This…
Lin Chen was still bewildered when the Duke, decisive as ever, suddenly tightened his grip on his waist and switched places. Their positions quickly reversed.
The Duke, with his divine countenance, lay flat, and his medium-length blond hair scattered across the silk pillow: “Come on.”
Lin Chen, being the one being addressed, froze.
He wanted to say that wasn’t what he meant, but looking at Wenzel’s impatient eyes, he could only helplessly recite in his heart, “The customer is king, you can’t refuse a king.”
Besides, Wenzel was so handsome so he didn’t find him offensive.
Lin Chen was well aware of the human tendency to take advantage; he couldn’t feed him too much at once, or he would be the one who suffered.
He didn’t start with words, but first let Wenzel feel his palms—basically a half-baked massage. By slowing down the movements, any technique would immediately appear professional and sophisticated.
Anyway, Wenzel hates contact with others so much he’s definitely never experienced real service in his life, so he shouldn’t be hard to fool.
Thinking this, Lin Chen’s powerful palm slowly ground over the thick mounds. In an instant, both he and Wenzel held their breath.
There was a pause of several seconds, and both felt an unusual chemical reaction…
This was normal, but Lin Chen’s face was burning. He wasn’t sure whether he should move to avoid the awkwardness or continue their mutual teasing as if nothing had happened.
Wenzel noticed Lin Chen’s hesitation, or rather, his shyness, and couldn’t help but chuckle with some surprise: “I thought you wouldn’t be shy?”
Men care about their pride, and Lin Chen was no exception. Provoked by Wenzel, he immediately threw his shyness to the winds.
Ridiculous! He earns 100,000 a day, how could he be shy?
Lin Chen composed himself, silently repeating to himself, “Wenzel is a lump of dough, Wenzel is a lump of dough. As long as I treat Wenzel like a lump of dough and knead him, I won’t be shy anymore.”
He even had the energy to make a flirtatious remark: “Your Grace, you have a nice body.”
In the instant of being teased, Wenzel completely forgot to remind Lin Chen to be mindful of boundaries and not to say such ambiguous things to him. Instead, he went along with Lin Chen’s words, saying, “Yours is nice too.”
Lin Chen sighed inwardly; after all, Wenzel was eight years older than him, yet he remained completely unfazed.
He fell silent, but Wenzel continued to tease him in a deep, sexy voice: “Lin Chen, do you only want to touch me with your hands?”
A blatant hint.
Wenzel’s voice was so pleasant, and Lin Chen’s ears went numb. He had an urge to pull his hand away and rub his ears, but he certainly couldn’t do that in front of Wenzel; he had his pride.
“Otherwise what?” Lin Chen cleared his throat, asking innocently.
He clearly understood, but pretended not to. Wenzel had to adopt an employer-employee’s tone: “I thought satisfying me was your obligation. Since your skin can no longer please me, shouldn’t you satisfy me in other ways?”
Lin Chen quickly increased the pressure on his hands, using actions to remind him: “You’re right, aren’t I doing that right now?”
He believed the Duke was enjoying himself.
Wenzel shook his head: “Not enough. Your touch is just scratching the surface.”
It felt good, but it didn’t satisfy his true desires.
Lin Chen: “…”
He thought he could fool him, but he forgot the Duke was seriously ill.
He nodded obediently, not finding it difficult, but somewhat worried about the future.
If he needed such extreme methods to be satisfied so early, what would happen in two years…? Lin Chen dared not imagine.
He temporarily suppressed his anxiety, lifted the Duke’s chin, and leaned down to claim the protrusion he had long coveted.
Having experienced the ordeal of the previous night, he almost instinctively used the Duke’s own methods against him, only realizing after a moment of unbridled passion that he had forgotten to temper his strength, leaving a few marks.
Lin Chen paused, momentarily like a rookie who had made a mistake in the workplace, and his heart pounding with unease.
Fortunately, Wenzel didn’t stop him, so he pretended nothing was wrong and continued kissing him.
At first, he tried to be gentle, but he found that the gentler he was, the calmer Wenzel became; the rougher he was, the more excited Wenzel’s response…
Okay, he understood.
What the Duke did to him was something the other man himself enjoyed, so Lin Chen no longer held back. Call it malicious revenge or dedication, he ruthlessly ravaged Wenzel’s skin.
His injuries mirrored Wenzel’s injuries. Wherever Lin Chen was injured, Wenzel was injured.
Lin Chen, a perfectly normal person, found inexplicable pleasure in this act of revenge.
Finally, exhausted and unable to continue, he lay down, only to be pulled into Wenzel’s embrace. Wenzel grabbed the healthy skin on Lin Chen’s neck, and ignored his protests, adding new marks to his already healed wounds.
