Su Ce had thought that Xiao Huai’s “unforgettable” lesson would be nothing more than keeping him up all night, but as he was dragged toward the sleeping quarters, a nameless fear rose within him. Every pore of his body screamed in resistance.
However, Xiao Huai gave him no time to resist. With a powerful shove, Su Ce stumbled and fell to the floor, his forehead striking the edge of the bed frame. A gash opened instantly, and blood began to flow uncontrollably.
Su Ce glared at the hateful Xiao Huai as he crouched down to look him in the eye. Xiao Huai lifted Su Ce’s chin, tilting it side to side with a heavy expression, as if sighing over a beloved object that had been carelessly broken. “Su Ce, you’re hurt. Don’t move; let me blow on it for you.”
Su Ce stared daggers at this repulsive Xiao Huai and snapped, “I don’t want you!”
Yet, Xiao Huai stubbornly bowed his head, cupping the back of Su Ce’s skull. He blew on the wound, kissed it, and then extended his tongue to lick the blood trailing from the cut until it was clean.
Seizing the moment while Xiao Huai was distracted, Su Ce kicked him.
Xiao Huai toppled backward.
Su Ce, trembling, didn’t dare to think. He scrambled on his hands and knees, trying to escape the sleeping quarters.
A low rumble of thunder sounded in the sky.
Su Ce felt his ankle gripped by a powerful force, drawing a pained gasp from his lips.
He looked back. As a flash of lightning tore through the dark night, he saw Xiao Huai’s eyes dark and deep. Xiao Huai licked his lips and offered Su Ce a sinister, malevolent smile.
A cold wind blew. Xiao Huai approached step by step, like a vengeful ghost from the depths of hell, intent on entangling himself with Su Ce endlessly.
Su Ce scuttled backward, trying to escape the giant shadow looming over him. Just as he turned to scramble away, Xiao Huai lunged, dragging him back in a single movement.
Su Ce slid onto the floor with a “thud.”
He was dragged to the bedside. He watched as Xiao Huai unfastened his own hair tie, his long, flowing hair sliding down from Xiao Huai’s fingertips like thousands of chains wrapping around him, causing Su Ce to shudder violently.
Before he could beg for mercy, Xiao Huai raised Su Ce’s hands above his head and bound them tightly to the bed frame.
He pulled a white pill from his robe, examined it for a moment, then cast a sidelong glance at Su Ce. He used his thumb to pry open Su Ce’s lips, pressed down on his slick tongue, and shoved the pill deep into his throat.
“Su Ce, why are you running? Do you not want to be with me that much? Do you trust Qin Zijin that much? But you can’t escape. You can’t leave me, and there is no way for you to be with Qin Zijin.”
Before Su Ce could retort, Xiao Huai kissed him.
The kiss was erratic and aggressive, cruelly stealing every inch of Su Ce’s breath, as if only in this way could he prove that Su Ce belonged to him.
When Xiao Huai finally released him, Su Ce had already swallowed the white pill.
“What did you feed me?” Su Ce looked at Xiao Huai with bloodshot eyes.
Xiao Huai ignored him, reaching out to flip him over.
Soon, Su Ce felt a chill; Xiao Huai had stripped him of all his clothing. Su Ce suddenly realized that this night was not going to be simple.
Xiao Huai’s anger had vanished, replaced by a patient, lingering touch of his fingertips over Su Ce’s sensitive points, gradually moving downward.
Until Su Ce heard Xiao Huai let out a mocking chuckle.
Then, he felt a wet, soft, and tender sensation. It was the tip of Xiao Huai’s tongue tracing paths over his body.
Su Ce could not understand why Xiao Huai would lower himself to do such a thing—a behavior he had never displayed before.
He forced himself to stay calm. “Xiao Huai… Mmph…”
Xiao Huai’s tongue bypassed the barrier, ironing every inch of his inner texture, while his hand also caressed his vulnerability.
The stimulation was more than Su Ce could bear. He collapsed, arching his back as he tried to crawl forward to escape Xiao Huai’s control.
Xiao Huai wrapped his arms around Su Ce’s waist and pulled him back with a bit of force, rendering him unable to move. Body pressed against body, Su Ce felt the heat radiating from Xiao Huai and twisted his body to break free, but Xiao Huai tightened his arms, imprisoning him in his embrace.
After a long time—so long that Su Ce’s consciousness had dissipated—Xiao Huai lifted his head to rest his chin on Su Ce’s shoulder. He flicked his tongue to lick Su Ce’s earlobe, his nose brushing against his neck, inhaling the light fragrance of his thin sweat. His voice was low and seductive: “Su Ce, do you still want to run?”
Su Ce looked back, his eyes filled with shame and fury.
Stung by his expression, Xiao Huai’s face darkened with displeasure.
Xiao Huai pinned Su Ce’s upper body to the ground, forcing his face against the floor.
“What do you want to do again?”
As soon as he spoke, Su Ce heard Xiao Huai drag something out from under the bed and place it before his eyes: a set of silver tools wrapped in cloth.
“Su Ce, do you know? Some people like to beat disobedient cats or dogs until they are obedient. But I won’t do that to you, because that wouldn’t be any fun.”
Humming a tune, Xiao Huai selected a long, slender silver needle from the set and waved it before Su Ce’s eyes. “What do you think of this? It’s not too big or small. It should be able to make you hold it in for a while so you don’t cry, right?”
Su Ce struggled, but Xiao Huai held him fast, watching as the needle was gradually buried deep within his body.
