In the private drafting room, Xiǎo Méi completes a document written as both love poem and legal trap. No one else is present.

Xiǎo Méi returns to the Primordial Heart Demon's office carrying the sealed scroll. The empty partner chair waits beside him.

The demon reads the visible poem layer and mistakes the nested clauses for flattery. Xiǎo Méi remains motionless.

The Primordial Heart Demon signs before fully unfolding the nested poem. The hidden clauses begin to ignite.

The betrothal-pact activates. The office turns violent through legal force rather than weapons.

The pact binds Xiǎo Méi's soul to the demon's authority. Her human form begins changing in a private, irreversible instant.

The Primordial Heart Demon tries to devour the pact before it matures. Xiǎo Méi has already written his appetite into the trap.

Half the demon's authority is pulled across the contract. The effect reaches Qin's ward at the same instant.

The betrothal-pact completes. A red cord of legal marriage and shared authority knots around both their wrists, impossible to cut.

Authority restructures the office. The single black chair divides into two, one higher than the other for a moment before settling equal.

The office ceiling opens to the Ten Thousand Peaks. Contracts from across the empire fly in like frightened birds toward the new co-owner.