Chapter 7: Even With the Cage Unlocked, She Lacked the Strength to Fly…

Si Jin stared blankly at the fragments on the floor, her thoughts tangled in complete disarray.

Xiao Rong remained seated at the desk, moving beams of light casting his face into shadows so deep they evoked unease.

Before either could speak, the atmosphere in the room had already turned tense.

Servants in the courtyard rushed over upon hearing the commotion.

Si Jin shuddered violently and abruptly shut the door.

Her instinct was still to prevent some hidden matter from being exposed.

Yet what exactly was about to be revealed, she hadn’t even had time to fully comprehend.

A sharp sound shattered the silence in the room.

Si Jin’s voice tightened at her lips: “Didn’t you say you would let me review it after making revisions? Why did you…”

Tear it to pieces.

A gentle breeze by the window stirred a few struggling paper fragments before they helplessly settled back on the ground.

No matter how one looked at it, the scene appeared as if someone had vented their anger, completely incompatible with Xiao Rong’s calm demeanor when he had spoken to her moments earlier.

Yet Xiao Rong’s expression remained equally composed now, showing no panic at having his sudden deception exposed.

His lips pressed tightly together, he momentarily lowered his gaze and began to rise slowly.

The elongated shadow behind him made his already tall frame appear even more imposing.

Si Jin instinctively stepped back, her back lightly knocking against the door.

Hearing the sound, Xiao Rong paused his movement. After a long moment, he finally spoke: “I never intended to divorce you.”

This marriage was fake, their loving relationship as husband and wife was fake.

Even moments ago, Xiao Rong had been discussing with her how to smoothly proceed with their divorce.

Now he was telling her he never planned to separate.

Si Jin’s lips trembled: “That’s not what you said initially. We agreed to divorce when the time was right.”

She looked at Xiao Rong in disbelief, only to see his dark eyes now revealing their true intentions.

“So it really was you… This marriage was your plan from the beginning. You requested the Emperor to decree this marriage, didn’t you?”

A flicker of surprise briefly crossed Xiao Rong’s eyes.

He had never disclosed this matter to anyone, yet Si Jin had clearly learned about it from elsewhere.

His peripheral vision caught the fluttering fragments near his sleeve, and he finally understood where today’s sudden divorce proposal had originated.

Xiao Rong parted his lips to respond: “Yes.”

A buzzing filled Si Jin’s mind, as if something were about to explode.

When it was merely rumors without confirmation, she hadn’t dwelled deeply on the matter.

But now with Xiao Rong’s personal admission, all the unresolved thoughts instantly surged forward.

“Just to stabilize the Xiao family’s precarious situation and conceal the Si and Xiao families’ intentions to expand their influence, you calculated and dragged me into this? Could it be that the one who acted radically in the Xiao family before was also you?”

Xiao Rong’s expression shifted slightly as he took long strides toward Si Jin.

But Si Jin rushed forward first, shoving him hard in the chest: “Xiao Rong, you’ve gone too far! How could you selfishly scheme like this without ever asking if I was willing!”

With a dull thud, caught completely off guard, Xiao Rong staggered from Si Jin’s uncontrolled push, colliding with the nearby desk.

Xiao Rong’s tightly bound hair crown swayed from the impact, a strand of hair falling loose to brush across his dark, turbulent eyes.

The clattering sound made Si Jin’s heart tremble, causing her to instinctively curl her still-suspended fingers in belated fear. She hadn’t expected Xiao Rong wouldn’t dodge at all.

Xiao Rong slowly straightened his posture, his gaze lowered to examine his own chest. His brow twitched strangely several times before gradually settling into calmness.

“My marriage to you was never about stabilizing the situation,” he said. “The one who made mistakes in the Xiao family wasn’t me.”

Si Jin’s voice caught in her throat, leaving her no time to respond.

Xiao Rong continued: “Moreover, I did ask for your consent regarding this matter. It was you who refused.”

“Refusal means unwillingness! You deceived me!”

After this outburst, Si Jin suddenly realized something: “When did you ever ask me?”

“On your coming-of-age birthday, I sent a love token to your room.”

