Chapter 56 It seems even crazier after the confession After the confession, it became even crazier

She smiled gently, lightly kissing his thin lips, their bodies pressed tightly together, their breaths intermingling.

Her fingertips slowly moved upward, feeling his skin tremble along the way, finally caressing his neck. The slender and delicate neck, like a newborn chick, let out an uncontrollable low moan in her hand… The Crown Prince, known to others as cold and eerie, had almost melted into a puddle under her touch.

“Your Highness,” she cupped his face and called softly.

Yue Guanyi’s phoenix eyes were so moist they almost shed tears. He couldn’t believe this was real. Even though he tried desperately to hide his emotions, he couldn’t restrain his instinct to be close to her, excited to the extreme by her slightest show of intimacy.

“…My Lady.” His voice trembled, and his elbows supporting the ground lost all strength at that moment. He fell softly backward, with Qiu Shuzhi’s entire body pressing on top of him – her breath, heartbeat, and the rise and fall of her chest all pressed against his chest.

For an instant, his eyes widened, pupils constricting.

Qiu Shuzhi propped herself up with one hand beside him, her long hair cascading down onto his chest like a waterfall. Yue Guanyi’s heart was almost leaping out: “My… My Lady…” He was so nervous his tongue tied.

“Are you afraid, Your Highness?” she asked in a low voice, the lake light reflecting in her eyes, her smile spreading layer by layer. “You weren’t afraid when you did that to me in the tent before.”

Yue Guanyi’s ear tips instantly turned bright red, almost dripping blood.

“I… I…” He stumbled, unable to form a complete sentence.

So she was like this because of his reckless and offensive behavior at that time. Yue Guanyi wanted to slap himself; at that time, he only saw that she was injured and couldn’t help but kiss her.

He had never imagined that one day he would receive a response from Qiu Shuzhi. Instead, he was afraid that his frivolous actions had offended her and made her despise him. How could someone like him be worthy of her?

But, feeling the warmth of this moment – her hands, her long hair, her breath – every inch was warm, almost making him drown and melt. He couldn’t let go, like a drowning person, only wanting to tightly grasp this bit of warmth.

Did Qiu Niang really like him?

No, of course not, how could she possibly like him? Qiu Qiushuang had said that she liked clean and gentle men, and he was far from clean or gentle.

He was vicious, cunning, cruel in his methods, with an evil reputation that could stop children from crying at night. He should be the type she hated the most.

But he was the Commander of the Jinyiwei, with an intelligence network spread throughout the country. Even the Qin family and the King of Dian had to be humble and yielding when they saw him. Such power, no one wouldn’t crave… Qiu Niang should be the same, right?

In the tent, he had been like a lowly, cheap male prostitute, almost wanting to take off his clothes and beg for favor, as shameless as a dog to the bone.

Even if Qiu Niang didn’t like him, seeing him in such a pathetic state – the noble Crown Prince, the Commander of the Jinyiwei, prostrating at her feet, letting her abuse and play with him at will – she should feel satisfied in her heart.

Yue Guanyi tightly closed his eyes, hiding the extreme madness in them. Enough! This was enough!

As long as Qiu Niang liked it, he was willing to do anything.

Even if Qiu Niang treated him like the lowest prostitute, casually molesting him, even if she was just using him to drain his power, even if she got bored later and disgustedly threw him into a dirty, stinking sewer to rot and stink, he would be willing.

He was dirty to the bone, maggots crawled under his skin, eating away at his flesh and blood. Even he himself didn’t want to look at such a person twice. He deserved to live in the darkest corner, and even if he fell into hell after death, he should suffer endless torment for lifetimes, never to be reincarnated. Someone like him, only Qiu Niang was still willing to cup his face and kiss him like a treasure.

Qiu Niang, Qiu Niang, hot tears piled up in his eyes, he only wanted to kneel devoutly at her feet, forever looking up at his deity.

“Your Highness.” In a daze, a gentle low call.

The fragrance from her body spread throughout his body like poison in an instant, tearing and shredding his reason, flooding over everything with a roaring tide, stirring up thousand-foot waves, a tsunami devouring everything, making him scream and howl crazily in his heart.

The most faithful and crazed believers are never content with serving their deity, they only want to sacrifice their flesh, soul, every inch of bone and blood. Only by twisting to the extreme can they show even a ten-thousandth of their intensity.

Yue Guanyi raised his head, rippling fragments of light flooding his phoenix eyes. He strongly restrained his heart that was almost melting away, pretending to be calm.

He let go of her hand that was tightly interlocked with his, his blood-stained fingers trembling as he undid his robe. Under the moonlight, the snow-white clothes bloomed into a blood-red camellia, intense to the point of scalding.

Qiu Shuzhi grabbed his hand, shocked: “Your Highness, what are you doing?”

Yue Guanyi’s eyes seemed drunk with strong wine, his phoenix eyes revealing an alluring charm, beautiful to the extreme.

His voice was cautious, nervous, restrained, pleasing: “I… I seduced you.”

Yue Guanyi knew that he was quite good-looking, people said he was the most beautiful person in the capital. Besides power, this was the only thing he could offer, and the only tool he could use to please her, to curry favor with her.

