Chapter 281: A Man and a Woman Alone
Xue Sui leaned against the cold pear wood chair back, her arms hanging down, revealing the wound that had been scraped clean of necrotic flesh and was now covered with a poultice of detoxifying powder.
“Your Highness.”
Her voice was hoarse from weakness, yet remarkably clear.
“There is a distinction between men and women. Please, Your Highness, retreat behind the screen and wait. This nun can handle it herself.”
Li Zhao lowered his eyes, his thin lips pressed into a cold, hard line.
“You wish to die here, making all my efforts in vain?”
Before he finished speaking, he placed his hands on either side of her, his tall frame pressing in with a heavy sense of oppression, almost engulfing her.
“Didn’t you hear Zhang Huaicheng say that someone must stay by your side at all times, lest you collapse from exhaustion?”
“That shouldn’t be you, Your Highness…”
Li Zhao’s eyes darkened, and he suddenly reached out…
Not to touch her skin, but to grasp the wrist of her uninjured right arm,
irresistibly lifting her into his arms.
“Besides me, who else would dare?”
“Li Zhao,” Xue Sui frowned.
Li Zhao tightened his grip on her arm, subconsciously loosening it slightly, and lowered his head to gaze at the person in his arms.
“Did I hurt you?”
Xue Sui was furious.
Her long lashes trembled uneasily, like butterfly wings drenched in a downpour.
“Your Highness, men and women should not touch.”
“We’ve already touched skin, why still adhere to rules and precepts?”
The soles of his boots made a faint sound as they trod on the floor.
He practically held her captive, striding towards the large wooden tub steaming with heat and thick with the smell of medicine.
Inside the tub, the dark brown medicinal soup churned with fine bubbles, its strong bitter and pungent aroma assaulting the nose, while several sprigs of mugwort and magnolia floated in the heat.
Xue Sui could smell the scent of agarwood mixed with alcohol on him, stronger than before. Perhaps he had been in the wind by the window, and the cold air had brought with it his potent masculine scent.
The air grew still.
Only their intertwined breaths, entangled tightly in the swirling medicinal vapor.
“Stand steady!” he commanded in a low, hoarse voice, a tone of unquestionable authority, more like a hurried attempt to conceal some embarrassment.
After a pause, he curled his fingertips, attempting to untie the fastenings of her garment…
“This nun… does not require Your Highness’s assistance.”
Xue Sui trembled subtly all over.
Through the thin fabric, the scorching heat of his palm was clearly imprinted on the skin of her waist…
She felt very uncomfortable.
“I… I can do it myself…”
“Master Miaozhen is aloof; this Prince will personally attend to you…”
“Doesn’t Your Highness hate me to the bone?” Xue Sui glanced sideways, avoiding his gaze that seemed intent on flaying her alive.
“Doesn’t it feel like a hardship to serve your enemy like this?”
Li Zhao’s eyes were as deep as unresolvable ink.
“If you die, who will this Prince seek to collect his debt from?”
A barely perceptible smile touched Xue Sui’s lips: “This nun is not so incompetent.”
“Less nonsense!”
Li Zhao’s words were harsh, but his fingertips trembled slightly.
He peeled away her soaked outer robe, revealing her slender shoulder bones beneath the plain white undergarment.
Her exposed skin flushed a faint red in the heat, and a few old scars flickered in the candlelight.
She had expected Li Zhao to be as forceful as when he scraped away the poison, but to her surprise, after he unfastened her clothes, he seemed somewhat… at a loss.
As if he didn’t know what to do next…
Xue Sui suddenly smiled.
“It seems the Crown Prince is not skilled at attending to people… perhaps you should call Jinshu in…”
She raised her eyebrows slightly, her tone indifferent.
She was clearly more composed than he, the one in the superior position.
Li Zhao’s throat bobbed, his cheeks tightening slightly…
“Madwoman, courting death…”
“Ugh!” The sudden tug made Xue Sui’s vision blacken, her legs went weak, and she stumbled forward uncontrollably, her forehead hitting his iron-hard chest with a heavy thud.
