With legs weak, the sickly stable boy became a mad regent.

"Sweetie, come here, let me clean it up..."

The man's voice was low and husky, with a languid quality to it, yet every word seemed to be chilled to the bone.

Shen Nannan knelt at his feet, wearing only a thin gauze dress that covered nothing, revealing fresh bite marks on her fair and jade-like skin.

The candlelight flickered, illuminating the half-open dark nightgown of the person on the bed, revealing a lean, pale chest beneath.

"Can't understand?"

The man chuckled, lifting her chin with his toes.

"I taught you, didn't I? You have to clean up the mess you make yourself."

A hand with distinct knuckles was extended in front of her.

She looked up, her body trembling instinctively.

That alluring and handsome face drew close—to Xiao Yunzhao.

The regent of the Dayin Dynasty wielded immense power and was ruthless in killing people.

This is the third year that Shen Nannan has been his captive.

With her father and brothers killed in battle and the general's mansion collapsing, she went from being the arrogant eldest daughter of the Shen family to a plaything he could manipulate at will.

Shen Nannan closed her eyes, resignedly leaning closer.

The wine is slightly astringent.

Her knees went numb from kneeling, but she dared not stop.

The man suddenly chuckled, reached out and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him.

In the candlelight, his face was breathtakingly alluring.

Deep-set eyes, a high nose bridge, and thin lips that seem to be smiling but aren't.

"Miss...you've been naughty today."

He rubbed his thumb heavily against her lips.

"Back in the stables, you made me kneel and lick the mud off your shoes. I did it... way more diligently than you did."

Yes,

Who would have thought that the now high and mighty Regent was once a lowly stable boy in her Shen household, someone everyone could bully?

Shen Nannan's eyes welled up with tears, and she bit her lower lip, not daring to utter a sound.

"Why are you crying? Are you afraid of me?"

He pulled her face closer, close to her earlobe.

"Or... do you hate me?"

Shen Nannan's throat tightened, and she managed to squeeze out a meek voice: "I wouldn't dare."

"Dare not?" Xiao Yunzhao chuckled softly, but there was no warmth in his laughter.

"You used to be very daring."

He suddenly grabbed her wrist, pulled her onto the bed, and pinned her down.

The gauze dress slipped down, and their skin pressed together.

"Your Highness..." her voice trembled.

"You are not allowed to call him Your Highness."

He interrupted her, his fingertips digging into her skin, the pain instantly bringing tears to her eyes.

"Call me A-Zhao..."

"Call."

He bit her earlobe, his voice low and husky.

"Say it to me."

Shen Nannan opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

"Not calling?"

He chuckled softly, his large hand slipping inside his shirt.

"Then just bear the pain."

……

"ah--!"

Shen Nannan suddenly opened her eyes and sat up in bed.

She was panting heavily, her chest heaving, and she was covered in cold sweat.

"Miss?"

The maid Qiuyu, who was keeping watch at night, hurriedly lifted the bed curtains and came closer with a candlestick in her hand.

"Did you have another nightmare?"

The candlelight was blinding.

Shen Nannan looked around in a daze—the carved bed, the brocade quilt embroidered with crabapple blossoms, it was her familiar boudoir.

It wasn't that cold, impersonal bedroom in the Regent's Palace.

Oh, right, she... was reborn.

I've been reborn for several days now, but I still often feel disoriented.

In her previous life, she died in the winter of the fifteenth year of Chengping, poisoned in the Regent's Palace.

The last thing Xiao Yunzhao saw before he died was a frantic, bloodshot scream from his eyes—

"Who gave you permission to die!"

When I opened my eyes again, I was back five years in the past—

She was still the arrogant and domineering eldest daughter of the general's family; her father and brothers were still alive, and her family had not yet fallen.

And the man who would one day hold immense power and imprison her as his own, was at this moment someone she had only snatched back on a whim…

Horse slave.

"Qiuyu, that stable boy... is he still not awake?"

Qiu Yu was taken aback.

"Replying to Miss, not yet. That day, you insisted on dragging him back from the market to the gate of the mansion because you were angry with that person from the Prime Minister's residence. I saw that he was barely alive."

