CHAPTER 149: 149- MARRY ME [3]

Fang Yuan took a deep breath, the air thick with sulfur and blood.

Lin Zhaoyue’s grip was a brand on his wrist, her eyes shining with rapturous anticipation.

"Before we begin... there’s something I must confess," he began, his voice taut but steady.

Lin Zhaoyue leaned in, her smile sharp as a dagger.

"Mmmhmm? Confess to me, husband? How delicious." Her free hand traced a possessive line down his arm.

"I currently have... a very likely feud with the royal family."

She nodded without hesitation.

"I’ve already verified the rumors. They’re not quite true. Your brother is on the run after thwarting the Crown Prince’s plan to harvest a grade four weapon. Not because he kidnapped the third Princess."

"A... heaven grade?" Fang Yuan blurted out.

Hell—his own sword barely scraped into grade three, and it still cut just fine. And the Crown Prince was about to have a heaven grade weapon?

Lin Zhaoyue leaned in, her tone almost conspiratorial. "It happened because the Third Princess was showing your brother around the palace."

Fang Yuan’s brows knit. How in the nine hells did Fang Tian even step foot in the palace, let alone...?

She pressed on, her voice lilting. "My ’friend’ told me she saw the heaven grade weapon fly out mid-refinement and... attach itself to Fang Tian.

Then poof he vanished. Probably the sword’s doing. The Crown Prince blamed the Third Princess, took her captive, and laid the rest of it at your brother’s feet. So, if you want to clear your name..."

She smiled sweetly, "...raiding the Crown Prince’s estate might be your only option."

Fang Yuan swallowed, the sound audible.

But before the weight of that settled, she laughed, light and ringing, the sound entirely out of place with the subject.

"Don’t worry, husband! We can do this. This four nascent beasts, you and me, together we’re unstoppable!"

But that didn’t quite register in his head, instead a sliver of cold relief cut through Fang Yuan’s tension.

So the Third Princess wasn’t kidnapped by Tian. He was just framed.

The "crime" itself meant little to him as survival was the only currency that mattered.

His gaze swept back to Lin Zhaoyue, standing amidst the carnage.

What she offered was more than marriage, it was an instant, terrifying alliance.

One that could sate his hunger for stability, and arm him with the strength he desperately needed.

This, he realized with chilling clarity, is the only shield strong enough right now.

Having decided, Fang Yuan turned fully to her, the movement deliberate.

He reached out and grasp her other hand.

His touch was firm, purposeful, devoid of warmth but charged with intent.

Her breath hitched, eyes widening with rapture at his sudden compliance.

"Alright then," he stated as he hold out the family heirloom ring in his right hand, his voice cutting through the ruined courtyard’s silence.

"Do you vow that you will, here and now, be the Matriarch of the Fang family?"

Lin Zhaoyue’s reaction was instantaneous.

A peal of laughter burst from her, sharp and bright as shattering glass, echoing off the broken walls.

"Oh, husband!" she gushed, swaying closer, her eyes crinkling with manic delight. "So silly! So adorably formal!"

She squeezed his hands with bone-creaking force, her laughter subsiding into a breathless, adoring giggle.

"That’s not how the binding vow goes! Not for us!"

Before Fang Yuan could react, she reversed their grip, her smaller hands engulfing his with startling strength.

One hand clamped around his wrist like an iron manacle, while the other guided his fingers with terrifying possessiveness.

She leaned in, her lips almost brushing his ear, her voice dropping to a low, intimate whisper that vibrated with feverish intensity.

It wasn’t a suggestion Instead it was a command wrapped in silk.

"Repeat after me," she breathed, the warmth of her breath ghosting over his skin.

Her eyes, locked onto his, held no room for refusal, only an ecstatic, all-consuming hunger. "I, Fang Yuan..."

Her grip on his hand tightened, physically forcing his fingers to mimic hers as she slowly, deliberately raised his hand towards her own.

"...take you, Lin Zhaoyue..." she whispered, guiding his trembling (or was it resisting?) fingers towards the ring.

Her own hand trembled, but not with nerves, with barely contained euphoria.

Her gaze never wavered from his face, drinking in every flicker of his expression as she manipulated his hand.

"...to be my wedded wife..." Her voice was a caress and a brand.

She positioned his thumb and forefinger around the cold band.

Her free hand came up, not to help, but to cradle his captive hand against her chest, over her pounding heart, as if forcing him to feel the frantic rhythm of her devotion. "...to hold and to cherish..."

She guided his hand, inexorably, towards the ring finger of her left hand.

Her touch was possessive, claiming his action as much as the ring would claim her.

"...in ruin and in reign..." she murmured, her whisper gaining fervor, "...bound by blood and bone..."

Her eyes blazed, reflecting the carnage around them as if it were candlelight. "...forsaking all others..."

The final words were a hiss of absolute possession. "...until death itself unmakes us."

She paused, her breath coming in short, excited gasps, her gaze burning into his, demanding he speak the words that would seal his fate, her hand poised to force the ring onto her finger with his.

Fang Yuan followed, his voice, cold and deliberate, echoed Lin Zhaoyue’s feverish whispers.

Each vow "bound by blood and bone... forsaking all others... until death itself unmakes us" fell from his lips like shards of ice, precise and devoid of warmth.

Yet, he spoke each of them. Word for word.

His fingers, guided by her iron grip but not resisting, slid the Fang Family heirloom ring onto her finger.

It settled against her skin and a visible tremor ran through Lin Zhaoyue, filled with pure, uncontainable ecstasy.

Her eyes widened, pupils swallowing the irises, fixed on his face with terrifying rapture.

Before the echo of his final syllable faded, she surged forward.

"My turn!" she gasped, the words tumbling out in a frantic, breathless rush, a chaotic counterpoint to his measured coldness.

"I Lin Zhaoyue take you Fang Yuan husband mine forever mine only mine blood yours bone yours life yours death yours never let go never leave always always TOGETHER!"

Then, she desperately lunge towards him.

Her hands flew to his face, fingers digging into his jaw, tilting his head down.

Her eyes, blazing with manic triumph and raw hunger, locked onto his.

There was no request, only demand, as she pressed her lips against his.

Fang Yuan didn’t evade.

He didn’t freeze.

In a move that surprised even himself, a spark ignited in the glacial depths of his eyes.

He met her.

His lips parted in deliberate, calculated indulgence.

He kissed her back.

One arm snaked around her waist, pulling her hard against him, crushing her blood-stained robes against his own.

The other hand came up and cradle the back of her head, fingers tangling roughly in her hair, anchoring her to him.

The embrace was fierce, almost violent in its intimacy, sealing the vows spoken amidst ruin.

Lin Zhaoyue melted into it with a muffered whimper of pure, unadulterated bliss.

Her frantic grip on his jaw softened, replaced by trembling fingers tracing his cheekbone.