The faint scent of agarwood, the medicinal smell, and a hint of blood…
His scent instantly enveloped her.
Li Zhao’s other arm wrapped around her, steadying her swaying body.
The force was immense, almost crushing her waist, completely cutting off any possibility of her struggling.
“Riiip—”
Another crisp sound of tearing fabric, clean and decisive.
The garment, stained with cold sweat and scattered blood, like a torn butterfly wing, slipped from his grasp and lay crumpled on the ground.
Xue Sui suddenly felt a chill!
Mixed with the hot steam from the medicinal soup, it brushed against her exposed skin without obstruction, causing a fine shiver.
All that remained was her close-fitting, moon-white undergarment.
Her slender, delicate shoulder and neck lines, and her subtly undulating contours, were all visible.
The austerity of years spent with green lamps and Buddhist scriptures had made her astonishingly thin, her collarbones sharp, as if they could snap with a single touch.
Her exposed neck, under the dim candlelight, had a luster like cold jade, forming a fragile yet stubborn arc.
Li Zhao’s gaze burned into her…
From her slightly heaving chest, to her taut, beautifully sculpted shoulders and neck, and then to her lips, pale from the intense pain…
As if seared by flames, his muscles instantly tensed like iron, his breathing rough and hot, his arms around her waist tightening fiercely, as if he wanted to crush her and embed her into his own body…
“Have you seen enough?” Xue Sui asked.
Li Zhao suddenly came to his senses…
The iron arms around her waist suddenly loosened.
His large palm then gripped her slender shoulders and pressed down!
“Splash—”
Water scattered!
Xue Sui, caught off guard, fell entirely into the warm medicinal soup.
The liquid enveloped her, and she choked on it.
“Ah—”
A short, sharp cry.
She was like a fish leaping into water, the splashing droplets tracing paths down her pale cheeks.
Xue Sui’s pain made her vision blur, and she almost fainted.
“Does Your Highness intend to drown this nun?”
She was forced to tilt her head back, water droplets sliding down her elongated, swan-like neck, disappearing into the soaked undergarment clinging to her chest.
The soaked undergarment was almost transparent, clinging tightly to her curves, outlining a heart-stopping silhouette.
The candlelight, filtering through the hazy steam, cast a soft, fragile halo around her… creating a breathtaking, fragmented, and beautiful scene.
Li Zhao’s throat bobbed, and he abruptly turned his face away.
“Why are you moving? You deserve it!”
His fingers tapped on the edge of the tub, betraying a hint of barely perceptible panic.
“Sit properly, don’t choke on the medicine.”
Xue Sui closed her eyes and leaned against the tub wall, “Your Highness truly has a sharp tongue and a soft heart.”
They were extremely close, his breath fanning her temple, making her feel a little dizzy.
The hot steam from the medicinal soup swirled upwards, blurring their vision, but allowing the ambiguity in the air to quietly grow.
From the moment they met until now, they had always been both enemies and friends.
This level of intimacy felt somewhat unbelievable to Xue Sui…
She sighed softly, smiling to ease the awkwardness, “Your Highness can withdraw now.”
Li Zhao did not look at her, but his mind was filled with her skin submerged in the medicinal soup, its texture fine, like the best mutton-fat jade, covered with faint wounds. Old memories pricked at his heart like fine needles…
“Xue Ping’an, don’t smile at me,” Li Zhao’s voice was low and hoarse.
The woman’s soft yet deadly smile was like the most potent aphrodisiac, almost igniting the embers suppressed beneath his ice, tearing at his chest, making him wish he could immediately leave his mark on those exquisite curves…
Unfortunately, he was neither a gentleman nor a scoundrel.
He could not take advantage of her vulnerability…
Li Zhao took a deep breath, “Don’t test my self-control, don’t… court death…”
Xue Sui let out a low, restrained cough-laugh.
“If Your Highness fears losing control, why trap this nun here?”
“This Prince has… something to ask you.”
Li Zhao’s voice was hot and rough.
Like sandpaper rubbing, it carried a dangerous, heart-trembling magnetism.
