So what if she's my sister-in-law? You seduced me first.

Xie Xun heard the news of Ning Yu's disappearance half a cup of tea later. At that time, he had just finished reading the battle reports that had been sent back in the past few days and issued a series of edicts to be sent to the border as soon as possible.

When he suddenly heard the news from Qingfeng, he almost dropped the tea in his hand, and his sinister phoenix eyes glanced at him sideways.

"What did you say?!"

Qingfeng lowered his body even further. "After Madam went into the kitchen, she disappeared. I ordered my men to search the entire kitchen, but we couldn't find her anywhere."

The kitchen was in complete chaos. The old woman was so frightened that she was terrified. Her body trembled as she knelt on the ground. When she saw His Majesty arrive in person, she quickly knelt down and explained what had happened.

Xie Xun glanced around at the layout, walked to the wide-open window, and fixed his gaze on the calm sea.

"Send men into the water to search and bring her back to me."

Upon hearing this, Qingfeng hurriedly went to do it. Xie Xun looked at the boundless sea and remembered the injury on her neck. He was so angry that the veins on his hand gripping the window frame bulged.

He shouldn't have been soft-hearted towards such a restless creature. Locking her up and leaving her naked every day, where could she possibly escape to?

Ning Yu was completely submerged in the water, so far from the shore that she felt she had been swimming for almost half an incense stick's time, yet she still couldn't see the end of the sea ahead.

A sharp pain shot through her neck, but she endured it and struggled to swim toward the shore.

The dock is just across the dense forest, not far from Mozhou. If she can escape to Mozhou, she can hide in the deep mountains and forests for a few days and find a secluded and quiet village to live in. She doesn't believe she can be found again.

Even at night, Ning Yu's sense of direction was still very good. She hardly deviated from the waterline. When she felt she was almost there, she quietly peeked up to breathe and glanced behind her.

A dozen or so giant ships were some distance away from her and hadn't moved, clearly indicating that they didn't intend to pursue her.

She breathed a sigh of relief and continued swimming towards the shore.

What she didn't notice was that inconspicuous little boats were coming from the south, without any firelight or human presence, making them difficult to spot on the vast sea.

The coastline opposite the dock was very long. The soldiers who disembarked from the ship immediately rushed into the dense forest, silently searching for any figures on the shore.

Ning Yu noticed the boat tracks when she was almost at the shore. Her body trembled underwater, and she quickly turned back towards the dock.

The strength in her limbs was slowly fading, and she was so weak that she could barely swim anymore. It was her strong willpower that kept her from collapsing.

She had only been swimming for a short while when her cold face broke the surface of the water. She then noticed a lot of firelight, clearly indicating that soldiers had gone into the water to capture her.

With people searching in the dense forest ahead and countless pursuers behind, Ning Yu made a decisive move to head towards the shore.

She would go to hide there temporarily, and once the soldiers found the place, she would dive into the water to hide and find an opportunity to escape.

She deliberately avoided the area where the boat had just left watermarks and swam further away. There was a hillside in the dense forest on the far right, with no signs of fire or people, so she went up there to hide.

Just as she was about to get out of the water, she saw an excessively tall and slender figure.

The man stood on the shore under the moonlight, wearing a brocade robe and a mink cloak. It was as if he had planned for her to appear here, standing leisurely right under her nose.

Ning Yu looked up along the long legs. A white jade belt was tied around her waist. Her face, surrounded by ferrets, appeared particularly unapproachable, cold, and indifferent under the moonlight.

Xie Xun saw her looking up at him while she was soaking in the water. Her face was bare of makeup and glistening with water droplets. The moonlight shone on her fox-like eyes, which were extremely beautiful and sparkling with watery light. However, she lost her color the moment she saw him.

He sneered, his gaze fixed on her neck. She had been swimming for too long, and the gauze on her neck was now streaked with blood.

At this moment, Ning Yu also understood that Xie Xun was very cunning. He had calculated that she would be forced to come here to hide, so he waited for her to come first.

"Aren't you coming up? Are you waiting to cool off in the water?"

In the dead of winter, the temperature in the sea was unimaginable; Ning Yu's body was already stiff with cold, but she didn't move.

Looking down at her unrepentant appearance, Xie Xun suppressed the violence in his heart, calmly bent down and extended his hand, "Come up first."

Ning Yu looked at his clean, slender fingers, which appeared exceptionally warm and smooth under the moonlight. But why was this person so terrifying?

With a whoosh, her wrist was suddenly grabbed, and Xie Xun lifted her out of the sea without using much force.

The splashing water dampened the hem of his clothes, but he didn't care. He took off his clothes and wrapped them around her before getting into the carriage on the shore.

The stove inside the carriage was burning brightly, and the temperature was very high. Ning Yu was placed on the couch, and the clothes on it were obviously prepared for her.

"Change your clothes first."

Ning Yu remained silent, sitting pale-faced on the edge of the couch.

Xie Xun didn't say much, but tore all her clothes to shreds and threw her a face towel.

Ning Yu instinctively flinched when hit, and seeing the man's malicious eyes, she picked up a handkerchief and threw it at him.

He took it, scooped her up, and was about to wipe her body.

Ning Yu got goosebumps all over her body. She hurriedly pushed him away, wiped herself off haphazardly, put on clean clothes, and cleaned her wound again.

The whole process went smoothly, and Xie Xun sat beside her watching, both of them silent.

The air inside the carriage was deathly silent. Smoke slowly rose from the incense burner, its branches entwined with green vines. The hems of their black and light green robes overlapped, and the two were very close; she could even feel his breath.

Ning Yu felt overwhelmed by melancholy and irritability. She sat up halfway, too lazy to even bother with him.

Xie Xun slowly straightened up, leaning against the soft pillows. He brushed aside the disheveled hair on her face with his bent fingers, cupped her face, and forced her to look at him.

Ning Yu tried to move her head, but he held her tightly and she couldn't move at all, so she could only look at him.

Having just gone into the water and exhausted herself, and now being forced into this situation by him, she felt weak and her whole body was limp.

"You really don't want to come back to the palace with me?"

Ning Yu couldn't discern his emotions, nor could she tell from his voice whether he was angry or not, but she didn't care about that now.

She hummed in agreement and said nothing more.

Xie Xun received her answer. Looking into her indifferent eyes, he felt as if steel nails were piercing his bones. He slightly tugged at his lips.

Okay, I don't want to go back to the palace with him, I don't want him, I don't love him.

He slowly released his grip on her cheek, forcefully suppressing his anger and gloom, and leisurely leaned back on the soft pillow behind him.

Ning Yu glanced at him, seeing him with his eyes closed, seemingly lost in thought, and felt a slight heaviness in her heart.

Having spent so much time together, she could glean some insight into his emotions from his expression. His face didn't look too good, and she always felt that he was thinking about something unpleasant.