Xiao Li slept extremely deeply this time. Probably exhausted to the extreme, he rarely had no dreams at all.

When he woke and looked at the unfamiliar bed curtains in the dim candlelight, a familiar yet strange light, clean fragrance still seemed to linger in his breath.

His mind remained muddled for a while before he turned his head to look to the side.

Wen Yu was leaning against the soft pillow and bed post, her head tilted outward as she slept.

From his angle, he could only see a section of her slender snow-white neck tilted slightly to the side and half of her jade-like cheek.

Her lashes rested lightly on her eyelids, the ends curving slightly upward, like tiny ink-colored butterflies perched beneath her eyes.

The slender silver tassel earring, because of this tilted position, draped against the side of her neck. A few strands of black hair that had fallen loose behind her ear also clung tenderly to that warm porcelain, warm jade-like skin.

Xiao Li suddenly didn’t even dare to breathe, fearing all of this was just a dream.

He stared fixedly at Wen Yu for a long time. When he wanted to prop himself up on his elbow to sit up, he discovered he was still clutching something in his hand.

This slight movement also woke Wen Yu from her light sleep.

Her eyes still held a confused, drowsy look. She only instinctively reached her hand over to cover his forehead, and finding it no longer burning hot, murmured: “The fever has broken…”

As her thoughts cleared somewhat and she realized she had been so tired from watching over him that she’d fallen asleep leaning against the headboard, she immediately felt this was improper.

Just as she wanted to get up and leave, her right hand along with most of her arm suddenly felt numb and painful as if struck by electricity. Her foot, half resting on the bed edge and half on the footrest, was also numb.

Wen Yu let out a muffled groan and furrowed her brow tightly, not daring to move for the moment.

The bedding had slipped down somewhat from Xiao Li’s earlier movement to sit up. He glanced at his left arm wearing only an inner garment—it was almost completely pressing down on Wen Yu’s entire forearm as he gripped her fingers.

The hourglass on the table had passed the hour of the Rat.

Her right arm had been pressed like this for over three hours—it must be stiff and numb.

Realizing this, he hurriedly released the hand tightly gripping Wen Yu’s, and saw that her entire hand back had been pinched into a circle of finger marks. This truly was like some kind of brand.

“I’m sorry.” He sat up completely. His collar, because Wen Yu had earlier used a cloth to wipe around his neck while applying the compress to his forehead, was somewhat loose, revealing a small patch of firm muscle beneath and the shallow mark that Zhao Bai had pressed with her sword.

Seeing that Wen Yu’s expression seemed somewhat pained from the stiffness in her body, his long fingers covered with scabs pressed through her clothing, rubbing with moderate pressure at the acupoints at her elbow joint and wrist.

The already loose collar was pulled open even more by this movement. His unbound long hair also fell down somewhat. With the fatigue gone from his face, his brows and eyes slightly lowered, his lips habitually pressed together—he was still fierce, yet helplessly handsome.

Probably because the place they were lying was a bed, and the distance between them couldn’t be considered far, even though neither had overstepped any boundaries, under the gauzy curtain’s shroud, each other’s breathing was clearly audible. His fingertips were still kneading the acupoints on her arm—it all still carried an indescribable ambiguity.

Wen Yu tried to change the subject. Not daring to continue staring at Xiao Li’s face, and with her gaze unsuitable to continue downward, it fell on the new, not-yet-scabbed wound on the side of his neck. She asked: “What happened to the wound on your neck?”

She had noticed it earlier when wiping him down.

It didn’t look like an ordinary cut.

The opening was deep in the middle and shallow on both sides—clearly cut by a sharp weapon.

But with his skills and current status, for someone to be able to hold a sharp object to his neck, yet seemingly not truly intending to harm him—Wen Yu couldn’t figure it out.

Xiao Li didn’t know what he was thinking of and fell silent, continuing to massage her for a while before speaking: “Can I understand this as the Princess showing concern for me?”

Wen Yu turned her gaze away, saying: “Just asking casually.”

The electric tingling numbness in her leg had passed. She wanted to withdraw her hand and stand: “I’m better now.”

But Xiao Li pressed down on the silk scarf draped over her arm.

Feeling the pull from behind, Wen Yu furrowed her brow slightly and turned to look at him.

The dim candlelight filtered through the gauze bed curtains before falling on Xiao Li’s face, making his features appear even more handsome and deep. That fierce, sharp quality between his brows was also steeped in this darkness, carrying an extremely suppressed aggressive quality.

The hand pressing on her silk scarf showed no intention of loosening.

He pressed his lips tight and asked: “When you said before that you liked me, was it true?”

Wen Yu hadn’t expected him to ask this. Her brows and eyes reflected the candlelight, making her pupils appear extremely pale: “If you think it’s true, then it’s true. If you think it’s false, then it’s false.”

Xiao Li raised his eyes to look directly at her, his gaze black and sharp: “What if I take it as true?”

This time it was Wen Yu’s turn to be slightly startled before falling into silence.

After a moment she said: “What happened in the past, to me, is already over. Telling you the truth was also out of guilt for trampling on your feelings back then.”

The force of Xiao Li’s hand pressing on her silk scarf increased, gripping until the satin wrinkled. The sharp aura around him intensified. A thin smile played at the corner of his lips as he asked: “What do you mean?”

He stared fixedly at Wen Yu: “Because you feel you did something wrong in the past and feel guilty? So you casually come apologize and everything can be smoothed over?”

