"Mhm!"
Her luscious lips pressed against his, as her hand snatched a handful of his hair, pushing him closer to her.
Her eyes locked onto his firmly, not wanting to close as if she wanted to print that image onto her brain, and never let go of it.
"Ahh...♡"
A soft moan slipped from her lips as she pulled back, tongue gliding slowly across them. Her cheeks flushed, and Luo Shengxue's eyes shimmered as she gazed up at Long Yu.
"…She was far stronger than me… perhaps even stronger than you."
Long Yu added while gazing at her, his expression was a little dizzy from the kiss, and his cheeks were slighly flushed as he gently held her waist.
"I didn't exactly have a choice, Shengxue."
Luo Shengxue's eyes widened at his words in surprise, eyeing him sharply. She was trying to figure out Long Yu's words.
Was he explaining himself so she wouldn't be furious and strip him down?
But actually... it didn't matter what Luo Shengxue thought of his words because Long Yu was essentially taking a gamble.
Whether way Luo Shengxue interpreted his words, it would fall in the same situation; however, Long Yu's goal was simply to infuriate Luo Shengxue.
Making her overthink...
Maybe... if I were stronger, I could have protected Long Yu...
If only I realized that my cousin was going to attack him, I could have saved him, and maybe... he would have offered his bod—
Ahem.
'...No matter how she interprets those words, I'll be having the winning hand,' Long Yu smiled lightly.
His hand softly traced down her waist, just above the curve of her buttocks.
Soon, her twisted, swirling eyes cleared up, and finally, Long Yu actually thought that Luo Shengxue was staring into his eyes.
After all, before he thought that she was staring at his soul...
Rustle...
Her cold fingers touched his cheek, brushing it slighly.
"I understand, Yu'er...," she whispered with a loving smile, her fingertip drifting upward before brushing delicately against his ear.
"Then, I just need to get your Yuan Ying back, right?"
Luo Shengxue spoke with the brightest smile she could ever muster.
'Wait a second…' Long Yu swallowed hard.
'Does she mean...'
Grasp...!
Her hands cupped his face tightly, forcing his eyes to meet hers.
"I only need to find the Pond of Purity!"
'…I knew it,' Long Yu exhaled inwardly.
'She's after my virginity either way.'
Slit...
"Huh?"
A small line of blood suddenly traced Long Yu's right cheek, and then, he looked at Luo Shengxue in confusion, just to see her swirling eyes back.
"However, my love… there's still one thing that troubles me…" Her voice softened into a dangerous purr as her thumb slid across the cut on his cheek.
She raised it to her lips, licking the blood with unsettling delight before slowly sucking it clean.
"Ah~, when you told me that my cousin had attacked you," her long nails trailed down his cheek, before reaching onto the left part of his chest.
More precisely... the exact part where his heart resides.
'...Fuck,' Long Yu instantly remembered what he said to her.
"You mentioned being glad about meeting that old expert... were they the same person?" Her eyes coldly glared at him, making him shiver slighly.
Her eyes looked as empty as the abyss.
Taking a deep breath, Long Yu met her eyes.
"Yes…" he whispered calmly, almost carelessly.
"They were the same person, but... You should actually be thanking her..."
The air froze.
BOOM—!
A suffocating tide of killing intent erupted from Luo Shengxue, pressing down on the room like a storm of blades.
Her swirling eyes widened with madness, her nails digging into his skin as though she might rip his face apart on the spot.
Her lips trembled, and her voice came out broken, jagged, laced with hysteria.
"So… so I should be thanking her instead of killing her?! Thanking her… for stealing the right to take your virginity away from me?!"
Her breath came in uneven gasps, laughter and sobs tangled together.
"To thank her—for touching what was mine before I even claimed it?!"
The space around them quivered with the sheer weight of her aura. A lesser man's soul would have collapsed under that suffocating madness.
But Long Yu only smiled.
"Because without her, Shengxue…" his voice cut through her killing intent in an instant, making it dissipate immediately.
"…I wouldn't have met you again."
Her body jerked as if struck.
"…Again…? Yu'er… what do you mean?"
"If not for her intervention… my path would have never crossed yours once more because I would be dead. Whether you call it chance or cruelty, it led me back to you. Isn't that something to value?"
Her swirling eyes widened, confusion colliding with possessive joy.
"So… so you're saying… that it was destiny that gave you back to me?!"
"Destiny?" Long Yu tilted his head slightly, smiling lightly.
"Call it what you will. I only know this—had she not appeared, this moment… your hand against my cheek, your eyes burning into mine… would not exist. Whatever she took… pales compared to what she unknowingly gave."
Shengxue trembled, her nails digging into his skin, torn between fury and rapture.
"Hah… hahahaha~ Yu'er, do you realize what you're saying? You're saying she only existed to return you to me! That everything she did was meaningless compared to this! Compared to me!"
Long Yu didn't exactly answer her words, letting her madness fill the silence, allowing her obsession to stitch his words into the narrative she craved.
His eyes softened just enough to unsettle her further, his hand lightly brushing her wrist, neither rejecting nor embracing.
"Interpret it however you wish, Shengxue. In the end, you'll realize… she was nothing more than a stepping stone."
"Ah...!?"
Her breath caught.
For a second, the abyss of her madness deepened, but then, a twisted, feverish smile bloomed across her lips.
"Stepping stone… yes… that's right…! She was just the stone the heavens laid down so that you could walk back to me!"
Her laughter rang out, manic and triumphant, as though she had won a war only she could see.
Long Yu's faint smile never wavered, but the intention beneath it was obvious.
He had not promised her anything.
He had not admitted affection.
Yet in her mind, she had already claimed his fate as her own.
"Then… that's it, Yu'er. No one else. Not her, not anyone. I'll make sure… I'll be the last person to ever touch you." Luo Shengxue's laughter slowly died into a whisper, her swirling eyes burning with a feverish light.
Her grip on his cheeks tightened until it almost hurt, her voice laced with obsession, with a terrifying promise.
"And when that happens… when I erase everything and everyone else… you'll finally, completely… belong to me."
Before he could respond, she crushed her lips against his.
Mmhh—!
Her tongue forced its way past his lips, tangling with his, tasting him greedily as though she wanted to devour his very breath.
"Slurp… haah…♡, slrpchhh… mhm!"
The sound of their kiss echoed in the room, raw and shameless, her tongue sweeping every corner of his mouth, refusing to let him breathe freely, her nails clawing into his skin as though to pin his soul in place.
Finally, she pulled back with a wet pop, strands of saliva still connecting their lips. Her cheeks were flushed, her chest heaving, her swirling eyes drunk with obsession.
"I'll find it, Yu'er…" she whispered hoarsely, her forehead pressing against his. "The Pond of Purity… I'll find it as soon as possible. Then… we won't have to wait anymore."
Without waiting for his answer, her figure blurred.
Whoosh—!
And she vanished away.
The suffocating air eased almost immediately, and the silence returned.
Long Yu remained still for a moment before slowly rising to his feet. His hand brushed his lips, still wet from her desperate kiss.
Then, his lips curled into a faint yet dangerous smile.
"Keke~"