Strongly Spoiled by the Villainous Tyrant After Climbing into the Dragon’s Bed - Chapter 3

The atmosphere in the room seemed to shift in an instant.

“You should know, I spent a great deal of effort to demand you for myself,” Tan Huairan said, slowly raising his eyes. His palm covered the back of Zhan Yueqing’s fragile neck, squeezing it as if holding a small bird—

Zhan Yueqing’s scalp tingled; he felt as though he were being bitten by something and instinctively tried to dodge.

But Tan Huairan seemed to have anticipated his thoughts. He let out a soft chuckle, and his eyes suddenly grew dark and murky.

“The clothes you wore just now… looked very good.”

Tan Huairan’s voice softened slightly, intending to put Zhan Yueqing at ease, but Zhan Yueqing reacted like a bristling hedgehog, becoming even more alert.

Tan Huairan narrowed his eyes. “You want to resist?”

As his low, husky voice fell, a certain beast-like intuition made Zhan Yueqing subconsciously rise to escape. However, his waist was suddenly seized. After a blur of world-shaking movement, he caught the heavy scent of agarwood—

His chaotic thoughts gradually cleared, and Zhan Yueqing realized his current position, his entire body freezing up.

—He was pinned against the broad-chested, open-robed Tan Huairan. His arms were unconsciously resting against the Emperor’s shoulders, kneeling on his thighs, while his head was pressed into the crook of Tan Huairan’s neck.

When had his own clothes been loosened? Dazed, Zhan Yueqing looked down and saw Tan Huairan’s abdominal muscles.

And this scent of agarwood… why was it exactly the same as the clothes he was wearing?

Was he wearing Tan Huairan’s clothes?

“I wouldn’t go so far as to resist,” Zhan Yueqing recalled his own schemes and slowly looked up, gazing at that handsome face. His voice was light: “But didn’t Your Majesty just say this face of mine is disgusting? If it’s disgusting, why are you leaning so close to me now?”

Being this close, he could feel Tan Huairan’s every breath.

…This face really is handsome, Zhan Yueqing thought.

As a gay man, he simply couldn’t reject this!

Most importantly, this face looked exactly like his ex-boyfriend’s!

Only the personalities were worlds apart.

At this thought, Zhan Yueqing returned to his plan. He worked hard to conjure a mist of tears in his eyes to lower Tan Huairan’s guard—

“Does Your Majesty wish to kiss me?”

Zhan Yueqing looked at that face, his arms naturally hooking around Tan Huairan’s neck as he slowly drew closer.

A kiss wouldn’t be a loss; this tyrant’s face was indeed very handsome.

In fact, what he had been most satisfied with in the past was his ex-boyfriend’s face…

As for why they broke up if he liked him so much, he could only say it was a cruel twist of fate.

While performing mental gymnastics for himself, Zhan Yueqing took advantage of Tan Huairan’s silence and tilted his head up to kiss Tan Huairan’s lips.

Tan Huairan’s pupils constricted sharply.

Zhan Yueqing hadn’t often initiated kisses with others, nor did he have much experience in being the pursuer.

In the past, it was always the ex-boyfriend who kissed him.

Mimicking what he had read in novels, he licked Tan Huairan’s lips and slipped his tongue inside—

Tan Huairan’s breathing hitched, and his expression grew dangerous.

Zhan Yueqing, however, didn’t notice. From his current angle, it would be a miracle if he could see anything.

He bit his own lower lip—a strange, purplish-red blood flowed out.

The taste of iron and blood instantly filled their mouths.

Tan Huairan’s brow furrowed, and he grabbed the back of Zhan Yueqing’s neck, intending to force him away, but Zhan Yueqing deepened the kiss—

Suddenly, Tan Huairan felt something icy cold invade his lungs. His vision went black for a moment, and a numbness spread through his fingertips.

His heart even felt a dull ache.

Poison?

Heh, so be it.

Despite this, Tan Huairan did not release the person in his arms. Instead, he became even more aggressive, turning the tables and biting back with a hint of resentment—

Zhan Yueqing’s eyes were hazy as he was forced to endure the kiss, waiting for the poisonous blood to take effect.

According to the information given by the System, anyone who consumed the original host’s poisonous blood would suffer intensely. Within minutes, they should turn pale and huddle on the ground, and every fifteenth of the month during the full moon, they would suffer the pain of ten thousand snakes biting the heart.

In that situation, only Zhan Yueqing’s blood could alleviate the agony.

But why hadn’t this tyrant been poisoned yet?

Zhan Yueqing’s mind blurred for a moment.

Was the tyrant immune to his poison? Or did the System screw him over?

Hurry up and take effect! If it doesn’t, my pants are going to be stripped off!

Zhan Yueqing seemingly unintentionally blocked Tan Huairan’s hand which was moving down his leg. His vision swam—

He felt like he was being affected by the poison himself, so why did Tan Huairan still look perfectly fine?

