After Accidentally Marking the Cold and Elegant Eldest Princess - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Differentiating into a Qianyuan

Yan Yunti stood up and walked toward Yuan Jingxue.

Hearing the movement, Yuan Jingxue looked up toward her. Through her hazy vision, she could vaguely see a blue shadow approaching.

Yuan Jingxue gripped the silver needle tightly, her voice distant and cold: “What are you doing?”

Yan Yunti stopped a pace away from her. Taking a deep breath of the now-thickening magnolia fragrance, she asked tentatively: “Is Your Highness wearing some sort of scented sachet? I find that the smell seems to alleviate my symptoms. Could Your Highness lend it to me for a moment?”

If it were merely incense on her clothing, it wouldn’t be getting stronger and stronger. Yan Yunti guessed that Yuan Jingxue must be wearing a sachet of some kind. She felt this request was not unreasonable.

Yuan Jingxue’s eyes flickered slightly. She gripped the silver needle even tighter, asking with apparent calm: “What scent do you smell?”

“It seems to be magnolia,” Yan Yunti replied seriously, feeling a slight itch in her canines. “I have a magnolia tree planted in my courtyard, so I am very familiar with the fragrance.”

Yuan Jingxue’s fingertips dug deep into her palms.

She couldn’t see Yan Yunti’s expression clearly, but judging by her tone, Yan Yunti truly seemed unaware that the magnolia fragrance filling the room was her pheromones.

But a Zhongyong should not be able to smell pheromones.

Unless Yan Yunti wasn’t a Zhongyong—was she also part of today’s scheme?

Yuan Jingxue’s mind was in a whirl. Just as this thought emerged, she suddenly noticed a new, cool scent appearing in the secret room. A crisp, slightly bitter woody fragrance began to surround her, slightly soothing the agitation in her body. However, it was like drinking poison to quench thirst; it only made her more restless.

When did this scent appear? Why hadn’t she smelled it earlier?

“Smell more carefully. There is another scent in this room,” Yuan Jingxue looked up, her gaze icy.

“Is there?” Yan Yunti’s nose twitched as she carefully sniffed and differentiated the scents in the air. The faint, cool fragrance she had originally ignored suddenly became clear.

This scent… why did it seem to be emanating from her own body?

Was it the effect of the drug?

Yan Yunti felt something was wrong; a faint panic rose in her heart. “There seems… to be a cool fragrance, as if it’s coming from me…”

“Miss Yan, come here,” Yuan Jingxue interrupted her.

Yan Yunti’s train of thought was broken, and she stepped closer as told. “Does Your Highness have an order?”

“Closer. Squat down,” Yuan Jingxue continued her demands.

Confused but compliant, Yan Yunti crouched half-way in front of Yuan Jingxue and looked up at her: “Your Highness, what is it?”

The moment the words left her mouth, the silver needle gripped in Yuan Jingxue’s hand was instantly pressed against her neck, piercing a small bead of blood. Her voice was freezing: “You are a Qianyuan.”

Yan Yunti didn’t dare move. Suspecting she had heard wrong, she hurriedly explained: “Your Highness, it’s a misunderstanding! I am truly a Zhongyong…”

“Then why can you smell my pheromones?” The silver needle in Yuan Jingxue’s hand pressed a fraction deeper.

“Pheromones?” A loud boom went off in Yan Yunti’s head. She suddenly had a very bad premonition and asked, bracing herself: “Is Your Highness saying that the magnolia I smell… are your pheromones?”

Because they were close, Yuan Jingxue smelled more of the cool fragrance. Her vision cleared slightly, allowing her to see the shock and consternation on Yan Yunti’s face.

The pheromones of two Kunzes repel each other, whereas Yan Yunti’s scent could soothe her symptoms. Therefore, Yan Yunti was undoubtedly a Qianyuan.

“Why bother continuing the act, Miss Yan?” Yuan Jingxue’s tone carried a hint of mockery.

Yan Yunti opened her mouth to explain, but hearing movement outside, she whispered a warning: “Someone is coming in.”

There was a series of sounds outside the secret room.

Inside, the atmosphere was at a standoff. Yan Yunti’s mind raced. Combining this with the recurring erotic dreams she had been having, an ominous realization surfaced in her heart—

She might be in the process of differentiating into a Qianyuan.

Normally, for both men and women, the differentiation period occurs between the ages of twelve and sixteen. She was already eighteen and had shown no signs of it before, so why now, all of a sudden…?

The people outside came and went quickly.

Looking at the beauty’s face so close to hers and thinking of the events in her dreams, Yan Yunti explained quickly: “This official’s daughter had absolutely no intention of deceiving Your Highness. It is possible the drug those people gave me caused a sudden differentiation into a Qianyuan. I am not fit to be in a room with Your Highness right now. I can leave immediately.”

