Submerged in a pond deep within the imperial gardens, Yun Ruoyan’s disguise began to fade. She was like a beautiful crystal that had lost its luster after being buried in dirt, discarded in a corner as nothing more than an ugly pebble to the masses.

But one day, when the dirt and grime were washed off, her original appearance would dazzle the world once more.

Before dazzling the world, she successfully dazzled Li Mo.

Li Mo looked at Yun Ruoyan’s pristine face, pinpricks of light in his icy-blue eyes like stars shimmering in the galaxy. Of this galaxy, Yun Ruoyan was the brightest star.

“Originally, I only thought that you smelled good. Who knew you would look so good too?” Li Mo’s magnetic voice was hoarse. “More than a mere instrument, and instead a perfect piece of art.”

The man’s unique voice was like a piece of malt candy, sweet but not cloying, soft but firm. As it snuck its way into Yun Ruoyan’s ears, past the fiery heat that consumed her, Yun Ruoyan couldn’t help but curl her legs around his more tightly.

Beset by stimulation after stimulation, by Yun Ruoyan’s jaw-dropping beauty and her intoxicating scent, he finally couldn’t help it any longer and let out a deep grunt. As if infected by the beauty next to him, his face finally took on a dash of red.

Because of the aphrodisiac, Yun Ruoyan’s intellect had been all but consumed by her sexual desire. What meager rationality she had left was only sufficient to identify the appearance of the man in front of her.

Right, she should figure out whom she was with!

No, she had to figure it out!

Yun Ruoyan gasped for breath as she forcibly suppressed her desire to twine her body around his, her legs crossed around his narrow waist. One of her slender arms looped around his neck, and the other was tracing out his features.

His face was as beautiful as a jade carving, his features masculine yet fine. He had a prominent forehead with two sharp brows, his eyes a mysterious blue, his lips so red it seemed they would bleed at any moment.

Yun Ruoyao was too befuddled to think about the identity of this bewitching man, nor why he was with her.

Instead, her gaze landed on Li Mo’s slightly pursed lips. If those lips really were to bleed, surely the blood would be sweet, as sweet as honey.

Following her heart’s desire, she kissed Li Mo once more.

If this were the Li Mo of the past, he’d have turned his nose at Yun Ruoyan. Her cultivation was far too low, so low that she didn’t even have the right to be his tool for growing stronger.

But now, Yun Ruoyan was no longer just an unpolished instrument but instead a sweet fruit, the most captivating, alluring fruit he could imagine.

As a man, how could he refuse such a tempting treat?

He deepened the kiss as he pressed Yun Ruoyan’s head against his, taking control even as he tilted his body backwards. Yun Ruoyan leaned into his body, and the duo emerged with a small splash among the petal-filled surface of the pond.

Li Mo’s legs propelled the two of them to the edge of the pond as they kissed. When he felt his body reach the shore, Li Mo grabbed on to the bank with both hands as he flipped Yun Ruoyan around, pressing down on her with his body.

His hands were a little clumsier than Yun Ruoyan’s. Piece by piece, he removed Yun Ruoyan’s offending outer garments before starting to battle with her underwear.

By this point, the potency of the drug had reached its climax. Yun Ruoyan thrashed and clawed at Li Mo’s back with frenzied haste. The fire that ravaged her body caused her to tear up uncontrollably; the tears streamed down her face and merged with the pond water.

This was the first time Li Mo found female clothing obnoxious. In the future, as his woman, she didn’t need to wear any of this—it would be best if she dressed herself in a simple robe, just like him, which could be easily shrugged off.

In the end, Li Mo resorted to the most direct, most effective strategy: tearing Yun Ruoyan’s undergarments apart.

This sudden tearing sound seemed to rend the fog in Yun Ruoyan’s mind. Qiuqiu’s anxious voice piped up, “Mistress, Mistress, can you hear me? Wake up!”

“Qiu…qiu,” Yun Ruoyan finally answered.

Now that it had finally gotten Yun Ruoyan’s attention, Qiuqiu finally lowered its claws. “Mistress, you can finally hear me now! My throat’s so hoarse it’s about to smoke,” Qiuqiu continued rapidly. “I can deal with the aphrodisiac in your body. Do you want my solution, or the solution that’s happening now? Choose!”

Qiuqiu understood Yun Ruoyan quite well and knew that she would be upset if she were to have casual sex with someone under the influence of the drug. Even if it were simply to relieve the effects of the drug, and even if the other party seemed decent in all aspects, it knew that Yun Ruoyan would be uncomfortable at not having done so willingly.

After all, Yun Ruoyan hated to lose control. Unless she had to, she wouldn’t control someone else, but never, ever did she want to be controlled or beholden to another.

Yun Ruoyan squinted as she finally saw the beguiling appearance of the man pressing her down. Inclining her head and gritting her teeth, struggling her hardest to bear with the pain wracking her body and the thirst that couldn’t be sated, she said resolutely to Qiuqiu, “I choose your method!”

“Alright, then find a way to escape!”

After long moments of stripping away fabric, Li Mo had finally managed to uncover Yun Ruoyan’s pristine body. Snowy white and without even the slightest speck of dust, her perfect body appeared under the moonlight, within the rippling pond, amidst vast swathes of phoenix orchids.

“Alright.” Li Mo’s icy-blue eyes took on a tint of red, and he panted, “Time to relieve the effects of the drug!”

