The spring pond water was cool, and with a loud “splash,” it rushed relentlessly into her mouth and nose.  

An endless chill flooded her body, cruelly depriving her of her ability to breathe.

Sui Tan twisted uncomfortably, her already dazed mind growing even more muddled from the sudden immersion. Yet, her final survival instinct drove her to struggle desperately—  

Then, two thin lips pressed against hers. In the hazy, blurred world of the pond water, they accurately found her slightly parted mouth and gently bit down.  

Sui Tan’s almond-shaped eyes widened involuntarily.  

Underwater, all was silent, with waves drifting lazily. Everything felt blurry, as if in an illusory dream, yet the softness against her lips was so real. Along with the air being breathed into her, it made her heartbeat grow faster and louder.  

“Lin Qi…”  

She instinctively murmured softly. Hidden within the ripples, his starlit eyes curved gently, rubbing against her fragrant lips with utmost tenderness, continuing to pass air mouth-to-mouth.  

It felt as long as a lifetime, yet also as brief as a moment. The overwhelming desire gradually faded from her body, and soberness slowly reclaimed her consciousness.  

Drifting in the water, she finally felt connected to the world again.  

On the shore, panicked shouts and calls for help, along with the chaotic footsteps of those rushing to save her or merely spectate, faintly reached her ears, feeling distant as if from another life.  

Yet in the profound silence underwater, the only person she could clearly perceive was him.  

His powerful arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her firmly into his embrace. While carefully sharing his breath with her, he stayed by her side, rising and sinking with her in the icy pond water, over and over, without complaint.  

She couldn’t help but curve her eyes into a smile. As the feverish heat faded, an indescribable weariness set in. Allowing herself to lean into his chest, she lifted her head and silently mouthed, “Lin Qi.”  

He responded with a gentle smile.  

“Let’s go up.”  

Sui Tan nodded, nestling obediently against his chest and wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.  

Lin Qi held her with one arm while using the other to forcefully push through the water.  

He was an excellent swimmer. Moments later, they broke through the surface, finally free from the suffocating water and back in the air where they could breathe freely.  

But then, the lively commotion from the shore reached their ears.  

Their loud splash had undoubtedly startled many people.  

The first to witness it was her stepsister crouching under a tree.  

She had seen the shocking scene of a strange outsider diving into the river with her second elder sister. Instantly forgetting her melancholy, she sprang up, lifted her skirts, and dashed outward, shouting for help at the top of her lungs.  

Most of the Duke’s mansion servants were busy with the wedding banquet at the front courtyard. As she hurried out, she first passed several female guests leisurely strolling near the rock garden. Thus, they arrived first at the lotus pond.  

When they reached the pond, they saw Lin Qi, soaked and clad in black, struggling to carry an equally drenched Sui Tan out of the water.  

Spring clothing was thin, and when wet, it clung even more boldly to their figures.  

Sui Tan leaned weakly in Lin Qi’s arms, her damp sleeves clinging to her elbows. Her arms hung limply, revealing a small section of fair, delicate skin that invited endless imagination.  

Lin Qi wasn’t faring much better.  

His sleeve had torn slightly during Sui Tan’s earlier medicine-induced frenzy. His exposed, solid arm pressed firmly against her slender waist, and with one less layer of fabric between them, the intimacy felt even more ambiguous and indescribable.  

“Like this, we really look like something happened between us.”  

Sui Tan half-closed her eyes and whispered teasingly. Lin Qi paused, held her tighter, and strode toward the shore.  

But the shore had completely erupted in chaos.  

With no need to rescue anyone, the first ladies to arrive immediately assumed the role of spectators, eagerly exchanging gossip such as, “Has Second Miss Qin perhaps lost her virtue?” If not for their status, they would have loved to grab some melon seeds to snack on while enjoying the drama.  

The noble young ladies of the capital who arrived upon hearing the news had mixed reactions. Some were concerned, while others openly mocked her.  

