Sikong Sui couldn’t think of a good solution.
Her brain, in that moment, resembled an overloaded computer—completely frozen.
Running away was out of the question.
Explaining herself clearly was impossible.
She couldn’t possibly say: “I was just passing by, checking to see if my brother had eaten Fu Yuan yet, right?”
Suddenly, an idea flashed in Sikong Sui’s mind.
Pretend to be blind.
Yes, pretend to be blind.
This method might be a bit foolish, but it was better than nothing.
“Huh?”
Sikong Sui deliberately raised her voice a pitch, feigning theatrical confusion. “Am I blind? Why is everything so dark in front of me?”
She closed her eyes.
The warm yellow light from Fu Yuan’s dorm room faded into pure darkness, and she truly couldn’t see anything.
She raised her hands, groping blindly in front of her like a blind person trying to identify an elephant.
Muttering to herself, she said, “Could it be that I got injured while trying to save my brother, and it’s putting pressure on my brain nerves?”
Her fingers suddenly brushed against something cold—it was the doorframe.
Following the doorframe, she took a few steps forward into the bedroom, moving in the direction where she remembered Sikong Nian and Fu Yuan were.
“Brother, Teacher Fu, are you here?” Her voice was soft, carrying an innocent tone.
Fu Yuan remained silent.
A vein throbbed on Sikong Nian’s forehead.
He stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, the collar of his shirt slightly open.
The assertiveness and certainty he had displayed during his confrontation with Fu Yuan had vanished without a trace.
In its place was an overwhelming sense of embarrassment, as if he wished he could disappear into the ground.
His sister was now standing right in front of him, eyes closed, hands raised, groping aimlessly in the air like a blind little penguin.
And she had clearly seen him just moments ago.
Sikong Nian closed his eyes briefly, trying to shake that image from his mind.
If it were anyone else, he could simply silence them.
He was Sikong Nian, the Crown Prince of the Empire, an SSS-Rank Top Alpha.
He had the ability and the authority to do so.
But it had to be her—his most beloved sister.
The one he would rather suffer himself than let shed a single tear.
At some point, Sikong Sui had suddenly become very obedient and adorable.
The old Sikong Sui would argue with him, throw things, and give him the cold shoulder, but now she would smile at him, hold his hand, and softly call him “brother.”
She would even lean on his shoulder when he was upset, saying nothing, just quietly keeping him company.
She was truly becoming more and more adorable.
So adorable that he didn’t know what to do.
So adorable that something was quietly, uncontrollably growing within his heart.
Sikong Nian’s eyes darkened, pure and unsettlingly black.
Fu Yuan noticed it—his perception of emotions was frighteningly sharp.
He saw the look in Sikong Nian’s eyes as he gazed at Sikong Sui.
It was a look he had never seen on Sikong Nian’s face before—one that made his heart tighten.
Fu Yuan’s eyes darkened as well.
[System Notification: Fu Yuan’s Favorability -10. Current Favorability: 10.]
A ding sounded in Sikong Sui’s mind.
She almost couldn’t resist opening her eyes.
It dropped again?
It dropped again!
Sikong Sui’s hands froze awkwardly in mid-air.
Indeed, one really shouldn’t push their luck.
“Teacher Fu,” Sikong Nian’s voice rang out, having returned to its composed and restrained tone.
“You go back first, I need to check what’s wrong with Suisui’s eyes.”
“Did she see something she shouldn’t have?” Sikong Nian added.
Fu Yuan did not answer immediately.
Sikong Sui heard a faint sound… the click of a belt buckle.
Her ears flushed uncontrollably. Luckily, her eyes were closed, so she didn’t see.
Then came footsteps, fading from near to far.
As Fu Yuan passed by her, he deliberately walked very, very slowly: “Your Highness Suisui, next time you peek, remember to put your shoes on.”
Sikong Sui’s toes curled involuntarily.
Earlier, when she tried to run away in panic, she not only failed to escape but also kicked her shoes off.
Now, her feet were still bare, her ten toes red from the cold floor.
Fu Yuan’s footsteps faded away.
The sound of the front door closing came from downstairs.
…
The air fell into an awkward silence.
Sikong Sui stood in place, eyes closed, hands still raised mid-air.
She decided to commit to the act.
Since she had already started, she couldn’t give up halfway.
If she was going to pretend to be blind, she would pretend to the end of the world, to the apocalypse.
Pretend until her brother believed she really couldn’t see anything.
Sikong Sui kept her eyes closed, her hands groping forward.
She moved toward the direction of Sikong Nian’s voice, muttering under her breath: “Brother, where are you? Why can’t I find you…”
Her hand touched something.
Hard yet slightly elastic, with a bouncy feel.
Warm, through the thin fabric, she could feel the warmth of skin and the outline of muscles beneath.
