Chapter 104

Within Yuehua Hall at Count Jingwen's Estate. The midsummer sun was blistering. Most of the intricately carved wooden windows in the courtyard had been nailed shut, leaving only a three-finger-wide gap. The heat waves that drifted in were thick with the cloying scent of garden flowers, yet they could not disperse the stagnant chill within the room. Fu Mingyue reclined against her bedstead, her slender fingers unconsciously rubbing the bruises on her wrists. They were marks left by the hemp rope when she had struggled three days ago, standing out starkly against her snow-white skin. Her thin, plain white undergarment was soaked through with sweat, clinging stickily to her thin back and making her waist seem fragile enough to be snapped in one hand.