At the spring hunt banquet, many had been overshadowed by Sui Tan during her debut. Now, they naturally wouldn’t miss this opportunity to ridicule her.

For a moment, hushed whispers hidden behind handkerchiefs spread through the crowd. Unmarried young ladies openly gossiped about another unwed girl, freely expressing their disdain for her perceived lack of virtue.

Sui Lan stood at the back of the crowd, watching her second elder sister with a complex expression.

Behind her were the family servants she had finally managed to summon from the front courtyard. They, too, stood bewildered, unsure of what to do.

“Master!!”

A heart-wrenching cry suddenly pierced the air, shattering the atmosphere thick with hidden agendas.

A figure clad in black swiftly appeared before them and, without a word, dropped to his knees with a heavy thud.

“Master! I was only gone for a quarter of an hour! How could you jump into the water?!

Whether it was to save a person, an object, or Miss Qin, couldn’t you have waited for me? I’m the one with thick skin and rough flesh!”

The sight of his master, looking like a drowned rat, shattered Yi Zhou’s last bit of composure.

The poor imperial guard, forgetting all about maintaining his cover, knelt on the ground, beating his chest in anguish, weeping and wailing as he accused his master of once again recklessly throwing himself into danger behind his back.

The commotion of his loud lamentations was too much. Lin Qi coughed awkwardly, about to stop him, when he suddenly heard a very scornful “Heh.”

A noblewoman with her hair styled in a high bun interjected, her face full of disdain, her tone dripping with contempt:

“Young man, can’t you see? They’re using this as an opportunity to get intimate.”

“Ah?”

The young and naïve imperial guard didn’t react immediately, but Lin Qi’s face instantly darkened.

He first looked down at Sui Tan in his arms to check if she had heard, then raised his head and shot a heavy, warning glance at the brazen noblewoman.

Unfortunately, she failed to read his warning.

Emboldened by the first-rank edict robe bestowed upon her by the Emperor himself, she spoke with increasing recklessness.

“Did I say something wrong? Everyone in the capital knows that the Second Miss Qin is loose and promiscuous. She usually loves to flirt and carry on with men, she doesn’t even let her fiancé’s guards off the hook. The way she seduces them is utterly brazen.”

“Exactly.”

Once someone started, others quickly followed.

Another court official’s wife covered her mouth and sneered:

“Who knows how the Third Prince will react when he wakes up and finds out Miss Qin has given him such a large green hat to wear.”

“No matter how kind-hearted the Third Prince is, he probably won’t stand for this insult. In my opinion, Miss Qin will likely end up in a caged punishment.”

The crowd chimed in agreement, as if they could already see Miss Qin being cast aside by her fiancé. They maliciously outlined the cruel treatment they believed awaited her.

This time, Yi Zhou understood. But he opened his mouth, only to feel like he didn’t understand after all.

He was born to be an imperial guard. After graduating from the guard camp, he was assigned to serve the Third Prince of Liang, the most dazzling and illustrious figure in the entire realm. Apart from occasionally worrying about his master’s various impulsive and dangerous actions, he had never witnessed such vindictiveness before.

—No, it wasn’t even vindictiveness born of long-held grudges. It was simply pure schadenfreude, the urge to kick someone when they’re down, the inability to bear seeing others happy.

Miss Qin was radiant and unrestrained, and she even had a fiancé utterly devoted to her.

And that fiancé, who loved her so much he was even willing to share his imperial guards, happened to be the biggest ‘white moonlight’ in all of Liang. All of this became the reason she became a target.

A multitude of rumors surrounded her. Countless eyes watched her. Many people waited, waited for the day she would fall from grace, so they could stomp on her hard.

Now, they believed that day of her demise had come.

No one cared whether she was still chaste or not. Publicly being in close contact with a man not her husband was a death sentence, set in stone.

Even if they truly hadn’t crossed the final line, the overwhelming weight of public opinion about her virtue would be enough to crush a woman.

Having also considered the possible subsequent consequences, Lin Qi’s expression was exceptionally grim.

