After Mistakenly Marking My Ex’s Older Sister, the Disabled Alpha Stood Up - Chapter 62

A mocking curve tugged at the corner of Jin Yunxi’s lips. She straightened, elbow braced outward, her face devoid of expression as she pried apart Yan Qingruo’s clinging fingers one by one.

“You only need to answer me this—was it you I saw at the Rhine that day? Was it you who forced Yan Qingmei to flee the wedding, only to deliberately stand in her place and marry me yourself? And the accident that left my leg crippled… did you have a hand in that too? Yan Qingruo, what a ‘surprise’ you are.”

Disappointment, disillusionment, the raw sting of betrayal came crashing in waves. To realize that the one who had shared her pillow, who had pressed so close, was the very person who had stabbed her deepest—it hollowed her out.

The truth she had overheard in fragments while lost in amnesia as Ah Lai came rushing back, shattering her restored memories.

The deeper she dug, the darker it grew.

The woman she had once thought loved her to the marrow—someone she had cherished in her palm—had been calculating against her from the very start.

“Ah Yun, I’ll confess everything. Can you—just for the baby’s sake—give me one chance to be forgiven?” Her voice quavered. Behind the mask, her eyes flushed red, stripped of pride, showing a humility she had never once revealed before.

Jin Yunxi’s hands froze mid-motion. The word baby pierced her like a fine needle, sinking into the tenderest corner of her heart.

In her mind still echoed Xining’s soft little voice calling, “Sister Ah Lai.” She saw again those plump hands offering her a strawberry cake.

Xining. Their child. Hers and Yan Qingruo’s.

Yan Qingruo had said she named her Xining so that Jin Yunxi could live in peace and joy.

Could even that have been a lie? Did Yan Qingruo go so far for revenge that she was willing to bear the child of her enemy?

A flicker of doubt wavered in Jin Yunxi’s chest.

Then Lin Ruxi’s laughter cut through the air from behind, sharp with coldness. “Miss Yan, are you trying to steal someone in public?”

Heels clicked crisply across the floor. Lin Ruxi’s posture radiated hauteur, as though declaring Jin Yunxi hers alone.

Her emerald eyes lingered over Yan Qingruo’s face. “I heard you and Yunxi are already divorced. What’s this, regret?”

“Yes. I regret it.” Yan Qingruo’s voice was firm as she turned to face Lin Ruxi. “Your Majesty, this is between Ah Yun and me. Could you grant us a little space?”

She removed her mask, revealing eyes glistening with tears, as delicate and moving as peach blossoms drenched in rain.

“Ah Yun, yes—I lied to you about the Rhine. But my feelings for you were real.”

Lin Ruxi instantly stepped between them. “Miss Yan, my Secretary-General has no time for your entanglements. Can’t you see?”

Yan Qingruo met her gaze without flinching. “All this time, Your Majesty has been pressing me step by step. If you want the Jin Corporation, you could fight for it openly—why resort to tricks?”

She spoke of Jin Corp, but every word was aimed at Jin Yunxi.

Lin Ruxi’s emerald eyes studied Yan Qingruo. Beautiful—exquisite—far younger than herself. Crying, she was heartbreakingly moving. Clever enough to spar with her, determined enough to cling to Jin Corp. No wonder Jin Yunxi couldn’t let her go.

Talented, stunning, seductive.

Even Lin Ruxi could admit—was it her, she would find it hard to let go too.

But Lin Ruxi had never been one to yield. A cold laugh escaped her lips. “I don’t want Jin Corp anymore. Because I have Yunxi.”

Her hand slid over Jin Yunxi’s shoulder, tilting her glass. Amber liquid swirled lazily. “Yunxi, let’s toast—to our new beginning.”

A new beginning?

The Queen and Ah Yun’s new beginning.

Yan Qingruo’s nails dug crescent wounds into her palm. “Ah Yun, just five minutes, please?” She reached out her hand.

“Yunxi, come. Dance one last dance with me.” Lin Ruxi also extended her hand.