“Hey…” Lin Chen was pinned down, and unable to move. He was only able to glare angrily at Wenzel, and his throat emitting incoherent protests.
Fortunately, Wenzel’s outburst was brief; he didn’t further assault Lin Chen’s body, and simply held him tightly, enjoying the satisfaction of their close contact.
The infinitely intimate closeness revealed the problem.
Lin Chen let out a soft breath, also wanting to interrogate the duke, who was as straight as could be: “Are you so agitated because you like men?”
However, he valued his job and didn’t dare ask.
After hugging for about ten minutes, Lin Chen felt sleepy and was about to fall asleep. He wondered how to remind Wenzel that it was time to go home.
But somehow, he drifted off to sleep. When he got up at dawn, he was alone in the room, and where Wenzel had slept the night before remained a mystery.
Yesterday at this time, Wenzel would have already left, but today he was still home, dressed casually, and not like someone about to go out.
“Good morning, Your Grace,” Lin Chen greeted, then guiltily noticed his handiwork from the previous night on Wenzel’s sexy Adam’s apple.
“Morning,” Wenzel said, waving his hand to put away the light screen when he saw Lin Chen.
Seemingly noticing Lin Chen’s odd behavior, he stroked his Adam’s apple: “You broke the rules. In principle, I should deduct your pay.”
Lin Chen sat down, unhurriedly: “Didn’t you already get me back?”
He did break the rules, but Wenzel had also left a mark on his neck.
Wenzel smiled, instructing the servants to prepare breakfast. After everyone had left, he leaned close to Lin Chen and whispered, “Give me a good morning kiss, and I won’t hold it against you.”
Lin Chen considered for a moment, then replied, “Okay.”
The Duke automatically moved his face closer, and the handsome, dark-haired youth tilted his head slightly, planting a kiss on Lin Chen’s cheek.
The brief touch of skin ended before the servants returned with the food.
They maintained a certain distance, and their innocent appearances completely belying the shocking secrets hidden beneath their clothes.
“You just got up too?” Lin Chen noticed that Wenzel hadn’t eaten either, unsure if he was deliberately waiting for him or had simply overslept.
Wenzel hummed in response, his calm demeanor making it impossible to tell the truth.
“Oh.” Lin Chen decided to ignore it. He planned to visit Little Parker that day, so he waited for Wenzel to leave before going himself.
However, Wenzel didn’t seem to be going out today. He had a screening room prepared and asked Lin Chen, “What kind of movie do you like to watch?”
Lin Chen replied naturally, “You finally have some free time, of course I’ll watch whatever you want. I’m available anytime.”
Wenzel smiled, seemingly pleased with Lin Chen’s understanding: “Then let’s watch a suspense film. Let’s bet on who finds the murderer first.”
Lin Chen raised an eyebrow and smiled: “Okay.”
He used to play this game with his roommates often, and he had never lost.
“If I win, I hope you can give me half a day off.” He still wanted to go out in the afternoon.
Wenzel glanced at him but didn’t ask why he wanted a day off: “Sure.”
The two sat down on the overly spacious sofa in the screening room. Although there were many seats, Lin Chen deliberately sat next to Wenzel, almost leaning against him.
He wanted to win. Whether he could win depended on how skillfully he distracted Wenzel.
Unsuspecting, Wenzel readily accepted Lin Chen’s embrace, and soon his hands were inside the other’s clothes.
Now that things were like this, Lin Chen didn’t believe the other would still be paying attention to the plot of the suspense film. To be on the safe side, he even shamelessly sat in Wenzel’s lap, trying to block the other’s view.
Wenzel pinched Lin Chen’s soft flesh, his breath lingering on the smooth skin of the other’s nape: “That’s not enough, you should also cover my ears, darling.”
Lin Chen blinked innocently, saying, “What are you saying? I don’t understand.”
Wenzel chuckled lazily, while Lin Chen was focused on analyzing the plot and character relationships, having no time to enjoy the blond hunk’s pecks.
Who was the murderer?
Lin Chen even considered cheating, like secretly opening his terminal to search for the answer online when Wenzel wasn’t looking.
However, the moment he had this thought, his soft flesh was pinched, and he cried out in pain.
“Cheating is punishable, are you sure?” The Duke’s calm warning came from behind.
Lin Chen was surprised and doubtful: “How did you know I wanted to cheat?”
He didn’t think it was a coincidence; it could only mean the other person had exceptional insight.
Seeing the young man’s startled expression, Wenzel chuckled and asked, “You’re as naive as a blank sheet of paper, don’t you think?”
Lin Chen: “…”
That’s not how it works; he didn’t think he was that naive, did he?
Just as Lin Chen was lost in thought, Wenzel casually said, “The murderer is the lawyer.”
“Huh?” Lin Chen instantly snapped back to reality, instinctively retorting, “How could the murderer be the lawyer?”