Shen Nannan closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Yes.

That's how it was in my past life.

She bought him from a slave trader for ten taels of silver, but found him dirty and an eyesore, so she had her servants drag him all the way back to her mansion.

When they arrived, the boy's back was a bloody mess, and he was barely breathing.

But he survived.

Not only did he survive, but two years later he transformed into a powerful regent.

His father and brother died on the battlefield under suspicious circumstances, but he was falsely accused of treason.

On the day the general's mansion was ransacked, she knelt amidst the mess on the ground and looked up to see him slowly approaching, dressed in a black python robe.

He leaned down, lifted her face with his riding crop, and chuckled softly:

"Miss, how have you been?"

"Miss?"

The sound of autumn rain pulled her back to reality.

"Why did you suddenly bring up that stable boy? Perhaps... I should have him thrown out?"

"don't want!"

Shen Nannan hurriedly threw off the covers and got out of bed.

"Change your clothes, I'll go check."

Qiu Yu looked on incredulously.

The young lady herself was spoiled, domineering, and arrogant. She would never look at those lowly servants, let alone personally visit a half-dead stable boy.

"Miss, that place is filthy, you are of noble birth..."

"Change your clothes!"

Shen Nannan didn't explain further. She couldn't explain.

The timing of this rebirth is truly terrible.

If it had been a few days earlier, she wouldn't have bought him at all.

But now, he lies half-dead on her property.

She recalled those three years, during which she learned to read people's expressions, to flatter and fawn, and even to use her body to please a man who hated her to the core.

All so that her mother could suffer less in the other courtyard.

But in the end? She was still poisoned to death, her death shrouded in mystery.

In this life, she cannot repeat the same mistakes.

Now that they've arrived, we should first try to make them grateful so that they will protect the Shen family.

Even if... even if it means facing that man who terrifies her to the core again.

As for who handed that cup of poisoned wine—

She needs an answer.

And the only one who could give her the answer was him.

---

The small storage room next to the stable smelled pungent.

Shen Nannan pushed open the door,

Only one oil lamp was lit in the room.

The boy had his eyes closed, his breathing weak, his face pale, and his body filthy, yet one could already glimpse his breathtakingly handsome appearance that would follow.

They are still very young.

Unlike the capricious regent in his previous life, whose eyes were as cold as ice.

Shen Nannan slowly walked over.

She stared at that face, her hands clenched tightly inside her sleeves.

Did he also have this furrowed brow when he pinned her down in his past life?

No, he won't.

He was always smiling, that kind of chilling smile, asking her if she was comfortable while he was tormenting her.

"Little girl, don't cry out if it hurts..."

"Even if you feel good, you're not allowed to moan..."

"Your life is mine, inside and out."

Those alluring yet terrifying images flooded back, and Shen Nannan shivered, instinctively shrinking back.

Kill him.

A thought suddenly popped into my head.

Now he is powerless to resist, and all he needs is a dagger to end this nightmare.

She will no longer be a plaything...

She stared at the face, her hand gripping the dagger she used for self-defense tightly inside her sleeve.

The cold hilt of the knife pressed against her palm, but she couldn't pull it out no matter what she did.

Don't kill!

His father's achievements were so great that they threatened the emperor's authority, and the emperor had long been wary of him.

The deaths of my father and brothers on the battlefield in my previous life were not accidents at all, but a scheme set up by the emperor.

The Shen family needed a powerful backer, one strong enough to rival the imperial power.

Xiao Yunzhao is the only option.

Even if it's like asking a tiger for its skin.

She can't kill him.

Not only could she not kill him, she had to let him live, make him grateful, and make him remember that it was Miss Shen who saved him when he was at his lowest point.

Shen Nannan hadn't even had time to loosen the knife handle,

The person on the bed suddenly opened their eyes.

Pitch black, deep.

There was no bewilderment like someone just waking up from a coma, only cold scrutiny and vigilance.

Shen Nannan was so frightened that she leaned back, nearly dropping the dagger from her sleeve.

Eyes facing each other.

The air was deathly silent.

The boy forced a smile, his voice terribly hoarse:

"Miss...do you want to save me, or...kill me?"