The Eldest Princess' Substitute Husband (Transmigration) - Chapter 39

“So close, our breaths seemed to intertwine.”

*******

What?

Upon hearing those words, Song Jinsheng turned to stone. Her entire face froze. It was a good thing it was pitch black right now, and Wei Luoyi couldn’t see her dumbfounded, petrified expression. Otherwise, she would surely have been suspicious.

After a brief moment of shock, Song Jinsheng still couldn’t accept it. Instead, she began to doubt herself.

Did I imagine that? Did I mishear her?

How does she know about this? When did she find out?

Did she know from the beginning when she married the original owner, or did I expose something after I transmigrated?

In an instant, Song Jinsheng’s mind was in a complete mess. All sorts of questions tangled together like threads, accompanied by the renewed pounding of her heart.

It felt deafening.

Wei Luoyi couldn’t make out her expression, but she knew she wasn’t speaking. She took it as Song Jinsheng’s guilty conscience, unable to pretend after being caught. A smile of amusement played on her lips. “What? Did the Consort truly forget?”

“Heh…” Song Jinsheng finally came back to her senses. She managed to force out a weak laugh. After a moment’s pause, she said softly, “Your Highness, perhaps you don’t know… that in this world, women can also like women?”

Song Jinsheng didn’t care anymore. She was going all out.

“There are many things two women can do together, not just have a sisterly relationship.”

“Oh?” Wei Luoyi was not surprised. She looked at her with a half-smile and asked, “Does the Consort truly think so?”

Song Jinsheng avoided her gaze. “Yes… I know it may not be socially acceptable, but that’s just how I am. It’s not something I can change… So, she and I…”

“So, you truly like her?”

Wei Luoyi’s single question choked Song Jinsheng instantly.

Wait, why is the plot not going the way I imagined?

Song Jinsheng hesitated. It was too difficult to say something so disingenuous. But by the time she wanted to find a way to patch things up, it was already too late.

Wei Luoyi looked directly at her, her gaze deep and her voice certain. “It seems the Consort is just looking for a partner to put on a show.”

“However…” Wei Luoyi suddenly smiled. She turned back and lay flat again, slowly closing her eyes. “Whether your feelings are true or false… it has nothing to do with me. As long as I want you to be the Consort for one more day, you won’t be able to leave this place…”

Hearing this, Song Jinsheng’s heart sank. Although she knew Wei Luoyi didn’t care about her and saw her as nothing more than a bird in a cage, hearing her say it out loud made her feel bitter.

Wei Luoyi was so close to her, but she felt so elusive and distant. It was as if Song Jinsheng couldn’t feel her presence at all.

Or perhaps, she had never been able to get close to her.

So she knew from the very beginning that I was a woman… No wonder… No wonder no one is more suitable than me…

After all, how many other women would be willing to risk the crime of deceiving the emperor to become a fake consort by her side?

After a long silence, Song Jinsheng let out a bitter laugh in her heart. She couldn’t help but ask a question she already knew the answer to. “Then when will Your Highness let me leave?”

Hearing her still hung up on this matter, Wei Luoyi opened her eyes again, frowning slightly, a hint of displeasure flashing through her eyes.

But the emotion quickly faded. She turned and faced Song Jinsheng. Sensing the confusion and helplessness in the person’s eyes, she suddenly reached out and caressed her face.

She gave her a command in the gentlest tone.

“Let you go? I don’t know… Maybe there will be that day, or maybe… there won’t…”

As long as she needed a consort like her by her side, as long as she needed her, Song Jinsheng couldn’t leave.

Never.

Wei Luoyi’s soft fingertips were pressed against Song Jinsheng’s cheek. She listened to Wei Luoyi’s soft murmur. If she didn’t think about the true intention behind her words, she would have taken them for an intimate endearment.

Although this wasn’t the first time she had realized this, Song Jinsheng was now more aware of her position in her relationship with Wei Luoyi.

She was always the one in the inferior position, completely at her mercy.

Wei Luoyi’s hand left her face, and Song Jinsheng wearily closed her eyes, unwilling to delve into things she already knew the answer to.

In her chaotic state of mind, the system’s sudden voice snapped her back to reality.

System: Notification, Wei Luoyi’s favorability +10.

Great. Now the sleepiness she had just been building up was completely gone.

Song Jinsheng frowned and looked at the person beside her, her face filled with confusion. She really wanted to ask Wei Luoyi what she was thinking.

I’ve made it clear that I want a divorce, so why did her favorability increase instead of decrease?

Song Jinsheng was completely baffled. Then again, she had never truly understood Wei Luoyi’s mind from the start.

She’s completely different from normal people.

But she was more concerned about something else right now.

Song Jinsheng: …There’s not going to be another punishment, is there?

System: Host has already learned how to answer first.

Song Jinsheng: …

“Boom, boom—”

A flash of light passed through the window, and a thunderous clap split the darkness. The booming sound was so shocking and terrifying it felt like it would shake a person’s soul out of their body. It also conveniently swallowed the system’s voice.

Song Jinsheng wasn’t afraid of thunder, but she still trembled. She hunched over and curled up toward the window, closing her eyes and covering her ears. She asked the system in her heart: What did you just say?

System, with a raised volume: After a scan, due to the target’s slight increase in favorability, the punishment has been upgraded to physical contact.

Song Jinsheng: ???

Song Jinsheng wailed in her heart.

Song Jinsheng: What physical contact??? You’re my system! Can’t you help me? Not only do you not help me leave this place, but you keep coming up with these strange punishments!

What am I to you?

