What followed was passion very carefully orchestrated. Jin Mulan and Ning Jia moved with deliberate intensity, their lips finding the sensitive skin of his neck, his cheeks, the exposed portions of his chest.
They left deliberate marks, unmistakable marks that would be visible to anyone who looked at him. Luo He did not resist or guide. He simply remained still, allowing it to happen.
When it's finished, his skin bore the evidence of their ownership. Marks across his neck, his cheeks, visible evidence that he had been thoroughly claimed by his wife.
"Perfect." Luo He said, his voice carrying genuine satisfaction. "The people will understand immediately. They will see these marks and understand that you have tasted every part of me that you wish."
"The men will envy me for being treated so possesively by such a hot woman. The women will envy you for being able to do such things to me without consequence. Over all we can enjoy seeing their eyes go wild seeing the action."
He was not afraid to be publicly humiliated. In fact, this was what he genuinely enjoyed most, the knowledge that he would be seen as a weak husband, a trophy, a kept man.
The thought of palace girls being jealous of Jin Mulan's ability to mark him as she pleased, of palace men envying him for being tested as such by a genuinely gorgeous woman, truly excited him.
"The awkwardness will be exquisite," he said with genuine pleasure. "Everyone will be watching. Everyone will understand exactly what this means."
As dawn broke fully outside the chamber, the seashell's silence finally dissipated, and Luo He prepared himself for a day where he would be deliberately displayed as a woman's possession. And he would enjoy every moment of it.
The morning had progressed with military precision. The emperor of Yue was carried in an ornate carriage held aloft by six men of considerable strength.
The sedan moved with practiced grace through the palace corridors and eventually through the streets of the Wu capital.
Shu Kang walked directly beside the carriage, his sturdy frame providing visible protection. Luo He, Jin Mulan, and Ning Jia proceeded on foot, walking in deliberate formation.
They arrived at the wedding venue approximately one hour after the ceremony's scheduled start time. A tardiness that was entirely intentional, calculated to make an entrance that would command attention.
The ceremonial grounds were already occupied. The couple had arrived and were seated in their designated positions, every detail of the wedding arrangement already in place.
The guests had assembled accordingly. Other emperors positioned in places of supreme honor, counts and dukes and various nobility arranged hierarchically according to their status.
The grand imperial envoy from the Great Yang empire occupied a position of distinction, his presence suggesting that even the heaven and earth had acknowledged the significance of this event.
When the emperor of Yue entered, the entire gathering seemed to collectively absorb his presence. Everyone below the status of emperor rose immediately.
Not as a gesture of respect alone, but as an automatic response to imperial authority. Crown princes from various kingdoms stood.
Imperial envoys representing distant realms rose from their seats. Family members and representatives of significant power elevated themselves in acknowledgment.
Only a select few remained seated. The other emperors present, whose status equaled the emperor of Yue's own, and the grand imperial envoy from the Great Yang, who regarded such gestures as beneath his consideration.
Ning Jia entered behind her father, her posture perfect, her bearing regal. She walked with the confidence of someone who understood her position absolutely.
Behind her came Shu Kang, his massive semita hung across his back, sheathed in black. His presence alone seemed to compress the air in the chamber.
And then came Jin Mulan. Every eye in the gathering seemed to find her simultaneously. Her beauty was the kind that transcended mere physical attractiveness.
It was the kind that made people pause mid-conversation, mid-thought, mid-breath. Her curves were perfect. Her face was flawless. Her entire presentation suggested someone of extraordinary status and value.
But she had deliberately hidden her most striking feature. Her famous crimson red hair, which typically flowed down her back in waves that caught light and attention simultaneously.
Today it had been bound into a careful bun. When Luo He had asked her that morning why she was hiding her hair, she had given him a very humble smile.
"I don't want anyone to have bizarre thoughts about me except my beloved husband," she had replied simply. Luo He had felt a sudden surge of attraction toward her at that answer.
Not because of calculation or strategy, but because of the genuine honesty in her response. He had immediately kissed her, his lips moving against hers with genuine desire.
She had pulled back with a disappointed look. "You've messed up my makeup," she had said pointedly. He had watched entirely unrepentant as she had redone her makeup with practiced precision.
Her hands moving with the efficiency of someone who had performed this task thousands of times.
Now, as she walked into the wedding venue with Luo He positioned slightly behind and to her side, a positioning that deliberately communicated his lower status as a son-in-law.
The room seemed to split its attention between her and the man at her side.
The moment the guests below imperial status had been seated, one figure remained standing, the Crown Prince of Chu.
His recognition was immediate and unmistakable. He knew Luo He from an affair involving Luo He's sister and him self. An affair that had complicated his political position considerably.
His eyes widened slightly in shock before he processed what he was witnessing.
Luo He met his gaze directly and gave a cheeky smile.
Exactly the kind of expression expected from a live-in son-in-law, from someone occupying a position of deliberate subordination.
But beneath that smile was a clear message, communicated through the intensity of the eye contact, "Do not reveal my identity."
The Crown Prince of Chu understood immediately. His eyes darted sideways, his entire body language shifting into awkwardness as he processed the command implicit in that single look.
He seated himself slowly, his composure visibly disturbed. But the grand imperial envoy from the Great Yang Empire had not bothered to rise at all.
He was far too preoccupied with his wine glass, his attention seemingly elsewhere. When he finally set the glass down and allowed his gaze to move across the assembled guests, his eyes landed on Jin Mulan's figure.
Something shifted in his expression. His eyes tracked her not as a person, but as a possession in transit. His gaze began at her ankles, dragged upward with insolent deliberation.
They paused at the curve of her waist, lingering there for a few beats too long before continuing their slow, possessive crawl toward her throat.
As his gaze followed their path, he ran his tongue across his lower lip in a wet, almost reptilian gesture, as though savoring something he already believed belonged to him.
He smiled. It was not a warm smile. It was a smile that knew the price of everything and the value of nothing.
"Mulan!" He said, drawing her name out like a sip of wine he had no intention of swallowing quickly. "I've heard so much about you. Though I must say, the stories didn't do justice."
His eyes made another pass, shoulders, hips, breasts, thighs, her long legs, then her snake like figure all at once, as though cataloging inventory.
He leaned forward, elbows on the table. He didn't touch her. He didn't need to. His presence alone was a violation, filling her space with his hungry gaze and the weight of his entitlement.
When he licked his lips once again, it was not nervousness. It was appetite. Openly displayed. Entirely unashamed.
The greedy smile never left his face as the hunger in his eyes settled upon her once more. He made no attempt to conceal it. If anything, he wanted her to notice.
He wanted her to see the ugly desire lurking behind those aging eyes, to know that he was shamelessly coveting her in broad daylight, without a shred of dignity or restraint.
Jin Mulan noticed. Was she unsettled?
Yes.
But did she allow even the slightest hint of it to reach her expression?
No.
Instead, she calmly reached for Luo He's hand, her movements smooth and deliberate. Her fingers slipped between his and held his hand with quiet confidence.
Her grip firm and almost possessive. Then, with the faintest lift of her chin and the ghost of a smile, she met the old predator's gaze head-on.
Her silent message could not have been clearer. Dream all you want about my devilish figure, fantasies if you must but only one man in this world truly gets to do what he wants with it.
Not a flicker of shame crossed her face.
Not a trace of fear. Only absolute certainty.
Her intertwined fingers around Luo He's hand were more than a gesture of affection. They were a declaration. A boundary that no amount of wealth, influence, or authority could cross.
The old man's hungry eyes promised pursuit. Jin Mulan's calm smile promised that every fantasy he entertained would remain exactly what they were, fantasies.