After Accidentally Marking the Cold and Elegant Eldest Princess - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: No Need to View as Danger

Stepping into the inner chamber, a wave of heat brushed against them.

Although the floor heating was no longer being burned, the doors and windows had been kept tightly shut; the warmth had not yet fully dissipated, and the temperature was perfectly comfortable.

Yan Yunti carried the woman to the daybed and set her down. She found a set of sleeping robes in the wardrobe and handed them to Yuan Jingxue. Once the Princess had changed, Yan Yunti turned and saw her about to loosen the cloth wrapping her hair. She immediately stepped forward to stop her. “Don’t. You’ll get your clothes wet. Lie down, Your Highness; let me dry your hair for you first.”

The Qianyuan was proactively offering her service, and Yuan Jingxue had no intention of stopping her. She lay down, leaning against a soft pillow.

Yan Yunti sat at the head of the daybed, unwrapped the first cloth, and used a second, dry one to wrap the dripping hair, rubbing it bit by bit with great care. Yuan Jingxue closed her eyes, feeling the slight tugs on her hair. It wasn’t a very skilled technique; clearly, this was her first time serving someone like this.

Actually, she doesn’t need to go this far.

In Yuan Jingxue’s heart, her evaluation of the Qianyuan improved slightly once more.

However, that tiny bit of goodwill vanished quickly.

A warm breath brushed across her cheek. Yuan Jingxue opened her eyes to meet the Qianyuan’s radiant smile.

Yan Yunti asked curiously, “How did Your Highness feel just now? How was it compared to the previous two times?”

Yuan Jingxue immediately closed her eyes, refusing to acknowledge her. What was the point of asking such a question?

Clearly, Yan Yunti did not think the same. She cared deeply about Yuan Jingxue’s thoughts. Since the Princess wouldn’t answer, she started guessing on her own: “Your Highness is more sensitive than I am. Just now when I asked you to wait a moment, you seemed to be struggling a bit. Did it make you uncomfortable? Maybe next time I should let you go first…”

“Yan. Yun. Ti.” Yuan Jingxue uttered each syllable through closed eyes, her chest rising and falling visibly.

She was angry.

Yan Yunti knew when to stop. After a brief silence, she spoke in a low, soft voice: “I know Your Highness doesn’t want to be tied to me. It seems no matter what I do, you don’t like me in your heart. But I… I truly just want Your Highness to be more comfortable; I have no other intentions. This is meant to be a matter of mutual pleasure. If Your Highness resists me so much, how can you truly enjoy yourself to the fullest?”

She was no longer aggressive. Her voice sounded like a little puppy drenched by the rain—pitiful and aggrieved.

After she finished speaking, she fell completely silent. Only the occasional gentle tugging on the hair remained.

Yuan Jingxue’s hands, resting on her stomach, moved slightly. After a long silence, she suddenly said, “Be gentler.”

“Oh, alright.” Yan Yunti lightened her touch, meticulously wringing the ends of the hair dry.

Yuan Jingxue’s lashes fluttered slightly as she repeated softly, “Next time… be gentler.”

Yan Yunti was about to agree again when she suddenly realized something was off. Her movements stopped, and she leaned her face close to Yuan Jingxue’s. Her phoenix eyes curved into a smile. “Your Highness isn’t talking about the hair, is she?”

Yuan Jingxue turned her head slightly and closed her eyes, avoiding Yan Yunti’s direct gaze. Her voice was slightly cold: “Do not ask what you already know.”

The smile on Yan Yunti’s face didn’t fade. Seeing that the woman wouldn’t look at her, she retreated to continue drying the hair, seizing the chance to press further: “If Your Highness has other thoughts, you can tell them to me. Only then can I better understand your feelings and make adjustments.”

Yuan Jingxue kept her eyes closed, but certain sounds echoed in her ears—

The two times Yan Yunti asked “is it okay” to let her prepare, followed by the sound of the colliding bathwater.

If it is gentler, perhaps the sounds won’t be so loud in my ears.

Before finally leaving the tub, Yan Yunti had held her tightly, her breaths falling one by one against her ear. That sound, heard so clearly, caused an inexplicable tightening in her chest—and it seemed it wasn’t just her heart that was tightening.

Yuan Jingxue’s hands clenched slightly, dispelling the sudden memories. She countered with a question: “Will you do whatever I say?”

“Of course,” Yan Yunti agreed without hesitation. “I said this is a matter of mutual pleasure; it naturally requires cooperation from both sides for both the body and mind to be happy. If Your Highness is willing, you can tell me exactly what is wrong or right during the process—whether you want it faster or slower. I can adjust to match you.”

Yan Yunti had been observing Yuan Jingxue’s expression. Seeing the slight furrow in her brow, she knew the Princess was still very resistant to this matter. The Imperial family valued etiquette and education; as the Eldest Princess, Yuan Jingxue likely held rules in the highest regard. To her, this affair must seem quite scandalous.

