The wedding hall was illuminated by red candles, the "guests" nothing more than paper effigies conjured from demonic energy, their figures swaying unnaturally in the wind.
Xi Yao, now dressed in red bridal robes and a phoenix crown, was unceremoniously tossed into the ceremonial hall. Before she could react, a cup of hot tea was forced down her throat. Staring at her own reflection in the tea, her mind buzzed with disbelief.
*This can't be real, right?*
With a *snap*, Qi Yan took his seat at the high platform, lazily commanding, "Lift the veil."
The trembling wedding attendant lifted the bridal veil, revealing Xi Yao's utterly bewildered face as she stared at Qi Yan's coldly handsome features.
"You sealed me away, forgot me, and even reincarnated as a mortal to escape."
"Y-You're the Demon God?! Wasn't the Demon God sealed away?! How did you—how did you break free?!"
Qi Yan smirked, his slender fingers brushing over her forehead, where a faint golden divine mark suddenly glowed, pulsing with heat.
"By this very seal. You locked away my heart, and now the backlash has fallen upon you."
"I—I didn't do this!!" Xi Yao shrieked. "I don't even know who you are! How can you—how can you just kidnap a girl like this?!"
"You belong to me," Qi Yan murmured, leaning in until their foreheads touched, his voice soft yet laced with something disturbingly possessive. "You can't escape."
"I'm still a child! I don't understand marriage!" She shook her head wildly, trying to leap off the chair, only for him to pin her down effortlessly.
"Behave." His eyes darkened as he traced a finger over her divine mark. Instantly, heat flooded through her body, burning like wildfire.
"AHHH IT BURNS!!" Xi Yao writhed like a shrimp in boiling water. "Are you trying to cook me alive?!"
"Does it hurt?" Qi Yan smiled. "Do you remember now?"
"I remember that you're a lunatic!"
"Good. Then let's proceed—bow to heaven and earth."
"No way! I won't kneel, my legs are weak!"
"Then I'll help you."
Without hesitation, he hauled her up, forcing her into the ceremonial bows.
Xi Yao tearfully glared at the invisible gods of heaven and earth. *"Great deities, I'm being forced! Don't count this as bad karma for me!"*
---
Night fell, and the bridal chamber was bathed in flickering candlelight.
Xi Yao pressed herself against the corner of the bed, wielding a wooden stool like a weapon, her face full of wariness. "I'm warning you, I'm sick! If I move too much, I'll die!"
Qi Yan raised an eyebrow, taking a step forward—only for her to scramble back three steps.
"The divine mark on you reacts every time I'm near, making your body burn." He leaned down, his lips brushing her ear. "This is a mark *you* left behind. Don't blame me."
"I—I don't believe you—"
He gently pinched her cheek, and the divine mark flared crimson. Xi Yao hissed in pain, plastering herself against the wall like a shrimp freshly boiled in hot water.
"What do you even want from me?!"
"You."
"...Then why not pick someone without a cursed mark?! Can't you just find another target?!"
Qi Yan stared at her panicked expression, then suddenly smiled.
That smile was like the first crack in a frozen wasteland, revealing something unhinged yet intoxicated beneath.
"For ten thousand years, I dreamed of you leaving me."
"So, Xi Yao—" His voice was a whisper, soft yet unyielding.
"You owe me. And you'll spend your life repaying that debt."