After Accidentally Marking the Cold and Elegant Eldest Princess - Chapter 24.2

Chapter 24.2: Accepting the Initiative

How could a dignified Eldest Princess not know how to swim?

Going to the hot spring villa was a perfect opportunity.

Yuan Jingxue departed for the hot spring villa a day earlier than planned.

The moment Yan Yunti stepped onto the carriage the next day, she noticed the weariness in Yuan Jingxue’s expression. They hadn’t met at all the previous day, and seeing her now, her face was pale once more. She was bundled in a thick fox-fur cloak, and a charcoal stove was burning inside the carriage.

Despite such discomfort, Yuan Jingxue held a book in her hands, her eyes lowered as she read in quiet concentration.

When Yan Yunti entered, she didn’t even receive a “glance of acknowledgement” from the Princess.

Yan Yunti was in no hurry. Holding a box of freshly bought plum blossom cakes, she ate them one by one, her focus entirely fixed on the beauty across from her. She felt the cakes tasted even sweeter and more delicious under such a view.

The Qianyuan’s gaze was so direct and undisguised that Yuan Jingxue, having turned a page, found it impossible to focus on the words. She finally looked up. “What is Miss Yan looking at?”

Seeing her look over, Yan Yunti’s phoenix eyes curved into crescents. She leaned closer with a smile. “Naturally, I’m watching to see when Your Highness will pay attention to me.” She held out a piece of cake. “This is the famous plum blossom cake of the capital; it’s quite hard to get. I queued up early this morning for it. Would Your Highness like a taste?”

The sweet fragrance of the pastry wafted through the air.

Yuan Jingxue gave it a single glance before returning her eyes to her scroll, casually flipping a page. “Does Miss Yan have no proper business to attend to on a daily basis?”

Between the kitchen and those indecent books… the only thing that could be called “proper” was perhaps her sword practice.

“I do,” Yan Yunti replied, feigning ignorance as she sat even closer. “Your Highness doesn’t know, but I spent all last night diligently studying that massage technique. I nearly rubbed this white jade flat.”

A piece of white jade hung from Yan Yunti’s waist; she was currently playing with it, her slender fingers flipping the jade over and back. It was an innocent scene, yet looking at it, Yuan Jingxue inexplicably thought of something else. She offered a reminder: “You are sitting too close.”

“Then does Your Highness find this stove useful?” Yan Yunti pressed forward instead of retreating, sitting right beside Yuan Jingxue. Her fingertips, which had just been warming the white jade, landed on the back of the woman’s hand. Touching ice, she gave a light click of her tongue. “Your Highness’s temperature feels even colder than the jade in my hand.”

The stove was clearly useless, yet she still refused to ask for help.

“Is Your Highness being so stubborn and enduring this because you are afraid…” Yan Yunti’s warm thumb began to stroke the woman’s index finger gently, her voice now a mere whisper against Yuan Jingxue’s ear, “…that staying together for long will lead to genuine feelings, and you’ll fall in love with me?”

Breath brushed against her ear. Perhaps because her own temperature was so low, Yuan Jingxue found this breath almost scalding against her skin. She turned her head, falling right into those smiling phoenix eyes. They were so close that their lips seemed a breath away from touching.

Yuan Jingxue remained motionless, her expression cold. “What are you trying to do?”

“I want,” Yan Yunti raised her hand, her fingertip pressing against the collar at the back of the woman’s neck without touching an inch of skin, “to make Your Highness feel a little better. If Your Highness is willing.”

The internal chill had been seeping out since last night. Yuan Jingxue had barely endured it until now; currently, she was frozen through. Whether it was the warmth on her finger or the hot breath by her ear, her resolve was becoming precarious.

Other people could learn those massage techniques, but she was unwilling to show such a side of herself to anyone else. As things stood, Yan Yunti was the most suitable choice. They were using each other anyway; why hesitate? As for “falling in love,” it was out of the question.

Having made up her mind, Yuan Jingxue closed her book and her eyes, tilting her neck slightly. “Do not do anything extra.”

It was a sign of consent.

“I’ll do exactly as Your Highness says.” Yan Yunti’s words were obedient, as were her actions. Her left hand stopped stroking the finger, while her right fingers crossed the collar to touch the gland.

Yan Yunti had practiced all night; her fingers were nimble and familiar, massaging the Kunze’s gland as if it were the white jade, all while keeping her eyes fixed on Yuan Jingxue’s face. She couldn’t do “anything extra,” but no one said she couldn’t look.

At this proximity, every minute change in Yuan Jingxue’s expression was visible. The moment her fingers touched the gland, Yuan Jingxue’s brow furrowed slightly in discomfort. Yan Yunti softened her touch, becoming even more gentle.

Because the pressure was too light, the effect was slow. Yuan Jingxue could feel it; the vague warmth in her gland hadn’t even begun to gather before it dissipated due to the overly soft movements. Her body was so cold that she found herself craving that heat; her neck subconsciously pressed back slightly, forcing the Qianyuan’s fingers to apply more weight.

The Kunze’s silent movement said everything.

A light laugh flickered in Yan Yunti’s eyes. As she increased the pressure, she watched the shifting expressions on Yuan Jingxue’s face, not forgetting to add: “Your Highness can tell me directly whatever you are thinking. My ‘proper business’ right now is to serve you well.”