Tan Huairan suddenly interlaced their fingers and pinned him onto the couch, wantonly plundering his lips. Their hot breaths mingled, and his eyes turned red, appearing to be driven by desire.

Zhan Yueqing smelled the scent of blood.

His brow furrowed, his mind becoming increasingly muddled. He exerted some strength; he had intended to be submissive, but a memory of a night filled with cicada cries flashed through his mind.

It was midsummer back then, with thunder and heavy rain.

The scorching breaths had mingled just like this…

Zhan Yueqing suddenly froze. Realizing that he was treating the tyrant as his ex-boyfriend, his expression turned ugly. He kicked Tan Huairan away and rolled into the inner side of the couch—

“Your Majesty, please respect yourself!”

This was his first time shouting sternly since the transmigration.

Tan Huairan didn’t care about his evasion. Instead, his gaze swept inch by inch across Zhan Yueqing’s body—

Watching that dangerous look, Zhan Yueqing finally understood what it meant to bring trouble upon oneself.

Why was the blood useless against him?

“Respect myself?”

Tan Huairan’s eyes seemed to freeze over with frost. With a light laugh, he swiftly reached out and grabbed Zhan Yueqing’s ankle—

Zhan Yueqing’s eyes widened. He tried to break free, but he was dragged across the couch by Tan Huairan and forcibly gathered into his arms.

“You were the one who started acting provocative,” Tan Huairan’s voice was hoarse, his expression taunting. “I wasn’t the one who threw myself into someone’s arms.”

As he spoke, his unruly hand moved up from Zhan Yueqing’s inner robe, successfully finding his thigh.

The youth’s skin was slightly cool and felt smooth to the touch, like the finest silk. Tan Huairan stroked it repeatedly, looking like a lustful, foolish dog.

Zhan Yueqing’s expression became more and more suspicious. Was this tyrant a leg-man just like his ex-boyfriend?

“System, there aren’t any other transmigrators in this world, right?” Zhan Yueqing asked in his mind.

System: 【None.】

Zhan Yueqing went still. For a moment, he didn’t know if he was feeling expectant or disappointed.

His heart instantly turned cold and hard.

Zhan Yueqing looked up, let out a sigh, and used the second plan he had obtained from the System. He opened his mouth and said:

“Your Majesty, is Madame Xue of Chengchun Temple still doing well?”

—The leverage provided by the System was news of a woman.

Tan Huairan’s movements paused. In an instant, his gaze seemed to gather a thunderstorm.

Zhan Yueqing sensed the impending thunderous rage and quickly scrambled out of his arms, kneeling on the couch with his head to the floor.

Tan Huairan stood up, his face darkened, and he let out a thunderous roar—

“Just who sent you?!”

His tone had lost the fleeting warmth from before, and the aura surrounding him seemed to thicken with the scent of blood, like a god of slaughter returning from the battlefield.

Zhan Yueqing, however, showed no fear. He raised his head again and met his gaze squarely: “Your Majesty, I entered the palace because of you. The imperial decree stated that once I entered the palace, you would spare my nine generations—Your Majesty is a man of his word; you won’t go back on it, right?”

His expression was righteous, yet his clothes were disheveled from the previous kissing. The combination of the two created a strange contrast that stirred a certain decadent fantasy in Tan Huairan’s heart.

—No, he isn’t that person.

That person wouldn’t threaten me like this.

Don’t think about it.

Stop looking at that disgusting counterfeit face!

Tan Huairan looked away, feeling disgusted by even one more glance. “That is natural.”

The imperial decree was issued by his orders. Only after the System verified it was “qualified” did it refrain from punishing him.

“I know Your Majesty cares deeply for Madame Xue,” Zhan Yueqing brought out the speech he had prepared for a long time. “You don’t want anyone disturbing her peace, nor do you want anyone exposing her location—had it not been a last resort, I actually wouldn’t want to disturb her peace either.”

Having been immersed in the palace for many years, Tan Huairan immediately understood the hidden meaning.

“What do you want?” Tan Huairan asked indifferently.

The brief warmth during dinner seemed like a figment of Zhan Yueqing’s imagination.

Even that smile that had lifted by a mere two pixels was also a delusion.

Zhan Yueqing took a deep breath, looking unexpectedly excited. “I want a position in the Imperial Academy of Medicine.”

He had studied Traditional Chinese Medicine in the modern era.

He didn’t possess extraordinary cunning; he only had ten thousand medicinal formulas in his heart. Only the Imperial Academy of Medicine would allow him to establish himself in this foreign world.

Silence fell in the hall once more.

Tan Huairan didn’t speak for a long time.

—If Zhan Yueqing had looked up, he would have seen the tyrant’s complex gaze.

It seemed like sentimentality, like hatred, and yet like a sigh of relief as if confirming something once again.

