The corridors of the palace were quiet as Xiao Zhi made her way back to her room.
Her feet moved automatically along familiar stone paths, but her mind was tangled in the memory of the hot spring. The warmth of the water. The steam curling in the air. Ruhan standing close enough that she could feel him without touching him.
And then the kiss.
By the time she reached her door, her face felt warm, her hair still damp against her neck. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it for a moment, taking a slow breath. Her heart was beating too fast, like it hadn't quite caught up with the fact that she was alone again.
She crossed the room and sat on the bed, pulling the pillow into her arms. She lay back and stared at the ceiling.
Sleep was definitely going to be impossible.
Every time she closed her eyes, the scene replayed in vivid detail. How close he had been. How his lips had brushed hers before she had time to think.
Her cheeks burned.
"This is crazy," She pressed her face into the pillow, kicking her feet once against the bed before she could stop herself. "Absolutely crazy."
"He kissed me," she thought. "Ruhan actually kissed me."
Her fingers flew to her lips as if checking they were still there. Warm. Tingling. Real. Her heart thumped wildly, and she rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes.
"That was my first kiss," she breathed. "My first."
The thought made her chest flutter again. It hadn't been awkward. It hadn't been rushed. It had been careful, gentle, almost hesitant. Like he had been more worried about her reaction than his own. Just remembering it made her toes curl.
Then she sprang up.
"I gave my first kiss to a fictional character?"
The thought stung more than it should.
"And he's not even the lead. He's just… Ruhan. A side character. A eunuch."
Even as she said it, she could feel the lie of her own words. He wasn't just a eunuch. He was clever, calm, capable… impossibly handsome, and terrifyingly charming.
More charming than most lead characters, honestly.
She pressed her palms to her cheeks, heat spreading across her face. "Why… why does he have to be this perfect?" she whispered. "Lin Rui, you crazy author, why did you make a side character this charming?"
Her voice trailed off into a helpless sigh.
She rolled onto her side, groaning softly, trying to push the thoughts away. But the moment came back anyway. The way he had caught her when she slipped. The brief hesitation. The way he had leaned in, slow and careful, as if giving her time to pull away.
And how she hadn't.
"Why can't I stop thinking about it?"
Part of her knew better. Even if all of these were real, even if she wasn't falling into the world of a novel, even if he wasn't just a fictional character... he was a eunuch. She was a princess, even if no one treated her like one. Her status alone made any thought of them together impossible. Not to mention Kabil, the Khan, the palace, and all the danger surrounding her.
And yet.
She remembered his eyes when he saw her bruises. The way his expression had changed. Not shock. Not pity. Just quietly focused. He hadn't asked questions she couldn't answer. He hadn't pushed. He had simply stayed near, making sure she was all right.
That quiet care had shaken her more than any grand gesture could have.
She sat up and began pacing the room, her thoughts running in circles. Weeks of exhaustion, humiliation, and fear, all of them seemed to fold into that single moment in the hot spring. One pause. One kiss. And suddenly everything felt just right.
She dropped back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling again.
She thought of her modern world life. Long nights hunched over a laptop, office deadlines, cheap instant coffee, and a life where affection was basically non-existent. The hidden crushes that never blossomed, the occasional awkward attempt at connection that never went anywhere. She had never been held, never been caught when she fell, never had someone notice her in the way Ruhan did.
She buried her face in her hands, whispering his name, afraid the night would take it away. "Ruhan…"
She lay there quietly, letting the feeling settle instead of fighting it. The excitement faded a little, but the warmth stayed.
She allowed herself a small, almost guilty smile.
If I have to be trapped in this cruel world, she thought, then I should at least savor every fleeting moment of joy, even if it lasts only a second.
Her mind drifted through every moment with him.
The moment in the desert, when he hugged her close so she wouldn't freeze.
The moment he slipped a hairpin into her hair, and she could feel his breath so close to her face.
The moment they simply walked together, shoulders brushing, beneath the romantic glow of lanterns.
The moment he cared for her after the humiliating bride parade.
Even the moment his warm fingers brushed against her bruised skin as he applied the ointment, easing her pain from her cruel fate.
And the moment he kissed her…
She thought of it over and over.
Her thoughts strayed to the novels she had read in her old life. Every heroine swooned, waited for a prince. And now… she had it. She had it not from a prince or a scripted hero, but from Ruhan. A side character who was not supposed to be this close. A nobody who shouldn't have a place in her heart, and yet refused to leave.
For the first time, she allowed herself to indulge it. To be utterly, completely, ridiculously giddy… and in love.
For the first time since she arrived in this strange, cruel world, she did not wish to go back to the real world.
She wished she could stay here forever.