Having lived for twenty-one years, Jiang Wu considered herself a very polite, gentlemanly person who cared deeply about her reputation.
Being a homosexual in a world strictly divided only by men and women was something that required a high degree of self-awareness. She kept her distance from every lesbian or clueless straight woman who clung to her and showed no romantic interest in return.
She absolutely could not afford to leave behind even the slightest hint of ambiguous entanglement.
Yet with Pei Yu, she could never seem to exercise self-control.
Even after the woman had curved her lips in refusal, she still pressed herself against her waist and abdomen.
She wanted to bite, to leave lip prints and kiss marks upon her waist and lower abdomen. She wanted to watch those mist-filled eyes gaze at her, wanting her to push through the overwhelming shyness, fighting off the anxieties of motherhood and the worries for the child growing within her, all while urging her softly to be gentler, helplessly indulging her reckless impulses.
Startled by her own thoughts, Jiang Wu quickly pulled back the palm that had unconsciously come to rest on Pei Yu’s waist. The woman’s waist was warm and soft, causing her to stagger slightly the moment Jiang Wu withdrew.
Those light amber eyes narrowed slightly, harboring a dissatisfaction with the stupid dog’s sudden half-way withdrawal that even Pei Yu herself had not fully realized.
The scorching warmth of the touch still lingered against her waist. Pei Yu watched the silent, head-lowered little dog for a long time before slowly parting her lips.
“What were you thinking just now?”
“Coercing me, actively untying my clothes, and after biting down, what then? Were you just going to bite my waist and abdomen, or did you want somewhere closer, somewhere else?”
The woman hooked the alpha’s chin upward, a very faint smile touching the depths of those pretty, light amber eyes.
“You want too much.”
You want pampering, you want my body, and you want the child in my belly.
She could be somewhat indulgent toward her, purely on the grounds that Jiang Wu’s affection ran deep, but that tolerance could only extend as far as allowing her physical contact.
As for pulling stunts like earlier, boldly grabbing her waist and attempting to strip away her clothes to bite down on a whim, that fell well outside the standards of relaxation she had set for Jiang Wu.
“I am sorry.” The alpha lowered her head gloomily, acknowledging everything without the slightest attempt at evasion.
She did indeed harbor impure thoughts about Pei Yu. What made it most aggravating was that these desires were strictly confined to a purely physiological attraction toward her body and scent.
She was acting like a heartless player who went around flirting everywhere without any intention of taking responsibility.
Accustomed to dealing with all sorts of false facades, it was the first time Pei Yu had ever bumped into such a blatant, straightforward expression of desire gleaming in an alpha’s eyes. Her breathing instantly lost its rhythm. She gently bit down on her lower lip, releasing it a moment later to leave only a faint indentation of her teeth.
Never mind.
Why bother bickering with a clueless, useless little dog?
Simple-minded, clumsy in talent, spoiled by indulgence, and entirely unequal to major responsibilities.
Even the child in her womb, so quiet, unfussing, and lacking in presence all this time, only occasionally tormenting its mommy, was probably just another version of this pretty little dog, the exact type to bankrupt the Southern Kingdom within three years.
She suddenly felt a mild headache coming on.
What was she supposed to do?
Should she have another one? Why could Jiang Wu not just be a tiny bit smarter? Even if she only had half the intellect of the prime minister, she would not have to worry so much about the child’s natural aptitude.
The person who had inexplicably received a glare blinked her eyes, obediently trailing half a step behind the empress.
The sound of meal delivery drifted in from outside. Jiang Wu’s nose twitching, her bright obsidian eyes darting curiously toward the doorway, and even when caught in the act, she flashed a sparkling, bright smile.
“Your Majesty, may I eat as well?”
Meals were served twice a day in the palace, and although there were plenty of tea snacks in between, Jiang Wu never dared to touch them.
She was experiencing the first-ever instance of someone marrying into a wealthy household only to starve. She felt her existence was utterly pathetic.
