Chapter Ninety

Yinyue’s gaze followed the retreating figure of Yuwen Xi. She watched the once-robust body somehow seem thinner than she remembered, and her eyes stung at once. She averted her gaze, closed her eyes, leaned back against the car seat, and said softly, “Yu, take me home.”

Xiahou Yu caught sight of her sorrowful little face in the rearview mirror and let out a heavy sigh.

Perhaps it was my fault. You should never have met in the first place.

He drew his eyes back to the road ahead, started the car, and drove toward Lilith Castle.

Long after the car had left, the elevator doors at the Blue Tear Hotel opened again, revealing familiar black hair and blue eyes.

Yuwen Xi stared in the direction Yinyue had gone, standing there in silence for a long while, as if the elevator doors had been left open in foolish oblivion.

A low-profile luxury car sped along the broad, brightly lit road, the cabin wrapped in silence.

Then a ringing phone broke the stillness.

“Hello?”

Yinyue answered.

“Hill, what is it?” she asked, a little puzzled. She did not understand why, when she was almost at the castle, Hill would call her.

“Miss, it’s like this—”

“…Oh… all right… I understand. Goodbye.”

“Yu, we’re not going back to Lilith Castle. Take me to the villa in the suburbs.”

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Xiahou Yu asked. Hearing that the destination had changed, an intense unease rose in his chest for reasons he could not explain.

“Hill said Arthur asked me to come over. He said he had something to tell me.”

Something to tell her?

The unease in Xiahou Yu’s heart only grew clearer, though he did not dare show it. He turned the car around and drove toward the suburban villa.

Yinyue hung up, but she too felt a flicker of unease, as though something bad was about to happen.

The car came to a steady stop at the villa’s entrance. Xiahou Yu got out, walked to the back seat, and with gentlemanly courtesy opened the door.

Yinyue stepped out, looked at the brilliantly lit villa before her, and the uneasiness in her heart deepened, though her face betrayed nothing. She turned back to Xiahou Yu and said, “Yu, you should head back. I’m going in.”

Xiahou Yu looked at the villa, then at Yinyue, and said with concern, “Then I’ll go first. Call me if anything comes up.”

“Mm, all right. Drive safely.”

Yinyue watched Xiahou Yu get back into the car. Only when the car started and disappeared did she turn and walk toward the villa.

Inside, as soon as Yinyue entered, the butler Hill came up to greet her.

“Miss, you’re back.”

“Mm. Where is Arthur?”

“His Highness is busy at the moment. He asked me to inform you,” Hill said, lifting his eyes to glance at Yinyue. In that fleeting look was a trace of distress, gone almost at once, before he resumed in a stiff tone, “His Highness says he has matters to deal with these next few days, so he may not be able to accompany you to Switzerland for skiing tomorrow.”

Thud.

The little bag in Yinyue’s hand fell to the floor. She stood frozen for a moment, a cold, clear unease surging from her heart. Her face turned a shade paler as she looked at Hill.

“Where is he now? I’ll go find him.”

“This…” Hill lowered his head when he saw her expression and would not meet her eyes. He said indifferently, “His Highness is busy. He said that since you’ve returned, there’s no need to look for him. Just go back to your room and rest.”

At his words, Yinyue’s small body gave a shudder. Her face went even whiter, yet she insisted, “Where is he? I’m going to find him.”

Hill glanced at her but said nothing.

Seeing that he refused to tell her, Yinyue smiled faintly. “If you won’t tell me, then I’ll find him myself. I refuse to believe I can’t.”

“Miss, you must not. His Highness told you to rest immediately after you returned.”

Hill blocked her way and would not let her pass.

Yinyue turned back to look at Hill, a faint sneer touching the corners of her lips. “You’re stopping me like this. Could it be that you’re afraid I’ll spoil your master’s good fortune?”

She fixed Hill with a hard stare and saw, to her shock, a flash of guilt cross his face. In that instant, her heart lurched. She shook off his hand and ran upstairs.

“Miss, His Highness said you cannot go…” Hill chased after her, hurrying up the stairs.

“Miss—” Hill called loudly, but Yinyue paid him no heed.

From Hill’s strange expressions and tone of voice, Yinyue ran straight upstairs and to the bedroom without another thought.

When she reached Arthur’s bedroom door and was about to burst in, she heard sounds from within.

“Arthur… be gentler…” came a woman’s sweet, coquettish voice.

“Do you really want me to be gentler?” a man replied, breathless and wickedly amused.

“Stop it!” the woman’s voice came again.

Then came the intermittent sounds of a woman’s soft, breathless cries and a man’s rough panting, along with the faint creak of a large bed.

The woman’s voice was Maria’s, and the man’s voice was one Yinyue knew all too well. It was Arthur.

Yinyue’s little face went dead white in an instant, and her hand on the doorknob lost all strength to turn.

No one knew how long passed before Yinyue turned around without expression. Ignoring Hill beside her, she went straight to her own room.

After Yinyue left, Hill’s aged face was full of distress.

Inside the room—

The spacious, luxurious bedroom was filled with exquisite decorations. From the furnishings alone, one could tell the owner’s refined taste. The floor was covered in a thick, pure-white shag rug.

