Transmigration; Married to My Ex-Fiancé's Uncle-Chapter 254; Lu Yuze 6

From the ensuite bathroom, the sound of the shower stopped. A new, nervous energy jolted through Shuyin. He’s coming out.

Her brother’s laughter was a final, whispering ripple. "Then go. Be ordinary, sister. For once in your eternal life, try being simply, maddeningly, human. See how it fits."

Her brother’s teasing voice was still a shimmer in her mind. Try being simply, maddeningly, human.

Panic, hot and unfamiliar, fluttered in her chest. She couldn’t face him, not after the failed enchantment, not after the blush, not while feeling so unraveled.

With a swift, fluid motion, she slid down from her seated position and stretched out flat on the bed. In the same instant, she snatched the edge of the heavy silk duvet and pulled it up and over her head, plunging herself into a dark, muffled cave of fabric. She lay perfectly still, holding her breath, pretending to be a shapeless mound of sleep.

The bathroom door opened.

A gust of warmer, steam-laden air washed into the cooler bedroom, carrying his scent, the smell of soap and water, and the clean, male skin. She heard the soft pad of his bare feet on the floor. The footsteps paused, as if taking in the sight: the empty center of the bed, the conspicuous, human-shaped lump buried under the covers at one side.

Beneath the duvet, Shuyin squeezed her eyes shut. Be ordinary. Be asleep. It was a pathetic ruse, and she knew it. A princess of the Deep, hiding under a blanket.

The footsteps moved again, not towards the bed, but across the room. The quiet snick of a fridge door opening, the glug of water being poured, the sound of him drinking. Each normal, mundane sound was amplified in her self-imposed darkness.

Then, the footsteps returned. The mattress dipped heavily, right beside her buried form. She felt his weight, his heat, through the layers of silk and down.

A moment of silence stretched, taut and knowing.

Then, his voice, low and husky with residual steam, gently amused, cut through her fabric shield. "If you wrap yourself up like this..." She felt his fingers find the edge of the duvet near her shoulder. With a firm but gentle tug, he began to peel it down, exposing first the crown of her head, then her closed eyes, her nose, her mouth... "What would happen if you lose air circulation?" The covers were drawn down to her chest, cool air washing over her flushed face. "Do you want my name to suddenly become a jinx? ’All his women die under his care’?"

Exposed, her childish hiding place revealed, she could only cling to a facade of sleep-turned-annoyance. She kept her eyes shut tight and emitted a grumpy, dismissive humph, turning her head away on the pillow. "Hmph! Who told you I can die like that?"

She felt his chuckle more than heard it, a soft vibration through the mattress. Then, his fingers were on her face, not to force her to look, but to gently, so gently, brush the hair tangled from the fabric away from her cheek and tuck it behind her ear.

The touch was her undoing. It was tender. It saw through her, and it was kind.

Before she could combust from the sheer humanity of it, his weight left the bed. She heard him walk away, toward the closet, granting her the mercy of his retreat, leaving her lying there with her eyes still closed, her cheek burning where his fingers had been, more exposed by his kindness than she had ever been by any demand.

The soft sounds from the walk-in closet were a lifeline, giving her space to reassemble herself. Fabric rustled, the rich, silent whisper of expensive silk. A bottle uncapped, releasing the subtle, woody fragrance of sandalwood oil into the air. She heard the smooth, practiced sound of his hands spreading it over his skin, the final act of preparation before having a meeting.

By the time he returned to the bedroom, Shuyin had managed to arrange herself into a more plausible pose of repose. She lay on her side, facing the center of the bed, the duvet pulled to her shoulders, her breathing deep and even. Her eyes were closed, long dark lashes fanned against her cheeks, a perfect picture of a serene slumber.

Lu Yuze paused at the foot of the bed. His gaze swept over her, taking in the elegant line of her silhouette, the deliberate stillness. A knowing smile, too faint for her to sense, touched his lips. He didn’t call out the performance.

Instead, he moved to the window, his silhouette a dark cutout against the city’s glittering nocturne. He stood there for a long moment, not looking at her, but his presence was a quiet anchor in the room. Then, with a soft click, he dimmed the remaining lights, plunging the space into a deep, velvety blue gloom lit only by the distant glow of Street lights.

The bed dipped again, this time with his full weight. He settled in on his side of the vast mattress, leaving a respectful, cavernous space between them. The clean, warm scent of him, soap, sandalwood, and something uniquely him, drifted across the emptiness.

Silence, thick and textured, filled the room. It was no longer the tense silence of a standoff, but the profound quiet of two beings sharing a space, awake and aware in the dark.

Minutes stretched. Shuyin focused on keeping her breathing slow, on not moving a single muscle. It was more exhausting than any royal ceremony.

Just as she settled into the fragile peace of their separate spaces, his arm stretched across the vast, cool expanse of the bed. His hand found the curve of her waist through the duvet, not a question, but a quiet claim. With a gentle, inexorable pull, he drew her across the silk sheets until her back was against his chest, her body nestled into the cradle of his.

That scent, sandalwood, clean skin, and the lingering, warm essence of him, immediately enveloped her, a fragrant tide that washed over her nerves and calmed the subtle, defensive tremor she hadn’t even known was there.