Chapter 27: The Vampire’s Prey (27)
Yu Jiao calmly surveyed her surroundings.
The room was extremely clean and empty, with almost no extra decorations or furniture. The windows were sealed shut, and a cold, white incandescent light shone down from above.
It outlined the twins’ tall, slender figures and their handsome, cold-glowing faces.
Dressed in expensive suits and bathed in the stark, almost solemn light, they looked like merciless gods of war, or perhaps police officers interrogating a criminal.
In short, they looked utterly impartial.
And the only thing in the entire room that didn’t fit the ‘prison cell’ aesthetic was the overly large and soft bed in the center.
For some reason, Yu Jiao’s gaze paused, a strange thought in her mind.
—She didn’t mind adding a bit of ‘atmosphere’ to this scene.
The metal handcuffs clinked.
A useless struggle.
“You…”
A voice, trying to suppress its fear, spoke up.
The young woman turned her head, shaking off the fingers that had been holding her chin. She lifted her pale, jade-like face, her cherry-pink lips pressed into a firm line, her glistening, cat-like eyes wide with a mixture of fierceness and apprehension.
“What are you going to do?”
Like a dewdrop trembling on the tip of a leaf, she only served to incite one’s desire to destroy and torment.
“What are we going to do?”
Xie Zhenye suddenly leaned in close, a violent smile on his lips. “When you were playing us for fools, when you said those words at the engagement banquet, when you were being all lovey-dovey with Xue Zhu…”
He cupped her soft cheeks, his hawk-like eyes locking onto hers, as if trying to see something in her innocent face.
“Did you not think about what you would face today? Hmm? Jiao Jiao.”
He enunciated each word, his tone almost gentle and lingering.
But his inescapable, dark gaze made the young woman close her eyes in distress. Her voice was low, laced with an unconscious plea. “Let me go…”
It was a whisper without expectation, but then she heard a soft click.
The handcuffs were unlocked.
Slightly surprised, the young woman opened her eyes. Before the thought of escape could even form, a frosty presence, like a cold net, enveloped her from behind.
The next moment, the world spun. She was lifted into a bridal carry.
With the sudden loss of balance, the young woman let out a small cry and instinctively clutched the man’s shirt.
She looked up in alarm, her gaze meeting a sharp jawline, and then, a pale, expressionless face.
He didn’t look at her, just held her steady in his arms and walked forward.
“Yanchuan.”
She murmured his name.
He lowered his eyes and finally looked at her, his gaze as quiet and deep as the sea, as if it wanted to devour her whole.
He slowly released his hands.
The young woman fell, as if into an inescapable swamp. She was thrown onto the large, soft bed in the center of the room.
She immediately struggled to sit up, but a firm, hot male body pressed down on her.
A large, well-defined hand pinned her hands, and a long, powerful leg held down her kicking legs.
The inescapable restraint brought with it an unspeakable fear.
Like a fish, futilely flopping on a chopping block, she widened her glistening grey eyes. A single, shining tear formed and rolled helplessly down her cheek.
It landed on the white, soft bedsheet, spreading into a wet stain.
“Don’t be afraid.”
Long fingers gently wiped away the remaining tear, his tone almost lingeringly gentle.
Xie Zhenye’s wild, light-colored hair fell slightly, softening his cold, sharp features.
His gaze was deep. After staring at the person beneath him for a long moment, he suddenly buried his head in the fragrant crook of her neck. His hot breath washed over her skin, like the prelude to a beast’s meal.
“Jiao Jiao, how could we bear to do anything too cruel to you,” he sighed softly.
Suddenly, the bed behind her dipped.
The young woman was pressed down on the bed, her senses inevitably drawn to the unknown behind her.
She looked up and met a pair of eyes as still as a frozen pond.
Fingers like jade bamboo lifted a strand of her long hair, toying with it nonchalantly.
Xie Yanchuan’s eyelids were lowered, his gaze superior as he looked down at her. “Don’t be afraid,” he said coolly. “It’s just a small punishment.”
From this angle, he looked even more like a merciful deity. His words were like an emotionless verdict, or perhaps a tender pardon.
Suddenly, fingertips, burning hot, slid from her cheek to her neck, pulling her attention back to the person on top of her.
Xie Zhenye’s gaze was scorching. His nimble fingers hooked the necklace that was hidden in her collar.
The pendant glowed with a soft light, still holding her faint body heat.
