse.
But with his eyebrows raised, his dark eyes clear and bright, and his smug look, he was just like a big black panther wagging its tail.
Luo Cuiwei's heart softened, and she raised her blushing face slightly, giving him a sweet smile and a questioning look: "When did you say that? I don't remember."