Afflicted by the chill, Sui Tan lay drowsily against his chest, a picture of complete reliance. He couldn’t help but darken his gaze, instinctively tightening his arms around her as he attempted to explain for the first time.

“Everyone, Miss Qin was drugged. I took her into the water to help her regain clarity. We didn’t—”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, that old excuse again.”

The noblewoman who spoke first covered her lips with her sleeve, her face full of mockery:

“Everyone, help me remember. Wasn’t this exactly what was said when the famously favored Consort Jing was defiled by that guard?”

“Consort Jing could prove her innocence by taking her own life. Does the Second Miss Qin dare to do the same?”

“You!”

This was a blatant, knife-out provocation. Lin Qi, furious, was about to retort when a pale hand gripped his wrist, stopping his reasoned argument.

He paused, slightly stunned, and looked down.

Sui Tan, who had been resting with her eyes closed against his chest, had opened her eyes at some point.

Though she still appeared utterly exhausted and fragile, a raging fire had been rekindled in her almond-shaped eyes.

She struggled to get down from his arms, and as soon as she was barely steady on her feet, she forcefully pulled him behind her, stepping in front to face the multitude alone.

Her face was still flushed with an unhealthy hue, and her labored breathing hadn’t ceased.

Yet, after she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and reopened them—though one moment she seemed frail, the next, she was like a lit beacon tower, starting a wildfire that spread freely.

“This kind of vile, sinister act of drugging an unmarried girl with aphrodisiacs at the wedding banquet of the Duke’s legitimate daughter—instead of helping to pursue the perpetrator, you’re here gossiping about me, the victim? What kind of logic is that?”

She could barely stand steady, but her words remained sharp as a blade, cutting through the hypocrisy hidden beneath their self-righteousness:

“A woman being drugged is tragic enough. Why must you be so aggressive, insisting on pushing her to her death?”

“Moreover, if the Duke’s legitimate daughter can be drugged at her own family’s celebration and be subjected to such pressure today, then tomorrow, any woman could find herself in my current situation.”

“Even for your own sake, for the sake of your own daughters, you should be pursuing the perpetrator, not me, the victim.”

“Sharp-tongued and speaking nonsense.” Sui Tan’s breath was scorching hot, her gaze unwavering, but the noblewoman wouldn’t listen.

She disdainfully adjusted her meticulously styled noblewoman’s chignon, focused only on adding fuel to the fire:

“So many people, so many eyes watching. No matter how much you say, what does it matter? Spit from enough mouths can drown you.”

She paused, seemingly imagining a scene, then laughed until her shoulders shook:

“I just wonder what the Third Prince will think when he wakes up and finds out his fiancée has lost her virtue.”

Malice ran rampant, paired with laughter devoid of any real mirth, as if they were in the Avīci Hell overrun by demons and monsters.

But even the deepest hell wouldn’t harbor this kind of subjugation and oppression of women by women.

Sui Tan grew increasingly furious. She stepped forward, about to argue again, when an arm reached out and gently encircled her waist.

Gasps of “How is there another outsider man?” rose from the crowd. Sui Tan was slightly stunned, looking up in surprise.

At the same moment she moved, someone finally recognized this unfamiliar “outsider” man.

“Th-The Third Prince!”

Along with the first cry of terrified astonishment, the small lotus pond instantly descended into chaos.

The crowd, who moments before had their own petty calculations, no longer dared to scheme further. They dropped to their knees one after another.

Some were pleasantly surprised, some frustrated at their earlier arrogance, and some just repeatedly murmured “Third Prince,” as if confirming this wasn’t a dream.

Amid the flustered clamor, only Sui Tan turned her head, intently gazing at the person behind her.

Backlit, his features were hard to make out clearly, but she could see his sharply defined profile.

Stripped of the familiar angles she saw day and night, it was as austere as an immortal mural in the desert whose brilliance millennia of wind and sand couldn’t obscure—so resilient, so dazzling.

She slowly widened her eyes. The first thought that came to her was: So this is what he really looks like.