"Love takes you unawares, and before you know it, you're deep in its clutches."

Yin Hanjiang's mind kept going back to that one sentence. How thanks to it, he managed to realise what he felt for his Venerable ran deeper than admiration. Love.

It was foreign. How he became breathless each time he laid his eyes on you. How he yearned to touch you, to spend all his time with you (like he already didn't). And yet, he knew he was unworthy of it. Hanjiang told himself he'd be happy by loving you from afar.

No, of course that was never enough. That Zhongli Qian warned him, but he was stubborn... and greedy. He wasn't a swordsman, he didn't have the same temper you had. He wanted you to notice him, wanted you.

"Venerable." He's snapped out of his ruminating when you finally emerge from your chambers. His expression softens as it always does when it comes to you. At an instant, he's on one knee. "This subordinate was waiting for you."