Chapter 36

The heat beneath the quilt and the body temperature of the woman beside her sent a surge of fire through Lian Liejin. She finally turned onto her side, tiny flames flickering in her eyes, and reached out to yank the ribbon from the Seventh Princess’s mouth.

Unexpectedly, the princess had prepared for this. With a light turn of her head, she intertwined her fingers with Lian Liejin’s and smoothly returned the woman’s hand to its original position.

“Didn’t you agree to obey me? Liejin, if you continue misbehaving, I have plenty of ways to make you listen.”

What caught the Seventh Princess completely off guard, however, was that Lian Liejin resorted to every possible method this time and caught the ribbon between her own lips.

Only one cun separated her lips from Gao Jingxi’s. Their breaths brushed against each other’s ears.

And Lian Liejin continued moving closer.

Closer and closer.

The Seventh Princess gave a soft cry and released the ribbon. In a low voice, [bailiantales.com]she said, “Lie down properly and let me look at you.”

The princess’s voice was deep and gentle, like the soft moonlight spilling through the inner chamber—clear yet hazy, warming the heart and filling one’s mind with intimate images and thoughts.

Lian Liejin held the ribbon in her hand and sighed faintly. In the end, she obediently lay back down.

An almost imperceptible smile curved Gao Jingxi’s lips. Supporting her head with one hand, she gazed unblinkingly into Lian Liejin’s eyes.

Several strands of the Seventh Princess’s hair occasionally fell across Lian Liejin’s hair, brows, and lips. The fragrant softness, smooth as brocade, made Lian Liejin instinctively draw them closer together.

“Your Highness, what are you looking at?”

“I’m counting your eyelashes.” Gao Jingxi’s fingertip brushed over Lian Liejin’s thick lashes, producing a faint, tingling itch.

“But it’s so dark. Can you see clearly?”

“No.” Moonlight covered Gao Jingxi’s figure [unauthorized copy]in a warm silver glow. Her voice grew softer and softer until it was nearly a murmured sigh. “Then will you allow me to move a little closer?”

Lian Liejin’s pupils immediately widened. The Seventh Princess in her eyes had lowered her lids halfway, her raven-black lashes trembling faintly while a hazy, intoxicating light filled her gaze—

This woman, Gao Jingxi, was deliberately trying to torment her to death tonight.

After an extended struggle between reason and desire, Lian Liejin abruptly sat up and threw the quilt aside. With lightning speed, she wrapped her arms around Gao Jingxi’s slender waist, which was covered only in light gauze. She reversed their positions and pressed the Seventh Princess beneath her.

A wicked smile curved Lian Liejin’s lips. “Your Highness, you do remember that we’re married, don’t you?”

Gao Jingxi stroked Lian Liejin’s long hair and smiled calmly. “Mm, I remember. Yet all you ever think about is playing dice and mahjong with me.”

“What’s wrong with playing dice?” Lian Liejin’s gaze was almost entirely fixed on the red lips beneath her. Her brows drew tighter and tighter—

“Lian Liejin!” Unable to evade her in time, Gao Jingxi was kissed heavily. Her face instantly flushed crimson, and part of her gauzy clothing was pulled open, revealing a large expanse of fair skin. “Try moving again and see what happens.”

A smile played at Lian Liejin’s lips, and her eyes darkened. Completely ignoring Gao Jingxi’s ​stolen content​threat, she blundered forward like a young wolf venturing out for the first time.

Their breathing and soft moans intertwined beneath the moonlight, accompanied by the sounds of fabric brushing against skin. Beneath the clear moonlit sky, it was all exceedingly provocative.

Golden light suddenly burst before her eyes. Lian Liejin was still bewildered when she discovered that two golden rings of starlight had bound her wrists, leaving her unable to move.

Gao Jingxi bit her lip and laughed softly as she sat up from beneath Lian Liejin. “Who told you to move without permission?”

