Outside the dimly glowing golden dome, the atmosphere was starkly contrasting. Ten people—Wei Yan standing in the center, surrounded by his nine wives of extraordinary charm—gathered in a tense silence. Before them, within the time-slowing formation, Xia Chunyu's figure appeared like a frozen statue. He had no idea, and perhaps could never imagine, the madness that had just unfolded outside. To him, every second in that darkness was an eternal torment that slowly eroded his sanity.
Wei Yan stared at the frail figure with an unreadable gaze. He then turned to his wives, signaling with a calm but decisive wave of his hand.
"Wait here and watch," Wei Yan said flatly. "This is the first stage of his healing. Don't let a single detail escape your eyes, for today you will see how a lofty ego is torn down to its roots."
The wives—from Li Yuantong, smiling cryptically, to Ning Shuang, whose eyes still held pity—stepped back, making way for the Emperor. Wei Yan stepped into the formation. Instantly, ripples of golden energy enveloped his body, and the flow of time within the dome was reversed. The formation itself miraculously transformed; from the outside, it became a crystal-clear one-way mirror, allowing his nine wives to watch every inch of the drama unfolding like a private theater.
As soon as his feet touched the floor inside the dome, Wei Yan did something surprising. He took a deep breath, and through the Divine Will of Transformation, he suppressed his oppressive sovereign aura. The heavy pressure from the Myriad Faces pillar was hidden deep within, replaced by the aura of a naive, weak, and fragile teenager. He was now "Wei Yan," the poor adopted son in Xia Chunyu's eyes, once again.
Wei Yan approached Xia Chunyu, who was still curled up on the bed, blind and deaf. Slowly, with deliberately trembling hands, he reached for the back of Chunyu's head. He removed the sound-dampening device from his ear, then, with the utmost gentleness, untied the black cloth covering her eyes.
The dim light of the hall suddenly met Xia Chunyu's pupils. He blinked repeatedly, tears streaming down his pale cheeks. And when his eyes regained focus, the first thing he saw was Wei Yan—the teenager he believed he had destroyed his future.
Instantly, Xia Chunyu's emotions exploded. He choked on his own sobs. Sadness, regret, fear, and pleas for forgiveness were clearly visible on his disheveled face.
"Wei... Wei Yan?" Chunyu's voice was hoarse, broken by the weight of unbearable guilt. "You... is that really you?"
Wei Yan didn't answer with words. He simply lowered his head, letting his bangs partially cover his eyes, creating the impression of a traumatized victim.
"I'm sorry... Oh God, I'm sorry!" Chunyu threw himself off the bed, prostrating himself at Wei Yan's feet, hugging the teenager's legs with trembling hands. "I'm a monster, Wei Yan! I don't know what came over me that night... that heat, that thirst... I took everything from you. I destroyed your purity right before your coming-of-age ceremony!"
Chunyu sobbed, her body shaking violently. "Hit me, report me to the police, or kill me if that makes you feel better! I can't look at your face anymore... every time I close my eyes, I see the red marks on your chest and your face, wracked with pain because of what I did!"
Wei Yan slowly crouched down in front of Chunyu. He grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to look up and meet his eyes. Outside the dome, the wives watched as Wei Yan played his role perfectly—a mask of sadness that could fool even the gods.
"Brother Chunyu..." Wei Yan's voice trembled softly. "Mom said... if I don't hold you accountable, your career and Megastar's will be ruined. But I... I just want to know one thing."
Chunyu stared at Wei Yan through puffy eyes, searching for a glimmer of forgiveness. "Anything, Wei Yan... ask me anything."
Wei Yan stared deeply into Chunyu's eyes, his aura slowly beginning to change slightly, exerting a subtle yet precise psychological pressure.
"Now's the time. Let it out, Chunyu. Tell me, in the darkness, what would you really want to do to me if you could turn back time? And most importantly... what would you want me to do to you now as atonement for this sin you believe in?"
The words hung in the air, sharp and piercing. Xia Chunyu froze, his lips trembling, ready to spill all the dirt in his heart before the "victim," who was actually a predator waiting for the moment to devour his soul whole.
"I-I..."
Xia Chunyu's voice choked. His words seemed to get stuck in his throat, dry from crying so much. He stared at Wei Yan's face, which looked so pure under the dim light, and every time he saw those eyes, his self-disgust burned even harder. He felt like a puddle of mud trying to look up at the clear sky.
After a painful pause, during which only the sound of his sobs filled the silence of the dome, Chunyu finally managed to speak. "I... I was wrong at that time. I lost control, Wei Yan. Therefore... I must take responsibility. I will not run away."
Wei Yan tilted his head slightly, looking at him with a devastatingly innocent expression. "Responsibility?" he asked in a confused tone, as if the word was a foreign concept to him. "Isn't... isn't it just about compensation? Mom said you're rich, the head of a large company. Does responsibility mean you'll give me something?"
