Lin Ting knocked on the door and called out a few times, but there was no response.
She couldn’t help but wonder if Duan Ling had forgotten to extinguish the candle before resting.
She had knocked because she saw light still coming from the room, assuming Duan Ling was still awake.
She had intended to use the excuse of delivering pastries to subtly probe his true thoughts.
Unexpectedly, Duan Ling had already fallen asleep so early.
It was only the beginning of the Xu hour, just after nightfall.
Lin Ting lingered at the door for a moment, gazing at the faint light inside, and eventually decided to leave.
She couldn’t possibly wake Duan Ling, who was already resting.
She herself hated being disturbed during her sleep.
Just as she was about to turn and leave, the door behind her opened.
The room, filled with the scent of burning incense, emitted a rich aroma of sandalwood, and Duan Ling’s voice came through.
“Is something the matter?”
Duan Ling’s breathing was slightly uneven, though it was hard to notice unless one listened carefully.
Lin Ting didn’t pick up on it.
She turned to look at him, lifting the plate of pastries in her hand. “I heard you didn’t have dinner, so I brought you some pastries. You can eat them if you get hungry.”
With that, she looked up at him.
Duan Ling had changed into a new robe, his hair slightly damp, and the corners of his beautiful eyes seemed tinged with a faint flush.
Lin Ting glanced at him a few times, inexplicably feeling a numbness in her hand holding the pastries.
He stood at the door, his back to the candlelight inside, his face shrouded in shadow as he took the pastries she offered. “Thank you.”
“Were you resting just now?”
“Yes.” Duan Ling walked a few steps into the room, placing the pastries on the central tea table.
He glanced at the incense burner in the corner, where the scent of sandalwood grew increasingly strong, as if trying to mask some other odor.
Lin Ting remained at the doorway, feeling somewhat embarrassed. “I’m sorry for disturbing your rest.”
Duan Ling’s hand on the tea table tightened slightly as a new wave of desire assaulted his body.
“You were just worried I might be hungry and kindly brought me pastries. It’s no disturbance at all.”
She looked at his back. “So, are you going to rest now, or…”
Reason told Duan Ling that he should let Lin Ting leave, then close the door and deal with his condition in his usual way, preventing anyone from discovering the true nature of his uncontrollable illness.
But what came out of his mouth was, “I’m having another episode.”
Lin Ting didn’t immediately understand, but then she remembered the time he had an episode in front of her.
“How are you planning to get through it this time?”
Duan Ling turned back, the flush in the corners of his eyes deepening, perhaps from the pain.
He asked, “Can you help me?”
“Help you?”
Did he mean kissing?
Like that time by the pond, using a kiss to distract himself?
Although Lin Ting had tried to treat the incident as a dream and forget it, she still couldn’t erase the memory of him emerging from the water and kissing her.
Lin Ting instinctively pursed her lips and asked bluntly, “Are you saying you want me to kiss you?”
Duan Ling could no longer hold back.
His breathing was more than just slightly uneven now, and a thin layer of sweat covered his cheeks.
“No. Just stay with me tonight.”
Lin Ting hesitated.
This episode was different from the last one.
Back then, he had insisted she wait in the cave while he went to the pond to endure it alone.
Although he hadn’t succeeded and had ended up kissing her to distract himself, it still showed that he hadn’t wanted her to see him in that state.
But this time was different.
Duan Ling was actually asking her to stay by his side and help him through this episode.
In Duan Ling’s eyes, they were now engaged, and she “liked” him.
Seeing him in this state, she couldn’t possibly refuse.
Lin Ting hesitated for a moment, then agreed.
“Wait here, I’ll get you some water.” She wanted to wet a cloth to wipe his sweat, as using a dry cloth for too long would be uncomfortable.
Although there was a basin in Duan Ling’s room, it was empty, as if the water had been poured out after use and hadn’t been refilled yet.
Apart from her, no one knew about his “condition,” and calling a servant over would risk exposure.
Before fetching the water, Lin Ting first returned to her own room, instructing Tao Zhu to rest early and wait until she entered the adjacent room before leaving.
Lin Ting didn’t want Tao Zhu to know that she was going to stay by Duan Ling’s side for the night.
Duan Ling’s room wasn’t very close to their quarters, and it took some time to make the trip back and forth.
When Lin Ting returned with the basin of water, he was no longer at the tea table but had moved to the bed, surrounded by the hanging curtains.
She lifted one of the curtains and sat by the bed, taking the cloth from the basin, wringing it out, and wiping the sweat that had slid down to Duan Ling’s jaw.
His slender neck was also drenched in sweat, glistening with a sheen of moisture.
Seeing this, Lin Ting paused for a moment, then finally wiped Duan Ling’s neck, her fingertips accidentally brushing over his Adam’s apple.
Duan Ling let out a muffled groan, turning his face to the other side, not letting her see his expression.
Lin Ting still thought it was due to the pain of his illness and didn’t dwell on it and asked:
“Do you want some water?”
“No.”
Seeing that Duan Ling’s sweat continued to flow, she wanted to pull down the blanket covering him.
Most of this sweat was due to his illness, but covering himself with the blanket would only make him hotter and sweat more.
The moment Lin Ting touched the blanket, Duan Ling grabbed her wrist, his damp breath seemingly clinging to her: “I want to keep it on.”