Seeing the confusion covering Lian Liejin’s face, she leaned close again and gently took the woman’s earlobe between her lips. “I told you to obediently listen to me.”

“Gao Jingxi!” After realizing that her entire body had been restrained, Lian Liejin’s normally cool peach-blossom eyes filled with indescribable heat, and even her voice took on a different tone. “What exactly are you trying to do tonight? Release me first!”

“You’ve been so disobedient. I’m not going to release you.”

Blushing, Gao Jingxi properly covered Lian Liejin with the quilt. She climbed out of bed with graceful steps, picked up her outer robe from the floor, and elegantly draped it halfway over herself. Only her pure yet bewitching profile remained visible, resembling a jade disc sinking into still water.

“Liejin, sooner or later, I will belong to you.”

Those words made Lian Liejin’s heart pound like a drum, and she could not calm herself for a long time. By the time she finally gathered her thoughts and prepared to speak, she discovered that the Seventh Princess had already left the room.

The warmth and fragrance from moments ago had turned into cold emptiness.

So she had been toyed with?

Lian Liejin’s mood plummeted from the heavens into the deepest valley. Anger surfaced in her eyes, yet Gao Jingxi’s every smile and frown—seductive and enchanting—refused to leave her mind.

That woman had lit the lamp, started a fire, then simply walked away without taking responsibility for any of it.

Worse still, Lian Liejin could do nothing to her. The Seventh Princess possessed a high rank of stellar power, so restraining Lian Liejin was effortless.

Lian Liejin felt both helpless and tormented.

The long night stretched endlessly. Her entire body burned, and she tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Countless thoughts filled her mind until she finally drifted off after dawn.

She slept until noon the following day.

Covered by a brocade quilt embroidered with peonies, she abruptly awakened from a dream. The rings of starlight around her wrists had already vanished. When she opened the bed curtains, she saw A-You entering with hot water and smiling at her.

“Princess Consort, you’ve finally awakened. It’s already time for lunch. As expected, you truly need to improve your stamina.”

Lian Liejin rubbed her head, climbed from the bed, and looked around.

“Where did Her Highness go?”

Seeing Lian Liejin’s bloodshot eyes and dark circles, A-You laughed softly again. “Her Highness is studying in the study today. Before leaving, she instructed us not to wake you and said you had a miserable night.”

Miserable?

Of course she had been miserable.

Lian Liejin gave a cold laugh and ground her teeth. Yesterday, she had even lost to Gao Jingxi at dice. One wrong move had cost her the entire game.

Who could have imagined that beneath the Seventh Princess’s outwardly noble, cold, and unsmiling appearance, she would personally stoop to… seducing someone?

Lian Liejin took a deep breath. The moment she recalled Gao Jingxi’s appearance the night before, heat immediately spread through her body again. As though deliberately making matters worse, her mind automatically began comparing the Seventh Princess on their wedding night with the Seventh Princess now.

She vividly remembered every version of Gao Jingxi. Suddenly, the woman’s seductive voice once again echoed beside her ear:

“Liejin, sooner or later, I will belong to you.”

“No matter what I do tonight, you are not allowed to resist.”

“Guan Xie…”

At that thought, Lian Liejin suddenly understood. That day, when [stolen content]Gao Jingxi had lost herself to desire, she had not been calling out some nonsense about changing shoes. She had been calling Lian Liejin’s nickname from the Stellar Medicine Sect.

An inexplicable irritation rose in her heart. When Gao Jingxi went to Qingyue Mountain, had she been searching for the real person—or merely the person the Seventh Princess imagined her to be?

From the first day of their marriage, Gao Jingxi had treated her coldly. When exactly had that begun to change?

“Drink a bowl of black sesame paste first. It’s extremely nourishing. Her Highness instructed us to prepare it.” A-You placed the small bowl on the table and left the room.

To distract herself, Lian Liejin quickly sat down, picked up a small silver spoon, and took a bite.

