Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Outside the array, all matters were shrouded in a fog you couldn't see through, lost in an impenetrable chaos. Inside the array, the blazing sun hung high, the sky a clear, spotless blue. A scorching wind brushed against sun-baked skin, making you feel even hotter and more restless.

Shen Xiyin, carrying a bamboo basket on her back, walked to the front of the house where Pei Su lived.

The man inside, his abs tight as a drum, twitched at the sound of her approaching footsteps. His heart pounded with the relentless questions of the Lust Control Thread—

You didn't go to her, but she came to you herself.

Don't you want her?

Are you sure you don't want her?

You're this swollen, and still you don't want her?

Shen Xiyin stood before Pei Su's closed door, pulling out the long boots she'd rushed to make for him from her basket. Before knocking, she asked herself a question.

Were they considered acquainted?

Probably not, but in this place, they kinda counted.

She took a deep breath, raised her hand, and lightly tapped on the wooden door.

Pei Su stood on the other side of the door, sweat-drenched hair hanging down as he silently endured.

He truly wished the person outside would stay far away, never to approach him again. But the Lust Control Thread mocked him—

You really think so?

Just tell her to leave, it's that easy.

You can't say it, because you want her.

Right now, duty, morals, decency, virtue—none of it matters next to wanting her.

Admit it.

Pei Su pressed his hands against the door and let out a bitter laugh.

What a joke. Totally absurd.

Shen Xiyin waited outside for a long time. Hearing nothing from inside, she hesitated and knocked a few more times.

She stood so close to the door that the person inside could see her clearly through the gap.

Her lips, wet and red; her slender neck, lightly dotted with sweat; her chest rising and falling; and the long boots gripped tight in her hands.

Pei Su's gaze lingered on those boots, not moving for a long time.

Shen Xiyin waited a bit longer. Still getting no response, she lowered her eyes and put the boots back into her basket. Just as she turned to leave, she heard a weird noise from inside.

It sounded like chains breaking, like a lock being forced open.

Then, the wooden door creaked open a crack. A hand with prominent knuckles reached out through the gap and grabbed her wrist tight.

The moment her wrist was seized, she clearly heard the Mind-Trapping Array's unyielding prompt in her ear—

"Enforcement initiated."

Startled, before she could react, she was pulled into the room.

The moment she entered, the lock clicked heavily back into place.

The room was stifling and humid, hard to breathe in. On the floor, the crisp black robe, belt, and stockings were piled in a mess, wrinkled and soaked with sweat that hadn't dried yet.

These robes, once perfectly fitted to the man in front of her, now lay in ruins, silently telling the story of his loss of control and madness.

Shen Xiyin had nowhere to run. She shut her eyes in panic, but her mind was flooded with the image she'd seen before closing them.

Broad shoulders, a strong back, a lean waist and abs, and…

She suddenly opened her eyes, her face flushed with shock and red.

How could it be like that?

Firm, imposing, almost ferocious. A savagery totally at odds with his elegant looks.

Overwhelmingly aggressive and strong.

She instinctively shrank back, her body going soft and damp with heat.

Tears of shame welled up in Shen Xiyin's eyes.

How could she be like this?

This isn't right. It shouldn't be happening. It can't. But…

Pei Su stepped forward, catching her soft, sinking waist, and lifted her into his arms.

With a murmured "Forgive me," he carried her to the bed.

The old wooden bed creaked a few times under the weight of two hot bodies.

He hovered over her, beads of sweat dripping one by one onto her neck, mixing with hers, sliding onto the bed and spreading into wet patches.

He lowered his head, staring at her closed bodice, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"Mrs. Xu, you hot?"

"No…" "Ah!"

Her worn skirt fell to the floor as she let out a startled cry.

Once the skirt was off, Shen Xiyin was left in just a thin undergarment, soaked through with sweat, barely covering her.

His hand paused mid-air, hesitating, but when he caught sight of the faint red peaks showing through the fabric, his reason snapped, and there was no turning back.

Her undergarment soon joined her skirt on the floor, tangled with his clothes.

"I'm sorry."

After pulling off the undergarment, he said solemnly.

