You have come to save him.

The Dowry Bride Without Grace

Stepping into the study, she found it dim and shadowed. A tall figure sat before the desk, head bowed, deeply immersed in the documents before him. His brows were tightly knit, as if troubled by some grave concern.

Timidly, she drew closer. She knew well that Duan Nanyu’s mood was far from pleasant, yet... she had no other choice.

“My lord!” She suddenly knelt on the floor. A numbness seized her knees, but she kept her back straight. She had come to plead with him, to beg him to spare Yun Qixiao.

“You’re here. Just as well—I have something to say to you.” He spoke without looking up at the woman kneeling at his feet. His voice was devoid of anger, cold as water.

“Yun Qixiao, your second brother, has been reassigned to the vanguard...”

She froze where she knelt. She hadn’t expected he would recount such a cruel matter in such an indifferent tone.

A bitter smile tugged at her lips. Perhaps, for him, this was nothing more than an ordinary event—one more life at his whim.

“He may—”

“My lord! I beg you, please, spare my brother!” She could not bear to hear him finish. She chose to interrupt him, knowing full well this might anger him, but she could not endure to hear him repeat Yun Xinyin’s words. The cruelty of it was too much.

With a loud crash, the chair toppled to the floor. In a few strides, Duan Nanyu stood before Yun Xueyan, gripping her slender throat in one hand, pulling her up from the ground.

Anger blazed in his cold, shadowed eyes; his resolute face seemed frozen with fury.

She bit her lips hard, refusing to tremble, refusing to let her fear show. The sound at her ear grew louder, but to her, it was like the voice of a demon from hell.

“What did you just say? You want me to spare your brother? Yun Xueyan! What do you take me for?”

Heavy, muddled breaths erupted from Duan Nanyu’s nostrils. Oppressed, Yun Xueyan could hardly breathe. What did she take him for? She dared not hope anymore.

“My lord, I beg you, please spare my brother. You can torment me as you wish, but please, not him... I implore you...” Tears, powerless and persistent, finally fell.

They dripped cold onto the hand gripping her throat, and in that moment, Duan Nanyu’s heart tightened. She was crying—because he meant to kill Yun Qixiao!

Did she truly see him as such a ruthless man?

He had fought hard to secure that position for Yun Qixiao. This campaign, in truth, posed no threat to Yun Qixiao’s life; by placing him at the vanguard, he merely wished to offer him a chance to distinguish himself.

He knew Yun Qixiao’s abilities.

Yet the woman before him saw only cruelty! Looking into those empty, helpless eyes, his body was suffused with rage. She—she would drive him mad!

“Impossible! What I have decided will not change! Yun Xueyan, who do you think you are? You came to plead—merely gave me the chance to humiliate you!” His hand seized her waist, and he swept everything from the table onto the floor. Her petite figure was placed atop the desk.

“If you can please me, perhaps I’ll reconsider. You’re my favored slave—you know what you must do.” He looked down at her with a cold sneer, his voice brimming with anger.

One by one, she undid her own belt, resignedly stripping her garments. What else could she do? She had no other way.

She squeezed her eyes shut, her long lashes trembling, arms crossed over her chest. Despair threatened to drown her. She truly had no other option—obedience was all that remained.

“Worthless creature! You’ll always beg me for another man!” He wrapped his arms around her atop the table, his cold, angry words laced with venom. His body crashed against hers, as if he meant to vent all his fury.