“He had no motive, and he had a clear alibi.”
It seemed like the other person was just a minor character.
Wenzel offered no explanation, simply skipping to the very end of the video to reveal the truth: the murderer was indeed the lawyer. “See?” he said.
Lin Chen was speechless, admiringly replying, “I lost. Your insight is remarkable.”
Although there might have been some mental enhancement involved, he was willing to accept his defeat: “What conditions do you need me to agree to?”
Wenzel thought for a moment, his fingers tracing patterns on Lin Chen’s waist as he considered his options. “Lin Chen, prepare dinner for me.”
That wasn’t difficult. Lin Chen nodded. “Sure, if you don’t mind.”
Then he began to bargain: “Your Grace, may I go out this afternoon?”
Wenzel: “Didn’t you lose?”
Lin Chen paused, turning to sit face-to-face with Wenzel. “Then can I renege?”
Perhaps this was too unconventional, and Wenzel remained silent for a moment. Lin Chen took his hand in a conciliatory manner and kissed it. “Yes, right?”
“Hmm?” Wenzel pretended not to hear.
Lin Chen had no choice but to imitate what the other person had done that day, circling around the ulna and occasionally leaving a few teeth marks: “Your Grace, please say yes.”
“Tell me first, who are you going to see?” Wenzel leaned back, pulling his hand away.
“A lion, his name is Parker, we’re good friends,” Lin Chen said quickly, seeing a glimmer of hope.
After a moment’s thought, Wenzel said, “Okay, take Joe with you.”
This was a bit of a dilemma. Taking Joe to a fight?
However, Lin Chen’s sixth sense told him it was best not to continue haggling with Wenzel, or the outcome might be worse.
He replied, “Okay.”
Lin Chen was happy to go out with Joe; he would have been even happier if it weren’t to see Parker.
The family’s secondhand pickup truck had also arrived, parked in the Howard mansion’s parking lot, looking somewhat out of place alongside Wenzel’s luxury cars.
Lin Chen didn’t mind at all and was about to drive Joe out when Wenzel followed him, bluntly shoving a car key into his hand: “This is for you.”
Lin Chen was taken aback: “Thank you.”
He couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. No wonder so many people wanted to be a nobleman’s mistress; a car and a house within a week of starting the job—it was indeed hard to resist the temptation.
The car Lin Chen received was spacious, perfect for taking his companion beast out. He belatedly realized that Wenzel’s initial intention in giving him the car might not have been for him, but for Joe.
Yes, he absolutely couldn’t be presumptuous.
Joe leaped into the back seat, found a spot with a view of the driver’s cab, and squatted down. Lin Chen glanced back and noticed his gaze. He patiently said to Joe, “Baby, I’m going to take you to meet one of my lion friends later. You have to get along well with him and not fight.”
“If you two fight, I’ll be very sad.”
Lin Chen reached out and ruffled Joe’s hair. “Promise me, okay?”
Joe responded by licking his palm, his steady, intelligent eyes filled with unspoken indulgence.
Lin Chen smiled. “Okay, then I’ll take that as a promise. You’re great.”
As soon as they stepped out of Howard’s mansion, Wenzel established a connection with Joe. Sensing Lin Chen and Joe’s affectionate interactions the whole way, he was unsure who to be angry with, but at the same time, he didn’t want to sever the connection, otherwise, he would be even more agitated.
In the parking lot of the Si Corporation building, Lin Chen parked his car and hugged Joe in the back seat. “You stay here for a bit, I’ll go up and talk to them.”
He needed to appease the lion he hadn’t seen in days.
“Then I’ll bring it down to play with you, okay?”
Lin Chen kissed the black panther’s forehead, genuinely acknowledging the calm and collected nature of the animal. However, as he closed the car door, a pang of tenderness struck him. He waved goodbye, “I’ll be right back.”
The lion knew Lin Chen was coming and stood guard imposingly at the elevator entrance. The moment Lin Chen appeared, it pounced excitedly, almost causing Lin Chen to fall to the ground.
“Long time no see, Little Parker!” Lin Chen smiled brightly, hugging Parker’s lion head and showering it with kisses.
The lion, who should have been excited, suddenly paused, and sniffed him. Its face regained its wary look as if it had detected a threat. It growled, seemingly demanding an explanation from Lin Chen: “Where did you get into this mess?”
“You haven’t come to see me these past few days, have you been fooling around with that guy?”
“Don’t be angry, I still love you. Being angry isn’t cute.” Lin Chen, like a playboy, patted the lion’s nose.
Their seemingly unconcerned display of affection attracted the attention of many passing Si Corporation employees. It wasn’t hard to guess from their expressions that they were wondering why their boss’s companion beast was being so friendly with someone else.