Shen Xiyin saw the damp cloth in his hand, dripping with moisture, and couldn't utter a single word.

He looked at her body, not missing an inch of skin, as if memorizing it deeply.

She trembled with shame, yet burned with a physiological excitement.

He pressed close, his entire body collapsing on top of hers.

The moment their skin met tightly, they both let out a sigh of relief and satisfaction.

Shen Xiyin felt the restless ache inside her deeply soothed. She didn’t know what he felt—perhaps it was also comfortable.

He began to tentatively explore her.

His palm slid slowly down from her shoulder. His movements were more meticulous and unhurried than when he had broken the curse in the dense forest before.

Shen Xiyin let out a low, soft hum, weak and clingy, broken but lingering.

Her hands unconsciously found Pei Su’s broad back, sometimes lightly pinching, sometimes tightly embracing as the sensations surged through her.

Pei Su gazed down at her heavily, his eyes unreadable, dark, as his palm followed the curve down.

The rise and fall of her chest warped under his hand. Shen Xiyin’s eyes flew open, her low hum turning into a pained, choked cry, her nails raking across his back.

The faint sting on his back briefly cleared Pei Su’s head, but he soon lost himself again in her soft sounds.

He was committing a sin.

He loathed himself for it, yet couldn’t let go of the softness in his palm.

He pressed down harder, hearing her tremble and whimper from his teasing, and he knew he was turned on.

Shen Xiyin couldn’t help but arch her neck, her body shaking violently.

Pei Su’s gaze drifted down involuntarily, spotting a wet patch on the bed, his eyes drawn to the source of that glistening wetness.

Shen Xiyin squeezed her knees together.

Her face flushed crimson with shame and panic, her toes curling up tight.

Something parted the place she wanted to hide.

He looked at what she sought to conceal, his fingers teasing lightly, like plucking strings as he usually did.

Shen Xiyin couldn’t take it and called out to him, “Elder!”

At that call, Pei Su’s sanity briefly returned. He pulled his damp hand away, drew back from her, and raised a hand to his pounding forehead, panting heavily.

He struggled to think straight, but couldn’t stop thinking about her glistening wetness, her soft, pulsing heat, and the tender smoothness so unlike his own roughness.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, solemnly.

As the words left his lips, he pressed back down on her.

In the moment he had left, the soothing calm that had settled over Shen Xiyin rebounded all at once, nearly driving her to the edge.

Now, with his weight back on her, tears welled up in her eyes.

Her heart was a vast, hollow emptiness, and a tide of longing surged from the deepest part of her, flooding through every limb. She craved something to fill the hollow ache in her body.

But this was a sin.

She couldn’t err further.

She shoved him away, but he pulled her back.

“I’m sorry,” he said to her solemnly for the third time.

Shen Xiyin was tangled up in him, unable to break free.

She’d only come to bring the boots—how had it come to this?

Outside the window, the piercing screech of cicadas rang out in waves, a frantic, wild shriek.

On the narrow bed, their bodies intertwined, inseparable, like tangled vines.

Pei Su’s arms wrapped around her back, pulling her tight against him.

Shen Xiyin’s legs were parted and hooked around his lean waist.

Their hair tangled together in a mess.

He buried his face in the crook of her neck, his breaths coming in bursts, making her heart pound.

But mere rubbing was not enough; he conceived a more shameful thought—

To possess her.

Shen Xiyin clearly felt his terrifying pulse, alarming and impossible to ignore.

Her first thought: “It won’t work.”

It wouldn’t fit.

But Pei Su said, “It can.”

It was soft enough, and moist enough.

He held her tighter, pressing her toward himself, hoping to take her smoothly, but he couldn’t find the way.

Sweat dripped from his forehead, pushed to the limit.

Shen Xiyin’s body tightened repeatedly with each of his probing movements.

The cicada’s cry swirled like a vortex in her ears, clouding her will.

She looked at him, one hand reaching up to caress his face, tender and gentle.

With the other hand, she guided him slightly forward.

Pei Su’s whole body stiffened, the boundaries he clung to melting away bit by bit under the heat of her palm, retreating step by step until he was utterly defeated.

She told him, “Here.”

At that moment, she thought—

Heaven, please forgive her sin.