Such was the fate of the unfavored, but no matter, she could manage just fine by simply watching.
Witnessing countless emotional fluctuations in a pretty freeloader within the span of a single minute, Pei Yu finally let out a soft sigh as she looked at her.
Lowering her gaze, Pei Yu issued a low command to the attendant: “Add another set of utensils.”
Chunba had yet to return, and since Jiang Wu had spent the entire afternoon sleeping in the inner palace, the temporarily reassigned palace maid was unaware that there were supposed to be two people. Flustered, she hurried back to place an extra set right in front of Jiang Wu.
Two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, a soup, two plates of pastries, and a corner filled with small, bite-sized cubes of melon.
Jiang Wu pulled out her chopsticks, picked up a piece of medicinal stewed chicken, and popped it into her mouth. It was savory and sweet, completely free of any greasy poultry taste, offering a texture entirely different from the frozen meats she was used to eating in college.
She raised her eyes in pleasant surprise, only to find the woman at the end of her line of sight covering her nose and mouth with a frown, her pale eyes laced with displeasure.
“Did I not give orders yesterday that fish was not to be filleted?” Pei Yu’s brows darkened as she rested her chopsticks on the jade plate, turning her head away with a pale face.
The food on the table was whisked away in an instant. Jiang Wu hurriedly grabbed two pastries to stash away, looking with hesitant sympathy at the group of people kneeling down the steps.
The woman stood up, swept a cold glance over the kneeling crowd, and departed with a flick of her sleeves.
“Your Majesty. Have you eaten anything this morning?” Watching the woman return to the inner chambers, Jiang Wu turned her head to ask the nearby maid.
“Replying to Lord Jiang, no.”
Jiang Wu nodded, carefully inspecting the pastries in her hands before popping one into her mouth, lowering her gaze to wipe her fingers clean with a paper handkerchief.
“Take me to the imperial kitchen.”
She had earned a maternity nanny certification and knew a thing or two about prenatal care. In the early stages of pregnancy, eating smaller, frequent meals was crucial. The stomach must not remain empty, otherwise nausea would only worsen in a vicious cycle.
Though, she had not really seen Pei Yu vomit much yet. Perhaps it had not fully set in, though the early warning signs were already there.
After waiting for quite a while without seeing that stupid alpha follow her inside, a creeping sense of gloom began to cloud the depths of Pei Yu’s eyes.
At a time like this, was not taking care of her far more important than eating?
Suppressing her rising anger, she walked out of the room, only to find no sign of the alpha anywhere. Upon inquiring with a maid, she learned that Jiang Wu had sequestered herself in the auxiliary kitchen.
The kitchen door was suddenly pushed open. Jiang Wu was busy fanning the stove fire, looking completely covered in soot as she glanced up. The empress, who should have been resting in her bedchamber, was standing right in the doorway, her pretty light amber eyes shrouded in mist, the roots of her eyelashes faintly tinged with red.
She looked precisely like someone who had been severely bullied.
“Jiang Wu.” The woman’s voice carried a grinding edge of exasperation. “Do you love the kitchen that much? If so, why do you not just move in here and never go anywhere else ever again?”
The little dog blinked, cast a glance at the stove to ensure the fire was burning steadily, and then turned over to take the empress by the hand, leading her to sit down nearby while speaking in a soothing tone.
“Your Majesty needs to eat something.”
“Lotus seed and Chinese yam porridge, plus some lemonade. It will be ready in a moment.”
The woman paused slightly, her anger visibly dissolving into a lingering trace of awkwardness.
“I said I did not want to eat.”
“That is because what they made was utterly terrible. You are suffering so much, yet they still expect you to eat those things.”
Jiang Wu curved her eyes, taking advantage of the moment to unscrupulously disparage others to score affection points.
“I care deeply about Your Majesty, which is why I studied the recipes to cook things you can actually eat and nourish your body with.”
The person who had been so furious moments before suddenly fell quiet, her eyelashes fluttering gently to conceal the faint moisture lingering in her eyes.