Xie Zhenye stared at the pendant with an unreadable expression for a moment, then suddenly said, “Since you don’t really like me, let’s find another use for this.”
As he spoke, he glanced at his brother, and they exchanged a silent look.
Xie Zhenye’s lips curved. He released her and began to unfasten the necklace.
She was finally free, but before she could struggle, her hands were pinned again by the person behind her.
Xie Yanchuan’s voice was light and cold. “Jiao Jiao, be good.”
His hands were also cold, like jade, but the hand of Xie Zhenye, which occasionally brushed against her skin, was scorching hot.
Neither of them did anything too out of line, yet it was a strange kind of torment…
When Xie Zhenye finally unfastened the necklace, Xie Yanchuan silently held out her hands, and Xie Zhenye, taking them, carefully wrapped the necklace around her wrist.
After it was done, Xie Yanchuan looked at it for a moment and commented coolly, “Not bad.”
Hearing this, Xie Zhenye let out a soft scoff. “Prim and proper.”
The two brothers were perfectly in sync.
The young woman turned her head away in indignation.
Her pale cheeks were flushed with anger. Because she had turned her head, her long neck was completely exposed, her hands bound above her head.
An alluring, inviting posture.
Xie Zhenye had wrapped it skillfully. The delicate chain was not too loose, not too tight, setting off her snowy white wrist and pale blue veins. The round pendant was pressed into the soft flesh… as if a secret desire had also been bound, unable to erupt.
Because her skin was so delicate, though the chain didn’t hurt, it inevitably left faint red marks on her snowy skin, creating a beautiful color, a cruel aesthetic.
His earlier comment of ‘not bad’ had been an understatement.
The twins’ gazes both gradually deepened, and they exchanged a look.
“Time for the next step.”
With that, Xie Zhenye stood up and went to a cabinet to get something, while Xie Yanchuan pulled out a black silk ribbon. He cupped her neck with one large hand and, with the other, covered her trembling eyelashes with the ribbon.
Her vision was stolen, and an unsettling darkness washed over her.
She couldn’t struggle. She forced a harsh tone. “What are you going to do?”
A soft rustling sound.
He tied the ribbon in a firm knot.
“Don’t be afraid.”
A cool hand gently stroked her hair, over and over. Xie Yanchuan’s cold breath was by her ear. “This is just so you won’t be so shy.”
“…What?”
The sound of footsteps approached.
Xie Zhenye, having retrieved what he needed, stood by the bed.
She could almost feel his scorching gaze, like sparks, landing on her body, spreading like a wildfire.
The sense of unknown danger and the insecurity of being unable to see made the young woman instinctively shrink into Xie Yanchuan’s cold embrace.
Seeing this, Xie Zhenye clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.
“Why do I always have to be the bad guy?”
Xie Yanchuan said coldly, “You don’t want to? Then I’ll do it.”
“No,” Xie Zhenye said, as protective as if guarding his food. “This was what we agreed on.”
Xie Yanchuan: “Then stop dawdling.”
“Fine.”
A series of snip, snip sounds.
Scissors.
The young woman belatedly began to struggle, but she was held fast. Xie Yanchuan said softly, “Don’t move. You might get hurt.”
Then, the bed in front of her dipped. The hot, clean scent of Xie Zhenye enveloped her. Accompanied by the snipping sounds, she felt a sudden coolness on her abdomen, and then, pieces of fabric fell softly onto her thighs.
“…”
With her sight taken away, her other senses became much sharper.
The sound of fabric being cut, the chill sweeping over her bare skin, the itch from the falling pieces of cloth, the shiver that ran through her when the cold metal accidentally brushed against her body, the occasional touch of scorching fingertips…
An unspeakable sense of shame rose within her.
The hateful snipping sound continued without pause, like a cold paintbrush, slowly and deliberately outlining a picture.
Under the work of the wicked scissors, the school uniform the young woman was wearing was gradually reduced to almost nothing, half-covering, half-revealing.
Like a half-unfurled scroll, breathtakingly beautiful, or a tightly covered delicacy, its aroma wafting out.
Inviting one to peek, to taste.
“Stop…”
A soft, glutinous-rice-like voice sounded, the end of it tinged with a faint sob.
But the weak refusal was like a reminder, interrupting the mechanical work. The sound of the scissors stopped. Only the sound of shallow breathing remained, making the room seem so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
After a long moment, a low laugh broke the silence.
Xie Zhenye’s voice was low, husky, and light:
“Our Jiao Jiao is so beautiful.”
