The dining room smelled intensely of roasted meat, but the food remained completely untouched.
Prince Jing Yuchen sat straight in his chair, his silver hair perfectly arranged, but his violet eyes were fixed entirely on Li Yan.
Li Yan tried to sit quietly, his legs still weak from what had happened in the greenhouse.
He had tried his best to wash himself, but he could not wash away the invisible energy clinging to his skin.
Jing Yuchen suddenly stood up, his chair scraping loudly against the floor.
He walked over to Li Yan, leaning down until his nose brushed against Li Yan’s neck. His face instantly twisted into an expression of pure, royal rage.
"You smell like him," Jing Yuchen hissed, his voice trembling with anger.
"The common brute left his disgusting cedar scent all over your collarbone.
You let him touch you while I was away in the study."
"It wasn’t my choice," Li Yan said, trying to keep his cool CEO voice steady.
"He caught me off guard. Let me finish my lunch."
"Get up," the prince ordered.
Before Li Yan could refuse, Jing Yuchen grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the dining room.
He pulled him down the long hallway and pushed him straight into the massive estate library.
The door slammed shut behind them, and a loud click echoed through the room as the prince used his powerful Enigma magic to lock down every window and exit.
The air became heavy and cold, filled with a suffocating smell of ozone that made Li Yan’s head spin.
"You are my spouse, Mingxuan," Jing Yuchen said, stepping forward as his eyes glowed with a dark light.
"The royal family gave you your status. Yet you allow a common soldier to treat you like a cheap toy in the garden."
"I don’t belong to either of you!" Li Yan shouted, backing away until his knees hit the edge of a long reading sofa.
"You two are using me to fight your own political war!"
"This is not about politics!" Jing Yuchen roared, losing his usual snobby calm.
He lunged forward, grabbing Li Yan by the shoulders and throwing him flat onto the soft sofa.
Li Yan tried to scramble away, but the prince pinned his arms over his head, his heavy body pressing down with absolute dominance.
The sheer weight of the Enigma pheromones made Li Yan’s muscles turn to water, forcing him into a shaky, helpless state of submission.
Jing Yuchen did not hesitate. He ripped the back of Li Yan’s robe, forcing him to turn over so his stomach was pressed against the soft cushions.
He pulled Li Yan’s hips up high into the air.
"Let me go!" Li Yan choked out, his face buried in the velvet.
Instead of an answer, the prince leaned down and buried his face directly between Li Yan’s exposed butt cheeks.
Li Yan gasped as a hot, wet tongue began to lick and swirl directly against his tight, puckered asshole. The prince poured his warm saliva over the sensitive area, sucking and biting the soft skin around the opening until Li Yan was shaking all over.
"Ah! Stop! What are you doing?" Li Yan cried out, his voice breaking.
Jing Yuchen ignored his protests, using his tongue to drill deeply into the wet hole before pushing a long, thick finger inside.
The finger moved back and forth, stretching the tight entry and mixing with the wet saliva, making a loud, wet squelching sound.
Li Yan’s straight-man pride completely shattered as his body took over, turning him into a crying, moaning mess on the sofa.
He could not stop the embarrassing sounds from escaping his lips.
[System Warning: Host favorability bar is skyrocketing. 88%... 90%... 92%...]
The blue screen hovered in his blurred vision, counting down his complete loss of control, but Li Yan could barely think.
The prince brutally bit into the side of his neck, marking him with a deep, dark bruise that claimed him completely.
After a long, breathless moment of intense stimulation, the prince did not take him all the way.
Instead, he slowly pulled his finger out, letting Li Yan collapse onto the sofa, panting and covered in sweat.
Jing Yuchen stayed close, sitting on the edge of the sofa as he pulled Li Yan up to sit against his chest.
The absolute rage had left the prince’s face, replaced by a strange, quiet exhaustion.
"Why do you look at him with less fear than you look at me?" Jing Yuchen whispered, his hand gently stroking Li Yan’s messy hair.
His voice sounded surprisingly small, lacking any of his usual royal pride.
Li Yan blinked away his tears, trying to recover his breath.
"Because you’re the Crown Prince. You have everything. Why do you care what a prisoner does?"
Jing Yuchen let out a dry, bitter laugh.
"I have nothing, Mingxuan. The Emperor watches my every move. The court expects me to be perfect, and if my energy fails, they will replace me tomorrow."
"When you tried to run away from the palace, I... I thought I lost the only person who was actually tied to my soul."
Li Yan stared at him, completely shocked.
He had read the entire novel back in his modern office, but the book had never described the prince like this. The book only showed a snobby, arrogant male lead.
It had never mentioned that Jing Yuchen felt so much pressure, or that he was secretly terrified of being abandoned and losing Li Yan.
The human vulnerability in the prince’s eyes made Li Yan’s anger soften just a little bit.
He realized these characters weren’t just simple text on a screen anymore — they had real, complicated feelings.
Jing Yuchen leaned in slowly, his eyes searching Li Yan’s face for permission.
He didn’t use force this time. He just tilted Li Yan’s chin up and pressed his lips against his in a soft, lingering kiss that tasted of quiet desperation.
Li Yan did not push him away.
He let the prince kiss him for a long moment before gently pulling back, fixing his torn robe as he stood up from the sofa.
Without a word, he turned and walked out of the library, his mind completely confused by the hidden truth of this world.