Today's update is delivered! Thank you, brothers and sisters! Thank you for supporting Xin Ai Zhou! With all your strength, the Evil Lord has achieved an unprecedented rush to third place! Although it might be brief, I am satisfied! Truly, thank you all! I am so overwhelmed I’m practically incoherent, brothers and sisters! I... I am proud of you all!)

In Tiannan City.

After Jun Mo Xie departed from Guan Qing Han’s tent. The utterly exhausted Guan Qing Han lay with her eyes closed upon her **. Before, with the Young Master present, her spirit had been held taut, her mind singularly focused; how could she have paid attention to anything else? The moment the Young Master left, Qing Han’s composure instantly slackened. All the fatigue and pain attacked her at once, and only then did she realize that every inch of her body ached, especially the intimate area below, which felt as if it had been torn asunder. Even the slightest movement would elicit excruciating pain.

It was all the wicked rival’s doing—why did it hurt so terribly!

Guan Qing Han felt completely drained of strength, not wishing to move even a single little finger on her entire body. Two clear streams of tears were tracing paths down her cheeks. It wasn't that Qing Han regretted helping the Young Master vent his medicinal urges, nor did she resent Jun Mo Xie; it was simply that it hurt too much. In this private space, tears were the only means she had to alleviate the agony.

Undoubtedly, during that sudden, violent storm, although Guan Qing Han had been passively enduring and psychologically prepared, she had inevitably exhausted every ounce of her physical strength and every shred of her profound energy!

Even now, in this moment, she remained somewhat dazed, as if that vigorous body, seemingly tireless as a wild beast, was still charging across her, relentlessly and savagely colliding.

Now, she felt that every part of her, from bone to muscle, was incapable of generating any strength whatsoever. Guan Qing Han was surprised that she could even manage to move her eyeballs. Those two streams of tears were almost the only reaction she could muster.

In truth, when she had expended her last reserves of strength, striving to preserve her final shreds of dignity and pride, and stood up to dress in Jun Mo Xie’s tent, she was already in this state.

Yet, she absolutely refused to display her weakness before Jun Mo Xie. She told herself repeatedly: This was just a mistake. In order to save him, to save the only bloodline of the Jun family’s third generation, there was no other choice. After this is over, it will be as if a spring dream left no trace; there will be no entanglement, nor any need for entanglement.

Thoughts raced, but she could not convince herself.

“You are my woman! That is a fact!”

The domineering look on Jun Mo Xie’s face and the unquestionable tone when he uttered those words flashed through her mind like a vision, replaying again and again.

“When the dust settles, I will marry you,” That was still that man’s voice.

Was it a promise? A wish?

Was it not a mistake? Was it?

But why am I so afraid?

And why is there a flicker of shyness and joy in my heart?

I… I… I actually engaged in that kind of intimacy with my former junior brother-in-law… and even surrendered the virginity I had preserved for twenty-one years. Yet, I feel hardly any sense of guilt.

Even though it was to save the only bloodline of the Jun family’s third generation, why did I not seek death afterward to appease the world? Why did I not use my life to protect the honor of both families? I never even entertained the thought! Why?

Am I actually an shameless, promiscuous woman? Why?

Lying quietly on the **, Guan Qing Han’s thoughts surged like a relentless tide, seemingly making her entirely forget her physical discomfort. A flush suddenly spread across her face, then turned pale, then crimson again, all the way to her neck, cycling rapidly.

Two streams of tears slowly slid down from the corners of her eyes once more, soaking into her satin-smooth, dark hair.

But this time, it was absolutely not because of the pain!

This night was destined to be sleepless.

She didn't know how long had passed. She heard someone speaking outside, but Guan Qing Han paid no mind. At a time like this, who had the inclination to care about trivial matters?

However, even if you had no desire for business, business would come knocking. The tent flap was suddenly lifted, and a head cautiously peeked in, glancing furtively around before tiptoeing inside.

“Sister Qing Han, are you alright?” Dugu Xiao Yi’s face was a mask of shame and distress, her eyes brimming with tears as she carefully sat down beside the bed. In the space of a single night, the little girl’s physique appeared to have visibly shrunk by a whole size.

The little girl was born into one of the foremost giant families in the entire empire. Yet, among the younger generation of this massive family, save for herself, everyone else was male. Dugu Xiao Yi, truly a singular bloom among a thousand greens, enjoyed an unimaginable degree of doting and pampering.

In this era, the separation between men and women was strictly enforced! Even ordinary girls from common families were unusually demure and tightly guarded before marriage, lest any small rumor tarnish their reputation. How much more so for a super-clan like the Dugu family?

If nothing else, even the household servants had to be constantly vigilant; if a servant dared to speak an inappropriate word that reached the ears of the Madam or the Young Ladies, it would be an