After Breaking Up with the Alpha Villain, I was Forcibly Marked - Chapter 21

Since that initial fainting spell, Gao Chang had drifted in and out of consciousness.

Over the next two days, he fainted twice more due to sheer physical exhaustion. It wasn’t until the third day after his Rut ended that he finally stirred and woke up for good. He tried to push away the head nestled in the crook of his neck and sit up, but the moment his head left the pillow, his body like a piece of ancient, dilapidated machinery gave out, and he slammed right back down.

Only then did Gao Chang realize, with a start, that his entire body was limp and devoid of strength; he ached everywhere. The worst was his glands. It felt as though someone had repeatedly gouged the area with a sharp blade it was searing, raw, and incredibly painful.

He had told the other no less than ten times that no matter how much he bit his glands, he couldn’t leave a permanent mark. Yet Xing Xiyan simply refused to listen, obsessively targeting his most vulnerable spot. He had no idea what the youth was so fixated on.

Gao Chang lay there, stiff and afraid to make another move. He stared blankly at the ceiling, temporarily abandoning his plan to sneak home before Xing Xiyan woke up. His memories of the manic phase were a bit blurred, but he vividly remembered that every time he opened his eyes, his vision and mind were occupied by Xing Xiyan’s breathtakingly beautiful face and the fact that he was pinned down and tormented for so long that he lost all track of day and night.

In all the time since he differentiated into an Alpha, this was the most grueling Rut he had ever experienced. The unquenchable heat was miserable enough, but Xing Xiyan’s “soothing” had nearly cost him half his life. He had almost become the first case in Imperial history of an Alpha in heat being rendered a total wreck by a yet-to-be-differentiated person.

Next time, I absolutely cannot let Xing Xiyan mess around like this, he thought.

Hearing the Alpha’s incoherent muttering, Xing Xiyan, who had woken up along with him, let a faint smile touch his eyes. He leaned in close behind Gao Chang, his hot breath hitting the Alpha’s ear. “When did Senior say ‘next time’ would be…?”

Caught off guard by the meaningful question, Gao Chang’s eyelids jumped. The ache in his lower back seemed to intensify, and he hurriedly opened his mouth to deny it. “What next time? You definitely misheard me. I never said that.”

Next time? It was his own negligence that allowed Xing Xiyan to catch him in his Rut. He had half-willingly cooperated with the youth’s soothing because of that “Protagonist Shou” filter in his mind, thinking that with such a thin, frail frame, the other couldn’t possibly do him any real harm.

Who knew that beneath that pristine appearance, Xing Xiyan was a piranha plant capable of subduing him even in a manic state? His brain would have to be turned to mush to actually want a next time…

“Is that so?”

The youth’s lips curled slightly, seeing right through his stubbornness. Then, he reached out and placed a hand on the Alpha’s waist, his fingertips grazing the vivid, crisscrossing red marks, massaging them idly. It was as if he were deepening the colors, or perhaps admiring his accumulated spoils of war from the past few days, until the skin beneath his palm warmed with an unnatural heat.

“Wait, I… the Rut is over now. I don’t have that need anymore. We can’t do it again!”

Gao Chang’s eyes went round as he caught a glimpse of the hand on his waist gradually sliding downward. He scrambled and crawled, barefoot and stumbling, as he tumbled off the bed. He couldn’t fathom why an undifferentiated ordinary person like Xing Xiyan had such inexhaustible energy, but it certainly wasn’t a good thing for him.

“Mmm. I won’t do that to Senior anymore.”

At least, not for now, Xing Xiyan thought. Other matters were waiting for them.

Seeing the Alpha’s terrified “facing a formidable enemy” expression, Xing Xiyan suppressed the dark tides in his eyes. He followed him off the bed, picking up a clean undershirt in one hand while quickly reaching out with the other to steady the man, who had almost tripped over the chains on the floor.

“Really?”

Gao Chang was full of suspicion. He instinctively gripped the arm braced across his chest, using Xing Xiyan as a crutch to barely support his sore, weak legs. He was starting to develop a stress response to Xing Xiyan’s obsessiveness. Over the past few days, every time he had opened his mouth to show weakness, the youth had reacted like a rabid dog whose “hunger” switch had been flipped.

His pleas hadn’t convinced the other to stop; instead, they had only resulted in even more intensified conquest. Consequently, hearing the youth actually listen to his refusal felt miraculous as if he were hearing a distant, heavenly melody.

“Naturally.”

Xing Xiyan’s voice was flat. His gaze swept over the Alpha’s chest, covered in such a mess of bite marks that the underlying skin was barely visible. His breath hitched for a second. He balanced repeatedly between impulse and restraint, and finally, logic won out. He shook out the clean shirt and helped the Alpha put it on.

“Ahem. You’re actually being quite sensible.”

Gao Chang couldn’t see the storm brewing in the youth’s heart. Thinking the gesture was a sign of goodwill, he didn’t refuse.

“Does Senior like it?”

Xing Xiyan unhurriedly fastened the last button on the shirt. Then, he took Gao Chang’s hand and pressed it against his cheek. His light brown lashes, the same color as his hair, were long, thick, and slightly curled at the ends. Paired with those cold, flawless features, they added a layer of mystery and harmlessness that made one’s heart race.

They were like the fluttering wings of a butterfly clean, delicate, and carrying a trace of warmth as they lightly brushed against Gao Chang’s palm. The sensation was minuscule, yet it made his heart itch. He wanted to reach out and stroke them, yet feared shattering the silence.

From below, those brown eyes gazed up at him. Within those habitually cold depths flickered a rare, burning focus. For a few short seconds, he strangely forgot the madness hidden beneath those features and felt a sudden urge to answer: “I like it.”

Before the words could leave his mouth, a sudden draft of cold air hit between his legs. The damp stickiness that hadn’t been thoroughly cleaned crawled across his skin like a reptile. The sensation flooded his senses, instantly triggering the memories of the past seven days that he hadn’t yet managed to shake off.

Gao Chang’s ears burned. That “I like it” got stuck firmly in his throat.

Xing Xiyan seemed to notice his predicament as well; his grip on Gao Chang’s hand tightened instinctively.

“I’ve been in this hotel for so long… I should go back!”

Hearing the increasingly heavy breathing near his ear, the alarm bells in Gao Chang’s head went off like crazy. Help! he screamed internally. Between striking while the iron was hot to “conquer” his target and saving his own life, he chose the latter without hesitation.

Before Xing Xiyan could change his mind, Gao Chang snatched the trousers from his hand. Enduring the waves of pain radiating from every bone and muscle in his body, he nimbly scrambled into them. He even forgot his belt, only managing to clutch the waistband as he stumbled toward the door.

The moment his hand gripped the doorknob, a massive surge of “survivor’s joy” bubbled up, momentarily drowning out all his untimely doubts.

CLICK CLICK CLICK—

To his horror, the second he pulled the door open, the hallway erupted in a series of blinding camera flashes.

A crowd of media reporters, all wearing professional protective masks, swarmed into the guest room. They packed the small space until it was airtight, directing their hovering drone cameras to snap photos of every single corner.