Song Jinsheng complained endlessly, but the system completely ignored her. The mechanical voice said without hurry, Please perform a hugging action toward Wei Luoyi within the time limit. Failure to do so will result in all host benefits being revoked as an alternative punishment.

System: Time limit is five minutes. Countdown has begun.

Song Jinsheng: Hey!!!

“Boom, boom—”

Another flash of white light filled the room, and another thunderclap shook the heavens. Through the thin curtains on the wooden window, Song Jinsheng could even see the incredible scene of the lightning striking down.

After the two thunderclaps, the rain fell even harder. The silence in the room was filled with the whooshing sound of the downpour.

Song Jinsheng stared blankly at the window that was slightly shaking in the wind. After a moment of a daze, she suddenly realized something and quickly turned her head to look back—

Sure enough, Wei Luoyi had already curled up on the inner side of the bed at some point. The blanket that had barely reached her waist was now pulled up to her neck.

If she looked closely, she could even see the “lump” slightly moving, as if struggling, or as if she was trying to hide deeper in the blanket.

Song Jinsheng watched her in a daze, her eyes filled with an unknown emotion. Her hand reached out faster than her thoughts, but then it stopped.

System: Notification, less than two minutes remaining. Please complete the designated action as soon as possible.

Song Jinsheng was speechless.

This encouragement came at the most opportune time.

She sighed softly in her heart, took a resigned breath, and slowly raised her hand toward the person wrapped in the blanket. Her hand gently came down.

“Your Highness.” Her throat was very dry, and her voice was a little unclear.

“Your Highness?”

Wei Luoyi still didn’t move.

Seeing this, whether it was to complete the task as soon as possible or for another reason, Song Jinsheng boldly moved closer, inching her body toward her. Then she carefully lifted a corner of the blanket.

Wei Luoyi: “…”

Song Jinsheng couldn’t see clearly, but she could hear the person beside her’s faint and slightly rapid breathing. It came in waves, and even the blanket over her chest was rising and falling.

She’s scared…

Wei Luoyi was completely filled with terror at this moment.

Because she was muffled in the blanket, her forehead was covered in small beads of sweat, and a few strands of hair were sticking to it. But even though her body was clammy, she didn’t care. She remained curled up, her eyes tightly closed, her lips pressed together.

She didn’t know if she was in a dream or if she was reliving a memory, but even with her eyes closed, there were a few scenes that flashed by, making her heart tremble. She didn’t want to look back at them.

But it was no use. The more she tried to not remember, the more those scenes burrowed into her mind, over and over again…

This feeling was like the drowning sensation she had experienced as a child when she tried to hold her breath underwater. It felt like she was suffocating.

Just as panic was about to consume her and reach an uncontrollable peak, Wei Luoyi suddenly felt the weight on her body disappear—

The blanket had been completely pulled away.

And then, someone took her arm, and in a moment of dizzying confusion, her body was wrapped in another kind of warmth…

“Huu… huu…”

After leaving the stuffy blanket, Wei Luoyi desperately gasped for air. The feeling of dizziness also subsided a little. Her hand was forced to rest against a soft place, and she opened her eyes in a daze.

“Don’t be afraid…” Song Jinsheng looked down at the person in her arms, her eyes filled with an unconcealed pity.

Wei Luoyi didn’t move. She just continued to look up at her. Her eyes were like water, filled with an unspoken grievance, looking so fragile it made one’s heart ache.

This look made Song Jinsheng freeze.

She had just been so open and honest with her, and she knew that Wei Luoyi was only keeping her by her side because she needed someone to control. But at this moment…

Song Jinsheng sighed silently. Her hand, which was on Wei Luoyi’s waist, slowly moved up along her back until it rested on her hair.

The top of her head was very soft. Song Jinsheng stroked it down, but her thumb accidentally brushed against the side of her ear…

Song Jinsheng felt the person in her arms tremble a little.

“…The thunder has stopped, and the rain will stop soon… Don’t be afraid anymore.” Song Jinsheng thought she was still scared.

At her words, the hand that was resting on her chest began to clench. It grabbed a hold of her robe, and she looked up at her with wet eyes.

“You…”

Wei Luoyi frowned. The moment she spoke, Song Jinsheng lowered her head and moved closer to her.

They were so close, their breaths seemed to intertwine.

Push her away…

Push her away…

Wei Luoyi’s mind kept repeating these words, but after a long moment, her body still didn’t resist at all.

She didn’t know what Song Jinsheng wanted to do. She only felt her breath getting closer…

Song Jinsheng also didn’t know what she wanted to do. Her eyes couldn’t move away from the person’s lips in her arms.

Their mouths, opening and closing… to her, it was a form of temptation.

Or maybe, lust was just an involuntary… self-taught feeling…

She had already forgotten if she was doing this to complete the punishment. She also forgot where she was. She forgot her identity. She forgot everything…

All she could hear was Wei Luoyi’s unsteady breathing. All she could smell was the musk scent coming from her. All she could see was the hazy darkness around her and her lips.

All she could think about was one thing.

I want to kiss her.

At this moment, Song Jinsheng felt that this was her greatest punishment.

Transmigrating to this world and developing feelings for a person she shouldn’t have… that was the biggest punishment of all…

“Thump, thump…” She didn’t know whose heartbeat it was, but the sound was so loud it was deafening.

Song Jinsheng half-closed her eyes and slightly lifted her chin—

Her lips didn’t meet the softness she had imagined. Instead, they just brushed by.

Wei Luoyi pursed her lips. For the first time, her usually composed face showed panic.

“What… what are you doing?”

*******

[Author’s Note]

System: I helped you kiss your wife. You’re welcome.

Song Jinsheng: … (face red with embarrassment)

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