Chapter 12

She had only been trying to soothe a puppy who had not gotten any meat.

Since Ji Chun did not want it, Pei Heng would not force her.

Half-reclining against the bed, Pei Heng opened the messages and photographs Ji Chun had sent. The puppy had already fallen asleep beside her thigh.

A new notification appeared on her communication device.

The instant she saw the familiar username and profile picture, her gaze cooled slightly.

She opened the channel connected to Ji Chun’s device and tapped on the account saved under the name Shi Shuyue.

Lowering her eyes, she examined every stroke and structure of that name inch by inch, trying to find even the slightest difference from what she remembered—something that would prove Ji Chun no longer had any connection to that woman.

There was none.

She opened the conversation.

There was only a friend request and an invitation from the other woman asking whether Ji Chun could join her for dinner.

Dinner with Shi Shuyue.

Pei Heng had not expected news of Ji Chun’s return to reach this old acquaintance so quickly.

The woman had abandoned so many matters and flown here personally just to meet someone whose mind was currently impaired.

What right did she have?

Pei Heng’s fingers tapped unconsciously against the edge of the table.

The bedroom’s cool light spread over her like a suit of armor warning strangers to keep away.

She opened the voice-message function, parted her red lips, and spoke with perfect clarity.

“All right. I’ll bring her.”

“But not tonight. Miss Shi may arrange it for tomorrow evening.”

So much time passed that Pei Heng thought the other woman would not reply.

Then a location appeared.

“Eight tomorrow evening. The Sky Garden. I’ll wait for you.”

Pei Heng turned off the screen.

She lowered her eyes toward the dark device in Read on BaiLianTales her hand. Her thick lashes cast a small shadow over her eyelids, concealing every emotion.

Another heavy explosion came from below the hotel.

The sound pierced her eardrums with painful force.

She froze for a moment.

By the time she reacted, her palm was already covering the ears of the person sleeping in her arms.

Sandalwood pheromones circled Ji Chun’s furrowed brow, attempting to smooth it.

The puppy was not sleeping peacefully.

It was as though the explosion had shattered all her calm. Her fingers tightly gripped a corner of Pei Heng’s clothes, her breathing gradually growing heavier as she whimpered something under her breath.

Pei Heng did not wake her.

Instead, she lowered her head and leaned closer to hear what Ji Chun was trying to say.

She heard her own name.

Each repetition was weaker than the last.

Each more agonized.

Each more despairing.

The person in her arms trembled uncontrollably.

Every shudder seemed to pull Pei Heng’s heartbeat deeper into silence.

Until that fragile whisper, so faint it was almost nonexistent, finally came.

“Pei Heng… I hate you.”

A tear fell into her palm.

Clear and warm.

It resembled the fine rain that had clung to her shoulders for the past several years.

It had never poured heavily enough to require an umbrella.

It had merely continued endlessly, damp and persistent, adhering to her until it became an indescribable weight.

The woman sitting stiffly at the bedside felt nearly numb from head to toe.

Her trembling fingers opened the drawer.

Inside lay a dagger, its blade gleaming with cold light.

She gripped it tightly.

Her fingers dug into her flesh until blood flowed, dripping one drop at a time onto the sleeping woman’s cheek.

At that instant, those pale almond-shaped eyes opened.

Confusion.

Stillness.

Obsession.

A damp, murky darkness.

Countless emotions spread through her gaze like overturned paint.

“Ji Chun” had returned.

The Alpha’s eyes gradually moved away from Pei Heng’s face and settled on the icy blade.

The corner of her mouth curved into an almost deranged smile.

She sat upright and moved directly into the blade, wrapping Pei Heng in her arms.

Tequila pheromones surged wildly, battering the soft opening at the back of Pei Heng’s neck, which had already been unable to close properly.

The blade in Pei Heng’s hand sank deeper.

Thin streams of blood flowed from Ji Chun’s pale neck.

But the person before her ignored it completely.

As though determined to die with her, Ji Chun pressed her warm lips against Pei Heng’s, licking lightly and slowly grinding with blunt teeth.

Her soft tongue forced its way into the sandalwood-scented mouth, moving roughly and without order, driven entirely by primitive instinct.

Only when the taste of blood spread between them did Pei Heng shove her away and slap her across the face.

Ji Chun froze.

She lifted a hand and touched the blood at the corner of her mouth.

Then she leaned forward again.

Under Pei Heng’s icy gaze, she smeared the blood across the woman’s warm lips.

“Big Sister. It’s been a long time.”

Pei Heng knocked her hand aside and placed the dagger against her neck once more.

Mockery filled her eyes.

Hadn’t Ji Chun said she hated her?

Who was she pretending to be so deeply affectionate for now?

The narrow opening at the back of Pei Heng’s neck was slowly forced wider.

Fine threads of pheromones squeezed into the depths of her gland.

A layer of mist gradually spread across her amber, peach-blossom eyes.

Her soft red lips parted slightly, revealing a glimpse of the tender pink tongue within.

“You return and immediately try this forced-assault routine again?”

“Ji Chun, you truly… haven’t changed at all.”

The Alpha tilted her head slightly.

The blade sank even deeper into her neck, releasing a steady stream of blood.

She seemed unable to feel pain.

“How could I ever force you?”

To keep Pei Heng from being harmed, she would rather die.

Her love and hatred, her life and death, were all bound tightly to a single person.

Pei Heng was almost the sole meaning of her existence.

Pei Heng watched the blade press deeper.

Her pupils contracted.

She removed the dagger with her right hand and threw it onto the distant floor.

Then she leaned forward, using her left hand to cover Ji Chun’s bleeding wound.

“Are you insane? Do you want to die all over again?”

She stared at Ji Chun in disbelief.

Her amber eyes grew darker and darker until a tear finally gathered within them.

The sticky gaze of the person before her left Pei Heng and settled on the bloodstained dagger lying in the distance.

“You love me?”

Ji Chun smiled gently.

But Pei Heng felt as though a cold snake had slowly crawled around her ankle, licking lightly as it wound upward along her body.

In the past, Pei Heng had never cared whether she lived or died.

Even when an explosion left Ji Chun on the verge of death, the other woman had only bestowed a brief, miserly glance upon her.

Now, such a small wound had frightened Pei Heng into turning pale and frantic.

Pei Heng loved her.

The moment that thought appeared, Ji Chun laughed aloud without meaning to.

She nearly began to cry.

How could Pei Heng possibly love her?

Had she loved her, she would never have calculated Ji Chun into her game without leaving her a single path to survival.

Had she loved her, she would never have spoken such moving words in Ji Chun’s arms, only to turn around and conspire with someone else about how to take her life.

The elegant woman before her avoided her gaze.

Those red lips, which had always been so merciless, opened and closed as though saying something.

Ji Chun could not hear it.

It did not matter.

Whatever she was saying would not be anything that made Ji Chun happy.

She was accustomed to that already.

Her consciousness gradually blurred.

She was about to return to being the person whose memories had been forcibly erased, whose brain had been wiped smooth and new—

The version of Ji Chun that Pei Heng liked best.

In the final second, she looked into the panic in Pei Heng’s eyes.

A mocking smile rose at the corner of her mouth.

The dog tag around her neck flashed with warnings and red light.

Its glow reflected across her pale face, leaving her expression frozen and rigid like a ghost.

“Goodbye, Pei Heng.”

Pei Heng—

May we never meet again.