The two of them hemmed Jin Yunxi in at the center, one on either side. The crowd below gawked, dumbstruck.

Already, whispers had begun—some had guessed from her flawless figure that the masked woman was Yan Qingruo.

The Queen’s butler cleared his throat, commanding calm with stern authority.

“The first dance is over. Please turn to your seats and wait for the banquet to begin.”

Close your eyes. Look away. What should not be seen, do not see.

Jin Yunxi reached for neither hand.

Instead, she suddenly let out a low laugh, tinged with bitterness and exhaustion. “Yan Qingruo, stop calling me that. Stop putting on this façade of deep affection.”

It only made her feel weary—disgusted.

“Ah Yun.” Tears brimmed in the woman’s eyes.

Jin Yunxi turned her face aside, eyes shadowed behind the lenses. “Enough, Yan Qingruo. This is my banquet, not your stage.” She slipped past the hand extended toward her, removed her glasses, and pressed her brow.

Her gaze cooled back into calm detachment. She turned, picked up a glass from a passing waiter, and clinked it against the Queen’s.

“Your Majesty. To our new beginning.”

Some of Lin Ruxi’s simmering anger eased at Jin Yunxi’s initiative.

Her words curled with innuendo. “Yunxi, don’t go home tonight. Come to the Imperial Palace with me.”

What could be more intoxicating—more triumphant—than luring Jin Yunxi away right before Yan Qingruo’s eyes?

The glint from her jade ring flashed cold across Yan Qingruo’s pallid face.

Jin Yunxi was about to answer when the grand crystal chandelier above flickered violently.

Sparks crackled, then darkness surged like a tide, swallowing the hall whole. Screams erupted, footsteps scattered in panic.

And in that chaos, a soft hand clamped firmly around her wrist—familiar, carrying the scent of narcissus.

“Ah Yun, it’s dangerous here. Come with me.”

Yan Qingruo’s breath brushed against her ear, her chilled fingers slipping into Jin Yunxi’s palm.

Jin Yunxi instinctively resisted, but the woman pressed closer, warmth enveloping her, leading her into shadow. Glass crunched under their heels as they stumbled through a hidden revolving door.

The secret chamber glowed faintly blue from a lone emergency lamp. Yan Qingruo pressed her against the door, hands winding around her like vines.

Her fingers grazed the tense line of Jin Yunxi’s jaw. “Ah Yun, how wonderful—here, it’s only us.”

If only the whole world, every rival, vanished—leaving Ah-Yun to her alone.

Her whisper tangled with ragged breaths. Jin Yunxi turned her head sharply, but warm breath brushed her chin. White-slim fingers hooked around the back of her neck.

“Tell me… has she ever touched you here?”

Jin Yunxi naturally knew who she was asking about. She sneered.

“Touched.”

Her grip at the back of Yan Qingruo’s neck tightened.

“I’ve touched her many times. Countless…”

Before she could finish, the woman seized her face with trembling hands, biting down on her lips.

The door shuddered with a dull thud as Jin Yunxi struggled, her teeth knocking against her lip. The moment the taste of blood spread, Yan Qingruo suddenly bit harder, and in the instant pain struck, her tongue forced its way in.

The kiss carried the desperation of burning bridges, fingernails digging deep into the nape of Jin Yunxi’s neck.

From lips to mouth, the entanglement swept her entire breath away, Yan Qingruo’s soft tongue stubbornly chasing every last trace of her.

It was a long, searing kiss. Beads of moisture glistened at the corner of Jin Yunxi’s lips, but she didn’t bother to wipe them away. With her lips still stained and luminous, she coldly parted them:

“Yan Qingruo, do you even know what you’re doing?”

“I won’t allow it. I won’t let her touch you. No—any woman.”

“Don’t run from me, Ah Yun.” Yan Qingruo pressed her forehead against hers, lashes sweeping across Jin Yunxi’s frosted eyelids.

“Miss Yan, let me go.”

Her fingers found the cold metal of the doorknob behind her, only for Yan Qingruo’s nails to pin her hand down tightly.