“My Lady.” He struggled free from her hand, pulled open his loose robe, exposing a large patch of snow-white collarbone, rising and falling with his nervous breathing. His thick eyelashes trembled nervously as he tried to recall the conditions in the brothels, doing his best to imitate a fawning manner: “My Lady, please use—”

Qiu Shuzhi hugged him tightly, holding him close in her arms, her arms squeezing his spine tightly.

She had never held someone so passionately before, tight enough to clearly feel both their heartbeats.

Yue Guanyi’s clumsy attempts to please her made her heart ache.

She had lived two lifetimes, always calm and rational, not caring much about romance, knowing well that career was the foundation of life. Love had always been dispensable to her, and she had never had feelings for any man, but she had unexpectedly fallen for Yue Guanyi.

When they first met, hearing some rumors about Yue Guanyi, she only thought this man was dangerous, formidable, and somewhat pitiful.

After spending some time together, she discovered Yue Guanyi’s inexplicable love for her. Her instinct was to dodge, even using conspiracy theories to speculate about him, only to find that his feelings were pure and intense to a frightening degree.

“Your Highness, you don’t need to do this.” She gently stroked his thin back, her voice gentle but firm.

She had originally planned to talk about love after everything had settled down, but Yue Guanyi’s sudden actions today disrupted her plans. A man taking the initiative to kiss her was equivalent to entrusting his reputation and chastity to her. She couldn’t not respond, nor could she harden her heart to continue keeping him at arm’s length, letting him continue to suffer in secret.

She paused: “I like you, sincerely like you. You don’t need to deliberately please me to cater to me. I like you just as you are, do you understand?”

Yue Guanyi was stunned, his chin resting on her shoulder, smiling softly and bitterly.

How could anyone like him as he truly was? Even he himself felt disgusted when he saw his true self. Those evils he had shown were not even a tenth of his filthy inner self. He was a monster crawling out from underground. Only Qiu Niang would say such things deliberately to comfort him.

Even knowing it was a lie, hearing it still made him so happy. It was as if bright moonlight rose from his eyes, dispersing all the darkness in an instant.

Qiu Shuzhi retreated a little, gazing into his eyes: “Do you understand?”

Yue Guanyi pressed his lips together and nodded obediently, his slightly upturned phoenix eyes red-rimmed and glistening with moisture at the corners.

Qiu Shuzhi’s heart softened, and she lightly pinched his face like petting a puppy: “Good boy.”

Yue Guanyi froze, the blood-red flush spreading from his ears all the way to his neck, his eyes as helpless as a puppy’s.

“Let’s get up, the ground is cold. Your Highness has a weak constitution, be careful not to catch a cold.” Qiu Shuzhi stood up and extended her hand.

Yue Guanyi shyly and awkwardly reached out his hand. Qiu Niang’s hand was within reach, but he wanted to approach yet dared not offend, only daring to lightly hook her fingertips.

Qiu Shuzhi knew he was shy, so she grabbed his hand firmly, using a bit of strength to pull him up.

Who knew that just as he stood up, the next second he would collapse completely on the ground.

“Your Highness!” Qiu Shuzhi pulled him up. “Are you alright?”

Yue Guanyi shook his head, smiling foolishly. His body hadn’t yet recovered from this heaven-sent joy, his legs weak and powerless.

He carefully used Qiu Shuzhi’s strength to stand up, not daring to put too much weight on her, fearing to press against her, yet wanting to exert a little force to lean on her side, to be closer, hoping this moment would last forever.

“Your Highness! Your Highness!” The sound of galloping hooves approached, kicking up a cloud of dust.

A cold light flashed in Yue Guanyi’s eyes. Of all times to come, he wanted to behead all these people.

Qiu Shuzhi heard Chang’an’s voice and quietly let go of his hand, standing aside. They were still in a private relationship now; in ancient times, there was no concept of boyfriend and girlfriend. They still had to maintain some distance to avoid gossip and tarnishing Yue Guanyi’s reputation.

But Yue Guanyi didn’t think so. He felt Qiu Shuzhi suddenly distance herself from him, and his heart turned cold. The burning in his heart was suddenly doused with a bucket of cold water, chilling him to the bone.

His face turned deathly pale. She indeed didn’t want to acknowledge him in front of others, didn’t want to make their relationship public.

He clenched his fists tightly, his thin, weak shoulders trembling like autumn leaves in the cold, his teeth almost biting through. Yue Guanyi, oh Yue Guanyi, you’re truly despicable. You clearly know what a lowly thing you are, yet you still presumptuously imagine that Qiu Niang would truly like you. For Qiu Niang to be willing to like you has already exhausted all the luck of your next life.

He should have been content. Before, he even thought being a kept man for Qiu Niang to play with was a luxury. Now he was thinking about marrying Qiu Niang one day, becoming her rightful husband.

He reddened his eyes, blood surging. Now he still had something useful for Qiu Niang, but if he couldn’t cater to her preferences, serve and please her, before long he would be despised. But he had already felt Qiu Niang’s warmth and only wanted to stay by Qiu Niang’s side forever and ever. He dared not imagine the day he would be abandoned by Qiu Niang.

No! No!

Yue Guanyi’s heart was tightly gripped by a force, screaming and howling, the emotion in his eyes bordering on madness. He was already impoverished, with nothing to offer except power and his body. He must keep Qiu Niang, no matter what method he used.