Luo Shangyu tied one end of the chain to Qin Yu’s collar.
Qin Yu resisted weakly and said, “General — I’m very well-behaved… could you please not do this…”
“No,” Luo Shangyu replied curtly, “I have no way to prove you’re well-behaved, so I must tie you up, just in case.”
“Trust me…” Qin Yu looked at Luo Shangyu sincerely.
“Click!”
The chain fastened Qin Yu to the bedpost of the bedroom, sturdy and unbreakable.
That was Luo Shangyu’s answer.
Qin Yu tugged at the chain in vain, hoping to break free, but it did nothing except produce a series of clanking sounds.
The humiliation of defeat surged in Qin Yu’s heart once more.
As the Crown Prince, when had she ever been treated so roughly?
“Do you want to listen while sitting on the bed or by the door?” Luo Shangyu suddenly asked out of nowhere.
“The bed.”
Even though Qin Yu didn’t quite understand the meaning of the question, she thought that sitting on the soft bed would be better than sitting on the floor like a dog, right?
Luo Shangyu nodded and then reached out to grab Qin Yu’s ankle.
Qin Yu couldn’t dodge in time.
Her ankle was snatched by Luo Shangyu, and she was pulled toward her.
‘She’s not going to completely restrain me, is she?’ Qin Yu suddenly realized, remembering Luo Shangyu’s previous question.
“I won’t,” Luo Shangyu replied briefly.
She bent Qin Yu’s lower legs back until they were pressed against the back of her thighs.
Then, she took several black leather straps from her pocket and bound her lower legs and thighs together in a folded position.
Although her two legs weren’t tied to each other, Qin Yu could not stand.
She could only stay upright by kneeling.
“Could you not tie my arms?” Qin Yu grabbed Luo Shangyu’s arm, her voice filled with humility.
“Fine,” Luo Shangyu agreed readily, even patting Qin Yu’s head.
“Thank you, General!” Qin Yu was overjoyed.
For a moment, she thought she would be subjected to even stricter restraints.
However, Luo Shangyu did not do so, which allowed her mind to relax significantly.
Just as Qin Yu lowered her guard slightly, a ripping sound came from behind her.
When she turned her head, Luo Shangyu was pulling at a roll of tape that looked like packing tape.
While Qin Yu still held onto illusions about her fate, Luo Shangyu stepped forward and sealed her mouth with the tape.
The wide, yellow tape looked familiar, but its effectiveness was much better than what Qin Yu remembered.
She tried her best to open her lips, but all she got in return was the stinging pain of her skin being pulled.
Even more desperate than having her mouth sealed was the pain Qin Yu could anticipate when the tape would eventually be ripped off.
“This negotiation is very important to our army, so I have to wrong you for a bit.” Luo Shangyu took a step back and spoke to Qin Yu very seriously, with an apologetic tone.
Seeing the earnest expression on Luo Shangyu’s face, Qin Yu’s heart died completely.
A deep sense of helplessness enveloped her.
She was in the Enemy Camp, and the power that could help her was right before her eyes, separated only by a wall, yet she could not call for help.
Qin Yu wanted to cry, but she couldn’t.
With her mouth blocked, a loud cry could only turn into a low whimper.
“I will finish the negotiation as quickly as possible.” After giving Qin Yu an apologetic smile, Luo Shangyu slipped out of the room.
The bedroom door closed, and Qin Yu began to struggle desperately, hoping to break free from her bonds.
However, it was all in vain.
Even worse, Qin Yu accidentally fell to the floor during her struggle, making a loud “thud.”
Rubbing her sore toes, the desire to escape grew even stronger in Qin Yu’s heart.
Although she was Luo Shangyu’s private property, she hadn’t gained any of her trust.
She felt she had to bind her to feel at ease.
What hurt Qin Yu the most wasn’t being Luo Shangyu’s possession, but this feeling of being untrusted and alienated.
‘I’m already your possession, and yet you still don’t trust me?’
However, Qin Yu soon felt relieved. He was just a prisoner, and his status was worlds apart from Luo Shangyu’s. How could he expect her to condescend and trust him?
Outside the door, the sound of Luo Shangyu and Zhu Xun talking drifted in.
Although the sound through the wall was muffled, Qin Yu could still roughly hear that Luo Shangyu and Zhu Xun were discussing his whereabouts.
Qin Yu wanted to listen more closely. Using both his hands and legs, he crawled forward on the floor like a dog, approaching the door.
Before, Qin Yu had desperately hoped that Zhu Xun would find him and take him back. But now, the thing he wanted least was for Zhu Xun to accidentally push open the bedroom door and see him crawling pathetically in the shadows.
Qin Yu hadn’t crawled two steps before he felt a jerk on his neck.
She reached out to feel the collar on her neck; the chain had already pulled taut, restricting her range of movement.
Qin Yu struggled to move forward, but the chain was held fast.
With her freedom restricted, a sense of humiliation immediately rushed to her heart.
Her mouth was stuck shut by the packing tape, making it impossible to open.
Her lips were already starting to feel dry and painful.
Hearing Zhu Xun’s voice outside the door intermittently, tears streamed from Qin Yu’s eyes.
The reinforcements were clearly right in front of her, yet she had no way to call out and get his attention.
She could only watch as the opportunity slipped away.
A sense of powerlessness washed over her.
Qin Yu lay on the floor in despair, lacking even the strength to crawl back to the bed.
The sounds outside stopped; Luo Shangyu was seeing her guest out.
After a while, the bedroom door was pushed open, and Luo Shangyu walked over to Qin Yu, who was lying on the floor.
“I’m sorry.” She knelt and quickly peeled the tape off Qin Yu’s mouth.
Qin Yu opened her mouth, moving her stiff jaw and rubbing her stinging cheeks.
Faced with Luo Shangyu’s apology, even though Qin Yu had 100 grievances she wanted to cry about, she held them back.
As a prisoner, how could she complain so casually?
“It’s okay. I… I like this feeling,” Qin Yu said against her true feelings.
“That’s definitely not what you’re thinking in your heart, right?” Luo Shangyu picked Qin Yu up from the floor and placed her on the bed.
“You must resent me for not trusting you and for tying you up, right?”
Qin Yu lowered her head and remained silent.
The softest part of her heart had been touched, and she used silence as her answer.
Luo Shangyu gently brushed the bangs from Qin Yu’s eyes and whispered in her ear, “We still have many days to spend together. I think we should trust each other.”
Qin Yu looked up with some joy and gazed into Luo Shangyu’s eyes, “Truly?”
“Truly.”
“Thank you.” Qin Yu opened her arms and hugged Luo Shangyu gratefully.
“You dare to hug me?” Luo Shangyu feigned anger.
Qin Yu pulled her hands back as if she had touched an electric current, her eyes full of fear.
“It’s fine. Go ahead and hug me. I like this feeling.” Luo Shangyu took the initiative to pull Qin Yu into her arms.
“Scaring me again!” A smile radiated across Qin Yu’s face.
In an instant, she felt the distance between the two of them close significantly.