On the third day of my marriage, my elder half-sister came to mock me, arm in arm with the man who used to be my fiance. She was certain I had become a corpse at the hands of the living King of Hell.
When she entered, I was lounging in the courtyard, munching on rose pastries Gu Zhaoheng had specially saved for me. I had also tried the "wedding gift" she brought: a bowl of bird's nest soup laced with poison.
It tasted all right, though it did make my tongue a little numb.
When she saw I was unharmed, my half-sister's face turned green.
She feigned concern. "Little sister, did Cousin Zhaoheng give you a hard time? He's got a bad temper..."
Before she could finish, Gu Zhaoheng appeared behind me. He casually took the half a pastry from my hand and popped it into his own mouth, then frowned and pulled me to my feet.
"How many times have I told you not to eat so many sweets?"
His tone was scolding, but the hand that brushed the crumbs from the corner of my mouth was impossibly gentle.
He glanced at the poisoned bird's nest soup on the table. His gaze turned as cold as an ice cellar as he looked at my half-sister.
"My wife doesn't need an outsider's concern."
"And you can drink this bowl before you leave."
Watching my half-sister's face turn deathly pale, I silently opened my System panel.
I looked at the man beside me, the one everyone feared, and smiled.
She didn't know that the man she'd pushed me toward wasn't the living King of Hell. He was my personal quest-giver, and... my future husband.