Lin Ting wanted to pull her hand back, but for some reason, she held back, and the dampness clung to her completely.
“But you’re sweating so much.”
Duan Ling’s thumb unconsciously brushed over the skin of Lin Ting’s wrist, but the touch was extremely light, as if restrained to a pathological degree, and she didn’t notice.
His voice was low, carrying a hint of something dark and hidden, as he repeated: “I want to keep it on.”
“Alright.” Lin Ting hesitated for a moment, then decided to let him have his way and continued to wipe his sweat.
He also released her hand.
The incense burner in the room was still lit, filling the air with the scent of agarwood, and Duan Ling’s occasional groans of pain reached her ears.
After a long while, Duan Ling turned to look at Lin Ting, his jet-black hair falling over his shoulders, his appearance as beautiful as a woman’s.
His thin lips moved slightly, his tone still calm and restrained, but his words were not: “Can you… kiss me like you used to?”
The damp cloth slipped from Lin Ting’s hand.
Even though they had kissed many times before, and had done even more intimate things, she was still shocked to hear this.
After all, most of their previous kisses had been driven by purpose, straightforward and direct.
Logically speaking, since they had kissed so many times before, one more wouldn’t make a difference, especially since they were already engaged, even if it had happened by accident.
But it still felt different to her.
Just as Lin Ting was hesitating, Duan Ling groaned in pain again, and her body moved faster than her mind.
She leaned down and kissed him.
The groan of pain ceased.
As soon as Lin Ting encountered him, Duan Ling clung to her like a male ghost.
When their lips and tongues met, his fingers tightly gripped her wrist.
That night, Lin Ting felt as though her mouth no longer belonged to her.
During Duan Ling’s episode, they kissed several times, each lasting quite a while, and it took a long time before they finally parted.
By the latter half of the night, Duan Ling had made it through.
Lin Ting was so exhausted that after wiping his sweat one last time, she climbed into bed and fell asleep, not returning to her own room.
Duan Ling lay on his side, gazing at Lin Ting’s sleeping face for a long time.
Eventually, he couldn’t resist raising his hand, his fingertips tracing the contours of her features in the air, then carefully savoring the emotions in his heart.
Lin Ting, unaware of what she was dreaming, suddenly slapped him out of nowhere.
Duan Ling didn’t dodge, taking the hit squarely.
She murmured in her sleep, “Don’t steal my money, it’s all mine… it’s all mine.”
After hitting him, Lin Ting didn’t withdraw her hand, leaving it on Duan Ling’s slightly marked face.
Duan Ling didn’t push her away either.
Breathing in her scent, he couldn’t help but open his mouth, gently biting and licking the finger that had struck the corner of his lips.
Duan Ling proceeded to bite and lick each of the five fingers that had struck his face.
When he realized what he was doing, he was momentarily dazed.
Lin Ting slept until the next morning.
The chirping of birds drifted in through the rear window of the room.
She opened her eyes and woke up, but her mind was still foggy.
Her sleeping posture was as bad as ever.
Her head, which had been at the head of the bed, had turned to the middle, shifting from a vertical to a horizontal position.
Her feet were sprawled haphazardly on the bed, resting on something warm and soft, which felt quite comfortable.
Lin Ting lifted her foot and stepped on the warm softness a few times.
As her consciousness gradually returned, she remembered what had happened the night before this was Duan Ling’s room.
Lin Ting’s eyes widened.
She had actually fallen asleep without any precautions?
And in the presence of a man, no less!
Then she felt something strange under her foot, as if something had licked it, leaving a slight dampness.
She almost immediately retracted her foot.
The moment she pulled her foot back, Duan Ling sat up, his long hair cascading down to his waist, his face captivating.
Lin Ting suddenly realized that her foot hadn’t been resting on the bedding but on his face…
She must have stepped on Duan Ling’s face, waking him up.
He, too, hadn’t fully registered what was happening and tried to speak, but his lips ended up touching her foot, giving her the sensation of being licked.
Wait, she had stepped on Duan Ling’s face?
Lin Ting glanced at the foot that had stepped on him and scrambled off the bed in a panic.
“Lord Duan,” she said, not even bothering to put on her shoes, standing barefoot.
Beneath the layers of her skirt, her toes, which had felt as if they’d been licked, wriggled uneasily.
Duan Ling picked up the silk ribbon she had thrown on the bed, pulled back the covers, and got up.
The crimson undergarment he wore made him look even more radiant than a flower.
Lin Ting looked at the long silk ribbon Duan Ling was holding.
She had a habit before bed: she always had to untie all the ribbons that bound her hair.
Last night, she had been too tired after taking care of him and had lain down to sleep, but not before pulling off the ribbon and tossing it aside.
Duan Ling walked up to Lin Ting, raised his hand, and returned the silk ribbon to her. “Your ribbon.”
She casually tied up her hair and was about to leave.
Duan Ling bent down again to pick up Lin Ting’s embroidered shoes.
Just as she was about to grab the door handle, he said,
“Aren’t you going to take your shoes?”
Lin Ting turned back to pick up her shoes, quickly put them on, and before leaving, she remembered to ask,
“How are you feeling now?”
Duan Ling replied, “Much better.”
Afraid that Tao Zhu might wake up early and notice something amiss, Lin Ting was eager to return, feeling as if she had been sneaking around with him.
“That’s good. I’ll head back now.”