“I… I was kicked out by my foster parents…”
“Mm.”
Liu Yinuo nodded, signaling for her to continue.
“The reason is… my younger sister… Ziyan… wants to… She wants…”
“What does she want?”
“She wants to rape me…”
Saying those words tested her courage to the limit. Ye Xingmian almost felt she had nothing left to lose. After finishing, she looked up at Liu Yinuo uneasily, lightly gripping the cup in her hands.
Liu Yinuo lowered her head, her gaze dark and unreadable.
“So your foster parents found out what she wanted and kicked you out for it?”
“Mm…” Ye Xingmian shrank back nervously. “Even this outfit… she made me wear it…”
“Do you want to change out of it?”
“Huh? No… no…”
“It’d be better to change, right? After she almost did that to you, you must feel disgusted, don’t you?”
Liu Yinuo suddenly grabbed her arm and stared at her as she spoke.
Her expression hadn’t changed, but Ye Xingmian thought she saw a hint of obsession in her eyes. It startled her. By the time she came to her senses, Liu Yinuo had already moved close and started to take off her clothes.
Instinctively, Ye Xingmian protected herself and stopped her.
“No… no…”
“Why?”
Liu Yinuo’s tone was flat, but her eyes never stopped watching her.
“There’s heating in the room. If you’re cold, I’ll turn it up higher. It’s just the two of us here. No one else will see your body.”
Her words immediately cut off all of Ye Xingmian’s escape routes, frightening her. After what happened with Lin Ziyan, she had a natural resistance to this kind of thing.
“I… I just don’t want to…”
“Mm, okay.”
Fortunately, the person in front of her was Liu Yinuo, not some other type who would force her to take off her clothes…
Ye Xingmian felt a little lucky.
“Your neck. What happened?”
“Huh?”
While she was distracted, the question came.
Liu Yinuo didn’t speak. She just silently reached out and pulled aside the collar of Ye Xingmian’s clothes. It had been carefully hidden, but now the glaring bruise on her neck was exposed.
Even without a word, Ye Xingmian felt a silent pressure radiating from Liu Yinuo.
Just as she was about to speak, Liu Yinuo placed a hand on her neck—in the same position as a chokehold.
Ye Xingmian froze. Her eyes widened, and for a moment she thought Liu Yinuo was going to choke her too.
But she waited a long time, and the familiar, painful feeling of suffocation never came. Instead, there was a tingling sensation, a light stroking from the fingers.
The movement was gentle, but that spot… it wasn’t exactly pleasant.
Liu Yinuo kept her head down, staring at Ye Xingmian’s neck as if waiting for an answer.
Ye Xingmian finally snapped out of it. She sighed in relief, instinctively about to force a smile, but her gaze quickly dimmed as she recalled the painful memories.
Her eyes swept over the slender neck. The pale skin was covered in red marks. Some had faded, as if they were old; others seemed fresh, bright red like blood.
“Someone choked me…”
“Who choked you?” Liu Yinuo asked, her voice slightly heavy.
“Earlier… Qin Haiyue, and my adopted younger sister, Lin Ziyan. And just now, my foster mother choked me again…”
“Is that so? Enduring all this on your own must have been painful, right?”
Liu Yinuo’s words made Ye Xingmian happy. The feeling of having her suffering seen and understood lifted her spirits.
“Hehe, it’s nothing really. This kind of thing… I’m used to it by now. Anyway, they won’t choke me to death.”
“Ah… you’ve been through a lot. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“I didn’t want to trouble you.”
“Mm. Don’t do that anymore from now on.”
“Okay~”
Getting care again felt like the scars on her neck had turned into medals of honor. Without realizing it, a silly smile spread across Ye Xingmian’s face.
But Liu Yinuo never looked at her face, so she naturally missed the rare smile on the timid girl’s lips.
She just stared blankly at the marks on the girl’s neck, lost in thought.
This one… very faint. That must be from Qin Haiyue.
The most recent one is from her foster parents.
And another, lighter one, is from Lin Ziyan.
The girl’s body bore various marks, left by many people. Like brandings, they declared that this girl had once knelt at their feet.
But… hers were not among them.
She had done so much for Ye Xingmian, yet her traces on Ye Xingmian were the fewest.
In a brief moment, an extremely twisted thought emerged.
‘Ye Xingmian has been kicked out of the Lin family. She has nowhere to go.’
‘I can… do anything to her.’
‘She belongs to me now.’
‘She belongs to me now.’
‘Whether it’s leaving marks on her neck, making her kneel at my feet, or even taking away her most precious chastity and making her mine…’
‘She can’t refuse. She has nowhere to run.’
‘And she already has a favorable impression of me. She might even half-heartedly accept it.’
“…Yinuo?”
A soft voice woke her up.
Liu Yinuo quickly came back to her senses. She hurriedly cast those chaotic thoughts aside, took a deep breath, and smiled.
“Don’t be afraid. You won’t have to go through this again. I’m here.”
“Yinuo… will you take me in?”
“Yes. As long as you want to stay, I’ll take you in. I’ll convince my parents. Don’t worry.”
Liu Yinuo reached out and pulled Ye Xingmian into her arms.
“Thank you… thank you, Yinuo! Wha… thank you so much!”
“Yes, stay here. You don’t have to go back to the Lin family. That place doesn’t welcome you, but I do.”
“Mm…”
Liu Yinuo patted Ye Xingmian’s back gently. She could feel the soft strands of the girl’s hair and catch the soothing scent of her body.
The delicate body in her arms was soft, helpless. Like a chick trembling after being drenched by rain, with only her to lean on.
‘If it’s because of insecurity…’
‘If it’s because of fear, you’ve been keeping your distance.’
‘So rest easy, don’t think about those things anymore. They won’t happen again. Fall into my embrace forever.’
‘I’ll protect you.’
‘The outside world isn’t for you. Only in my arms can you survive.’
‘—How I wish you could understand that. I am your only savior.’
Slowly calming her excitement, Ye Xingmian lightly patted Liu Yinuo’s shoulder.
Liu Yinuo understood and let her go.
“I’m really sorry, Yinuo… You’re still sick, and I made you take so much trouble to take care of me…”
Liu Yinuo didn’t answer. Her gaze drifted into the distance.
“Can you drink alcohol?”
She suddenly changed the subject, leaving Ye Xingmian startled.