"What are you doing?" It was a wall slam. She pushed both hands against his chest to stop him from getting closer.
"Good girls shouldn't be looking at things like this," Indigo said, his forehead leaning against hers, breath hot and heavy. Aenwyn tilted her head back uncomfortably to avoid him.
Hey, hey, that's enough. This kind of flirtation isn't right. Don't think I won't hit you just because you're handsome. Aenwyn glared at him.
But she was naturally sweet, and even when she glared, she looked adorably charming. Indigo's eyes moved to her blushing red lips.
"Indigo, don't think that just because you saved me, I won't punch you," Aenwyn said, then realized she was speaking in Huaguo language. But how do you say "punch" here? She couldn't remember, so she simply raised her fist to try it out.
The message was clear.
Indigo laughed, his chest rising and falling with it. His laugh was deep and sexy. In that moment, he didn't look like a boy at all, but a real man.
Aenwyn sensed danger and tried to push him away to escape. But he pulled her back and kissed her with cold lips.
She thought it would be a long and passionate kiss, but his lips just stayed there, not moving.
She blinked her big eyes. That's it? It felt like being forced, but halfway through, the guy turned out to be... impotent. Awkward.
Indigo's lips pressed against hers, soft and fragrant. His mind turned to mush, his body frozen in place. Only after she pushed him away did he blush furiously and hug her tightly.
How could a virgin boy know how to kiss? The pictures in those erotic books never taught that. He had flipped through those books so many times lately, always thinking about Aenwyn, unable to stop unless he released his desire.
His face looked a bit pitiful. "Aenwyn, will you marry me?"
Will we what? She didn't understand one word in the middle. Why did he sound so pitiful?
Let's be clear she was the one being forced.
Aenwyn looked up at the boy, only to have her face cupped and kissed on the forehead and eyelid. "I'll wait for you," he said.
Aenwyn was completely confused. Wait for me? She didn't understand the words, but she could see the meaning in his eyes.
Indigo confessed again.
After finishing today's vocabulary lesson, she went back to her room and drank a huge gulp of cold tea.
She couldn't stay here anymore. Really couldn't.
It's not that she couldn't meet any of Indigo's requests, but she was a heartless girl. No matter what, she couldn't just use someone and then run. He saved her, and now she'd repay kindness with betrayal?
But she didn't want to stay by his side forever.
After sending the girl back to her room, Indigo returned to the study. He stared at the delicately framed sketch on the table, lost in thought.
He had never seen a portrait like this before. The face on the paper looked almost alive, the craftsmanship was stunning, almost magical.
Today, he had really wanted to take her right then. But seeing the refusal in her eyes, he stopped. A treasure from heaven shouldn't be treated that way.
He would marry her, make her his one and only wife, let her walk under the sun with pride.
Even if that meant going back to the disgusting family estate.
Indigo picked up a brush, carefully wrote a letter, and sealed it with wax.
He left the study and handed it to a servant. "Have someone deliver this to the capital immediately."
Uncle Zhong arrived just in time to witness the scene. "Young master, is that a letter for them?" he asked with surprise.
"Yes," Indigo replied without saying more.
Uncle Zhong's eyes filled with tears. "Good, good." He knew deep down, this must be thanks to Miss Aenwyn. A girl like her could never belong in a remote little town like this she had to return someday.
In just a few days, all kinds of people had come asking about Miss Aenwyn. A dark glint flashed in Uncle Zhong's eyes.
"Is everything arranged over there?" Indigo asked. He had become cautious after meeting that playboy from the Wen family on the road. A few days ago, he had Uncle Zhong quietly find a young official to be placed in the household as a cover.
And just after the official arrived, Haozhou showed up at the door.
It's not thieves breaking in that's scary it's thieves who keep staring. You want someone to look at? Fine, I'll give you one. Indigo's face turned cold.
"Young master, don't worry. I've arranged everything perfectly. We fooled them this time." Seeing Indigo in a bad mood, Uncle Zhong changed the subject. "The red fruits from Huzhou have already been sent on fast horses."
Huzhou has lots of rain and sunshine, perfect for growing red fruits. Sweet and tart, they're famous in Dongling.
"Great, send them to Aenwyn right away," Indigo said, delighted. She had been losing weight and had no appetite lately, and he felt sorry for her.
Although these fruits weren't rare, they spoiled easily. Outside of Huzhou, it was hard to find them fresh.
To keep them from rotting, Indigo spent a fortune hiring riders to use the horses in his back courtyard. They took turns day and night, changing horses, rushing non stop.
They even exhausted a few of the thousand mile horses just to make sure the fruits arrived within two days.
The fruit was picked with branches attached and kept cold with ice the entire way. When it arrived, it was incredibly fresh.
Maybe soon, stories about Indigo's grand gestures would spread through Citong Town.
Uncle Zhong smiled. "No need for your orders, young master. I already sent them over." He thought for a moment and added, "The dresses from the silk bureau in the capital are also on the way."
The silk bureau in the capital is basically a semi official organization, selling only women's clothing, mainly for noble ladies and palace attendants.
But if you had enough silver, you could still buy from them, since those women eventually married out of the palace.
Their clothes were luxurious and expensive, adored by women all over the land. For someone with Indigo's wealth, they were quite pricey.
But Indigo didn't even blink as he ordered five sets for Aenwyn. Strangely, even frugal and stingy Uncle Zhong didn't see anything wrong with it.
This crazy world.
It was truly a crazy world. Aenwyn flipped through the book she had brought with her, her face growing darker. It was a travel journal.
It told the story of a nobleman named Dongfang traveling across the Qianchu continent, mostly describing the landscapes and local customs, with some personal commentary from the author.
At first, she found it quite enjoyable, despite the vertical traditional text being hard on the eyes, requiring some guesswork. She snacked on some fruit while reading, still able to follow along.