Heaven only knew what would happen if a Qianyuan and a Kunze who couldn’t control their pheromones stayed in the same place.

Yuan Jingxue’s fingertips trembled as she held the needle. Waves of the drug’s effect washed over her. She forced herself to remain steady: “This secret room can only be opened from the outside.”

Yan Yunti was stunned: “Then how do we get out?”

Yuan Jingxue did not answer.

Once her people noticed something was wrong, they would surely come looking for her; it was only a matter of time. Right now, she had to consider how to deal with Yan Yunti.

Before Yuan Jingxue could think it through, the girl—who clearly could have dodged the needle—closed her eyes, offering her neck as if ready for execution. She said resolutely: “Then please, Your Highness, prick me unconscious.”

Otherwise, with the dreams fresh in her mind, Yan Yunti didn’t dare gamble on her own self-control.

Yuan Jingxue was momentarily dazed; she had only done that to test her. If Yan Yunti were truly part of the plan, that wave of searchers outside wouldn’t have needed to appear. Furthermore, Yan Yunti’s pheromones seemed to be a perfect match for hers.

If Yan Yunti were pricked unconscious but her Qianyuan pheromones continued to release, her situation would become even more embarrassing.

After weighing it in her heart, Yuan Jingxue lowered the needle. “Stay away from me. Pull back your pheromones.”

Since Yuan Jingxue didn’t strike, Yan Yunti obediently retreated to the cushion opposite. She grabbed the cushion and actively moved further away.

As for pulling back the pheromones, Yan Yunti had no idea how to do that. She even reached out to cover the gland at the back of her neck, attempting to block the release. However, her pheromones were utterly disobedient; the covering only made them grow stronger.

Yan Yunti couldn’t help but look across at her.

Yuan Jingxue was sitting up, her body leaning against the wall at the head of the couch, eyes tightly shut. Her hand was pressed against her chest, and her breathing was very heavy.

The secret room was rich with the cool fragrance, which began to feel warm and comfortable after a while. But it wasn’t enough—far from enough. The more she received, the more she craved.

Yuan Jingxue opened her eyes. Her vision had blurred again; she could only roughly see where Yan Yunti was. After much thought, she parted her lips: “Come here.”

Yan Yunti thought Yuan Jingxue had changed her mind and was going to knock her out. She stood up and walked to the front of Yuan Jingxue. Just as she was about to squat down, her collar was grabbed. Her body was pulled downward, and immediately after, a burst of hot breath brushed against her nape.

A wave of numbness spread from her nape down her entire spine. Yan Yunti’s body stiffened. Was the Eldest Princess… smelling her pheromones?

“Sit down,” a command came by her ear.

Without time to think, Yan Yunti sat down sideways. Yuan Jingxue’s right hand rested on her shoulder, her nose pressing against the gland at the back of her neck. Hot breaths continued to sweep over it.

Yan Yunti’s breathing also grew heavy, and her pheromones released even more. Their scents intermingled silently.

A deeper craving surged up.

Yuan Jingxue felt it wasn’t enough. From the corner of her eye, she glimpsed the bead of blood on Yan Yunti’s neck. The thirst in her throat could no longer be suppressed. She extended the tip of her tongue to taste the spring of blood mixed with dense pheromones.

The sensation of moisture on her neck hit her. The girl’s peach-blossom eyes suddenly widened. Her hands, resting at her sides, clenched tightly to suppress her impulses. She called out in a low voice: “Your Highness!”

However, the person in her arms did not stop. After repeated sucking until no more blood emerged, her warm lips moved downward.

Yan Yunti’s attention was stolen by the soft touch on her skin. The Kunze’s thick pheromones surrounded her tightly. Yan Yunti knew she couldn’t, shouldn’t…

Her thoughts were in a chaotic whirl—one moment the erotic dream, the next the Eldest Princess’s indifferent expression.

Yan Yunti wanted to push the person in her arms away. She looked down, her gaze landing on the woman’s nape. Beneath the collar of her snow-white inner robe, the pale pink gland of the Kunze was right there. It was like a peach blossom in full bloom in spring, inviting one to pluck it.

For a moment, Yan Yunti forgot what she had been thinking. She raised her hand, her fingertips touching the Kunze’s gland. With a light press, more pheromones welled up like nectar.

The person in her arms let out a soft moan, her body going almost limp.

Her lips moved away from Yan Yunti’s neck. Those phoenix eyes, which should have been cold to the extreme, were now filled with infinite moisture. She looked at her, red lips parting and closing to utter those words: “Bite… me.”

The last shred of sanity in Yan Yunti’s mind, already fragile, snapped like a lute string stretched to its limit.