Given that this wasn’t Lin Chen’s first appearance, he was already a rather mysterious figure within Si Corporation.
Some people even came specifically to see him, and upon seeing him, they were stunned, feeling as if they were seeing a noble young master.
It’s just that Lin Chen was too casual before, and now, with Wenzel’s meticulous grooming, his image had drastically changed. The lion, who only recognized people by their scent, didn’t notice any changes in his appearance.
“You’re here?” Si Ang heard footsteps and glanced up. He was stunned by Lin Chen’s striking resemblance to Wenzel. “You’ve only been there a few days, and he’s already got you all sorts of a ‘flavor’?”
Lin Chen felt a little uncomfortable at Si Ang’s teasing. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
Si Ang scrutinized him, and seeing that he looked well, he breathed a sigh of relief, confirming he hadn’t been mistreated. “Tell me honestly, why did Wenzel choose you as his lover? He definitely has ulterior motives. Don’t be fooled.”
It wasn’t that Si Ang looked down on Lin Chen or was convinced Lin Chen didn’t deserve affection. He simply knew all too well that Wenzel was a man driven by self-interest. Besides a handsome appearance, Wenzel had absolutely nothing that Lin Chen could possibly like.
Lin Chen nodded: “But Brother Ang, whoever chooses whom is scheming. The only difference is what they’re after so there’s no real difference.”
Si Ang looked at Lin Chen with a complex expression as if he were meeting him for the first time: “You feel the same way about him?”
Lin Chen frankly admitted: “Yes, I’m scheming about him too. We each get what we need.”
Si Ang had a lot to say, but since Lin Chen was so clear-headed, he didn’t bother: “Whatever. Just tell me if anything happens. Don’t be afraid of him.”
Lin Chen felt a warmth in his heart and smiled, his eyes crinkling: “Okay.”
Remembering Joe was still in the car, he cut to the chase: “By the way, Parker must be missing me these days. I want to take it out to play…”
Si Ang joked, “You need to tell me before you take it out?”
Lin Chen chuckled awkwardly, “This time is different, you have to agree.” He then touched his nose, “Wenzel’s black panther will be going too.”
Si Ang’s face immediately darkened as he expected, but the reason for his anger was: “He used his companion beast to monitor you, or did you insist on bringing it along?”
“Of course I wanted to bring it. You know I like black panthers.” These two already had an inherent conflict, and Lin Chen didn’t want to create further trouble: “I promise they won’t fight. After all, they’ve fought side-by-side before, haven’t they?”
“Those two lonely beasts, wouldn’t it be a good thing if they could become friends?”
Lin Chen continued to persuade, “Don’t let your human grudges affect your companion beasts. Even if you and Wenzel fight one day, it’s just a business war. What does it have to do with Parker and the others?”
Si Ang scoffed, “Nonsense.”
Lin Chen smiled, “You should think carefully about Parker’s situation. This is a rare opportunity for him to make friends.”
If it weren’t for his special ability, companion beasts would never have any social interaction outside of their owners. As their owner, wouldn’t that break your heart?
Even pet owners know to pair up their pets so they have a playmate.
Indeed, Si Ang glanced at Parker. That guy hadn’t been able to take his eyes off Lin Chen since he arrived. If he didn’t let him go out to play today, he’d destroy the house.
“Go ahead,” he relented.
“Thanks, Brother Ang,” Lin Chen said, leading Parker out.
Little Parker’s steps became lighter, not sparing his workaholic master a glance. Entering the elevator, Lin Chen knelt down in front of Parker and repeated what he had said to the black panther.
“Understood?”
The lion blinked, and Lin Chen took that as understanding.
Arriving at the parking lot, he saw Joe’s bright eyes staring intently through the windshield. When it saw the lion, a dangerous glint flashed in its eyes.
Lin Chen thought he might be mistaken. Looking at the lion beside him, he saw it also staring intently, walking cautiously with its eyes fixed straight ahead.
Without thinking, Lin Chen slapped it on the head: “So I wasted my breath, huh?”
And the black panther too. Lin Chen strode over and opened the car door, his menacing demeanor making even the combative Joe lick its paws and cautiously observe.
Its gaze darted back and forth between the lion and Lin Chen.
Upon opening the door, Parker instantly caught the hostile scent, bared his fangs, and howled. He then received another slap on the head, after which Lin Chen said, “Don’t yell, or I’ll send you back to your master.”
As it turned out, Parker was a clever lion. He didn’t yell, but just looked at Lin Chen, this cold-hearted man with a pitiful expression.
“Joe, did you understand?” After using the lion as a negative example, Lin Chen showed his hand to the black panther.
Faced with the fierce young man, Joe wisely took two steps back and crouched down, his gentle eyes seeming to say, “Is being this obedient enough?”