Prologue: An Unconventional Wedding Night

That night, in a lavish mansion within the imperial capital, vibrant red lanterns hung everywhere. Crimson silk draped the grand estate, filling it with festive cheer. In the main hall, a striking red "double happiness" character adorned the wall, accompanied by half-burned scarlet candles, all radiating layers of joyous celebration.

Inside the bridal chamber—

The bride, clad in a resplendent red wedding gown, sat gracefully by the bedside. Her head was crowned with a phoenix coronet, and a red veil embroidered with dragons and phoenixes concealed her face, revealing only the snow-white curve of her neck. The flickering dragon and phoenix candles and the joyful characters pasted on the walls suffused the room with an air of happiness, mirroring the hopeful and eager anticipation swelling in her heart for the future.

*Creak—*

The door was pushed open from outside. The bride’s heart clenched tightly, her pulse quickened, and her eyes shimmered with a mixture of expectation and shyness...

But after a long moment, there was no movement.

What was happening? A flicker of confusion crossed her eyes beneath the red veil.

Why hadn’t he come to lift her veil?

Suddenly, a chill swept through her, making her shiver as a coldness seeped from her very bones!

“Ugh…”

Before she could react, a sharp pain stabbed at her neck. Darkness engulfed her vision, and she lost consciousness.

Gazing at the bride who had fainted on the bed, the man in red standing nearby—a figure both sinister and charming—showed a fleeting glimmer of pity in his eyes. That softened look quickly hardened into coldness. He cast a cold glance at the fallen bride, then turned and stepped out of the room, his toes barely touching the ground as he leapt over the mansion’s walls and vanished into the night.

About the time it takes to steep half a cup of tea, the red-clad, sinister man reappeared, this time carrying something. Upon closer inspection, it was a handsome but disheveled man, looking utterly bedraggled and dazed. His exquisite Yun brocade garments were torn in several places, and his messy hair made him appear utterly wretched.

The man in red scowled with disdain, roughly tossing the disheveled man into the bridal chamber. He scrutinized him up and down, then pinched his jaw and forced a black pill into his mouth. Not wanting the bride inside to recognize the man’s face, he frowned and rubbed a handful of incense ashes onto him, making the already downtrodden figure look even filthier, like a beggar.

Having done all this, the man in red nodded in satisfaction. He tapped the man’s forehead, watching as the internal heat stirred the man to instinctively tear at his own clothes. Then the red-clad man turned and left the bridal chamber. Before departing, he casually scattered a handful of powder emitting a faint, alluring fragrance across the room. Anyone familiar with the underworld would recognize it immediately: the lowest-grade aphrodisiac known in the martial world.

“Mm… ah…”

In a haze, the unconscious woman felt a burning heat spread through her body, as ifI'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.