With her deceased husband as her dowry, would Your Highness dare to marry her?

Thump, thump, thump, very lightly, very lightly.

It was so light that both of them thought it was an illusion.

At this critical juncture, even the slightest breeze or the faintest sound is of paramount importance.

Lin Ci turned around and rushed to the coffin to look inside. Song Xuan's eyes were slightly closed, and his lips were bloodless, just as they had been when he was put into the coffin.

"No...it's impossible...he moved just now, did you hear that? He moved..." Her eyes widened, the blood vessels in them even thicker and heavier than before, like an inescapable net tightening around her reason inch by inch.

Pei Jinxuan's heart shattered along with her eyes. He bent over, his stomach churning violently, and he gagged.

"Ah Xuan!" Lin Ci called out, not to him, but to the person in the coffin.

Pei Jinxuan chuckled, his hoarse laughter echoing in the cold cellar like the howl of a trapped beast.

"Did it work?" he asked, his body trembling. "If it didn't work, will you still have to be with me day and night for your eyes? If he wakes up, should I tell him that we were living together? Hmm? Should I tell him?"

Lin Ci's face turned deathly pale. She finally turned her head to him, and tears welled up in her eyes. The remaining flame of the eternal lamp flickered uncertainly in the tears.

"Speak!" Pei Jinxuan's voice suddenly rose, his resentment tearing his soul to shreds. "Lin Ci, I thought you treated me differently because you liked me; you smiled at me because you liked me. Since I look exactly like your deceased husband, why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Lin Ci bit her lip, her eyes lowered, and two tears rolled down silently.

She remained silent, offering not even a word of comfort.

Pei Jinxuan clenched his fists and pounded his chest twice. He tried to dispel the pent-up frustration in his heart, but the more he pounded, the more it hurt, and the more it hurt, the more blocked his chest felt.

"You can't do this to me...you can't..." he murmured, his voice growing softer and hoarse.

Lin Ci remained unmoved. She stood before him, as cold as a porcelain doll. In the past, she would have at least stepped forward to support him, check his pulse, and rub his back.

With a thud, it felt like something inside my body snapped—a string that had been taut for so long in my heart.

Suddenly, the pain subsided, his heart stopped aching, and his stomach stopped aching. His tightly clenched hands calmed down and stopped trembling, and the light in his peach blossom eyes disappeared.

In that instant, he saw through her.

"Alright." He curled his lips into a smile. "Since you've mastered the art of bringing the dead back to life, then changing the corpse won't hurt."

He bent down and picked up the ever-burning lamp from the ground. The oil was all gone, and only a tiny, dying flame struggled against the wick.

Pei Jinxuan walked step by step to the coffin, raised the lamp to the center of the coffin, and suddenly let go.

The flame fell downwards, downwards...deep into the coffin.

"Ah Xuan!" Lin Ci cried out in alarm, reaching out to catch it without hesitation. The flame licked her hand, hissing and emitting a wisp of smoke. Her face contorted in pain, but she clung tightly to the lamp, refusing to let go, afraid that even a trace of embers might touch Song Xuan's corpse.

Pei Jinxuan frowned. Without thinking, he rushed over and extinguished the sparks on her sleeve.

"Slap." A crisp slap landed on his face, and his right cheek burned with pain.

Lin Ci's hand hovered in mid-air, trembling slightly, before falling back down after a moment.

Pei Jinxuan did not dodge and took the second slap head-on.

"Why don't you understand?!" Lin Ci finally burst into tears, her voice breaking. "We were childhood sweethearts, and we swore an oath before the sun and moon to never leave each other! His voice became hoarse because of me; I owe him my life!"

"Then what about my life?!" Pei Jinxuan roared, his eyes red-rimmed, but not a single tear would fall. "What am I to you? Am I Pei Jinxuan, or a substitute for a dead man? Can't you even answer that?"

"Don't force me..." Lin Ci's eyes were filled with tears. She raised her hand to cover her eyes, and her shoulders trembled uncontrollably.

She went blind again, but this time it was unclear whether it was due to the love potion or her tears.

Pei Jinxuan's mind had been completely consumed by rage. He suddenly grabbed Lin Ci's hand and stared straight into her eyes.

Lin Ci's eyes were unfocused; her gaze was unfocused and empty, as if she had lost her soul.

Pei Jinxuan felt a pang of bitterness amidst his pain, and he couldn't help but pull her into his arms. However, Lin Ci pushed him away, seemingly determined to draw a clear line between herself and Pei Jinxuan for the sake of the person in the coffin.

"Why?!" Pei Jinxuan was furious. He pulled Lin Ci closer again, gritting his teeth, and said, "Didn't you just use me? Why didn't you continue? Are you afraid he'll find out?"

Lin Ci pursed her lips and shook her head.

"Then use it again. I can cure your eyes, and then you'll be able to see him again!"

He slammed her against the coffin, his strength failing him, and the coffin groaned under the weight.

Lin Ci thought he was going to be violent towards her, and in front of Song Xuan, she would rather die than do that.

Pei Jinxuan's hands didn't land on her. He braced himself tightly against the coffin behind her, splinters piercing his palms, blood slowly trickling down the edge of the coffin. He was oblivious, simply leaning down and staring intently at her, as if that would force a trace of the genuine emotion he craved from those empty eyes.

"Do you know how much I wish I could switch places with him right now? If I were the one lying inside, I wouldn't be in so much pain."

"Pei Jinxuan, you...you let me go." Lin Ci finally called out his name, her voice trembling with sobs. Her hands groped blindly in the darkness, her fingertips touching something cold and hard, but Pei Jinxuan grabbed her hand back, holding it tightly until death.

Lin Ci switched hands, and once again found the hard object. She reached for it with all her might, and in the instant Pei Jinxuan paused, she stabbed it fiercely. The air instantly filled with the smell of rust, mixed with the herbal scent, both fishy and bitter.

Pei Jinxuan groaned and looked down to see Lin Ci had plunged the tip of the steelyard into his shoulder. Pei Jinxuan released Lin Ci and stared at the steelyard for a long time. He blinked and felt his eyes burning, as if something was welling up inside. Without thinking, he instinctively pulled the steelyard out of his shoulder.

Hot blood gushed out, splashing near Pei Jinxuan's eyes and congealing into a dark bead of blood, much like a cinnabar tear mole. The pale corpse in the coffin was stained red, and the eerie yin energy seemed to fear this extremely yang thing, quietly retreating a bit.

Lin Ci's vision blurred with blood, and her hands touched warm, slightly sticky liquid.

"Announce..."

Her voice trembled as she searched in the darkness.

"Pei Jinxuan..."

huh~~

A breeze brushed past my ears, and the chill behind me grew stronger.

Lin Ciqing couldn't help but turn around, and through the hazy light, she saw a pure white figure slowly rising from the coffin.

The alluring golden kingfisher withered and fell from his lips...