With that, he slowly turned, placing his hands on either side of the wooden tub, trapping her in the middle.
“At Chishui Pass, I captured a Xizi Gu Master. He said… to remove the Love Silk Gu, the caster must feed the Gu with their heart’s blood for three days, endure the suffering of ten thousand ants gnawing at their heart, and lose ten years of their life.”
Xue Sui’s body tensed imperceptibly in the water, as if bound by invisible ropes.
She had never imagined he would find out about this.
Li Zhao lowered his head, gazing at her pale, clammy face.
“Is what that Gu Master said true?”
Xue Sui remained silent for a long time.
An unprecedented sense of fatigue, mixed with an indescribable bitterness, quietly crept into her heart.
Ten years of blood feud, Gu removal and heart digging, the Western Frontier’s beacon fires, the Imperial Street’s storm… between him and her lay mountains of corpses and seas of blood, favors and exploitation, irreconcilable hatred and schemes. Many things were unclear.
“Why does Your Highness still need to ask?” she said softly, “It’s all in the past.”
“It’s in the past?” Li Zhao suddenly leaned forward, slamming his hands on the edge of the tub, splashing water.
His scorching breath sprayed on her forehead, carrying a fierce aura on the verge of eruption, dark and hot.
“To toy with me like a fool! And in the end, you won’t even tell me the truth? What do I truly mean to you?”
Silence spread in the confined space.
The tub was filled with mist, the scent of medicine, and the indescribable aroma emanating from their soaked clothes, mixed with ambiguity…
Close, intertwined, unclear.
“What truth does Your Highness want to hear?” Xue Sui’s voice was exceptionally calm. “Do you want to hear how those three days were worse than death, how I suffered unbearable pain? Do you want to hear how each bite felt like drilling holes into my marrow? Or do you want to hear… that ten years of life were lost just to exchange for mutual freedom of heart and mind, no longer disturbed by external matters?”
Li Zhao’s pupils contracted sharply.
Xue Sui asked again, “What benefit would knowing this bring Your Highness? It would only add to your troubles.”
Li Zhao raised his hand and cupped her jaw, forcing her to look up, “Was it worth it? Worth paying such a painful price?”
Xue Sui lowered her eyes, her throat aching, her vision blurring.
Under the haze of the medicinal water, her heart and lungs felt as if they were tearing apart.
But she did not dodge. Calmly, she raised her eyes and, through the misty water, looked at the man standing so close, as if abandoned by the entire world.
“Yes,” she uttered a word, clear and cold.
“This nun acts based on whether something is right, not whether it is worth it. Removing the Gu was something this nun deemed right. As for the price…” The corner of her lips twitched upwards infinitesimally, forming an almost ethereal arc, “This nun can afford it.”
Bloodshot veins appeared in Li Zhao’s eyes.
To plant the Love Silk Gu, forcibly binding two people who should never have crossed paths.
To remove the Gu and dig out the heart, enduring inhuman pain.
And that bone-gnawing, heart-burning agony, those ten years of life brutally taken away…
All to sever the entanglement with him.
“Xue Ping’an…” Li Zhao’s voice was hoarse beyond recognition.
In his rage, he suddenly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her up from the medicinal soup.
“You wretched creature, how can your heart be so cruel…”
What he said next, Xue Sui could not quite hear.
The metallic sweetness rising in her throat, under the steaming medicinal soup, sent a heavy numbness up her throat.
Li Zhao’s face, filled with hatred, gradually blurred and distorted in the flickering candlelight and rising steam…
Finally, darkness like a tide completely swallowed her last trace of consciousness.
Her body softly slid into his embrace, creating a silent splash.
Goodnight～～
Wishing all the college entrance examination students smooth sailing～～
Everyone says the emotional pacing is a bit slow, I’m a bit… unable to speed up. Ping’an hasn’t fully accepted him yet, please bear with me a little longer…
Li Zhao: Actually, I can be very fast…
（ps: After these two days of the college entrance examination are over, I’ll review these two chapters again. If they feel a bit dragging, I’ll revise them. Mwah…）