The sensation of the foreign object filled his core. He burst into tears instantly, crying out in regret: “I beg you, I beg you, take it out…”
Xiao Huai’s face was gloomy. He reached out, inserted his index finger into Su Ce’s mouth to stir and tighten his tongue, and then used the hand holding the silver silk to reach elsewhere.
Before long, a cooling, oily sensation tinged with the scent of flowers was felt between his thighs.
Xiao Huai always had many ways to make Su Ce breathe rapidly.
At this moment, he was viciously waving his arms, serving every inch of Su Ce with dedication, like a child stirring a pool of still water, causing Su Ce’s consciousness to scatter.
Su Ce was already at his limit; treated this way by Xiao Huai, tears welled in his eyes. “Please, I beg you… take it out.”
“Take what out? Su Ce, you have to be clear.”
Su Ce gritted his teeth, refusing to answer Xiao Huai’s question, but the torment was too much; his face was already flushed beet-red.
As if he couldn’t see the desperation in Su Ce’s eyes, Xiao Huai pushed the needle in deeper, as if determined to make Su Ce suffer.
Not until Xiao Huai saw that Su Ce could no longer bear it, at the very moment his body grew rigid, did he slowly pull the silver needle out.
In that instant, Su Ce let out a shriek from deep in his throat, followed by heavy, ragged gasps.
Xiao Huai coldly watched Su Ce, whose body was trembling violently on the floor like a fish out of water. He forcefully lifted him and held him in his arms, prying open his mouth with his fingers, and whispered like a ghost in his ear: “Su Ce, lick it clean.”
But before Su Ce could settle down, he repeated the exact same process again.
Su Ce was driven breathless by his torment, unable to refrain from asking: “What… exactly do you want?”
“What do I want? Are you still not clear?”
Xiao Huai spoke in a chilling tone, looking at Su Ce with indifference. He gripped Su Ce’s jaw and applied pressure; Su Ce, pained, opened his tightly shut lips and let out a low cry.
Xiao Huai kissed those lips again, stealing the saliva from his mouth, sucking on his tongue, and biting it as a punishment.
Su Ce was like a drawn bowstring; his waist sagged, and his spine formed a graceful arc.
Su Ce suddenly understood.
In the silence of the night, where only his own sobbing could be heard, he cried out in a breakdown, begging for mercy.
But Xiao Huai turned a deaf ear.
I do not know how much time had passed so long that Su Ce could no longer feel any pain, only able to emit miserable, piercing screams under Xiao Huai’s control—when Xiao Huai seemed to have just found his amusement. He panted: “Su Ce, I didn’t want to treat you like this. But you have disappointed me so much.”
Not until Su Ce could take no more did he cry like pearls falling from a broken thread, soaking the rug beneath him.
He was gathered back into Xiao Huai’s arms, who bowed his head to kiss away the salty tears on his cheeks.
Su Ce looked at the rug, its light color now deepened by the moisture, and closed his eyes.
He listened to Xiao Huai’s voice, filled with success and mockery: “Are you still thinking about Qin Zijin now?”
Su Ce remained silent. Xiao Huai picked him up and walked toward the window.
As he pushed open the tightly shut wooden window, fresh, damp air rushed in, dispersing the thick, pungent scent of their intimacy.
In the sky, a succession of gorgeous fireworks burst forth, illuminating the dark night.
As Su Ce looked up at the fleeting beauty, Xiao Huai leaned forward: “Do you like these fireworks?”
He bit his lip, unable to answer. Sweat fell from his eyelashes into his eyes, blurring his vision.
He liked fireworks, but these fireworks were not lit for him.
He dared not like them, and he did not want to like them. The aching, sour feeling in his heart surpassed even the physical pain Xiao Huai had inflicted upon him.
Su Ce hung his head, but Xiao Huai reached out from behind to pinch his neck, forcing him to gaze at the spectacular feast of fireworks.
Suddenly, a gust of night wind blew. Su Ce shrank back, hearing Xiao Huai let out a light laugh: “Do you know what the medicine I just fed you is?”
Su Ce naturally did not answer him, but Xiao Huai did not care, continuing to speak on his own: “That is a secret medicine from the Yan Kingdom, called the Child-Bearing Pill… a pill that can make men give birth to children.”
Upon hearing this, Su Ce’s pupils dilated instantly. He turned his head in disbelief to look at Xiao Huai, watching the triumphant look on his face.
The tight string in his heart finally snapped.
So, not only did Xiao Huai not love him, he even wanted him to bear children for him and the Princess of the Yan Kingdom.
He was a man! Even if this drug could make him conceive, wasn’t this going to cost him his life?
In this instant, Su Ce’s heart turned to ash. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but ultimately, he said nothing at all.
For the rest of the night, Su Ce was pressed onto the bed by Xiao Huai and tormented until he was near death, until no more tears could fall from his eyes, and he had no strength left to struggle.
He began to speak incoherently in a delirium, apologizing and admitting his faults to Xiao Huai.
He only begged Xiao Huai to spare him, to leave him a path to survive.
Not until the very end, when he could only emit a broken, hoarse tone.
Xiao Huai finally let him go.
That day, all the palace servants consciously stayed far away from their courtyard.
Within the Imperial Palace, the scene transformed into two completely different spectacles: one lively and bustling, the other filled with ceaseless screams.
As Su Ce floated and sank in a sea of bitterness, and memories rushed in like the tide, Su Ce suddenly understood why Xiao Huai was treating him this way.
It was all the karma he had sown, and now, it could be said that he was merely reaping what he had sown.