Chapter 10: Here we go again!?

Xu Changle could take off manually, so naturally Xiao Linyue could as well.

“I will not touch you. I will only teach you how to make yourself feel better. Is that okay, Empress?”

Xu Changle was extremely patient. His tone was soft and gentle, fully respecting the student’s wishes. Every sentence was followed by a question seeking consent. He was more democratic and qualified than any teacher in this world.

But Xiao Linyue was clearly not an obedient student. She could not understand what Xu Changle was saying at all and only followed her instincts.

He got another face full of saliva!

She was just like a Samoyed responding to the call of spring!

Xu Changle truly sighed this time. “Not like that, Empress.”

What responded to him was Xiao Linyue’s even more domineering Samoyed-like rubbing.

“…Forget it. Just treat it as me taking advantage of your crisis.”

In the darkness, Xu Changle fumbled and grabbed Xiao Linyue’s left hand.

“Your fingers are very long and soft… This is good. This will let you find relief faster.”

…

Has she regained consciousness?

Xu Changle held Xiao Linyue in one arm while his free hand gently stroked her back to soothe and praise her. “You were amazing, Linyue. You really were amazing! As expected of the most brilliant female sovereign of the Xiao clan. And as expected of my…”

Xu Changle paused tactically.

Under his soothing, Xiao Linyue’s body slowly calmed down. When Xu Changle stopped speaking, she finally stopped trembling and seemed to have calmed completely.

She had really regained consciousness?

That meant his plan was feasible.

He had thought it would be some peerlessly strong medicine, but the thing Xiao Tan had prepared so carefully was only at this level?

Hah, easily handled!

Xiao Tan, oh Xiao Tan, you are nothing much after all. Just wait and see how I counter you next!

The frail puppet little emperor seemed unaware of the abnormality in the person in his arms. After all, he was a naturally weak man with no extraordinary talents. It was only normal for him to notice nothing in the darkness.

Therefore, even though the person in his arms was unusually quiet, he simply thought she was tired and had probably fallen asleep. After all, the drug’s effects had been dispelled, right?

In that case, pouring out his heart to someone who was already asleep was also very reasonable, right?

Xu Changle’s hand could not help but carefully slide up along Xiao Linyue’s spine, as if wanting to gently touch her cheek, but it suddenly froze right before contact.

Then, as if frightened by some terrifying existence, he abruptly pulled it back.

In the darkness, nothing could be seen. There was only silence.

After an unknown length of silence, the puppet little emperor’s nearly inaudible voice finally sounded.

“Hah! Xu Changle, oh Xu Changle, you really are… despicable.”

He mocked himself. “At this point, what right do you have to admire that bright moon hanging high in the sky? You have committed such a mistake today. There is no way you can be forgiven!”

After another moment of silence, Xu Changle’s voice grew even more pained, yet still barely audible.

“But I… I really could not bear to see you in pain… You were in so much pain, I, I!”

“…Forget it. Just treat it as me always having been this despicable.”

“After all, in your eyes, I have never been noble.”

……

……

……

The pitch-black sleeping quarters fell completely silent. After Xu Changle finished his last sentence, he lay straight and stiff on the bed like a corpse, as if his heart had completely died.

What would such a scene look like in Xiao Linyue’s heart?

Her trusted sister had suddenly drugged and schemed against her, turning her into an ugly woman who acted only on instinct in front of the puppet emperor she had always looked down on.

Xiao Linyue was so proud and arrogant. After regaining clarity, how could she not feel angry and resentful when she recalled everything that happened during the drug’s effect?

So, would she hate Xiao Tan more, the one who caused her such humiliation, or Xu Changle, who had witnessed her wretched state?

The weak draw their blades against the weaker, while the strong only target the stronger.

Xu Changle had not spent much time with Xiao Linyue, but he was certain she belonged to the latter.

She had been spoiled by the Xiao family and was the most favored female sovereign of the Xiao clan in the truest sense. Even within the Xiao family, the favor Xiao Tan received was far less than what Xiao Linyue got.

This made her born arrogant and disdainful of everything beneath her. But it also made her always go straight for the core when solving problems, unwilling to waste even a bit of energy on people whose status was not equal to hers.

Therefore, she would only hate Xiao Tan and vent all her rage on Xiao Tan.

Even if she inevitably felt some displaced anger toward Xu Changle, under his “self-admitted despicableness” performance, how could she still direct it at him?

From beginning to end, the one she wanted was her.

The one who was so anxious she almost cried was also her.

Even the fingers used as the antidote were her own.

Xu Changle had only taught her, when her pain became unbearable, a way to make herself feel a little more comfortable.

He had already done his best to preserve her last shred of dignity. What more could she blame him for?

In the darkness, Xu Changle felt Xiao Linyue move.

For a moment, Xu Changle thought, ‘…Perhaps I really am very despicable.’

Every step was calculation, every step was acting. Back on Blue Star, he had never treated anyone around him this way.

But he was no longer the Xu Changle from Blue Star.

This was not Blue Star. This was a strange female-dominated world.

This was Dayuan. And he was the emperor of Dayuan.

—The puppet emperor.

He might die tomorrow, or the day after, or perhaps the next moment.

His life was in Xiao Tan’s hands, in Xiao Linyue’s hands, in “their” hands. It was never in Xu Changle’s own hands.

So, whatever.

Hadn’t some judged villain once said: “When struggling to survive, is there still a distinction between noble and lowly?”

At this point, he was merely using their arrogance and condescension toward him to exchange for a tiny chance at freedom.

And that chance would come soon.

In the darkness, Xu Changle could not see, but he could feel that Xiao Linyue… Wait, why did she suddenly wrap her arms around his neck?

Wait, why was she biting his neck!?

This is wrong!?!

Damn it, Xiao Linyue, didn’t your mind clear up? Why are you still doing this!?