Hearing the word "compensation," Chunyu's heart clenched. He sensed Wei Yan saw him as nothing more than a transaction, a cold way to erase an indelible sin.
"R-right," Chunyu replied quickly, reaching out to grab Wei Yan's cold hand. "Therefore, I came here to ask for your forgiveness. I will pay compensation... whatever it is. I will do it slowly, ensuring all your needs are met, ensuring your future is secure even though I have..."
"You want to use money?" Wei Yan cut him off. His voice was no longer innocent, but trembling with a heartbreaking tone. "Money? Then how will you pay for my tarnished future? At school, in my extended family... they will know. They will know that I am no longer a pure boy because a grown woman used her power to corrupt me! Can your money buy back my honor?"
Xia Chunyu's emotions were becoming increasingly unstable. Desperation began to overtake his logic. He watched Wei Yan begin to retreat, as if terrified of him, and it drove him insane. He felt compelled to give something more valuable than stocks or bank account numbers.
"No! Not just money!" Chunyu shouted, his voice shrill with frustration and guilt. "I-I can pay with my body! I will give myself completely to you as a slave, as anything you want!"
"B-b-b-body?"
Wei Yan suddenly trembled violently. Her eyes widened in fear, she screamed hysterically and began to cry in a pitiful voice. She hugged herself, crawling back to the corner of the bed as if Chunyu were a predator ready to pounce on her again.
"You want to do it again?! You want to destroy me again with your body?! You cruel woman! You monster!" Wei Yan screamed through her sobs.
Seeing Wei Yan's hysterical reaction, Xia Chunyu's mental defenses shattered. She cried hysterically, crawling on the marble floor, trying to explain her misunderstood meaning.
"No! No, Wei Yan! It's not like that! For God's sake, listen to me!" Chunyu pounded the floor with his weak fists. "I mean... I mean we're married! I'll bind myself to you forever. I'll be yours, serving your every need, making up for every second of pain I've caused you with a lifetime of devotion!"
Wei Yan stopped crying for a moment, staring at Chunyu with hatred mixed with hysteria. "Marriage? Do you think I'm stupid?! Marriage is just the easiest way for you to escape debt and the law! You know you could go to jail for corrupting a minor, so you want to marry me so that this whole thing can be considered consensual in the eyes of the law? You're truly cunning, Brother Chunyu! You only want to save yourself!"
"No! I swear it's not for the sake of the law!" Chunyu shouted, tears and sweat mingling on her face. "I'm willing to go to jail if that's what you want! But I want to prove myself... I want you to know that I'm willing to pay anything, give up anything, even my life for your forgiveness! I'll crawl under your feet every day if it will make you smile again!"
Outside the dome, the wives watched with bated breath. Li Yuantong smiled faintly, admiring how cruelly Wei Yan manipulated the woman's guilt. "He's truly destroying her soul," Yuantong whispered.
Back inside the dome, the atmosphere suddenly changed. Wei Yan, who had been crying, suddenly stood up straight. Her sobs were gone, replaced by a deadly cold aura. She stared at Chunyu, still prostrate on the floor, with a piercing gaze, as if judging an ant.
"Can you? You say you can pay anything?" Wei Yan's voice was now heavy and intimidating, no longer a trace of the innocent youth.
Chunyu looked up, trembling at the drastic change in the man before her. "Y-yes... anything."
"Then PROVE IT!" Wei Yan shouted right in her face. "If you say your body is compensation, if you say you're a slave for sin, then show it to me now! Don't just talk about a sweet future or marriage. Demonstrate your devotion right here, on this floor, before my eyes! Show me that you truly have no self-respect left in front of me!"
Wei Yan grabbed Chunyu's chin, lifting her wet face to meet his eyes, which now radiated absolute darkness from the Myriad Faces pillar.
"You want me to stop hating you? You want me to forgive you?" Wei Yan whispered in a very low but very pressing tone. "Then surrender your sovereignty to me completely. Don't let even an inch of you feel you have the right to refuse. If you can do that, maybe... just maybe, I will consider not letting you rot in prison."
Xia Chunyu trembled violently. He felt like his soul was being pulled into a deep abyss. On one hand, his pride as the COO of Megastar Group screamed against this humiliation. However, on the other, the weight of the false sins instilled in him by Wei Yan was so heavy that he felt this humiliation was his only path to light.
"I... I will prove it," Chunyu whispered resignedly. He slowly began to unbutton his shirt with trembling hands, his eyes never leaving Wei Yan, seeking forgiveness in his own self-destruction.
Wei Yan smiled faintly—the smile of an Emperor who has won an inner battle. "Good. Let's see how far a great woman like you can crawl to earn my forgiveness."