Unexpectedly, the moment she opened her mouth, sharp pain shot through her tongue. After examining it more carefully, she realized that two blisters had formed inside her mouth overnight.

She absolutely refused to admit that the blisters had appeared because she was overheated with frustration.

Enduring the pain, Lian Liejin slowly finished the black sesame paste while her slender fingers repeatedly tapped the tabletop.

Perhaps the change had begun on the day of the Lantern Festival, when she and Little Radish encountered Gao Jingxi at Tianyuan Residence. Among the countless people stolen contentthere, Lian Liejin had noticed the Seventh Princess dressed in fiery red at a single glance.

Afterward, Gao Jingxi had inexplicably appeared beside the riverbank. Although severely injured, she had still fought with all her strength, like the only lotus bearing thorns among flowers beneath the heavy snow.

Lotuses did not have thorns, but Gao Jingxi did.

Lian Liejin could never have imagined that this one thorned lotus would personally travel to Qingyue Mountain, tell her everything with her own lips, and stubbornly attempt to repair her star chart…

Just then, A-You knocked on the door. “Princess Consort, your clothes have been brought over from the Princess Consort’s Residence.”

She directed several people to carry several large chests inside.

“Clothes?” Lian Liejin stood from her seat and opened the chests one after another. Every one contained black brocade robes woven with golden thread and embroidered with intricate, exquisite patterns. “Are all of these clothes for me?”

“Yes. They were made some time ago.” Gao Jingxi walked directly into the room wearing a pale-purple dress, a faint smile at her lips. “See whether you like them. If they don’t suit your tastes, I’ll have them remade and delivered again.”

Lian Liejin casually removed one robe and found [unauthorized copy]that the size and measurements fit perfectly. The material was also exceptionally soft and smooth.

However, she was currently unhappy, and the stubborn temper she had possessed as a child resurfaced. Her expression therefore remained gloomy.

“Your Highness, I… Who exactly did you intend to give these clothes to?”

Confusion flashed through Gao Jingxi’s eyes. She gestured for A-You to leave first. After A-You closed the door, Gao Jingxi pulled Lian Liejin down to sit and carefully examined her Princess Consort. She said reproachfully, “Naturally, they are for you. Why are your eyes so red? Did you sleep poorly last night? Or are you angry with me because of what happened?”

Lian Liejin immediately ground her teeth. How had she ended up like this? The Seventh Princess, the very culprit responsible, actually had the nerve to ask!

She wanted nothing more than to seize Gao Jingxi and…

However, there was still something she needed to ask clearly.

“I want to know who I truly am in Your Highness’s eyes.”

“Liejin.” Gao Jingxi raised a hand and touched Lian Liejin’s forehead. It was not particularly hot, allowing her to relax slightly. In truth, remembering the absurd things she had impulsively done the previous night also filled her with embarrassment and guilt—

“Liejin, you are my spouse.”

“Truly? Is that genuinely what Your Highness believes?” Lian Liejin clearly felt that she was being somewhat unreasonable, but unless she asked, it felt as though a stone remained lodged inside her chest, painfully blocking everything and making her stomach twist.

The feelings she acknowledged could contain no trace of luck, reluctant compromise, or silent suffering.

Seeing Lian Liejin so distracted and unsettled, Gao Jingxi’s heart immediately ached. Her voice softened even further. “Naturally, it is true. If you’re still tired, shall I lie down and sleep with you for a while longer?”

Lian Liejin’s resolve wavered. The Seventh Princess possessed an incomparably noble status and peerless beauty. If Lian Liejin did not ask and instead spent her entire life muddling through, accepting whatever happened…

No.

What she sought was wholehearted devotion, mutual understanding, and a promise freely given.

She did not want to live a confused life while deceiving herself.

“But from my perspective, Your Highness intended to give these clothes to Guan Xie, not to me.”

The moment the words left her mouth, cold sweat covered Lian Liejin’s back, and her hands clenched uncontrollably.