Aside from her father and brother, this was the first time in her life that she had been so close to a man, sharing such intimate contact.

Perhaps for others, holding hands with someone of the opposite sex was a natural and simple act, but for her, it was a novel experience.

He held her hand, leading her toward a peculiar rock near the edge of a cliff. He climbed up first, then carefully helped her up as well.

She didn’t tell him she was a bit afraid of heights, because she wanted to stand beside him.

“Look!” he said, pointing forward while still holding her hand.

She quietly steadied her breath, gathered her courage, and followed the direction of his finger. Suddenly, her breath caught again.

This time, it wasn’t because of nerves but because of awe.

“It’s so beautiful.” She reached out with her other hand to touch her constricted throat, moved by the stunning scene before her.

It was breathtaking! She had never known that from the mountains overlooking Taipei, one could see such a brilliant array of lights, a starry sky belonging to the mortal world, shimmering in harmony with the heavens.

She stared in wonder at the sparkling neon lights, like colorful crystal beads.

“Try it,” he suddenly turned to her.

She shivered again—his bright eyes were as captivating as two pieces of black jade. “Try what?” She felt she could barely breathe.

“Shout towards the valley,” he said.

“Shout?” She was puzzled. “But… shout what?”

“Anything.” He slightly curled his lips, his full lips sensuous like the Sun God’s.

Her heart fluttered, and she shyly lowered her eyes.

“Is there someone you hate? How about you curse them out?” he suggested.

She shook her head. “I don’t hate anyone.”

“Anyone will do. If someone’s upset you, just let it all out.”

“Everyone is nice to me.” She still shook her head.

“But you’re not happy.”

His words, full of meaning, struck her like a bolt of lightning. She froze, lifting her eyes in confusion. “What did you say?”

“You’re not happy.” He held her gaze with those black jade eyes, capturing her. “I see deep sadness in your eyes.”

He sees sadness in my eyes? She was instantly flustered. Could he also see how uncontrollably fascinated she was with him?

She hurriedly avoided his gaze. “I’m not unhappy, I just… I just feel like I’m not good enough. I always disappoint the people who love me.”

“How could you disappoint anyone?” he disagreed. “You’re such a sweet girl!”

Sweet? He said she was sweet?!

Yin Tianyu couldn’t believe it. Other than her brother, who doted on her, no one had ever described her that way. In her family’s eyes… she was pitiful. She could always see the sympathy in their eyes that made her uncomfortable.

She had the noble blood of the Yin family but wasn’t exceptional enough to live up to it.

She disappointed everyone.

“I’m not sweet at all.” She lowered her head, each word slipping from her lips like a tiny needle pricking her heart. “I’m very… I’m just ordinary. My sisters are all hundreds of times prettier and smarter than me.”

“You’re sweet,” he insisted. “And you’re kind.” He added.

“No, I’m not!” she nearly cried out in protest.

“What you need is confidence.” He smiled gently. His smile was truly kind. “Come on, shout with me—”

He released her hand, cupping his mouth as if to amplify his voice. “Don’t look down on me—”

What? She listened in bewilderment as his loud proclamation echoed through the valley.

“Come on, shout with me!” he urged.

She couldn’t do it.

“You can,” he encouraged, his clear voice like a magnet pulling her in. “Shout with me.”

“Don’t…”

“Don’t look down on me—” He demonstrated again, even louder this time.

“Don’t… look down on me…”

“I’m the best—”

“I’m… the best…”

“I’ll conquer the world—”

“I’ll… conquer the world…”

This was insane! What was she doing with this man in this remote mountain? Conquer the world? Only a lunatic would say something like that!

But she did say it… No, she shouted it.

And each time was louder, more passionate.

She had lost her mind.

If her family saw her shouting like this down the mountain, they’d probably be frozen in shock, like ice sculptures for a thousand years.

“Lu—Luo Bochen, I—I can’t do this anymore,” she gasped, her voice hoarse. “My throat is about to give out.”

“Feels good, right?” he smiled at her.

“Yeah, it feels good.” She panted, holding her waist as she squatted down.

“Liberating?”

“Very liberating.”

“Do you feel like a king?”

“Yes.” She smiled. So this is what he meant by feeling like a king, such a free and exhilarating feeling.

“Next time, come shout here with me again, okay?”

“Okay.” She answered instinctively, then realized what she had just agreed to a couple of seconds later.

She looked up at him in astonishment.

In the dim light of night, his tall, upright figure resembled a deity of darkness. She couldn’t see his expression clearly, and her chest tightened. Only when he crouched down beside her did she make out his well-formed, handsome face, lightly smiling, with a hint of awkwardness and unease.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to trick you into a date like this. I just… didn’t know how to pursue a goddess.”

A goddess! The word made her head spin, her mind dazed.

“Daphne.” He took a strand of her hair and gently pulled it toward him, and she, as if under a spell, moved closer to him.

He sealed her soft, delicate lips with a kiss, warm and cool at the same time.

She timidly parted her lips, and in doing so, opened her heart.

“I like you, Daphne.”

She sighed, lost in the enchantment of his voice.

“Do you like me?”

“Yes.”

She liked him very much, no, she had hopelessly fallen in love with him.

Because she loved him, she didn’t hesitate to start a rebellion at home. Her parents vehemently opposed her marrying an ordinary man with no family background, but she insisted on marrying him.

“I won’t marry anyone but him!” she declared, grabbing a pair of scissors and pointing them at her throat when her mother tried to force her into a blind date.

Her resoluteness, which they had never seen before, shocked her entire family. Her brother, who had always doted on her the most, immediately stepped in to plead on her behalf, convincing their parents to agree to the marriage.

“Well, at least the young man passed the bar exam. He’s somewhat talented. If we cultivate him well, it won’t be difficult for him to make a name for himself,” even her strict father had to grudgingly concede.

So, the year she graduated from graduate school, she donned a white wedding dress and married Luo Bochen.

And so began a beautiful mistake—

______________