TBWE Chapter 26

Red Marks

Slash—

Suddenly, a chill beneath the sleep dress, the pure cotton close-fitting garment shredded to pieces, thrown aside casually.

“Ugh, ugh!” Chu Li struggled desperately, her wrists pinned immovably, the lips and tongue invading deeper as she opened her mouth.

She felt as if pulled into the deep sea, her brain dizzy from lack of oxygen, faintly meeting His pitch-black pupils, those inhuman eyes filled entirely with dark, viscous desire.

His knees pressed between Chu Li’s thighs; she lifted her leg to kick hard but suddenly her ankle tightened, bound by cold, soft things.

They seemed unsatisfied with just tangling the ankles; while the body was distracted, they climbed lovingly up the calves, kissing the warm skin along the way.

They sucked, squeezed, leaving deep marks.

Realizing what it was, Chu Li nearly went mad.

Tears of fear brimmed in her eyes, she bit hard on the entangled tongue; the rich sweet and bloody taste spread.

This level of injury was trivial to the monster; He kissed more fiercely, forcing her to swallow all her own blood.

The sweet bloody scent filled every sensory corner.

Cold fingers sank into warmth.

Ultimate fear mingled with involuntary physiological reactions; her body trembled uncontrollably.

Chu Li’s chest heaved violently; salty liquid dripped to her lips.

The violent monster suddenly halted.

The rough kiss finally ended.

Xi Chu subconsciously loosened his grip on her, lowered his eyes to look at Chu Li beneath him.

Her pale face, reddened eye sockets, lips swollen and cracked with bleeding scars, blood un-swallowed and overflowing at the edges.

Her sleep dress was rolled up to her waist, revealing dazzling whiteness, with wet traces on the floor.

Chu Li gasped for breath; silent tears rolled down in large drops.

The boiling and shouting desire instantly cooled; He clearly knew that showing mercy to this cunning human would not be rewarded.

To possess her,

To devour her,

To imprison her forever and turn her into his possession.

This was the right thing.

Xi Chu lowered his head and leaned closer, in Chu Li’s tense resistance, withdrawing his fingers and kissing, licking away the salty tears.

The last time.

This was His final concession.

As long as she no longer fled, no longer betrayed, He could accompany her back to the life before…

Puchi!

The tip of the copper coin sword pierced through Xi Chu’s chest in front of him, blood staining her sleep dress.

While He licked the tears, Chu Li had already formed the summoning sword hand gesture.

With tears hanging at her cheek, she summoned the copper coin sword back to her hand, raised her knee, and kicked fiercely.

The long dream began to collapse.

Xi Chu leaned back from the force, staring at Chu Li all along, trying to find a trace of hesitation on her face.

But there was none, not a bit.

Dawn broke, the continuous buildings were bathed in morning light.

Chu Li gasped and opened her eyes; her sleep dress was soaked with sweat, sticky against her body.

The sensations from the dream still lingered; between her legs it was sticky; the cold fingers seemed to still be inside.

“…” She clenched her fists and pounded the bed.

A dull thud startled Chu Queling, who turned over.

Chu Li tightly closed her eyes, struggling to calm herself, then reached under the pillow.

The copper coin sword was still there, the talismans too, but nearly a third were gone.

That dream could affect reality. So dying there might really mean dying.

That monster absolutely would not let her go again.

Chu Li planned to stay up all night to see if not sleeping would keep her from being pulled into the dream.

After a whole night of running and fighting in the dream, the bed was small and hard, and she felt very uncomfortable as if breaking apart.

She rubbed her eyes and got out of bed, preparing to wash and change clothes.

“Qingyu…” Chu Queling yawned and got up, rubbing her eyes, “You’re up so early, not sleeping anymore?”

“Did I wake you? I was sweating, so I planned to wash.”

“It’s okay, I’m not sleeping either. Gonna work early today and come back early.”

Chu Queling lit the oil lamp, got out of bed, and stretched, “What do you want to eat? I can bring some back for you. Stir-fried rice noodles, meat buns… Qing, Qingyu!”

The dim room lit by the firelight; Chu Queling glanced accidentally and screamed in fright, pointing at Chu Li trembling: “Your… your neck and lips… did you encounter a ghost last night?!”

Chu Li sensed something was wrong and took out the folding mirror beside the bed.

The person in the mirror looked tired with watery eyes, red at the corners, swollen and cracked lips, and purple-red marks above the collarbone.

She slammed the mirror shut and her chest heaved rapidly.

“It’s nothing.” Chu Li tried to sound natural, “I hit my mouth when I just woke up. I’m allergy-prone; bug bites make me like this.”

“Oh… I see. Good that it’s nothing, you scared me.”

Chu Queling’s love experience was zero; she had no doubt about this explanation.

She patted her chest and said she would go make breakfast, then would help Chu Li borrow some insect repellent ointment.

Chu Li smiled faintly in thanks, and after she left, hurried into the bath.

Warm water poured over her head; a square mirror was embedded on the wall.

She took off the sleep dress and checked inch by inch in the mirror.

The mirror faithfully showed ambiguous overlapping marks on her snow-white skin.

Besides the lips and collarbone marks, her wrists had a circle of red marks; her ankles and calves crawled with tangled red prints.

Chu Li’s eyes landed between her legs.

Deep red finger marks branded on delicate skin, easy to imagine how that hand had grabbed and forced her to lift.

“Damn bastard!”

She punched the wall fiercely, almost biting her teeth to bits.

After finishing what she had to do, she planned to leave immediately, far away from this monster!

Forever, never to meet again.