Seeing no reaction from the tyrant, Zhan Yueqing thought, It’s over. That damn System didn’t坑 me again, did it? Was the leverage fake?

Tan Huairan let out a light laugh and sat back down. He tilted Zhan Yueqing’s chin up, staring at him with a playful look—

“So that’s how it is. I thought you wanted to protect your chaste body tonight.”

Zhan Yueqing was stunned.

Huh? Wait? We’re still going to do it? He instantly changed his tune, stammering, “Actually, I… I did mean that as well.”

It wasn’t that he was staying chaste for his ex-boyfriend; he was afraid the tyrant had an STD. Those things couldn’t be cured in ancient times.

Tan Huairan, however, extended his thumb to rub Zhan Yueqing’s lip, his expression dark.

“Too late. One piece of leverage only allows for one request. Do you think the Imperial Academy of Medicine is so easy to enter?”

Zhan Yueqing had fair skin and thin lips. The blood drawn from the biting during the kiss made his lips appear exceptionally red.

Seeing the cold stiffness leave Tan Huairan’s body, Zhan Yueqing looked at that face and couldn’t help but push his luck. “Your Majesty is all-powerful. A mere position as an imperial physician—how hard can it be?”

Tan Huairan: “It isn’t hard. But why should I use my power for someone else’s ‘hidden guard’?”

Zhan Yueqing didn’t catch the hint. He was stunned again, feeling a bit troubled.

He couldn’t exchange for a second piece of leverage from the System in such a short time, but he really didn’t want to sleep with the tyrant.

Ahhh, why didn’t the poison work?! If it had worked, wouldn’t the tyrant be listening to me obediently right now?!

Zhan Yueqing was about to be driven mad by the stupid System.

Tan Huairan wasn’t in a hurry. He slowly withdrew his hand from Zhan Yueqing’s thin lips, turned to remove his own robes, pulled off his belt, and leaned back against the couch.

He admired the struggle, conflict, and hesitation in Zhan Yueqing’s eyes, nearly letting out a chuckle.

Originally, when he heard Zhan Yueqing threatening him, he suspected it was a trap set by someone else, because his “White Moonlight” wouldn’t do such a thing.

But in the end, Heaven had been merciful.

This time, it was no longer a “substitute” plot set up by the System.

Tan Huairan propped up his head, leaning by the couch, his voice lazy: “If you weren’t still breathing, I’d think you had fallen asleep kneeling there—what, are you very satisfied with your current ‘hidden guard’ identity that leaves you at my mercy?”

Zhan Yueqing frowned.

But he didn’t want the position of a favored consort either.

—If only that kissing episode hadn’t happened.

Without that, Zhan Yueqing could have convinced himself to climb into bed by any means necessary. But unfortunately… Tan Huairan’s kiss reminded him of his ex-boyfriend in the modern world.

Even though he was an ex, he didn’t hate him.

After all, he was the one who proposed the breakup first.

A sense of guilt suddenly flared up. Zhan Yueqing felt as though something was stuck in his chest, neither going up nor down, making him very uncomfortable.

Seeing his distressed look, Tan Huairan suddenly added a chip to the gamble.

“How about this: tonight, if you please me, I will grant you one more request—even if you want a general amnesty for the whole world.”

Zhan Yueqing was stunned and looked up at him.

Even without reading ancient novels, he knew what those four words meant.

More importantly—the meaning hidden behind the tyrant’s sentence.

Weighing the pros and cons, Zhan Yueqing bit his lip. The tips of his ears grew inexplicably hot, and he looked at the Emperor with misty red eyes.

“Your Majesty’s word is gold; you won’t regret it, will you?”

The youth’s voice was soft and light, his ear tips slightly flushed. His long hair, which had been wet and then dried, was slightly frizzy and draped over his shoulders like a beautiful, curly-haired cat.

And he was wearing clothes filled with the Emperor’s scent.

Tan Huairan’s eyes grew even darker, and his heart began to race wildly.

Damn.

This physiological reaction of liking someone was a nightmare. If the person across from him wasn’t Zhan Yueqing—the White Moonlight who had grown up with him as childhood friends until the age of eighteen—he would be writing out “Men’s Virtue” eight hundred times tonight and dragging all the hidden guards out to be beaten to death.

Tan Huairan cursed in his heart, yet on the surface, he remained the enigmatic image of a monarch.

He had worn this mask for twenty-five years; he wouldn’t take it off.

“A gentleman’s word is his bond,” Tan Huairan said.

—Hearing this, Zhan Yueqing finally moved. He let out a soft breath, looked up at Tan Huairan with watery eyes, and slowly crawled toward Tan Huairan’s side.

“…Then, which position does Your Majesty prefer?”

It was as if a string named “reason” suddenly snapped in Tan Huairan’s mind. His expression froze, and he actually looked a bit dazed.

Wait, what did he just say about not being able to take off the mask?