Quite full.
Her fingers lingered for a fraction of a second, then instinctively squeezed, trying to confirm what it was.
Sikong Nian’s voice came from above her head, low, hoarse, with a restrained calm: “Suisui, if you go any further, you’ll regret it.”
Sikong Sui’s eyes snapped open.
She saw her own hand.
In a position so precise, so textbook-level inappropriate that she couldn’t even bear to look, it was covering Sikong Nian’s pectoral muscles.
Her face exploded in an instant.
Her entire body turned into a deep red shrimp.
Sikong Sui yanked her hand back as if scalded.
She shook her hand in the air twice, then hid it behind her back.
She coughed twice, cleared her throat, trying to make her voice sound normal: “Brother, I can see now!”
“That’s great, what a false alarm!”
“Has Teacher Fu left?”
Sikong Nian didn’t answer.
He stood there, looking down at her, his eyes dark and intense.
“Suisui, if someone saw something they shouldn’t have, learned some of brother’s secrets, what do you think brother would do?”
A chill ran up Sikong Sui’s spine.
She looked into Sikong Nian’s eyes, which held scrutiny, testing, and restraint.
Sikong Sui swallowed, her mind racing.
“Is that so?”
Sikong Sui said cautiously: “Although this person is despicable, I think she probably didn’t mean to.”
She tilted her head, as if acting cute.
“Brother is the most outstanding heir in the entire empire!”
Soft and sweet, like a melting marshmallow, “You should be strict with yourself and lenient with others.”
Sikong Nian looked at her, silent.
His gaze moved from her eyes to her eyebrows, from her eyebrows to the bridge of her nose, from the bridge of her nose to her lips, and then lingered on her lips.
Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Sikong Sui yawned exaggeratedly, “I’m so sleepy,”
Sikong Sui said, “I’m going back to sleep first.”
She turned around, took two steps toward the door, then stopped and tilted her head, “Huh! Was I sleepwalking? How did I end up here!”
She sighed and prepared to take a step, intending to escape this room that had caused her countless moments of social embarrassment as quickly as possible.
But before her hand could touch the doorknob, her wrist was grabbed.
Sikong Nian’s hand was very warm.
Completely different from Pei Sichen’s slightly cool touch.
His fingers were long and strong, wrapped around her slender wrist bone, making her entire arm begin to burn.
Sikong Sui’s body stiffened.
She didn’t turn around; she didn’t dare to.
She could feel Sikong Nian standing behind her, very close.
The scent of cedar and cold iron pheromones on him was much stronger than usual.
Sikong Nian raised his other hand.
His fingers touched her lips, sliding from left to right, then back from right to left, as if confirming something.
Her lips were swollen.
Sikong Nian’s eyes darkened.
“What happened to your mouth?”
Sikong Sui’s heart skipped a beat.
“Hmm?” Sikong Nian’s voice rose slightly in a questioning tone as he pressed further.
His gaze shifted from her lips to her eyes.
Their eyes met at an extremely close distance.
Sikong Sui saw her own face reflected in his pupils—a flushed face, panicked eyes, and slightly parted, swollen lips.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something to bluff her way through.
But at that moment, Sikong Nian’s thumb pressed down slightly harder on the small wound at the corner of her mouth.
Pain shot like lightning from her lips straight to her heart. Her eyes widened slightly, and a thin layer of tears quickly gathered in them.
“Suisui,” Sikong Nian’s voice was unusually hoarse, “I’m asking you a question.”
His thumb moved away from the corner of her mouth and slowly slid along her lower lip.
As if measuring how soft her lips were, how warm they were, how much they made him…
He didn’t say the word out loud, nor did he even complete the thought in his mind.
He simply used his fingertip to feel her warmth and softness, sensing the abnormal rhythm of his own heartbeat in his chest.
A tear fell from Sikong Sui’s eyes, “It hurts…”
The moment Sikong Nian saw that tear, his fingers froze.
As if burned, he abruptly withdrew his hand.
His fingers hovered in the air for a second, the warmth of her body and the softness of her lips still lingering on his fingertip.
Then he clenched his fist, gripping it all tightly in his palm.
His nails dug into his flesh, causing pain, but he needed that pain to keep himself awake.
“Don’t cry, big brother won’t ask anymore.”
Sikong Sui wiped her tears with the back of her hand, sniffled, and looked up at him.
Her voice was muffled, tinged with a nasal tone, “I’m really so sleepy…”
“Let’s go, I’ll take you back.”
Sikong Sui nodded and obediently followed behind him.
The two walked out of her dormitory one after the other.
The wind was strong, and she shrank her neck, pulling up the collar of her coat.
Sikong Nian walked half a step ahead of her, just enough to shield her from part of the wind.
“Brother, why are you acting a bit strange tonight?”