“Don’t move…”
Falling into Xiao Jingchen’s arms, Wen Shuyu suddenly leaned closer, her nose almost touching his.
Her warm, wine-scented breath brushed against his cheek. “Xiao Jingchen… there are stars spinning in your eyes… it makes me dizzy…”
Then, her trembling fingertips reached out to touch his eyelashes.
Xiao Jingchen caught her wrist firmly, stopping her motion. His usually soft gaze had darkened considerably, locking onto her face. “Drunk?”
Wen Shuyu shook her head. Her eyes, tinged with red at the corners, seemed to hook him in. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her gaze hazy. “Not drunk… not drunk. You’re the one who’s drunk.”
Suddenly, she cupped his face in her hands, studying him for a long moment.
“So… handsome…”
Before he could speak, she released him and picked up a single peanut from a dish on the stone table beside them.
Wobbling slightly, she brought it to his lips with a childlike grin. “You’re so handsome, I want you to try this… it’s sweet…”
Seeing him not move, she frowned in displeasure.
She reached over and gently tilted his face, insisting on feeding him the peanut.
Only when she saw him bite it and swallow, his Adam’s apple moving, did she relent.
“Tasty?”
Her fingertips lingered at his lips as her muddled gaze stared at them.
Then, her lips curved into a silly smile, and she lightly pecked him once on the lips before pulling back, proudly declaring, “Such a good kiss! I kissed you—handsome man, you’re mine now…”
The warmth lingered briefly, then vanished.
Immediately, Xiao Jingchen’s eyes darkened, depths as infinite as black ink, impossible to read.
The world seemed to spin.
He pressed one palm to the back of Wen Shuyu’s neck and leaned down, kissing her with a force that left no room to breathe, the other hand gripping her slender waist tightly.
With a “crash,” the cups and dishes on the stone table were sent flying by his spiritual power, shattering crisply in the silent night.
Wen Shuyu’s back hit the icy surface of the table, a shiver running through her at the cold. All her unspoken exclamations and drunken haze were swallowed by the intensity of his kiss: “Mmm…”
Her breaths became shallow, instinctively struggling, but the man before her did not budge.
The kiss deepened, heavy and possessive, prying open her teeth as if to consume her whole, stealing her every breath. Her mind went blank, leaving only the friction of lips and teeth, eventually breaking into soft, fragmented moans.
If anyone had witnessed this, they would have been shocked: the usually gentle and refined crown prince now gazed at her with obsessive possessiveness and a dangerous intensity.
After an unknown span of time, Wen Shuyu was released, gasping for air.
Xiao Jingchen rested his forehead against hers, his fingers brushing her lips. His black eyes seemed to contain an endless, dark river, impossible to fathom.
The night breeze stirred. Wen Shuyu, increasingly drunk, shivered. Her voice was faint as a mosquito’s: “Cold… dizzy… who are you… I want to go back.”
At some point, Xiao Jingchen had returned to his usual composed elegance. He removed his cloak and draped it over her, fastening it carefully.
He lifted her chin with his slender fingers, tightening his grip on her waist slightly. “Look again. Who am I?”
Wen Shuyu giggled dumbly, as if forgetting what had just happened. “It’s Prince Brother… why are you here?”
“I came tonight to bring you a gift.”
His gaze gentle, his movements graceful, Xiao Jingchen took out a finely carved jade hairpin imbued with spiritual energy. His eyes lingered on her cascading black hair as he delicately placed it inside.
Looking into her intoxicated apricot-colored eyes, his voice was soft, like a spring rippling through water: “I made this myself, A-Yu. This time, it’s beautiful.”
“I’ve engraved my personal soul-protecting charm within it. If you ever face danger, no matter where I am, it will protect you once in my place.”
His words were spoken lightly, not caring whether the drunken Wen Shuyu understood.
He had etched it with his own hands, having split his immortal soul, forced the Golden Core to emerge, and tempered a shard of pure golden flame into a carving tool. Each stroke of the charm drew a trace of blood from his lips, infused with a faint golden glow of his essential life force—any slip, and a lifetime of cultivation would be undone.
“Sleepy…” Wen Shuyu hugged his arm, burying her flushed face into his embrace, settling into a comfortable position, unmoving.
Perhaps she had fallen asleep.
Xiao Jingchen looked at her face, his voice soft, his gaze deeper and darker than the night itself. “A-Yu, if you fall in love with me, it may be the one thing you regret most in your life.”
“Tonight, I still allow you the chance to leave. Soon, even death will not spare us—we will die together, our souls trapped together, never parted.”
His fingertips traced her sleeping cheek inch by inch, a soft laugh slipping from his throat.
But in the darkness, that laugh carried a heavy obsession, chilling to the bone…