“…”
Hearing this, she turned angrily and threw herself into Xie Yanchuan’s arms, hiding herself completely in his embrace, leaving only her bare back for that bastard.
“Hey!”
Amidst the bastard’s dissatisfied shouts, Xie Yanchuan, who had been unexpectedly embraced, suddenly froze.
He took a deep, imperceptible breath and, with stiff fingers, soothingly stroked her hair.
His prim and proper act made Xie Zhenye narrow his eyes fiercely.
“Come here, Jiao Jiao,” Xie Zhenye coaxed. “You don’t know, this guy isn’t any better.”
With that, he glared at his brother and urged, “Hurry up, you bad guy! It’s your turn to do bad things.”
Xie Yanchuan silently watched as Xie Zhenye, triumphant, pulled the struggling young woman into his own arms.
At Xie Zhenye’s smug urging, Xie Yanchuan paused, then stood up and went to the wardrobe.
While his brother was ‘preparing bad things’, Xie Zhenye cupped Yu Jiao’s face and adjusted the black silk ribbon.
“Don’t take it off,” he held her hand and chuckled. “You can’t even see, and your face is already so red. If you took it off, how shy would you be?”
Hearing this, the young woman grew even more shy and angry, her cheeks flushed, her chest rising and falling, her cherry-red, glistening lips spitting out curses: “Shameless! Filthy! Despicable!”
Her anger was breathtaking.
Xie Zhenye paused, his eyes gradually darkening. As if lured, he kissed her chattering lips.
Like a wildfire, or a pair of mandarin ducks, playing in the water.
Unstoppable.
The sound of cold footsteps stopped by the bed.
Like an unromantic downpour, or an unfeeling wooden stick, breaking up the lovers.
“You’re breaking the rules,” Xie Yanchuan said coldly.
“…”
Xie Zhenye reluctantly pulled away and shot his brother a glare. “Red card, sent off. Is that okay?”
With that, he defied the rules and gave her another light peck, then stood up and retreated, leaving the stage to his brother.
“What? What are you going to do?”
The young woman lifted her small face in confusion. The dark silk ribbon covered her eyes, leaving only her pert nose and exceptionally red, alluring lips exposed. It was as if she were at their mercy, stirring a deep-seated desire to destroy.
Not to mention her completely exposed body…
She couldn’t see the gradual darkening of Xie Yanchuan’s eyes, only a soft rustling sound.
The bed in front of her suddenly dipped.
“Yanchuan?”
She fumbled forward and was slowly taken by a cool hand, then pulled into a familiar, cold embrace.
His cool fingertips brushed against her, sending a shiver through her.
—But he made no other move, only picking off the pieces of cloth from her body one by one.
The young woman clutched his shirt in unease.
“What… what are you doing…?”
She received no answer, only heard Xie Zhenye, standing not far away, let out a light, unreadable laugh.
In her extreme unease, she suddenly felt a piece of clothing being draped over her shoulders.
Then, those jade-like hands, with a faint coolness, gently and meticulously dressed her.
Like a lowly servant, or a loyal believer.
Not at all like the lofty First Young Master Xie.
“…”
Lace and fine gauze, pearls and gems, a perfect fit, a soft fabric.
This must be an extremely expensive gown.
It seemed to have a special design. Yu Jiao, with her hands bound, didn’t need to cooperate. Xie Yanchuan could dress her completely by himself.
After a series of complicated steps, it was finally almost done. As he was finishing, Xie Yanchuan seemed to kneel on one knee, his head bowed, to arrange the hem of her skirt. Just then, another pair of hot, large hands gathered her long hair and gently combed it, with a lingering, tender touch.
“It’s done.”
Xie Yanchuan announced coolly. As if in a devout ritual, Xie Zhenye, who was standing beside her, gently untied the black silk ribbon that had been covering her eyes.
It fell to the ground in a soft heap.
Yu Jiao opened her eyes to a voluminous white skirt, gathered at her waist, legs, and feet, like a soft cloud.
And Xie Yanchuan was kneeling on one knee in the midst of the clouds, like a celestial being banished to the mortal world. He slowly lifted his quiet eyes and looked at her deeply, a heavy, snow-like emotion pressing down on her.
Stunned, her hand was suddenly taken.
Yu Jiao followed the force and looked to her side. Xie Zhenye’s gaze was heavy. Backlit, he looked like a medieval knight. He slowly leaned down and planted a kiss on her forehead.
“Now, you are our bride.”