Yuan Jingxue bit her lip and did not answer. Some things were simply too hard to say. What was she supposed to say? Harder, faster? Better to stay silent.

The carriage was silent. With her eyes closed, Yuan Jingxue’s senses were heightened. She tried not to focus on the back of her neck, but the faint heat rising within her was impossible to ignore. The tension in her brow unknowingly smoothed out.

Yan Yunti saw the relaxation in her face; the gland was heating up, meaning it was working. She switched her technique. The one from two days ago was the simplest, but the one she used now was more complex—it required simultaneous massage of the center and the edges with varying pressure. Fortunately, she had practiced it many times.

The sensations at the back of her neck became increasingly difficult to ignore. Not only that, but Yuan Jingxue could sense Yan Yunti watching her. Today, her emotions were impossible to hide, and she could only try repeatedly to suppress the ripples in her heart.

The more she endured, the clearer it became to the observer: the tightly pressed red lips, the hurried breathing, the layers of flush rising on her cheeks, and the furrowed brow that had returned.

The woman’s long lashes trembled like butterfly wings. Though Yan Yunti couldn’t see her eyes, the tears squeezing through the lashes to dampen them allowed her to imagine the shimmering gaze beneath.

Yan Yunti suddenly regretted watching so closely. Her gaze was caught like a fly in a spiderweb, unable to move. She could only hear her own heart thumping restlessly against her ribs—thumping so hard her own neck grew hot, thumping so hard she almost kissed the woman’s cheek, only barely restraining herself.

It was hard to say who was being tortured more.

“Your Highness,” Yan Yunti whispered. The call made the woman’s lashes quiver, yet she refused to open her eyes.

Yan Yunti couldn’t help herself. Her left hand moved to the woman’s waist, pulling her into her embrace until their noses brushed. She whispered again, her voice thick: “Your Highness.”

It was a soft call tinged with a hint of grievance, making the other’s heart even more unbearable.

Yuan Jingxue slowly opened her eyes. At such close range, faces were a blur; the tears gathering in her eyes only made her vision hazier. She didn’t push the girl away. When she spoke, her lips nearly brushed the other’s: “Didn’t you say… you’d do exactly as I said?”

She spoke slowly, as if afraid to reveal her state.

Yan Yunti’s eyes were red with restraint, and her breathing grew scorching. Her left hand lightly pinched the woman’s waist. “I will. Then… does Your Highness need my scent?”

“Yan Yunti, we are in a carriage,” Yuan Jingxue reminded her.

“Mm.” Yan Yunti brushed their noses together, her lips moving up to catch a tear falling from Yuan Jingxue’s eye.

The Qianyuan looked as if she wasn’t quite sober. Yuan Jingxue tried to push her away, but the pressure on her gland suddenly intensified, causing her body to lose its strength. She had to sharpen her tone: “Don’t misbehave. The scent will leak out.”

A stove was burning in the carriage, so the windows couldn’t be sealed tight. If she released her pheromones, the people outside would know immediately. There were Kunzes among her maids; she couldn’t allow such a scene.

Yan Yunti knew this. She refrained from releasing her scent and whispered: “There is another way to exchange scents. Would Your Highness like to try?” After speaking, her lips landed lightly on the corner of Yuan Jingxue’s mouth, catching another falling tear.

Her Princess truly seemed to be made of water; even though nothing had happened yet, the tears fell one after another like broken pearls. Yan Yunti kissed them away one by one, yet she pointedly avoided those soft, tempting lips.

Yuan Jingxue felt waves of heat surging through her. The massage was warming her body rapidly, and the chills were gone, replaced by an unspeakable longing.

Exchanging scents didn’t have to involve the gland. Pheromones could be infused through the mouth and teeth, passing between them in a different way. She wasn’t ignorant of this; she simply felt it shouldn’t be so. She shouldn’t lose control like this.

“Your Highness, don’t endure it, alright?” Yan Yunti’s murmur sounded in her ear. The girl’s deliberately lowered voice acted like a spell, easily snapping her remaining resolve.

Enduring only brought suffering. Acceptance was the better solution.

The woman’s soft lips proactively covered hers. Yan Yunti’s left hand flattened against Yuan Jingxue’s lower back. She did not stop the massage, letting Yuan Jingxue take the lead in the kiss. She felt the scents mingling between their teeth—the fragrance of magnolia and the crisp cedar clashing and fusing. It wasn’t as intense as a glandular release, but it held a unique sensation.

The Princess’s kiss was like the woman herself—cold on the surface with a hidden fire. Perhaps because she hadn’t fully let go, the intensity didn’t last long, and she showed signs of pulling back.

Yan Yunti, of course, wouldn’t let her escape. Her kiss was as blazing as a sun that could melt everything, giving the other no room to breathe. As they kissed, she pressed the woman back against the seat cushions…

Until a sharp tug on her scalp caused a jolt of pain. Yan Yunti reluctantly let go. Her clothes were slightly disheveled, and a faint red mark had appeared on her collarbone. Yan Yunti stroked the mark with her thumb, her gaze moving up to linger on the slightly swollen red lips, then further up into those watery, misty eyes.

Leaning in, she asked, “How does Your Highness feel?”