What love token? How could he mention this so shamelessly? She had no memory of such an occurrence.

Wait.

Something delivered to her room on her coming-of-age birthday…

“You can’t possibly mean those wooden dolls that mysteriously appeared in my room in the middle of the night?”

“Yes.” Xiao Rong’s eyes flickered, as if pleased she remembered. “I carved them myself. It took quite some time.”

“How is that asking! I had no idea who sent them! Delivered in such a manner in the dead of night – I immediately…”

The light faded from Xiao Rong’s eyes as he finished quietly: “Yes, you threw them away. It seems you never opened the letter inside the wooden box either.” Si Jin: “…”

That spring, the Si family hadn’t made much fuss about her coming-of-age ceremony. Only her parents and elder brother had celebrated with her.

After nightfall, filled with the contemplations of a young woman crossing life’s important threshold, she had stood by the window, reluctant to retire to bed.

It was then that a carrier pigeon suddenly appeared outside her window, carrying something in its beak.

Startled by the disturbance in the quiet night, Si Jin had been about to call for help when the pigeon deposited its cargo and flew away.

Torn between surprise and fear, she hesitated for a long while before gathering courage to approach and open the wooden box, revealing a pair of wooden dolls.

Nowadays, Si Jin could barely recall what those wooden dolls looked like. At the time, completely unaware of the truth, she had immediately called for servants to dispose of both the dolls and the box, never noticing the letter placed at the bottom.

The incident had alarmed her parents, but despite repeated searches of the courtyard, the servants found nothing unusual. The potentially revealing wooden box had long been discarded and lost, and eventually, Si Jin had put the matter out of her mind.

Was this what Xiao Rong called “asking her”?

How absurd! She hadn’t been aware, let alone agreed.

Xiao Rong shifted his position, suddenly moving slightly away from her and circling to her side and rear.

“I knew you were unwilling. It was I who wanted to become your husband.”

Hearing this, Si Jin found Xiao Rong completely unreasonable.

“So there was never any crisis between the Si and Xiao families? We never needed to marry, nor pretend to be an affectionate couple. Is that it?”

Xiao Rong fell silent, his body still subtly shifting position in ways Si Jin failed to notice.

After a moment, he responded: “It’s true that someone in the Xiao family committed offenses. However, I immediately arrested and imprisoned that person. The Emperor expressed no disapproval.”

He spoke words that shocked Si Jin to the core, yet his expression remained utterly composed.

Si Jin could no longer suppress her turbulent emotions and spoke urgently, “Then this marriage need not continue any longer. Let us separate now.”A soft click—

The sound was barely audible amidst Si Jin’s slightly uncontrolled words, and Xiao Rong had already moved from the desk to the door without her noticing.”

He leaned against the door, his expression turning cold as he rejected her without hesitation: “No.”

“Those are all lies you fabricated! Don’t think you can deceive me any longer!”

Si Jin’s resistant demeanor irritated Xiao Rong. He stood upright, blocking the door as if to prevent her from leaving in a fit of anger.

Si Jin strode forward but was indeed blocked by Xiao Rong.

His gaze dark and intense, he stared at her and suddenly said, “Si Ming’s transfer document has not yet been approved.”

Si Jin’s heart jolted, and she looked up at him.

Xiao Rong’s much taller frame loomed over her. He looked down, his dark eyes clearly reflecting her panicked expression, yet it seemed insufficient—as if he wanted to crush all her resistance into powerlessness.

Struggling to steady her voice, Si Jin asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Xiao Rong showed no remorse, only stating solemnly, “I wrote a recommendation letter to the Bureau of Personnel Selection.”

Si Jin’s pupils trembled with fear, and it took her a long moment to grasp the unspoken implication.

Given Xiao Rong’s status, having written that recommendation letter, he held the power to decide Si Ming’s fate before the document was approved.

He was threatening her.

Si Jin suddenly recalled how Xiao Rong had inexplicably brought up Si Ming’s potential transfer from the capital during dinner that day.

No wonder she had felt that Xiao Rong might genuinely intend to help, yet found his mention of the matter particularly abrupt.

