Inside the dimly lit room, a girl lay on the floor.
Her vision was blurred as she struggled to regain awareness of her surroundings.
Then a sharp pain suddenly shot through her head.
"Ah—! M-my head… it hurts so much."
Instinctively, she raised a trembling
hand to touch her forehead.
The moment her fingers brushed against her skin, they came away with a sticky moisture.
Confused, she slowly looked at her hand.
Even in the dim light, she could see it clearly—
blood!.
How did she get so hurt?
She staggered to her feet, clutching her head as she made her way toward the bathroom.
In her dazed state, she didn't even notice the man lying motionless on the floor.
Once inside the bathroom, she washed her hands and her forehead where she thought she'd been wounded.
But as she looked into the mirror, her skin was perfectly clear.
There was no cut.
No wound.
No sign that she had ever been injured.
Confusion mixed with a hint of fear settled in her chest.
What was going on?
She looked at her hand again.
There was no blood either.
Then…
Where did the blood come from?
She slowly lifted her gaze to the mirror once more.
And just then—
Her eyes caught a figure standing behind her.
The person behind her had a ghostly expression as she stared at AnLiyue through the mirror.
"Yan yan…?"
An liyue immediately recognized the figure.
It was her half-junior sister, Sheng Xiaoyan.
The pale-looking Xiaoyan hesitated before speaking.
"Y-you… your hand… it was covered in blood."
"Yan yan, I don't understand either." An liyue took a step forward, but stopped midway when Xiaoyan quickly backed away.
"Yan yan, I'm not hurt, you aren't either, no one—"
Her heart raced. She couldn't understand any of it.
"Yu... Cheng!"
They both chorused at the same time.
Lily immediately rushed out of the bathroom and into the room.
The scene before her froze her in place.
A man lay in a pool of his own blood.
And right beside where she had been lying earlier… was a knife.
she immediately remembered something had fallen from her hand when she woke up earlier, while she had been trying to adjust to the room.
"Ah!" She clutched her head.
The pain intensified as the horrifying sight sank into her mind.
Behind her, Xiaoyan's trembling voice sounded again.
"You… you killed him." She said as she pointed at the knife.
"Sister An liyue… you killed Yu Cheng."
"No…" Lily muttered.
"You killed him and immediately went to wash yourself, thinking no one was here," Xiaoyan analyzed coldly. "Liyue, you wanted to get away with it… You're brutal!"
"No!" An liyue snapped. "No!"
"No?" Xiaoyan tilted her head slightly.
"If you didn't… then who did?"
It was a clear question.
Who did?
There were only three of them—no, rather two—in the room.
And Liyue was the most suspicious one.
Earlier, her hand had clearly been covered in blood.
Yu Cheng's blood.
The more An liyue tried to remember what had happened, the more her head throbbed painfully.
"Mom, Liyue killed someone."
An liyue turned sharply, only to find Xiaoyan already on the phone.
There was a brief hesitation from the other end before a voice responded.
"Send the location. I'll be right there."
Mom, Liyue killed someone.
The words echoed repeatedly in Liyue's mind.
She wasn't a murderer.
She couldn't kill anyone… no matter what.
"You—you're not going to just stand there, are you?" Xiaoyan asked, glancing around nervously. "I mean, it obviously won't be a good thing if someone walks in right now and finds this."
"I—I… I didn't kill him."Liyue whispered, shaking her head.
"Tsk!" Xiaoyan clicked her tongue impatiently. "No one's going to believe that. Quickly hide his body and clean up the blood… because I—I honestly don't like touching people's blood."
And I do?
An Liyue could only stare.
Her body trembled, sweat covering her skin despite the cool temperature of the room.
Her fingers had long gone cold and numb, unable to move.
At that moment, An Liyue was too overwhelmed to notice the subtle smile slowly tugging at the corners of Xiaoyan's lips.
In no time, the door opened, revealing a woman who was immediately hugged by Xiaoyan.
" M-mom, that's the person, " Xiaoyan said quickly, pointing toward the lifeless Yu Cheng.
The woman—who turned out to be An liyue's adoptive mother Zhao Meilin—walked towards the body.