He pulled on Yun Ruoyan’s waist and was just about to penetrate her…

…when his abdomen suddenly became numb. As if his whole body had been shocked by electricity, Li Mo went rigid.

The next moment, he collapsed on top of Yun Ruoyan, and the resulting spray of water landed on both their faces.

She…had schemed against him!

Li Mo opened his blue eyes wide, disbelieving that the intoxicated girl in front of him would resist at this moment. In the brief instant in which he was least on his guard, she had struck his only weak spot, a point right above his dantian.

Once again, Yun Ruoyan bit her own tongue, trying to use the pain to force herself awake. Mustering all her body’s reserves, she pushed Li Mo away from her body.

Climbing out of the pond and casually picking up something on the ground to cover herself with, she left without turning back and looking at Li Mo!

She left him behind naked and floating on the pond like a piece of driftwood.

His muscles were all tightly bunched up, and his long, dark hair trailed behind his head like seaweed.

The moment after Yun Ruoyan left, a large splash of water disrupted the pond’s surface.

Li Mo suddenly flipped his body around, his two palms tightly clenched into fists. “Trash of the Yun family? Famed for her ugliness? Yun Ruoyan…!” These were the cold, half-frozen words of a man who was being consumed by his inner fire.

Under Qiuqiu’s guidance, Yun Ruoyan quickly caught a small magical beast within the forest, about the size of a cat. It was known to make use of the aphrodisiac that Yi Qianying had poisoned her with, and was even taken as a pet for members of the nobility with… special… urges. More importantly, its tears were the best antidote for all sorts of aphrodisiacs.

“Qiuqiu, how long has it been since I was poisoned?” Yun Ruoyan asked. Ever since the duel, she had been in a daze, losing all track of time.

“Not more than an hour. If you hurry back, you should still be able to make it back in time for the party,” Qiuqiu replied.

After finding the antidote, Yun Ruoyan hurriedly found a deserted courtyard in the palace. The one she chose wasn’t particularly close to the outskirts, but it was isolated. Although it hadn’t been locked, there was a considerable layer of dust on the furniture within. It was apparent that no one had stayed there for quite some time.

Curiously, however, that supposedly deserted residence still contained a rather expensive lamp of sorts. The light was produced by a pearl-of-night, a more valuable analogue of a moonstone. It released a pale white glow and had continued to shine despite apparent dereliction.

Luckily, Yun Ruoyan found a set of clothes just the right size for her in one of the rooms. It was a full-body dress patterned with multicolored flower petals, and even came with a girdle. Numerous small butterflies had been stitched on the collar and sleeves of the dress with gold and silver thread, giving her a distinguished appearance.

Yun Ruoyan reached out and brushed off the dust in front of a copper mirror. Her face appeared in the reflection; after her intoxication, it had turned pale, almost bloodless.

Without her birthmark, she looked stunning.

Yun Ruoyan hurriedly found some water and retrieved the bottles of ointment from her pocket dimension in order to recreate her fake birthmark.

Because of how dim it was, the birthmark seemed to be a little darker than usual, but she didn’t have the time or luxury to care too much about the details. After fixing her appearance once more, she hurriedly left the yard for the flower gardens.

After Yun Ruoyan had left, Li Qianhan had encouraged the scions of the nobility to begin competing with each other. In the bustle, everyone soon forgot about Yun Ruoyan and Li Mo’s hurried departure.

Not long after, the various princes and princesses began to arrive. By the time Yun Ruoyan returned, the party was in full swing.

However, Li Mo had clearly recovered far more quickly than Yun Ruoyan, and he was already sitting lazily by Li Qianhan’s side at the front of the stage.

No one would know what had happened during his short disappearance, and no one could identify the anger seething beneath his indolence.

No one could have guessed that, when he had bared himself in front of a woman and was right about to engage in sexual relations with her, that she would paralyze him and run off! He, a man commanding as much status as a dragon!

And then, with a raging erection and flames of lust wreathing his body, he’d floated on the surface of the pond for a good minute or two! He’d never, ever experienced such humiliation!

Not finding any trace of Yun Ruoyan, Li Mo clutched his cup of wine tightly and drained it all in one gulp.

On the other hand, Yun Ruoyan was carefully looking all around her. The only familiar face she could recognize was Pei Ziao, who was engaging in a series of trifling duels with some other scions of the nobility.

She couldn’t find Yi Qianying at all. She had likely gone off in search of something to slake her thirst and quench her fire, but would she be as lucky as Yun Ruoyan herself? It would serve her right if she didn’t!

“You, get over here!”

Just as Yun Ruoyan was mulling things over in her head, Li Mo had spotted her and suddenly stood up. With an empty cup of wine in his hand, he pointed at Yun Ruoyan. “You, fill up my cup of wine!”

Yun Ruoyan frowned as she looked toward Li Mo, not understanding why he was calling out to her. She didn’t move.

“I said, come over here!” Li Mo called again, his voice becoming somewhat angry.

Shadowed by his hair, his face looked to be somewhat ruddy from the alcohol, but his dark eyes were so bright they were frightening. She was somewhat surprised at his outburst and attitude… it couldn’t be that he was tipsy enough to be preying on her in a drunken fit, could it? [1]

1. Remember, Yun Ruoyan wasn’t clear-headed enough to get a good look at the man she was with, and when Qiuqiu finally got her out of her drug-filled haze, she kicked him off and left without turning back…