Countless nights of entanglement flooded back—trembling kisses, fingernails clawing at her back in loss of control. Every memory sparked through her like searing current.

“That first meeting by the Rhine—it wasn’t arranged. Every word I said to you was real…”

Back then, she hadn’t known the woman in the wheelchair was Jin Yunxi. Her heart had stirred at first sight. It wasn’t until her return, when her mother revealed the story of blood-deep hatred, that her world cracked apart. She had followed her mother’s plan into revenge, feigning amnesia on purpose. Yet the more she lived with Jin Yunxi after that, the deeper she sank. She thought she was the hunter—until she realized she was the prey, trapped in a cage built of love.

Jin Yunxi’s temple throbbed violently. Her hand pressed against the doorknob at her back, but it refused to turn. Yan Qingruo’s arms slid around her waist, interlacing their fingers and pinning her hands to the door. Their bodies fitted so tightly together it felt as if they might fuse into one.

Jin Yunxi suddenly twisted around—their noses nearly brushed. She saw the shattered light in Yan Qingruo’s eyes, the unwashed tear tracks streaking down her cheeks.

“Don’t touch me.”

Her voice carried warning, but when Yan Qingruo suddenly flung herself into her arms, her breath caught.

The heavy scent of night jasmine crashed down, mingling with a familiar warmth that nearly drowned her.

Yan Qingruo clutched her back with a death grip, nails breaking skin, blood trickling down to drip along the latch.

“Yan Qingruo, you’ve lost your mind.”

“Ah Yun, don’t go…” She buried her face in the crook of Jin Yunxi’s neck, her voice choked and broken.

“Just trust me this once. Just once…”

The hand Jin Yunxi braced against her shoulder refused to push down. Her knuckles whitened from the effort.

Wet lips trailed down her neck. “Smell me. My pheromones… Ah Yun, I’ll only ever respond to you. And you, only to me. Isn’t that right?”

The night jasmine swelled, thick and heady with sweetness that sent shivers through her.

Her legs trembled in the darkness. The rustle of clothes, the consuming heat pressing down on her—Jin Yunxi felt herself enveloped. When Yan Qingruo’s lips returned, wet and searing, she could hear her own ragged heartbeat, tangled with the numbing waves surging from deep within. Piece by piece, reason drowned.

Ashamed, Jin Yunxi covered her face, unwilling to meet the gaze of the woman beneath her—eyes glistening, lifted toward her with devastating allure.

Who does that—entangles her like this, yet seduces her with nothing but a look?

Too much.

The door wasn’t locked. Someone could come in at any moment. Yet even in the dim glow, Yan Qingruo’s eyes shone brighter than starlight. Something spilled from her lips, only to be caught and drawn back in by her tongue.

Her eyes brimmed with emotion, deeper than the sea, reckless and shameless, doing things she would never have dared in the past.

“Ah Yun, look at me.”

Her arm was nudged, forcing her to cup the woman’s head. As her breathing grew harsher, her fingers clutched at Yan Qingruo’s clothes. Dizzy, her broken gasps echoed in the narrow room.

“Ah Yun, you know—you only feel this way with me. Don’t you? Ah… so much.”

“Yan Qingruo, shut up!” Jin Yunxi braced against the door, but her legs were weak, trembling from the truth of what was happening. She wanted to flee, but her body betrayed her.

And she knew with bitter sorrow: as always, no matter how fiercely she resisted in her heart, her body surrendered to Yan Qingruo.

She was never one for carnal desire. In her amnesiac days, she barely felt anything. Yet when Yan Qingruo provoked her with that forbidden identity, something primal clawed free, screaming for her.

The tragedy was that she regained her memory only after they had made love. After passion came the cruel truth, stabbing through her heart like ten thousand arrows.

And now—again—she was trapped in this contradiction: her body yielding while her heart resisted.

Perfect. Yan Qingruo had achieved her goal.

But she would not let her win. Even as her mind blanked under the haze, a sharp voice cut through:

“Not good! Assassins—protect the Queen!”