Lin Yuan raised his head and looked into Yi Zhici's clear eyes. After a moment, he reached out and untied the belt of Yi Zhici's inner robe. The belt of the inner robe was just a thin ribbon, which wasn't tied tightly in the first place. With a gentle tug, it came loose.
Under the inner robe, she was only wearing a bellyband. Usually, a girl's bellyband was embroidered by her mother. Since Yi Zhici's mother didn't do it for her, she had to embroider it herself. Coincidentally, the one she was wearing today had two butterflies embroidered on it, symbolizing two souls that would never part.
Yi Zhici only felt a sudden chill on her body, but other than that, she didn't have any other strange sensations. She just thought that Lin Yuan seemed a bit strange today. He seemed angry, but not quite. When other people got angry, they usually either lost their temper or threw things.
Lin Yuan neither lost his temper nor threw things. Instead, he kept asking her if she was scared.
But why should she be scared? And what was there to be scared of?
Lin Yuan's hand slipped inside.
Yi Zhici trembled. Lin Yuan had calluses on his hands, while her skin was delicate and smooth. Wherever his hand passed, she felt a strange, indescribable sensation.
Suddenly, she worried that her chest wasn't big enough. Would Lin Yuan look down on her because of it?! Thinking of this, Yi Zhici grabbed Lin Yuan's hand, breathing a bit unevenly. "Wait... wait a moment."
Lin Yuan paused. "Scared?" His voice was hoarse.
Yi Zhici's legs felt weak. She trembled as she wrapped her arms around Lin Yuan's neck. "You've been asking me if I'm scared. Now it's my turn to ask you. What on earth should I be scared of?"
"I'm a bad guy, having impure thoughts about the princess."
Yi Zhici couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Which bad guy would still address me as 'princess' while having impure thoughts?"
Lin Yuan paused for a moment, then hugged Yi Zhici even tighter and buried his head in the crook of her neck. "But I've really thought about it. I've thought about having impure thoughts about the princess so that the princess would have no choice but to marry me..."
Whenever Lin Yuan softened his tone in such a helpless way, Yi Zhici would only feel her heart melting. She couldn't think of anything else. "I was going to marry you anyway. There's no such thing as 'having no choice'. For me, you're the only one I've chosen."
On the screen was a painting of magnificent mountains and rivers. The magnificent scenery looked a bit dim due to the dim light in the room. When Yi Zhici said these words, even she herself was a bit surprised. She had never thought about these things before, but the words came out so smoothly, as if she had pondered them thousands of times.
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
"Back at Longming Mountain, this subordinate said that the princess was greedy. But the princess doesn't know that this subordinate is the truly greedy one," Lin Yuan raised his head and looked into Yi Zhici's clear eyes. "This subordinate not only wants the princess in this lifetime, but also in the next. This subordinate even wishes that before meeting this subordinate, the princess had never met anyone else. In the past, now, and in the future, this subordinate hopes to be the only one for the princess."
These words, the words that could only be spoken after laying his heart bare, were finally said. He used to dislike saying sweet words because he thought that once his true feelings were spoken out, they wouldn't be cherished.
If there was no excessive joy, there would be no extreme sorrow. This was the truth he had believed in since childhood.
Yi Zhici was the only exception. She made him want to pour out his heart to her. No matter how well he treated her, he still felt it wasn't enough. It was the same in the past, now, and it would be the same in the future.
It would always be like this.
...
"Dad, General Lin Qiong is here!" Yi Zhici rushed into Yi Junshi's study in a hurry.
Yi Junshi looked up unhurriedly. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. That day, the heir of the Northwest wanted to ask the emperor for your hand in marriage. The whole process was quite complicated, but by some strange coincidence, he had a conversation with General Lin. General Lin thought you were a good match and decided to come for the betrothal ceremony today."
Yi Zhici was stunned for a moment.
She had originally thought that her betrothal to Lin Yuan would be a long way off. She never expected that her father would be so efficient and that General Lin had already come to propose marriage!
Seeing her like this, Yi Junshi raised his eyebrows. "Are you already regretting it? Then go and tell General Lin yourself. I can't afford to lose that face."
Yi Zhici turned around and ran.
"Are you really going to tell him? Have you taken a fancy to another young man?" Yi Junshi sighed. "You're really fickle. Your father is not like this. Who did you inherit this from?" As he said this, he was taken aback for a moment.
Yi Zhici turned around and shouted, "Don't break the promise. I'm going to get dressed up. Make sure everything goes as you've promised!"