Ten Rules to Bind Her Heart - Chapter 49

On the black sheets, the girl knelt obediently in the center of the bed, her entire body trembling.

She wore a red silk slip dress she had found in the back of the wardrobe. Its brilliant crimson made her already pale skin appear luminous.

But the dress was not the most striking thing about her.

A wide red ribbon was tied around her neck. She had removed it from a formal gown.

She had practiced in front of the mirror for a long time before barely managing a neat bow.

Now her hands rested one over the other on her knees, and she bowed her head like an exquisite gift box waiting to be opened.

This was the sight that greeted Shen Yu when he opened the door.

He had just returned and listened to Ken’s briefing on freight traffic along the border.

The top two buttons of his shirt were undone, leaving the collar loose and lending his weariness a feral edge.

Shen Yu switched on the dim wall lamp by the door. Amid the interweaving light and shadow, his tall body cast an oppressive silhouette across the wall.

But the instant he stepped into the bedroom, he stopped.

His sharp eyes narrowed. His gaze passed through the gloom and settled on the… red bundle on the bed.

The sight struck with overwhelming force.

Black sheets. Fiery silk. Snow-white skin.

And that bow.

“Mr… Mr. Shen.”

At his entrance, the girl spoke timidly.

Shen Yu did not answer. He remained in the doorway, his bottomless black eyes studying her without expression.

As though examining some incomprehensible creature.

The air seemed to freeze.

Every second of silence was torture to Xia Zhiyao.

What was Mr. Shen looking at?

Did he dislike… the way she had dressed?

Shen Yu casually closed the door. With long strides, he crossed to the leather armchair and sat. He crossed his legs and lounged back, yet the immense pressure radiating from him remained.

Another long silence.

Xia Zhiyao kept her head bowed. She did not dare meet his eyes and had no idea what expression he wore.

“What is this?”

The man’s deep voice broke the deathly stillness. His tone revealed neither pleasure nor anger.

“I… I only wanted to thank you, Mr. Shen…”

Xia Zhiyao answered anxiously, her cheeks burning.

No matter what else was true, he had saved her.

And he had saved her parents.

That was an enormous debt.

“Oh? Thank me?”

Shen Yu gave a quiet laugh.

“By wrapping yourself up like a firecracker?”

Xia Zhiyao was speechless.

A… firecracker?

She had spent two hours preparing herself mentally, enduring crushing embarrassment to dress like this.

And to him, she looked like… a firecracker?

Mortifying shame rushed to her head. Xia Zhiyao’s face turned so red it seemed ready to drip blood, and tears gathered in her eyes.

“Come here,” Shen Yu ordered lazily.

Xia Zhiyao did not dare delay. She immediately scrambled from the bed and stepped barefoot onto the carpet.

Her legs had weakened from kneeling too long. She stumbled as her feet touched the floor and nearly fell.

She did not dare remain standing. Like an obedient puppy, she edged to Shen Yu’s feet and knelt with practiced ease.

Shen Yu lowered his gaze to the girl kneeling beside his combat boots.

Only now, at close range, did he notice that the little thing had even put on makeup.

A hint of pale crimson colored the corners of her eyes, and some sort of sparkling gloss coated her lips, making her look as though she had stolen a piece of candy.

But the application was clumsy. Her eyeliner was thick and crooked, clearly the work of a novice.

Awkward and inexperienced, yet unmistakably a desperate attempt to please him.

Shen Yu reached out with one large hand. His rough fingertips seized her chin and forced her face up.

“Who taught you to thank me like this?”

Shen Yu frowned. His thumb pressed hard against her lips, wiping away some of the offending gloss.

Tears sprang to Xia Zhiyao’s eyes from the pain, but she did not dare recoil.

Forced to tip her head back, she stared at the man’s stern jaw, unable to stop trembling.

She did not dare say it was Ji Chen.

Would that count as… betrayal?

Ji Chen might be a monster, but he was still Shen Yu’s cousin.

She stammered for a long time without producing an answer.

“You don’t want to tell me?”

Shen Yu did not possess that much patience.

His fingers slid from her jaw to the bright red bow around her neck.

He lifted it slightly.

“Mm…”

Xia Zhiyao was forced to tilt her chin even higher, exposing her vulnerable throat entirely to his control.

“It… it was Mr. Ji!”

Her defenses collapsed, and Xia Zhiyao cried out through tears.

“I asked Mr. Ji how I should thank you, and he said… he said…”

“What did he say?”

“He said I should dress myself as a gift, and you would definitely… definitely like it…”

Her voice dwindled until it was scarcely louder than a mosquito.

Shen Yu released her.

As expected, it was that troublemaker who delighted in creating chaos.

Apparently, the brat had not been given enough work lately. Otherwise, he would never have found time to interfere in Shen Yu’s personal affairs.

Shen Yu looked at the frightened little quail cowering before him, and the faintest hint of a smile entered his eyes.

“Oh? You obey him so readily?”

“Since you obey him so readily…”

Shen Yu’s fingers followed the line of her jaw downward and stopped at one of the impossibly thin straps over her shoulder. He tugged gently.

“Why didn’t you wear even less?”

Xia Zhiyao went rigid. She did not dare reveal the slightest resistance. Shame surged through her until her entire body burned.

This outfit was already the limit of what she could endure.

Shen Yu studied the red corners of her eyes, where the tracks of her tears had not yet dried.

He had encountered Ji Chen downstairs.

Somewhat nervously, Ji Chen had mentioned that an interrogation in the greenhouse today appeared to have frightened a stray kitten who wandered in.

“You went to the greenhouse today?” Shen Yu abruptly changed the subject, his voice deepening.

Xia Zhiyao’s heart jumped.

He knew.

As expected, he knew everything.

In an instant, the severed fingers, screams, blood, and black roses…

Every bloody image from the greenhouse flooded her mind.

It was over.

Would they… kill her to silence her?

She nodded. She tried to restrain herself, but large tears still fell.

“I was wrong, Mr. Shen… I shouldn’t have wandered around… I promise I won’t do it again…”

“You saw it?” Shen Yu asked.

Xia Zhiyao did not dare conceal the truth. Choking on her sobs, she answered haltingly,

“I… I saw… the fingers… the fertilizer…”

Her words were incoherent. She was clearly terrified out of her wits.

Shen Yu looked at her vacant, frightened face and sighed.

Stupid puppy.

Such a tiny amount of courage.

He leaned forward and wrapped one large hand around her waist.

Xia Zhiyao gave a soft cry. In the next instant, he lifted her.

Before she could understand what was happening, she was seated on Shen Yu’s thigh.

The position was extraordinarily intimate and painfully awkward.

The distance between them vanished, their breaths mingling.

She could feel the hard muscle of his thigh and the warmth seeping through the thin layers of fabric.

Shen Yu’s broad palm was warm. It glided slowly down the line of her spine, feeling the subtle curve trembling beneath his hand.

But when his hand reached the hem of her dress and touched the cool, delicate skin beyond it, he abruptly stopped.

The air fell still.

Shen Yu’s palm rested against the outside of her thigh.

Farther inward, there was only smooth skin, with no fabric in the way.

Nothing at all.

His brow lifted. Meeting Xia Zhiyao’s panic-stricken eyes, he showed a trace of surprise.

“Nothing underneath again?”