Feeling the large hand on her waist, Zhi Wan was jolted back to her senses.

Just as she was about to push her cousin away, a sudden clap of thunder went BOOM. She yelped and clutched at the man’s robes, burrowing deeper into his arms.

SPLASH—

The rain outside grew heavier, and the sky was a sheet of oppressive, gloomy darkness.

At some point, the candle on the table had been extinguished by a spray of rain that slipped in through the window, plunging the cabin into darkness.

Lu Zhan lowered his gaze to the lovely, docile cousin in his arms. His heart skipped a beat and his throat tightened, but reason forced him to restrain the impulse surging through him.

He paused, then reached out and shut the open window.

The thud of the window closing made Zhi Wan snap back to reality.

Realizing she was curled up in her cousin’s arms, her face burned. She hastily pushed him away, but not before snatching the drawing back from his hand.

Watching the way she clutched the drawing protectively, Lu Zhan said nothing. He sat down where she had been sitting, picked up a flint, and relit the extinguished candle.

In an instant, the flame chased away the cabin’s darkness.

Lu Zhan saw the picture the girl had just been working on and was about to pick it up, but she snatched it away first.

Lu Zhan paused and turned to his cousin. "I’m not allowed to look?"

Zhi Wan hid the drawings behind her back, cleared her throat, and said uncomfortably, "There’s... nothing to see."

The corner of Lu Zhan’s mouth curved up. "You’re too modest, cousin. Your skill could rival that of a Court Painter."

Zhi Wan blushed and bit her lip. "Don’t make fun of me, cousin."

Lu Zhan remembered something. He took a picture album from his robes and flipped through it.

After a moment, he held up the album and said calmly, "If I recall correctly, in our dreams, you said you drew these things for your own amusement and that they wouldn’t enter the market. So why did I recently see your artwork in a bookshop? It seems you were lying to me back then."

The moment she saw him take out the picture album, Zhi Wan had a bad feeling. Now, hearing his words, her heart sank. She took two steps forward and took the album from his hand.

She flipped it open and froze.

This album contained the very first drawings she had done.

Although the faces of the characters were entirely from her imagination, the backgrounds perfectly recreated the scenes of her trysts with the man in her dreams.

’My cousin is the one who shares these dreams with me. Doesn’t that mean all these backgrounds are from his private domain?’

’He must have already guessed that these drawings were based on him.’

’But how did he get his hands on this album?’

Zhi Wan felt incredibly guilty.

’If I had known, I never would have copied the scenes from the dreams so perfectly just to save myself some trouble.’

"Do you have anything else to say, cousin?" the man’s low, cold voice pulled Zhi Wan from her thoughts.

Meeting her cousin’s sharp gaze, she stammered, "I... I was short on silver, so... so I sold the drawings to a bookshop..."

"Short on silver?" Lu Zhan frowned. "If you were short on silver, why did you return the silver note I gave you?"

He had only found out yesterday after returning to the mansion that when his cousin left the Duke Dingguo Mansion, she had returned everything he had ever given her.

It wasn’t just the silver note and Jade Pendant. Even the Red Silk Inkstone he had gifted her before was returned untouched.

’She returned it all so cleanly. She clearly wants nothing to do with me.’

At this realization, his expression darkened.

"You and Aunt have already treated me so well. All these years, I’ve been living in the Duke Mansion for free. I can’t be so greedy," Zhi Wan said earnestly.

Hearing this, Lu Zhan didn’t know what to say to her.

Because not only had she returned his gifts untouched, but she also hadn’t taken any of the various jewelry and clothes his mother had given her over the years.

His cousin had so much backbone, yet he didn’t feel the least bit happy about it.

After a moment of silence, he said, displeased, "I thought you considered Mother and me as your family, but I see you’ve kept us at such a distance."

Hearing this, Zhi Wan grew anxious. "Of course I consider you and Aunt as family, but I can’t take your money."

"So, you refuse the money Mother and I give you, but you’ll draw and sell these things to earn silver." Lu Zhan’s long fingers tapped on the table as he spoke coolly.

Zhi Wan’s face burned, and she felt a little awkward.

In her cousin’s eyes, these drawings were probably unrefined, but she loved looking at them and loved drawing them even more.

Besides, drawing these things earned her silver, which brought her genuine happiness and satisfaction.

Though the art might be considered unrefined, she believed it wasn’t lewd, nor did it harm anyone.

She earned this money cleanly, with a clear conscience.

Looking at her cousin’s handsome, serious face, she opened her mouth but ultimately didn’t try to defend herself.

She lowered her head, waiting for his scolding.

However, the scolding she expected never came. Instead, she heard her cousin say calmly, "Although the person in these drawings doesn’t have my face, they are inextricably linked to me. And you, cousin, have probably earned a fair bit of silver from them."

Zhi Wan looked up, staring at him in surprise.

’He’s not blaming me? He’s not scolding me?’

This was completely unexpected.

Just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he continued, "You’re working so hard to earn silver so you can support a live-in husband in the future, aren’t you?"

Zhi Wan was stunned. ’How does he even know about that?’

She felt rather embarrassed.

The corner of Lu Zhan’s mouth quirked up as he said something shocking. "So, in a way, you’re taking from me to use for me." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Zhi Wan: "..."

She stared at him blankly for a moment, then suddenly understood his meaning. Her face instantly flushed scarlet, and she quickly clarified, "Cousin, you’ve misunderstood. I have no intention of taking you on... as a live-in husband."

’A man as noble as my cousin... how could I possibly afford to support him?’

Besides, she had never even considered taking her cousin as a live-in husband.

Most importantly, she wouldn’t dare.

If she dared to do such a thing, her uncle and aunt would surely hate her for it.

And she would become a disgrace to the Lu Family.

"You won’t take me as a live-in husband, yet you can use my likeness to make money with a clear conscience?" Lu Zhan said coolly.

Zhi Wan frowned. While many of the scenes were inspired by their dreams, she had never clearly seen his face in them. The people she drew were from her own imagination. How was that using her cousin’s likeness?

"I did not use your likeness," she couldn’t help but say.

"It seems you’re the real scumbag here—the kind who pulls up their pants and pretends they don’t know you!" Lu Zhan narrowed his eyes, enunciating every word.

Zhi Wan: "..."

She stared at her cousin, dumbfounded.

’How did I become a scumbag?’

’I refuse to accept that accusation!’

With that thought, she declared righteously, "In the dreams, we had an agreement. It was just a fleeting affair, and it was consensual. In fact, I think *you’re* the one going back on your word!"

Lu Zhan: "..."

Seeing that she had left him speechless, Zhi Wan gained a bit of confidence. "If I had known you would be so clingy in reality, I never would have... fooled around with you in the first place..."

When she got to the two words "fooled around," her voice couldn’t help but trail off.

It was just that she had done too many outrageous things in those dreams.

At the thought, her face burned, and she couldn’t continue.

"Fooled around how? Why did you stop?" Lu Zhan watched her with a smirk.