It was late at night.
Laxana sat alone on the edge of the bed in the dormitory.
This specially widened and reinforced bed now seemed ridiculously empty.
After parting on bad terms at the library entrance, the two returned to the dormitory.
After finishing the letter to her younger sister the Queen, Astreia went out for a walk.
Wendy didn’t come back.
They waited a long time—from when the moon was at its zenith until its shadow tilted westward.
That man, in the end, chose not to return.
Laxana’s chest was choked with a ball of fire.
‘Why? Why would he rather stay in that cold library than come back? Just because they disturbed his “creation”? What kind of love potion did that woman named Xi Ya give him?’
Miss Klein kept telling herself that Wendy was just temporarily bewitched.
‘He’s just too focused on that damn book, which allowed that scheming woman to take advantage of the opening. Right. It must be like that. Once he finishes writing the book, he’ll go back to his old self. He’s still that good prince who says no with his mouth but is honest with his body.’
This kind of self-consolation seemed so pale and powerless in the silent depths of the night.
Anger and grievance wrapped around her heart like vines, tightening more and more.
Just then, a strange sensation, without warning, shot through her entire body.
Laxana’s body stiffened suddenly.
‘It’s starting. This damn empathic link. It always connects brutally at the most inopportune moments.’
But this time, the feeling was different from any before.
There was no violent impact, nor the satisfaction after exhaustion.
Rather, it was a… gentle relief.
Two warm fingertips seemed to be gently pressing on her temples.
The pressure was neither light nor heavy, carrying just the right temperature, slowly rotating in circles.
That force precisely found the weakest point of her tense nerves, and in an almost indulgent way, soothed away the anxiety and irritation that had built up all night bit by bit.
Laxana’s breathing became erratic.
‘Who is this? It can’t be Wendy himself. He definitely doesn’t have this much patience, let alone such delicate skill. Xi Ya!’
A pink figure instantly appeared in her mind.
‘That woman is touching him!’
This realization was like a bucket of ice water poured over her head.
Laxana suddenly stood up from the bed, the magic within her body beginning to run wild due to the violent emotional fluctuations.
‘She has to snatch Wendy back from that fox spirit!’
Laxana threw on a coat haphazardly, even putting her shoes on the wrong feet, and stumbled out the door.
She was going to the library.
The night wind was cold against her face, but it couldn’t cool the burning inside her at all.
As she ran, the empathic link inside her continuously transmitted new sensations.
Those gentle hands left her temples, slid past her ears and along the line of her neck.
Wherever they passed, they left a trail of slight tremors.
Laxana’s steps faltered, and she nearly fell to the ground.
She felt her own body betraying her.
Her reason screamed in resistance, but her body shamefully reacted to this gentle touch.
Those hands finally stopped at the back of her neck.
Four fingers held together, gently pinching the muscles there.
Then, slowly and powerfully pressed and released.
Pressed and released again.
The muscles that had been stiff all day let out a pleasurable groan under this professional kneading.
Laxana could even feel her “own” body gradually relaxing under the effect of those hands, her originally tense shoulders hanging down weakly.
‘No! Stop! Don’t touch him anymore!’
The young lady screamed inwardly, but her steps became heavier due to the comfort transmitted by her body.
By the time she finally stumbled to the bottom of the library building, her forehead was covered in cold sweat.
Laxana leaned against the cold wall, gasping for breath.
And the sensations on the other end of the link changed again.
Those hands left the back of her neck and pressed onto her shoulder blades instead.
Through a thin layer of fabric, they slowly traced circles with the warmth of the palms.
A warm current spread from her back through her entire body, dispelling the chill of the night.
It even extinguished some of the anger in her heart.
‘It feels so good. This feeling of being carefully cared for and tenderly treated…’
Laxana’s eyes instantly turned red.
‘She and Astreia had never treated Wendy like this. They only used more intense, more direct ways to possess him, plunder him, using pain and exhaustion to confirm the prince’s belonging to them.’
“We… might really have done something wrong.”
With an extremely complicated mood, Laxana climbed the stairs step by step and arrived at the door of that private reading room.
The door was closed, but a thin crack was left.
A dim yellow light seeped through the crack.
She didn’t dare get closer.
Because the sensations through the empathic link had reached a peak at this moment.
She could feel that Wendy was sitting.
And another person was standing beside him, slightly bending over.
That person’s breath was light, carrying the scent of lavender, spraying near “her” ear.
That person’s body was very close, so close that she could feel the softness of the other’s chest casually pressing against “her” arm.
This was an… extremely ambiguous posture.
Like a lover’s whisper, or a mentor’s intimate instruction to a student.
Laxana couldn’t control the slight trembling of her whole body, but she mustered all her strength and slowly brought her eyes to the crack.
Then, she saw.
Wendy sat on the chair, slightly tilting his head back, looking intently at the manuscript in his hands.
And Xiyawei… stood behind him, half-bent over.
From Laxana’s angle, she could only see her pink hair falling onto Wendy’s shoulder and her arm encircling Wendy.
“Here,” Xi Ya pointed at the page, almost touching Wendy’s cheek.
“The essence of ‘capturing the heart is paramount’ lies in…”
She was too close.
So close that if Wendy turned his head, his lips could touch her cheek.
And Wendy seemed completely unaware, or rather, he was enjoying it.
Laxana’s heart felt as if it were being tightly strangled by an invisible hand.
What was worse, the empathic link faithfully transmitted Wendy’s current feelings.
It was a feeling of being completely understood, gently enveloped, with both mind and body greatly satisfied… a sense of happiness.
This kind of happiness was something she and Astreia had never given him.
“Wendy…”
Tears, mixed with humiliation and a faint tingling pleasure she didn’t even want to admit, streamed from her eyes.
Inside the door, Xi Ya seemed to sense something.
She straightened up a little, but her hand “casually” pressed on top of Wendy’s head, gently rubbing his soft, deep blue hair.
“Alright, that’s enough for today. You’re too tired.”
“I, I still want to…”
“Be good.”
Those indulgent words struck Laxana outside the door like lightning, and she collapsed completely to the ground.
‘She had lost completely.’