Chapter 33: OOC Warning

Chapter 33: OOC Warning

The chess table was still by the bed, and Xiao Yan didn't call for anyone to move it away.

He turned over and climbed onto the bed, his gaze sweeping over Liu Qingci, who was still kneeling properly. He patted the spot beside him like a lord:

"Come here, time for bed."

After saying that, he didn't even look to see if Liu Qingci moved.

Xiao Yan rolled over on his own, facing inward, lay down, casually pulled the brocade quilt up to his waist, and closed his eyes.

The bedchamber fell silent, broken only by the occasional faint crackle of the candles.

After a moment, he heard the very faint rustle of fabric behind him, followed by the subtle dip of the bed's edge.

The attendant on duty outside was sharp enough to slip in silently and extinguish the lamps.

The hall was immediately plunged into a hazy darkness.

On the far side of the bed, Liu Qingci lay stiffly on his back, almost hanging off the edge.

His eyes were open, staring up at the blurry brocade patterns of the canopy in the darkness.

His mind was a jumble, with no trace of drowsiness.

Why wouldn't Xiao Yan admit that he had saved him?

More than that, what Liu Qingci was even more curious about was...

Why would Xiao Yan risk getting hurt to save him?

At the time, the scene was chaotic, and Prince Yu was surrounded by guards and attendants, and he was injured too.

By all logic, Xiao Yan's attention should have been on his own safety or controlling the situation—how could he have noticed him lying facedown in the corner?

Unless...

Unless Xiao Yan's gaze had been on him from the very beginning.

Unless the owner of that hand had seen him fall with his own eyes.

Xiao Yan had hastily tried to deny it, shifting the blame to Lai Shun, so much so that he hadn't even noticed the hole in his story.

But why?

What was this enigmatic Prince Yu really thinking?

Liu Qingci quietly turned his head to the side.

In the dim light, he could only see a blurry, broad-shouldered silhouette with its back to him.

His breathing was even, as if already fast asleep.

He carefully rolled over, switching to lying on his side, facing Xiao Yan's back.

This posture relieved his tense back a little, yet he still couldn't fall asleep.

Why did he play chess with him?

When he clearly didn't know how to play.

Was it really... just to learn chess?

Xiao Yan's behavior was full of inconsistencies; he couldn't figure him out.

This prince was like a book with several key pages torn out—disjointed and nonsensical, yet every stroke of ink landed exactly where he needed a breather the most.

The night wore on.

Yet the presence of the person beside him grew more pronounced.

The steady sound of breathing was close at hand, and the body heat of the other man reached him faintly through the thin air.

Liu Qingci rolled over and settled flat, closing his eyes, trying to clear his mind.

On his side of the bed, Xiao Yan wasn't actually asleep.

The very faint sounds of him turning over behind him were magnified in the silence, reaching his ears clearly.

Once, then again.

Fabric rustled softly against the brocade mattress, as if someone was restless and uncomfortable.

Xiao Yan frowned.

Right.

Liu Qingci still had injuries on his back. Though medicine had been applied, with such nasty wounds, it must be uncomfortable whether he lay on his side or on his back.

And on top of that, he was forced to sleep next to his own abuser—how could he possibly sleep peacefully?

Although those injuries weren't his doing, but that bastard original owner's doing.

But right now, he was Prince Yu!

He enjoyed Liu Qingci's fear and obedience born from that harm, yet couldn't even muster a proper apology.

Guilt, mixed with an almost suffocating heartache, suddenly overwhelmed the fragile defenses of rationality late at night.

After a moment of internal struggle, he finally spoke.

His voice sounded abrupt in the silence, with an unnatural hoarseness:

"... Does your back still hurt a lot?"

He didn't turn around, still maintaining his inward-facing position, as if asking casually, half-asleep.

The faint rustling behind him suddenly ceased.

Liu Qingci's body seemed to freeze instantly.

Xiao Yan waited a moment but got no response.

He rolled over and lay flat, just like Liu Qingci.

He opened his eyes and stared at the dim canopy above.

Xiao Yan pursed his lips, his throat a little dry, and blurted out:

"Sorry."

The voice was not loud, yet it cut through the silence like tearing silk.

Three words. Earth-shattering.

As Xiao Yan finished speaking, he could feel the person beside him froze instantly, his breathing also completely halted in shock.

Liu Qingci was indeed utterly stunned.

He almost suspected he was dreaming, or caught in some absurd hallucination.

In the darkness, his eyes flew open wide, but he could see nothing.

Only the echo of that "sorry" reverberated in his ears, making his ears ring.

His chest felt as if it had been struck hard by something heavy.

Sour and numb, everything in chaos.

Liu Qingci couldn't help recalling Prince Yu Xiao Yan as he had known from hearsay.

Brutal, reckless, and unpredictable.

On the day he was forcibly taken into the residence, the Prince Yu was exactly as the rumors described.

But since then, Xiao Yan had never inflicted any harm on him again.

In fact, just today, His Highness had risked his own safety to save him.

And now... he was apologizing.

After what felt like an unbearably long moment,

Liu Qingci finally found his voice, though it remained strained and hesitant:

"Your Highness... there is no need for this."

He paused, as if draining every last ounce of strength to continue:

"The wound has healed a lot, and doesn't hurt so badly anymore..."

Xiao Yan could no longer make out what Liu Qingci was saying.

Because a continuous, piercing ringing erupted in his mind.

Then, a series of glaring red characters began to flash incessantly in his mind:

"Warning! Warning! OOC Warning!!!"

"Warning! Warning! OOC Warning!!!"

"Warning! Warning! OOC Warning!!!"

This process lasted about half a minute.

When it finally ended, Xiao Yan felt as if the whole world had gone quiet.

But clearly, the system had no intention of letting him rest.

"Host! What are you doing?! How could the original host ever take the initiative to apologize to Liu Qingci?!!!"

"You triggered the OOC warning! The OOC warning!! You only have three chances in total. Two more times and you'll be erased, aaaaah!!!"

The OOC warning was triggered directly by the main system; even Xiao K had no prior knowledge of it before the alarm sounded.

In the dead of night, the host's single "sorry" had blasted it straight into the open.

Xiao K couldn't calm down at all and began to wail at the top of its voice:

"Host, say something!!! You haven't been scared dumb, have you?!"