Xiao Rong couldn’t have known then that she would uncover the truth. Even today, had she not turned back, she would never have tested out any results.

He had prepared in advance, quietly setting his plans in motion while she remained unaware. Should any changes arise, he would tighten his grip, firmly controlling her.

A wave of fear washed over Si Jin, and she hurriedly reached out to pull Xiao Rong aside.

But before she could touch him, Xiao Rong unexpectedly stepped aside on his own.

Before her eyes, a bronze lock hung tightly secured on the door.

Shocked, Si Jin grabbed the lock and yanked it several times. The lock held firm against the door, emitting a harsh, grating sound.

When had he locked the door? What did he intend to do?

A chill ran through Si Jin’s entire body. She turned to look at the man standing a few steps away, her voice trembling, “Open the door.”

Yet Xiao Rong lowered his gaze, refusing to look at Si Jin’s desperate attempt to leave this place—to leave him.

“Calm down first.”

“I am already very calm.”

Though Si Jin claimed to be calm, her face was full of anxiety and resistance.

She had seen through Xiao Rong’s true nature beneath the surface sooner than anyone, yet only now did she realize that what she had glimpsed before was merely the tip of the iceberg.

Like algae growing in a dark, murky pond, it had silently wrapped around her, tightening around her ankles without her notice. A gentle tug would drag her down to drown.

It was utterly terrifying, and she had no idea how many more horrifying dark sides remained hidden.

Xiao Rong still showed no intention of unlocking the door to let her leave.

Si Jin, frantic, had already walked back to stand before him, forcing him to finally lift his eyes and look at her.

Her delicate figure, wrapped in soft silk, resembled a fledgling bird unable to spread its wings, yet desperately striving to escape its cage.

Applying too much force might break her.

But the slightest carelessness could let her truly fly away.

Receiving no response for so long, Si Jin grew furious: “Xiao Rong, what exactly do you want?”

“To become husband and wife with you.” After a pause, Xiao Rong added, “In the truest sense.”

Si Jin’s eyes widened in disbelief. How was this any different from when he had just angered her before immediately asking for forgiveness?

“Stop joking with me.”

Given the current situation, she couldn’t find any humor in it.

“I’m not joking. I adore you.” Xiao Rong’s expression remained unchanged, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on her face. “I thought I had always made it quite obvious.”

Obvious how?!

Obvious like the sinister gaze Shen Xuzhi had noticed?

Si Jin suddenly realized Xiao Rong was looking at her in that same way again.

Though they weren’t close enough to touch, the intensity in his dark eyes felt like a physical grip around her neck. Even without actual pressure, it gradually made breathing difficult.

When had their interactions ever contained the seeds of romantic affection?

Unwilling to dwell on it, Si Jin only wanted to escape this abnormal atmosphere: “Open the door first. I need to leave.”

But Xiao Rong said, “It must have been my previous way of expressing affection that was wrong, which is why you never noticed.”

Si Jin’s heart clenched in alarm, finding these words particularly terrifying coming from Xiao Rong.

If his previous approach was wrong, did that mean he had other methods?

And what exactly had his previous methods been? Those schemes of deception and cunning manipulation?

What other ways could there be?

Si Jin wanted to retreat again, but with the door firmly locked, there was nowhere to escape his presence.

Forcing a strained smile, she repeated, “Open the door. Stop saying such things to me.”

Xiao Rong finally shifted his gaze, glancing faintly at the bronze lock. “The Si family banquet is in three days. We must attend together at Si Manor. You should also stop mentioning divorce to me.”

Si Jin had originally returned to inform Xiao Rong about this very matter when she stumbled into this situation, never expecting he already knew.

Now she couldn’t decide whether to regret coming back.

If she hadn’t returned, Si Ming’s transfer would have proceeded without complications.

Once the transfer documents were approved, wouldn’t Xiao Rong lose his hold over her?

Xiao Rong stepped forward, producing a key from his sleeve and offering it to Si Jin, yet his words plunged her into an ice-cold despair: “We are already bound as husband and wife. Now, and forever hereafter.”

As if to say that even with the cage unlocked, she lacked the strength to fly beyond his control.