She had no idea what kind of fruit it was, but it tasted pretty good. Thin skin, lots of flesh, sweet and sour. Not bad at all.
But soon, she couldn't eat anymore.
This chapter talked about how Dongfang picked up a woman during his travels. The word used here was "picked up," not "met."
Aenwyn thought she had read it wrong. How could a person be something you "pick up"? That was not an object. Then a large portion of the text described how stunning the woman looked and how much Dongfang was enchanted by her, which annoyed Aenwyn so much she skipped ahead.
Then it said he took the woman. Took her?
Dongfang even described the process in great detail, so vivid and graphic it was like modern high-rated erotica.
What kind of nonsense was this? He met a woman and then forced himself on her? Wasn't he supposed to be a noble and refined man? What confused Aenwyn even more was that, when the woman's family showed up later, Dongfang wrote that he kindly returned her to them.
Pay attention to that, kindly. He forced her and then called it kind? Wouldn't her family beat him up?
Not only did they not beat him, both sides had a very friendly conversation, and the woman's family even thanked him.
Their daughter was assaulted and they thanked the man who did it?
Later, it said that because of this incident, Dongfang's conduct was praised by local officials. Those who knew what happened even complimented him heavily, and his fame spread far and wide.
"Pah!" Aenwyn spat. Was everyone here crazy? Or did she read it wrong? She had no appetite for the fruit anymore.
Aenwyn carefully reread the passage several times, growing more and more agitated.
She took a deep breath and forced herself to keep reading.
Further on, it said that after the woman returned home, she was punished. The reason was because she XX grade was a female concubine. And because she feared pain, she hadn't gone to the authorities to update her XX seal, and had run off, ending up being picked up by someone. That was wrong upon wrong.
The XX parts were words she didn't recognize, unfamiliar and key terms.
At the end of the travel journal, it said the woman's family went home sighing, saying, "Thank goodness Master Dongfang is of noble character and let her go. Otherwise, our family would've suffered a big financial loss and had to pay damages to someone else's family."
Aenwyn felt restless after reading it. She closed the book and lay on her bed, thinking it over.
Let her go, suffer a big loss, pay someone else? Why would you need to pay if someone ran off? And what were those two unfamiliar words?
As night deepened, Aenwyn connected this with her recent observations and came to a disturbing conclusion.
In this place, women might hold extremely low status. They could even be bought and sold.
She couldn't sleep. Biting her lip, she got up in the middle of the night. By moonlight through the window, she wrote those two strange words on her drawing paper.
She had a gut feeling they were important.
The next day in the study room, they practiced writing.
Indigo wore his usual white robes, clean and elegant like a flowering jade tree. His every movement was graceful. In Aenwyn's eyes, he looked like a peacock showing off.
Lately, this guy had been dressing more and more extravagantly.
Indigo, as usual, guided Aenwyn's hand in writing, his big hand covering her small one. His white robe and black hair intertwined with her scarlet clothes and curly hair at the waist.
The atmosphere was warm and dreamy.
"This character is Jun. Listen to how I pronounce it" he said gently and patiently, next to the character was a simple drawing for explanation. His handsome face carried a refined smile, and now and then, he would lightly kiss the top of Aenwyn's head. "Repeat after me."
"Didn't I already learn Jun?" Aenwyn grumbled. "Indigo, I memorized your whole name on the first day."
"Oh, I must've misremembered" Indigo replied smoothly. "Then let's learn the other two characters."
Rolling up his long sleeves, he moved the brush across the paper with graceful movements full of noble air.
Two large bold characters appeared in deep black ink.
From Aenwyn's professional perspective as an artist, Indigo's calligraphy was excellent. Strong and powerful, no hesitation at all, and full of unique style.
He wrote, "Heart's joy." She recognized them.
Aenwyn silently cursed him for being shameless. She had seen people confess before, but never like this, doing it all the time. Weren't ancient people supposed to be subtle? Where was the subtlety in this? He was the boldest of all.
Heart's joy, it meant liking someone, loving someone.
Indigo looked at her with a slight smile. "Come on, say it with me to practice pronunciation."
"I am fond of you."
Aenwyn looked up at him. She had misunderstood. He wasn't trying to confess to her. He wanted her to confess to him.
"I am fond of you" Indigo repeated, eyes full of anticipation.
Trying to trick me? No way.
"I don't want to learn this way." She changed the subject, shaking Indigo's arm, pouting. "Okay? Let's learn in another way."
Indigo had no resistance to her acting cute like that. When she clung to him and looked up with those soft eyes, he could give her anything. Although he was disappointed not to hear her say she loved him, watching her act spoiled was worth it.
"You, alright then." Indigo tapped her nose and chuckled.
Aenwyn casually picked up a book from Indigo's desk. It looked like a serious scripture, the kind he often read.
She pointed to a character, "How do you read this one?"
"That's the character for city. But if you only learn pronunciation, you won't understand its meaning" Indigo replied. His main goal was to teach her to speak, not just recognize characters.
"Nope, I want to learn this way." Aenwyn looked at him pitifully, her watery eyes full of complaint.
"Alright, alright, just for today. No next time. From now on, we go back to the picture method" Indigo gave in.
"Mhmm, you're the best, Indigo" she smiled brightly, hugging his arm.
And so, she pointed, he read. Slowly, she broke down the two unknown words and finally understood their meanings.
Grade, seal.
Women had grades and seals? She guessed she'd have to go out and see for herself to fully understand this society.
But she had a feeling, he wouldn't let her go out.
Aenwyn looked into Indigo's eyes, full of possessiveness. In his eyes, she was like something that belonged solely to him, his feelings so intense they were frightening.
Soon enough, Aenwyn got her chance to leave.