"How are you resting, Young Mistress?"
Housekeeper Sister Yu's voice yanked Gu Chenghuan back from the throes of passion. She bit down hard on her lip, stifling any sound that might escape.
"N-no..."
The sprawling vanity table was a mess of scattered makeup—foundations and eyeshadows crushed beneath the weight of the half-naked woman sprawled across it. The voluminous wedding dress was half-pushed down, its skirt hiked up, while the man's powerful hips drove into her relentlessly, again and again.
Li Yebe caressed Gu Chenghuan's face with deceptive tenderness, pulling the wedding dress fabric from between her clenched teeth. "Be good," he murmured, his voice low and commanding. "Open your mouth. Answer her."
"Ah—!"
Another brutal thrust arched her back, forcing her head to tilt back, lips parting in a silent gasp before a broken moan tore from her throat.
"Young Mistress? Are you all right?"
The knocking grew more insistent. A rough hand seized her chin, tilting it up.
"My dear sister-in-law," Li Yebe taunted, his grip tightening, "has my brother ever seen you like this—so wanton, so desperate? If you don't answer, she might just unlock the door and walk in."
"I-I'll be ready soon... Just... just a moment—ah!"
Another ruthless thrust wrenched a cry from her.
"Young Mistress, are you sure everything's alright?"
Sister Yu's voice was thick with concern. The metallic click of the doorknob turning sent a jolt of panic through the room.
"I'm... I'm fine, just bumped into something. I'll be right out."
Gu Chenghuan's skin flushed a deepening shade of pink.
Despite being forced, her body's reaction... was something she couldn't resist.
"Understood, Young Madam. Please hurry—Madam and the young miss are waiting."
The sound of footsteps faded outside the door. Just as she let out a relieved breath, her body was suddenly lifted into the air, the only support being the scorching heat of his touch...
"Ah—!"
Panicked, she instinctively wrapped her arms tightly around Li Yebei's neck, her legs tangling around his waist.
Gu Chenghuan had no idea just how suggestive her posture was.
"What's this? Can't bear to let go of me, sister-in-law?"
His voice dripped with mockery. "You could try the same with my brother. Who knows? Maybe you’ll make him like women again and give up men for good."
Her body was flung back onto the cold surface of the desk, but this time, Gu Chenghuan twisted away in a swift motion, desperately clutching the last scraps of fabric to cover herself. "Li Yebei, I'm your sister-in-law!"
"Sister-in-law?" His lips curled into a humorless smirk, his sharp eyes devoid of warmth—only a seething, unmistakable hatred. "Tell me, what kind of sister-in-law gets this intimate with her brother-in-law on her wedding night? Hmm?"
Gu Chenghuan's flushed face drained of color, leaving only a ghostly pallor behind.
Li Yebei's icy voice cut through the air like a blade.
"Gu Chenghuan, this is the debt you owe."
Indeed, on her wedding day, she hadn't even laid eyes on her husband. Instead, she had been violated repeatedly by his younger brother, while the man she married never once appeared.
If only... she had known the truth sooner. She would have rather sold herself for money than ever step foot into the Li family.
"Li Yebei, what you've done to me today should be more than enough to repay the wrong I committed three years ago. Whatever you've taken from me now should settle the debt!"
Her chin was wrenched upward again, the pain so sharp Gu Chenghuan felt her jaw might shatter.
"Repay?" His warm breath brushed against her ear as a cold glint flashed in his eyes. "Remember this, Gu Chenghuan—what you owe me can never be repaid, not even in a lifetime."
"You're nothing but a cheap whore who sold herself for money, with no name to call your own."
With that, Li Yebei straightened his clothes briskly and strode out, slamming the door behind him.
The vast room was left empty, the silence heavy with creeping cold.
She didn’t understand how things had come to this. Li Yebei... was the man she once thought she would marry.