His eyes turned cold and his face contorted with rage . “I"ve never said that you"re a p.a.w.n!”

“You"re willing to be engaged with your so-called "p.a.w.n", but you can"t even give me a legitimate t.i.tle; am I not even worth a p.a.w.n in your eyes?!”

She laughed coldly . Her retort made his face even darker .

He was frozen in that instant .

“What do you mean?”

She smiled as she tried to remain calm, but a tremble could still be perceived in her voice . “Mu Yazhe, I like you . What about you? Do you like me, too?”

His lips parted, but no words came out .

The word "like" was stuck in his throat, unable to be voiced out .

He was a proud and arrogant man, so he could not easily utter the word "like" before the woman he had feelings for .

At his silence, the smile on her face slightly cooled .

“I"ll tell you this, too! Since I like you, I can acknowledge you and even give you my heart, so what about you? Can you do the same?”

He could .

Although that was what he thought, he could not convey it in words .

He stared at her ferociously . For a moment, it was all quiet .

“Do you know who I just met?”

With her face slightly pale as her lashes drooped in disappointment, she said weakly, “I met Song Enya . She righteously accused me before a crowd – ridiculed me for being the third party . Mu Yazhe, are my feelings cheap, or in your eyes, am I also merely a p.a.w.n for you to exploit and be at your beck and call? You can give Mu Wanrou a proper engagement, yet you can"t give me a legitimate t.i.tle! I don"t want romantic dates or beautiful diamond pendants, and I don"t want you going through all this trouble to please me!”

She raised her eyes at him with a pale face .

Their eyes met .

She looked at him, then suddenly closed in on him, and pressed herself against his front . She lifted her finger and lightly tapped against his chest .

Right there was his powerful heartbeat .

“I want this; can you give it to me?”

He stared at her intently .

Her throat felt parched, but she persisted in her questioning . “The love I desire, I hope that it will have a legitimate t.i.tle; can you give that to me?”

His continued silence gradually made her feel disheartened . She gave a hollow laugh and suddenly found this interrogation to be ludicrous .

She mentioned his heart .

In his heart, was she really a p.a.w.n that was there to do his every bidding?

“Do you know what marriage means to me? If you can"t even give me a legitimate t.i.tle, why should I keep liking you?”

She gritted her teeth and weakly declared, “I don"t like you anymore!”

That one declaration was like an icicle stabbing deeply into his flesh . In that moment, his heart seemed to have been pierced fatally .

Did she just refuse to like him?

D*mn this woman! How could she act on her own?

Did he permit her not to like him?

He stood rooted to the spot . Along with the stiffening of his ma.s.sive and proud frame, his facial expression also froze as his eyes showed puzzlement, humiliation, and anger .

Unable to accept his continued silence, she turned to leave .

He reached out to grab her arm tightly and pulled her back .