Transmigration; Married to My Ex-Fiancé's Uncle-Chapter 249; Lu Yuze 1

The quiet in the children’s rooms was thick and deep. Lu Yuze stood over Yuyan’s bed, his movements methodical as he smoothed the blanket to her shoulders. His fingers pressed to the delicate pulse point in her neck, steady, reassuringly normal. Yet he didn’t move. He lingered, watching the peaceful rise and fall of her chest, as if anchoring himself in the proof of her well-being.

Across the room, Shuyin finished tucking in the little boy. The child was already asleep, his hand curled into a tiny fist against the pillow. "Really so heavy," she muttered softly to herself, a faint smile touching her lips as she straightened the ache from her back.

She moved toward the door, the plush carpet silencing her steps. In the doorway, as she turned to leave, his hand shot out and caught hers.

His grip was too tight, a band of heat and unyielding pressure.

"What’s wrong?" She tried to pull away, but his fingers were locked.

He didn’t answer. His expression was shuttered, carved from stone in the dim hallway light. Without a word, he pulled her out, closing Yuyan’s door with a silence that felt more deliberate than any slam. Then his pace changed. His strides down the hall were quick, purposeful, dragging her alongside him. His palm burned against hers.

Shuyin stumbled slightly, her mind racing. What is the matter with him?

He stopped at the master bedroom door, used the fingerprint scanner with a sharp beep, and pulled her inside. The heavy door sighed shut behind them, sealing them in the luxurious, shadow-draped room. Before she could speak, before she could even draw a full breath, his mouth was on hers.

It was not a kiss of affection, but of possession, urgent, almost desperate. His hands found her waist, fingers digging in as he dragged her flush against him, eliminating any space, any pretense of distance.

Long Chen.

The realization clicked into place with cold clarity. The way Lu Yuze had gone utterly still during that conversation in the corridor, the subtle tension that had corded the muscles of his shoulders when Long Chen’s charming smile had found her. He’d said he believed her explanation about their past. Clearly, he hadn’t. This was the silent, seething aftermath.

She planted her hands on his chest and pushed. "Lu Yuze....."

He didn’t relent, his mouth moving to her jaw, her throat, as if trying to brand her, to overwrite a ghost.

Anger, swift and clean, ignited in her veins. She twisted, using a shift in balance he didn’t expect, and reversed their positions until it was his back against the solid wood of the door. Her eyes flashed up at him in the gloom. "This isn’t what we agreed to."

"I know." His voice was rough, stripped bare.

"Don’t blame me for not loving you back. You agreed to this arrangement."

"I know that too." His gaze was dark, turbulent. His hands were already moving again, sliding back to her waist, pulling her hips against his. "But you’re still my wife. Legally. Completely. I just haven’t given you the wedding yet."

She stopped fighting, though every muscle in her body remained wire-tight. "We need to renegotiate."

"Renegotiate what?" A dangerous softness entered his tone.

"Those rules. Your rules. I had two conditions, money and freedom. I got both. I cured Yuyan. We’re done."

The air in the room shifted, grew charged and thin. His arms became iron bands around her, and when he spoke, his voice dropped to something low and perilous. "Done? Who said that was an option?" He leaned closer, his breath mingling with hers. "You wanted this marriage, remember? You asked for it. So now you’re stuck with me. The only way out is if one of us dies."

She went utterly still, the finality of his words chilling her. "Why does it have to be death? Why is love so... violent with you people? Betrayal, murder, is this really worth it?" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"It’s not violence." His lips brushed hers again, softer this time, a stark contrast to his words. "It’s loyalty. It’s wanting to build something that lasts. Something that can’t be broken."

A pause stretched, taut and fragile. His forehead came to rest against hers, the gesture unexpectedly weary.

"Shuyin." His voice had changed, quieter, almost fragile, the earlier rage banked to a raw ember. "You loved Zeyan once. My nephew. Why not me? What does he have that I don’t?" His breath was warm against her skin, his question laid bare. "I’m not asking for everything. Just a chance. One chance to prove I can be worth what you gave him."

She studied his face in the half-light, the deep exhaustion around his eyes, the vulnerability he was trying and failing to hide. Yuyan’s words from earlier echoed in her memory: Father lacks love. The woman who truly loved him died giving birth. He’s been alone for twelve years.

Something in her chest loosened. Not quite a pity, but something perilously close to understanding.

"Zeyan hurt me," she said, keeping her voice light, a shield. "Betrayed me. Love doesn’t happen in a day, Lu Yuze."

And mermaids rarely fall in love at all, she thought, the secret a heavy weight on her tongue. But she couldn’t tell him that. Not when Yuyan needed this fragile, fabricated family to stay intact.

His eyes searched hers, looking for a crack, a sign, something she wasn’t sure she could ever give.

Yet, as the silence deepened and his grip gentled to a cradle, she didn’t pull away.

The silence in the master bedroom was a living thing, stretched thin between his desperation and her profound disconnect. His vow.... "I’ll protect you and value you..." hung in the air, a human plea that resonated against the ancient, quiet logic of her true nature.

Shuyin looked at his raised hand, the gesture so achingly earnest. She saw the raw need in his eyes, a need she understood intellectually but could not feel in the chamber....