But if she didn’t speak up and simply endured it, how could it work?

Yan Yunti tried a different approach: “Has Your Highness ever considered that the reason you feel out of control and uneasy is because you view this matter as too ‘dangerous’? Actually, this is much like eating or drinking; it’s a normal physiological need. Your Highness doesn’t need to view it as a flood or a wild beast. Try to accept it, to face your body’s feedback; perhaps the experience will be better.

“Perhaps, once your heart and body stop resisting, the Dependency Period will end even faster?”

Yan Yunti’s long-winded theory sounded like it had some merit, yet also felt like twisted logic.

Thinking of everything that happened today, Yuan Jingxue couldn’t help but say, “So Miss Yan feels that indulging in desire is a ‘normal’ thing?”

“Who said that? I didn’t.” Yan Yunti denied it immediately, though she felt a bit guilty afterward and gave a light cough. “Today was a bit… but these are special circumstances. What does this show? It shows that the Dependency Period cannot be suppressed too hard. If you suppress it too much, the backlash is too heavy, which is worse. If we had faced and solved it the moment you felt uncomfortable at the start, it wouldn’t have reached the point of indulgence. Don’t you agree, Your Highness?”

The long hair in her hands was now half-dry and no longer dripping.

Yan Yunti stood up and spread Yuan Jingxue’s hair across a chair draped with a cloth. It was impossible to get it bone-dry all at once. Yan Yunti felt she should do something else first.

Yuan Jingxue kept her eyes closed and didn’t react to her words; it was unclear if she had listened.

Yan Yunti wasn’t in a hurry. She asked, “Your Highness needs medicine on the back of your neck. Is there wound ointment here?”

After all, she had performed a temporary marking today. The gland at the back of Yuan Jingxue’s neck was still red and swollen. Although minor injuries to the gland recover quickly, Yan Yunti felt it was better to apply some soothing medicine.

When asked, Yuan Jingxue felt the discomfort at her gland and specified: “In the third drawer of the bedside cabinet.”

Yan Yunti found two jars of ointment in the cabinet—one white and one red—neither of which had labels. She had to take both to ask: “Your Highness, which one is it?”

“The white one.” Yuan Jingxue reached out to take it.

Yan Yunti didn’t hand it over. Instead, she asked about the red one: “Then what is this one for? Is it wound medicine? Can I put it on the wound on my shoulder?”

The teeth marks bitten by the Princess were still there.

Yuan Jingxue’s expression stiffened slightly. “No. It is not wound medicine.”

Yan Yunti keenly noticed the shift in her expression. A flash of insight hit her, and she remembered something—on the day of the Millennium Banquet, Yuan Jingxue had two places that required medicine. The white was for the gland; the red one was highly likely for that place.

Yan Yunti’s brow twitched. She didn’t ask further, but she didn’t put the red porcelain jar back either.

“Turn to your side, Your Highness. I’ll help you apply the medicine,” Yan Yunti said, sitting on the edge of the daybed.

“No need, I can do it myself.” Yuan Jingxue reached for the white jar in her hand.

Yan Yunti raised her hand to avoid her, speaking with conviction: “That won’t do. Things must be finished once started. Since I bit you, naturally I should be the one to apply the medicine.”

Yan Yunti never minced her words. Yuan Jingxue was starting to get used to it. She tried to sit up but was pressed down by the shoulder by Yan Yunti.

“Don’t move around, Your Highness. Your hair isn’t dry yet; you need to let it air out for a while,” Yan Yunti said, softening her tone. “Rest assured, I am truly just applying medicine and nothing else. You can’t see the back of your neck; it’s more convenient for me to do it. If I truly have ulterior motives, I’ll give you my right shoulder to bite as well. I promise not to hide.”

The Qianyuan was so sincere that Yuan Jingxue felt that having a big reaction would only make things seem more suspicious. She simply stopped arguing. She turned her body, exposing the back of her neck.

The Kunze’s gland was very red. Yan Yunti told herself in her heart that she definitely couldn’t bite this hard next time. Meanwhile, she dipped her index finger into the ointment and applied it to the gland.

Her movements were as light as they could possibly be; she truly did not make any unnecessary moves. However… the cool ointment melted against her fingertip and turned warm, being rubbed onto the gland in circles. The sensation was impossible to ignore.

Yuan Jingxue closed her eyes, her fingernails digging into the side of her forefinger. A slight sensation began to surge, though fortunately, it wasn’t strong.

The application process was quick. The moment the fingertip left her neck, Yuan Jingxue let out a soft sigh of relief.

As she turned around, she suddenly saw Yan Yunti leaning close, shaking that red porcelain jar right in front of her face with a look of pure earnestness as she asked:

“Does Your Highness want me to help apply the medicine to the other place as well?”