A thought flashed through Mu Xi’s mind like a bolt of lightning.
Her lashes trembled slightly, masking the flicker of complex emotion in her eyes, but the corner of her lips curled up into a faint, sly arc.
“It’s simple,” she said slowly, her voice still soft yet carrying an undeniable weight, “the first step of courtship is to obey your girlfriend in everything.”
Ye Lan nodded immediately: “Alright, tell me. I’ll listen to everything you say.”
Mu Xi looked at her, her gaze clear and bright, and spoke unhurriedly: “For instance… if I told you to kneel right now, you’d kneel.”
“What?!” Ye Lan’s brows furrowed instantly, her tone tinged with shock and displeasure, “Kneel?”
Her, the actual ruler of Stone City, the future overlord, kneel before Mu Xi?
This was simply…
“What? Not willing?” Mu Xi raised an eyebrow, her tone calm and unruffled, yet carrying a hint of provocation, “I am the future Empress of Wu City, after all. Is kneeling for me really that humiliating?”
She deliberately emphasized her “Empress” status, countering Ye Lan’s “Queen”-like pride.
Ye Lan looked into Mu Xi’s clear yet resolute eyes, and a complex emotion surged in her heart.
Pride and self-respect made her instinctively resist, but her love for Mu Xi and the promise of being called “girlfriend” left her unable to refuse.
She took a deep breath, looked at Mu Xi’s delicate little face, and finally, slowly, in the warm pool water, bent her knees.
A soft splash sounded as the water rippled outward.
Ye Lan’s tall figure knelt before Mu Xi, the water just barely reaching her shoulders.
In this posture, she seemed less of her usual sharp and domineering self, and more submissive.
Mu Xi looked at Ye Lan kneeling before her, and an indescribable feeling surged within her.
Was it the thrill of revenge?
Perhaps a little.
This woman who had once toyed with her, brought her endless pain and fear, was now kneeling before her because of a single word from her.
But more than that, it was a strange sense of control.
“Very good,” Mu Xi nodded in satisfaction, then spoke in a tone of bestowing favor, “Your reward… is to stay kneeling and kiss my lower belly.”
The request carried a childish capriciousness, yet also a hint of inexplicable ambiguity.
Ye Lan was startled for a moment, then a scorching glint flashed through her deep eyes.
This reward… she liked it very much!
She lowered her head without hesitation, her warm lips pressing gently against Mu Xi’s flat, smooth lower belly through the thin veil of mist.
The moment their skin touched, Mu Xi’s body instinctively tensed.
The warm, soft sensation on her belly came with a slight tickle, making her flinch.
Ye Lan’s lips lingered on her skin for a moment with an almost worshipful reverence, then she slowly raised her head, her eyes filled with undisguised satisfaction and obsession.
At this moment, kneeling didn’t seem so hard to accept after all.
But then, as if suddenly realizing something, Ye Lan looked up.
She raised her eyes to Mu Xi, her gaze sharpening, laced with scrutiny, uncertainty, and probing, “You’re having me do all this… isn’t this your way of getting back at me?”
She paused, as if searching for the right words, her tone carrying a hint of hurt.
“Because I love you, because I’m willing to do anything for you, so… you’re deliberately torturing me this way, is that it?”
Ye Lan’s voice dropped low, with a barely perceptible note of grievance.
Mu Xi’s guilt flickered for only a moment.
Why should she always be the one passively enduring?
Why should she forget those days and nights of torment?
Even if she decided not to hate anymore, that didn’t mean the wounds could be wiped away.
She had to… reclaim something for herself.
She did have such thoughts.
She didn’t deny it.
Instead, she met Ye Lan’s probing gaze and admitted openly, “Yes, I did it on purpose.”
Her voice was soft, yet exceptionally clear.
Ye Lan’s face instantly darkened, the pressure around her plummeting.
That familiar, suffocating possessiveness and obsession resurfaced.
“Not willing?”
She sneered, reaching out to pinch Mu Xi’s chin, forcing her to look at her, a dangerous glint flickering in her eyes, “If you want to play this game, Little Xi, I don’t mind playing along to the very end.”
“I can continue to ‘train’ you like before, using even more intense methods, driving you crazy, until you can’t think of anything else but loving me!”
Her voice was cold and cruel, carrying a heavy threat.
Mu Xi’s heart clenched violently, fear washing over her like icy tidewater.
The madness and obsession in Ye Lan’s eyes were so familiar that she almost thought she had returned to those dark, sunless days.
But this time, she didn’t back down.
She looked into Ye Lan’s eyes, suppressing her trembling, and spoke in an almost calm tone tinged with despair, “Fine.”
“Go ahead and try.”
Her voice was soft, yet carried a resolve of utter self-destruction.
“But I might just die before you drive me crazy.”
Ye Lan’s fingers pinching her chin went rigid.
The dead emptiness and resolve in Mu Xi’s eyes struck like a cold dagger, piercing straight through the fury and obsession that had just risen within her.
She was truly afraid.
She was afraid of losing her again, afraid that she would wither away in her own crazed love, just as she had said.
The gloom and cruelty on Ye Lan’s face vanished in an instant, replaced by panic and remorse.
She released her grip abruptly, her tone rushed as she explained: “Little Xi! I… I was joking! Why did you take it seriously? How could I bear to treat you like that again!”
She carefully watched Mu Xi’s expression, terrified that she had actually scared her with what she just said.
Watching Ye Lan’s instant face change, going from threatening to fawning in one second, Mu Xi’s taut nerves relaxed slightly.
She blinked, pushing down the fear in her eyes, but a sly smile slowly crept onto her face as she mimicked Ye Lan’s tone from just now, “Oh? Really?”
“What a coincidence. I was just joking too.”
Ye Lan visibly sighed in relief and was about to say something when she heard Mu Xi’s next words.
“Alright, the suitor’s trial continues.”
Mu Xi cleared her throat, looking seriously at Ye Lan who was still kneeling in the water, and spoke in a tone that brooked no argument:
“Say ‘Mommy’.”
Ye Lan, kneeling in the lukewarm water, went completely rigid at those three unexpected words.
The voice was light and airy, carrying Mu Xi’s signature sweet softness, yet it stabbed into Ye Lan’s eardrums and pierced her nerves.
She jerked her head up, her deep phoenix eyes filled with utter disbelief.
‘Say… Mommy?’
That title had once been her weapon to shred Mu Xi’s dignity and keep her firmly in her grasp.
She had once forced Mu Xi to utter that word amid extreme shame and pain, to prove her absolute authority and ownership.
That was hers alone—a dark, branded method of control.
But now, Mu Xi—this little prey who had once trembled and wept beneath her, this little thing she thought had long been tamed into nothing but love and dependence—was asking her to call her Mommy?
Ye Lan looked at the person before her.
Mu Xi was still that petite, delicate figure, her silver hair plastered wetly against her pale cheeks, droplets sliding down her finely defined jawline, falling into the water and rippling outward in tiny rings.
Her eyes were large and bright, wearing an innocent, guileless expression at this moment, yet deep within them gleamed unmistakable mischief—the gleam of a successful prank.