She turned her head away, instinctively placing a hand over her lower abdomen, only to snatch it back as if burned the second she realized what she was doing.
“Why. Lotus seed and Chinese yam porridge, and lemonade?”
“The porridge strengthens the spleen, harmonizes the stomach, calms the mind, nourishes the kidneys, stabilizes the fetus, and replenishes blood and Qi. Lemonade helps reduce nausea.”
Coughing as the smoke stung her eyes, Jiang Wu explained, her face looking a shade darker with soot by the minute.
Pei Yu suddenly recalled how, many days ago, she had also worn this exact grimy look when she came rushing over to deliver meals to her.
No wonder.
A corner of her lips curved upward, her peach-blossom eyes curving slightly as she locked onto the speck of coal dust perched right on the tip of the alpha’s nose.
“Tonight, I grant you permission to share my pillow.”
In truth, Jiang Wu had a terrible sleeping posture.
She had nervously brought this up to Pei Yu just moments before, but the empress’s expression had instantly frozen over.
Arrogant and haughty words echoed in her ears for half the night: “When I give you an order, your only response is to acknowledge it. If your sleeping posture is poor, just hold me all night to keep yourself from drifting off. Do I need to teach you a simple thing like that?”
Clearly, Pei Yu did not believe for a second that her sleeping posture was genuinely bad.
Yet it was the absolute truth. Because of her restless sleeping habits, her elder sister had insisted, even through severe financial hardship, on buying her a separate small cot to place right beside their shared bed when they were growing up.
As the oil lamp slowly burned down to its last flicker, Jiang Wu’s forced wakefulness finally succumbed to the weight of exhaustion. Before drifting off to sleep, she instinctively rolled over to wrap her arms around the warm body beside her, sleepily burying herself directly into the omega’s embrace.
The night air was cool, so no ice had been set out, but being hugged by what felt like a living furnace meant Pei Yu quickly broke out in a sticky sweat. Her eyes fluttered open, still heavy with sleepiness.
If it were merely the heat, she might have endured it, but the person buried in her arms kept tossing and turning, gently nipping at her collar as if trying to bite through it, yet failing to untangle herself.
Pei Yu pressed a hand against the head resting in her chest, forcing herself to summon enough spirit through the rolling waves of drowsiness to speak.
“What is it you want to bite?”
After a long moment, she realized the person in her arms was sound asleep, radiating that uniquely sweet and heavy scent of deep slumber. She curved the corner of her lips in helpless amusement.
She had gone and woken her up, only for the culprit to pass out completely like a thoroughly baked little dog.
Still, her claim about having a poor sleeping posture turned out to be entirely accurate. Earlier that evening, Pei Yu had briefly suspected that the stupid dog simply wanted nothing to do with sharing a bed with her.
Remaining entirely passive, she lowered her gaze to watch the little dog blindly fumble around against her chest, rubbing back and forth across the thin layer of fabric before finally latching onto a certain spot.
Seemingly unsatisfied even then, the small mouth began to gently suck after latching on, acting just like an insatiable infant. Pei Yu tilted her neck upward slightly, her breathing growing heavier.
An inexplicable wave of tenderness filled her entirely. It was so unfamiliar, so repulsive, so shameful, and yet deeply mesmerizing.
The sensation of the fabric dampened by saliva pressing close against her skin was far from pleasant.
Resisting her sleepiness, Pei Yu pressed her index finger against the alpha’s lips while using her other hand to pull back her neckline. The little dog in her arms sniffed the air, instinctively bypassing her weakened fingertips to nuzzle forward and lightly bite down.
Stung by the sharp teeth, Pei Yu frowned slightly, muttering a low reprimand: “Cheap dog.”
Even so, she indulged her without pushing her away, wrapping her arms around Jiang Wu’s furry head to stroke her in soothing, increasingly gentle motions. Finally, she pulled the fuzzy dog head tightly against her chest, drifting off into a sticky, warm slumber.