Wen Yu’s voice remained calm: “I said, within the scope of my abilities, you can demand any compensation.”

The arm Xiao Li was using to prop himself up on the bed slowly showed protruding veins. Under his wide-open collar, one could also see the muscles on his body tightening inch by inch. As if unable to endure something any longer, he said coldly and sharply, almost demandingly: “Didn’t you say you liked me? Then continue liking me.”

Wen Yu only furrowed her brow slightly and looked at him, asking: “Are you certain?”

Xiao Li’s eyes held a slightly bloodthirsty look as he stared at her. Because he was suppressing some emotion, his breathing was somewhat heavy: “Didn’t you say you’d compensate? I used to like you so much—give it back to me.”

Wen Yu looked at him for a while, then leaned down slightly. Her slender pale fingers fixed his jaw, and her warm, slightly cool lips pressed against his.

Xiao Li’s entire body tensed like iron and stone. His two hands hanging at his sides bulged with prominent veins, and a vein rose beneath his neck. When Wen Yu’s scattered kisses continued to fall on his cheek, he grabbed Wen Yu’s hand and pulled her away slightly, saying viciously: “That’s not what I want!”

His body had already heated up. The breath he exhaled was scorching. Not daring to touch Wen Yu any more, the hand gripping her forearm through her clothing had lost control of its strength.

He was panting: “Do you dare give me your heart? I want your heart.”

Wen Yu only looked at him calmly, the corners of her eyes slightly raised. Such a cold person, yet at this moment gave people an indescribable feeling.

Her coldness was no longer keeping people at a thousand miles’ distance, but more like a layer of inexplicable cloud and mist that made people very clearly know they couldn’t restrain her, yet also indulged this exploration by outsiders.

Her tone remained cool and crisp, as if puzzled as she asked: “Carve it out with a knife or sword? That won’t do.”

Xiao Li could feel all the blood in his body flowing rapidly, crashing against his blood vessels, hitting his chest with dull pain, yet his whole body seemed about to burn up.

How could she be like this?

Did she treat the Chen Prince and Jiang Yu this way before too?

The little bit of rationality remaining in his mind was slowly burned to ashes in this hidden yet prairie-fire jealousy.

By the time he realized what he was doing, he had already pulled her into his embrace, gripping the back of her head and kissing her back fiercely, as if venting and accusing.

This kiss was very fierce—calling it a hungry wolf feeding would not be an exaggeration.

It was also like urgently wanting to remove whatever marks other men had left on her.

Wen Yu gradually couldn’t bear it anymore. Her lips and teeth had already been completely swept through, yet he was still exploring deeper places. This was a true invasion.

Only now did Wen Yu realize his previous two kisses had actually been quite restrained.

She quickly couldn’t breathe. Saliva she couldn’t swallow in time also overflowed from the corner of her lips. Her hands forcefully pushed at his shoulders, but were captured and pressed toward the bed.

Wen Yu struggled until her hair was disheveled. A faint flush also rose on her porcelain-white face, but she still couldn’t escape his restraint.

She vaguely realized she might have done something wrong again.

Everything that happened after was very chaotic. Due to oxygen deprivation, Wen Yu’s consciousness became very hazy.

When Xiao Li finally released her and she could gasp for breath, the area around her lips was already red.

One gold hairpin had fallen from her black hair, and the rest hung loosely.

Xiao Li quickly kissed down again. Without moving her clothes, he only caught one of her hands, bringing it in through his own loose collar, guiding her along the obviously undulating chest muscles down, stroking over the clearly defined firm muscles of his waist and abdomen.

Wen Yu’s body was already very hot, but the muscles her palm contacted were even more shockingly hot. Her fingers curled wanting to withdraw, but were forcefully pressed by Xiao Li, not allowing it.

He loved kissing her, always kissing until she couldn’t breathe, then magnanimously letting her gasp for a breath or two before pressing down again.

Wen Yu felt she might die tonight in his endless, dense kisses first.

Her collar was disheveled. He finally spared her already swollen lips, instead scattering delicate warmth along her cheek to her temple, then falling to her ear. When he finally bit her earlobe together with the tassel earring, Wen Yu’s eyes reddened.

She felt he truly wanted to tear her apart and swallow her whole.

She couldn’t break free, couldn’t escape.

Xiao Li saw the watery sheen rising in Wen Yu’s eyes that were tinged with a layer of faint red.

Not a trace of pity arose in his heart. Instead, something even more violent stirred in his blood.

Why, why couldn’t he just devour her like this?

Swallow her down, and she would belong to him alone.

An unprecedented feeling arose in his body. He was like cracked earth that had been dry for ages—though already very satisfied in this sweet rain and downpour, he still felt it wasn’t enough.

Was there any vast ocean wave that could completely submerge him, drown him?

Her entire body seemed to hold a fatal attraction for him. He finally released that pitifully bitten earlobe and continued kissing downward, unable to restrain himself from sucking and biting red marks on her fragile snow-white neck and slender shoulders.

Mine.

He stared at those marks, thinking this.

The hand Wen Yu had pushed against his jaw in her struggle was also pressed down, her slender pale fingers sucked and carefully bitten, re-branding the red marks that had been pinched earlier and faded, in another way.

As Wen Yu gasped from his biting, her body felt numb and painful as if electrified.

Watery sheen in the faint red depths of her eyes, only one thought in her mind.

He might really want to tear her apart.