And at that moment, there was a man on the rug.

He was panting hard.

He was doing push-ups.

Beside the magnificent bed—yes, beside the bed—there was a woman.

She held a book in her hand, her legs resting on the bed. At that moment, her legs were swinging idly, causing the bed to creak in time with her movement.

The woman was not idle either. While reading, she kept making soft, drawn-out sounds as if from exertion.

Until—

Three light knocks sounded on the door.

“Your Highness, the miss has left.”

Without waiting for an answer, the speaker quietly withdrew.

Immediately, the room fell silent.

The man stopped doing push-ups, and the woman stopped reading and stopped rocking the bed.

The man rolled over and lay on the rug, staring at the ceiling, his chest rising and falling.

The woman looked at him, her gaze deep. After a long while, she spoke.

“Arthur, I didn’t expect you to call me here.”

To have me come and play along with your little act.

Her face remained calm as she spoke, revealing nothing of what she was thinking.

Arthur did not answer at once. Instead, he suddenly sat up, rolled to his feet, and walked toward the bathroom, saying as he went, “You can leave.”

He spoke coldly. Just as he was about to close the bathroom door, he said, “When I come out, I hope you’ll already be gone.”

With a click, the door shut.

The woman’s expression kept shifting—half smile, half tear, half mockery—so twisted that it was impossible to read her true feelings.

Then Hill’s voice sounded once more outside the bedroom.

“Miss Maria, His Highness asked me to take you to the guest room.”

“I know.”

Maria rose with graceful poise, dusting off nonexistent lint from her clothes. She glanced toward the bathroom, then swayed her lithe body and walked to the door.

Hill watched Maria step elegantly out of Arthur’s bedroom and could not help wondering why, after only a few days, Miss Maria seemed somehow different.

Maria noticed Hill staring at her. She turned, her alluring green eyes rippling with charm, and said in a coy voice, “What? Does your master have some other order?”

As she spoke, a sharp glint flashed deep in her eyes.

Hill lowered his head respectfully. “Miss Maria, this way, please.”

He led Maria toward the guest room, though inwardly he muttered that he must be imagining things. What could possibly be different about Miss Maria? She was still as enchantingly seductive as ever.

Maria followed behind Hill, her gaze sliding toward Yinyue’s room, a dark gleam flashing in her eyes.

In her room, Yinyue sat on the wide windowsill with her knees drawn to her chest, gazing out into the boundless darkness of night.

The scenery here was not as beautiful as Lilith Castle’s.

The houses here were not as grand as the castle.

The bedroom here was not as understatedly luxurious as Lilith Castle’s.

And the people here were not as good as those at Lilith Castle.

At the thought, a shadow flickered through Yinyue’s violet eyes.

The rushing sound of water came continuously from the bathroom. Arthur stood beneath the shower with his eyes closed, head lifted. His golden hair clung tightly to his scalp, his rose-colored lips pressed together. A slight furrow seemed to crease his smooth brow as his long, streamlined body stood under the spray, letting the droplets slide over him.

Blue… my blue.

Meanwhile, Yinyue kept thinking, only to realize something was wrong.

What happened today came so suddenly, without warning. Lately, the two of them had been very close. How could he suddenly have intimate contact with another woman?

Besides, that woman had kidnapped her only a few days ago, and Arthur had clearly gone to save her at all costs! Judging by their relationship then, there had been nothing ambiguous between them.

Moreover, they had known each other for so many years, and had always been merely friends. How could it be that in just one night, a bolt from the blue had suddenly set them both ablaze?

She did not believe the two of them were truly together, even though she had just heard those sounds.

Perhaps she should go ask him and get things straight.

Arthur finished bathing, came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his lower body, and droplets kept sliding from his golden hair, sparkling brilliantly in the light.

He went to the bed, sat down, opened a drawer, and took out a photograph. It showed a vast field of tulips in many colors, blooming with dazzling beauty. Yet the two people in the picture somehow outshone the flowers themselves.

Amid the blossoms stood a young man and woman. The man had brilliant golden hair, and his blue eyes were as clear and luminous as the sky just washed by rain. His rose-colored lips curved into a gentle smile, though in his eyes there was only the girl in his arms.

The girl had smooth, glossy black hair that shone like obsidian in the sunlight. Her fair skin glowed softly, her cherry-blossom lips lifted in an innocent smile, and in her violet eyes was reflected the boy before her.

Arthur’s long fingers brushed over the girl in the photograph, again and again, and his sky-blue eyes were filled with pain.

Knock, knock, knock.

A knock sounded at the door.

“Arthur, it’s me. I need to talk to you.”

Arthur’s eyes turned cold. He put the photograph back into the drawer and stood to open the door.

Seeing Maria at the door in her nightclothes, Arthur’s eyes flashed with impatience. He said icily, “What is it?”

“May I come in to talk?”

Arthur stepped aside, and Maria entered the room.

But just as Maria had stepped into Arthur’s bedroom—

“Arthur, I need to talk to you.”

Yinyue came running over like a gust of wind.