The moment she saw the man's face, she gasped sharply.
She slowly turned to liyue, her eyes widening so much that Lily almost stumbled backward.
"Wh–what came over you Liyue?! " she exclaimed, drawing a sharp breath as she tried to keep her voice low.
Liyue opened her mouth to speak, but she was immediately cut off.
"Do you have the slightest idea who he is?! …Oh, of course you don't! Otherwise, you wouldn't have done this!"
Zhao meilin's voice trembled with shock.
"For heaven's sake, Liyue! You just killed the son of the billionaire CEO—Yu Cheng!"
Truth was, An Liyue still had no idea who the man was.
But the horrified look on her adoptive mother's face said everything.
She honestly wondered why she hadn't fainted yet.
Meanwhile,
In a VIP room about thirty floors above An liyue's room lay a man.
He exuded a cold exterior, yet his presence burned hot, as he rested on the massive bed.
His brows were slightly furrowed.
He looked… disturbed.
He could clearly hear the whispers coming from Room 303 below.
And he was currently in VIP Room 333.
Perhaps if those people downstairs knew the man resting in the VIP suite could hear their voices even while they whispered—and from such a height—they wouldn't dare make a scene.
The man clenched his fist slightly.
He had left his mansion just to rest in this five-star hotel, not expecting the commotion from the room beneath him to trigger his unusually sharp hearing.
His sleep had been completely ruined.
But Just as his patience was running out—
He heard the name.
Yu Cheng!
His eyes opened as he looked toward the door.
Yu Cheng was the son of his rival.
And he was dead… in Room 303.
Actually murdered.
His interest was instantly piqued.
He wondered who would dare touch Zi Wenchang's son.
A slow smile tugged at his lips as he imagined Zi Wenchang's face when he heard the news of his son's death.
Perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea spending the night here after all.
The commotion that had interrupted his sleep suddenly seemed worth it.
He lay on the bed leisurely, now in high spirits, as he continued listening.
"Liyue, it seems it had always been your fate,"Zhao meilin said with a sad expression.
Something told An liyue she knew what was coming… what her mother was about to say.
But she shook the feeling off.
Zhao meilin held her shoulders.
"Liyue, what you've done is really grave…"
"No..." Anliyue interrupted. "I didn't do anything!"
Why wasn't anyone listening?
She couldn't even kill an ant.
But then, recalling her hand earlier—holding the knife—her confidence wavered.
"Shhh, Liyue. Maybe you did it out of self-defense,"zhao meilin said, trying to sound reasonable.
Self-defense.
That sounded better.
But still… no.
Anliyue couldn't imagine killing someone in self-defense. She would probably cry instead of taking any bold step.
"Liyue," Zhao meilin continued, "in this case, self-defense won't save you. The family involved wouldn't hesitate to eliminate you the moment they find out."
Her tone grew darker.
"They might not even report you to the authorities where you could at least serve life imprisonment…"
She leaned closer.
"Liyue… do you want to die?"
Die?
Why?!
Liyue hesitated before slowly shaking her head.
"Good," Zhao meilin said, trying hard to hide the victorious smile threatening to appear on her face.
"Lily, you have only one option to survive right now…"
No…
Lily silently prayed she wouldn't hear the name she was thinking of.
But then—
"Han Raviel."
"!!! "
At that instant, two people reacted.
Lily felt a terrifying heat spread through her body.
That name alone was enough to make people–especially women, tremble.
The second reaction came from the man in the VIP room.
His brows arched slightly in surprise.
It seemed these people had more surprises to offer him tonight.
He wondered what gave them the courage to say that name.
Not only say it…
But actually refer to him as a source of safety.
It turned out, Han Raviel was none other than the man in the VIP room.
The man rumored to kill any woman who crossed his path.
In an era where men would do anything to get a woman in their bed, this man would rather kill them to keep them away.
People whispered that he was a demon.
It wasn't exaggeration.
Neither was it a metaphor.
It was simply the truth.
Han Raviel was a demon.
A man who had died once—betrayed by the woman he loved—
And returned to life as a heartless demon.