The Marquis doesn't support his beloved wife's ambitions, so I'll take the imperial e

The cold voice, carrying a cruel laugh, was like a poisoned ice pick, piercing Jiang Zhenxue's eardrums.

He pinned her down, and his familiar, aggressive ambergris scent overwhelmed her, almost suffocating her.

How can someone be so handsome, yet have such a nasty mouth?

Jiang Zhenxue cursed him a thousand times in her heart. This bastard, hasn't he realized yet that she's not the submissive canary he keeps as a pet?

What's the point of thinking about these things now? It only makes me upset and is completely meaningless.

She struggled, but couldn't budge him at all. It felt like a butterfly pinned to a specimen board, every tremor of its wings filled with futile despair.

"Xiao Qingyan, let me go!" Her voice trembled with anger. "What exactly do you want?"

"What do I want?" Xiao Qingyan chuckled softly, the sound vibrating in her ear, chilling her to the bone more than any sob. He leaned down, his hot breath brushing against her cheek. "I've been searching for you for so long, thinking you'd be scared, that you'd regret it. But I didn't expect you'd become so adept, learning to flirt with other men."

His fingers traced her cheek, wiping away the dust that had settled on her face from her struggles. The movement seemed gentle, but the force carried an unmistakable warning.

"Is that kid your new love interest?"

Jiang Zhenxue's mind went blank.

A new love? Is he referring to Shen Yu?

He actually thought that she went to great lengths to escape for another man?

A flame, a mixture of absurdity and anger, suddenly surged up from the depths of her heart, instantly overshadowing her fear.

"Are you sick in the head?" she snapped angrily. "In your eyes, does a woman leaving you always mean she's with another man? Can't you accept that I simply don't want to see your face anymore!"

Xiao Qingyan's eyes instantly turned cold.

"What did you say?"

"I said I've had enough!" Jiang Zhenxue decided to throw caution to the wind. She glared at him, her eyes no longer showing any fear, only burning anger. "I'm tired of being a caged canary, tired of having to read your face and please you every day! I'm leaving, I'm breaking up with you! Can't you understand human language?"

She finished shouting in one breath, her chest heaving violently.

It was very quiet around.

Xiao Qingyan stared at her expressionlessly, a storm brewing in his unfathomable eyes.

He had searched for her for so long, mobilizing countless resources and even personally traveling south. He had imagined countless scenarios of their reunion; she might cry and beg for mercy, or she might be terrified.

He never expected that she would greet him with such venomous words.

"Jiang Zhenxue," he spoke slowly, his voice eerily calm, "it seems I've spoiled you too much, making you forget your place."

"I have no status whatsoever!" Jiang Zhenxue retorted stubbornly. "I'm just an ordinary person. I can go wherever I want and do whatever I want! I'm not your possession!"

"An accessory?" Xiao Qingyan seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world. He tightened his grip on her chin, the force almost crushing her bones. "Have you forgotten that everything you have is given to you by me? Your life belongs to me."

"Without my permission, you don't even have the right to die, yet you dare to talk to me about 'separating'?"

Jiang Zhenxue finally understood that reasoning with this fanatic was pointless. In his world, there was only control and being controlled.

"Xiao Qingyan, let's part amicably, okay?" Her tone softened, carrying a hint of weariness she herself didn't realize. "I can find a way to return the gold and silver I took. From now on, you go your way, and I'll go mine. We'll be even, and pretend we never knew each other."

"Even if we owe each other nothing?"

These four words acted like a fuse, completely igniting Xiao Qingyan's long-suppressed rage.

The last shred of reason in his eyes was consumed by rage.

*Smack!*

A crisp slap echoed throughout the room.

Jiang Zhenxue's head was knocked to one side, her cheeks burned with pain, and her ears were ringing.

She was stunned by the blow.

She transmigrated into this book and read countless descriptions of how he abused the original owner's body and mind, but she never imagined that this slap would land squarely on her own face.

pain.

Excruciating pain.

And what is a hundred times worse than pain is the utter humiliation.

Xiao Qingyan looked at the red marks that quickly appeared on her face, a fleeting, almost imperceptible look flashing in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a deeper, more sinister expression.

That's not what he wanted.

What he wanted was her submission, her tears, and for her to be like before, so that when she was wronged, she would only throw herself into his arms and cry with a mixture of fear and dependence.

Instead of staring at him with icy, hateful eyes like this.

"Looks like one slap wasn't enough to teach you a lesson." He sneered, grabbing her collar and pulling her off the bed, forcing her to look him in the eye.

"I'll ask you one more time." His voice was chilling, as if it came from hell, and every word carried a suffocating pressure.

"While you've been away for so long, which random men have you been with? Where did you get the money to open a shop and make it so successful? If you're so capable, why do you need to curry favor with me?"

He casually dismissed all her resistance and her yearning for freedom as the most despicable act of "not being a virtuous woman."

Only in this way could he redefine her as a sinful, unclean plaything that he could dispose of at will.

Only in this way can he package his twisted desire for control as a justifiable punishment.

"explain!"

Seeing that she remained silent, he increased the pressure on her hand, almost snapping her slender neck.

Jiang Zhenxue was choked so hard she could barely breathe, and her vision began to blur.

She looked at the face before her, so handsome yet so insane, and suddenly laughed.

The laughter was hoarse and broken, yet it carried an indescribable sense of sorrow and mockery.

"Wild men?" She managed to squeeze out the words, her eyes filled with utter contempt. "Yes, I've been with many wild men."

"I run Qingyun Pavilion, where I chat and laugh with those scholars and young masters every day."

"I melted down your birdcage, made it into a golden hairpin, and gave it to my men. They were all very grateful to me."

"Even Shen Yu, whom you beat half to death," she paused deliberately, speaking clearly and word by word, "the way he looked at me was a hundred times cleaner than your eyes."

"you!"

Xiao Qingyan's pupils suddenly contracted.

He was like a wild beast that had been completely enraged, no longer able to maintain his superior composure.

He abruptly threw her back onto the bed, pounced on her, and held her struggling wrists firmly above his head.

"Jiang Zhenxue, you're asking for it!"