“Ling Yue.”
“Shut up…”
“Uhm…”
I hugged Ling Yue in my arms. I wanted to speak, but she wouldn’t let me. She hugged me back tightly. Her tail was tightly wrapped around me similarly to a snake trying to strangle me to death. She poked my chin using her ears with all her might as though she was trying to stab them into my nose.
I pressed my hand on her tail. I wasn’t the one who took the initiative to press my hand on it. It was Ling Yue who grabbed my hand by force, and then pressed it on her own tail. She forbade me from touching her tail in the past, but she now let me comb her tail all the time. She liked being at my side, watching me comb her tail. Of course, if I accidentally pulled on a string of fur, she’d give me a violent punch.
Ling Yue didn’t have a fondness for gold or silver jewellery. However, she placed immense importance on her tail. She applied an expensive coating oil on her tail. She used a very precious comb carved from a dragon’s bone. She didn’t have just a single comb, but an entire set. Of course, said set of things was one of the spoils of war we found in the ruins of the North’s palace. Ling Yue took it. There was no chance of taking it back. She also seemed to really want to find a string for her tail similar to one you would use for a ponytail.
I could already imagine Ling Yue’s look when she swung her tail around, feeling pleased with herself. As I said, Ling Yue placed a heavy importance on her tail, and she was very proud of it. She would proudly show her tail to anyone, but nobody was allowed to touch it. I got hit with a quadruple slap combo when I touched it in the past, and that consequence still remained. Nonetheless, she was fine with me.
She now actually asked me to help her comb her tail every day. Of important notice is that she would approach me with a hazy look in her eyes, which was similar to being under the influence after I combed her tail, and then she would climb on top of me. She was completely unlike her reserved self. After I confessed to her, Ling Yue, who was completely released of her restraints, started to resemble Nier in a certain capacity.
“Ling Yue…”
She raised her head up to look at me. She smiled. “I’m glad you’re back. It’s all right. You don’t need to apologise. I don’t think you’re late nor am I displeased that you left me here for so long. I’m just glad that you’re back. Seeing as you still remember me, it proves that your love for me isn’t just lip service.”
“I never said that. If I was just playing you, then I wouldn’t be by your side, would I? I’d have been beaten to death already, wouldn’t I?”
“Uhm…” responded Ling Yue, with a giggle. “How is Lucia? The fact that you were gone for so long must prove that something happened to Lucia, right? We’ve only met once, but I think she’s a decent girl. After all, she wasn’t hostile to me.”
“If she was fine, she’d definitely be hostile to you when she sees you. Lucia’s physical health is extremely poor at the moment. Her child’s condition is causing her to be extremely weak physically. I can’t make my wife leave while she’s pregnant and in her weak state. I’ll need to remain by her side until she gives birth or recovers physically.”
Ling Yue looked at me with a hard to describe gaze. She hesitated for a moment, and then asked, “What about us, then? What about us? If Lucia doesn’t recover, are we going to be able to just get married?”
“What do you think…?”
Ling Yue looked at me. Her tail froze in mid-air. She looked at me with a stunned look. Her body leaning on mine froze stiff. I hugged her and looked at her while feeling my heart ache a little. I really didn’t want to make her reveal that sort of expression. It wasn’t an expression showing the pain of being rejected, but the look of despair that came after being filled with hope. That expression makes one feel guiltier than anything.
She knew what I wanted to say. I had basically betrayed her. And she was right; I did betray her. I couldn’t marry her when Lucia was in her current state. No way. Once Lucia recovered, I’d be around our kid, so I wouldn’t be getting married again.
I looked at her and apologised softly, “Sorry… Sorry… Ling Yue… Sorry… I really can’t help it… I really can’t take you to Lucia when she’s so weak… Sorry… It’s not that I don’t love you…”
“But because you aren’t bias toward me, right?”
Ling Yue sighed. She then pinched my face and let out another long sigh. She then raised her hand up high. I shut my eyes to wait for the heavy hit to swing down.
‘I deserve this slap. I’m making Ling Yue go through this sort of twisted situation, so it wouldn’t even be too much if she stabbed me.’
However, the slap didn’t land on my face.
I felt a warm and soft sensation on my lips. Ling Yue’s tongue forced my bottom and top teeth apart. She bit my lip with her beast-like teeth. She bit as if she wanted to tear my lip off and eat it. Ling Yue behaved as though she was a wild beast, and I was her prey. She wanted to gobble me to make me a part of her.
I subconsciously responded to her, but she pushed me away. She looked at me angrily and wiped her lips. She complained, “Your mouth tastes like another woman!”
“Sorry… I just kissed Lucia.”
“Hmph!” Ling Yue aggressively swung her tail, and then sat down to the side. “So, you don’t plan to marry me now?”
“Uhm,” I replied with a nod. “No chance now.”
She stood up. “All right, then. I want to go home.”
“Ling Yue…”
She looked at me and solemnly said, “Don’t get it wrong. Loving you and you marrying me are two separate matters. Before you returned, I prepared myself in case you wouldn’t marry me, or you wouldn’t come back. But you did come back. The fact that you remembered me when you were with Lucia and came back is proof that you still love me. A wedding is but a ceremony to me, and I don’t even have family members who could participate in the ceremony, so I don’t mind. Further, I didn’t intend to live with you in the palace. I told you, I want to return home and revive my tribe.”
“Ling Yue…”
Ling Yue looked at me and with a smile. “So I’m all right. I’m fine with being your mistress as long as we both love each other. I can’t make this hard for you, since I love you, and I won’t force you to choose between me and your wife. If I am to be your mistress, so be it. But you must come to see me regularly as before. Also, I want a child, too.”
“I promise you, Ling Yue. I promise you.” I walked up to Ling Yue. I knelt down on one knee and hugged her. “Thank you. Thank you, Ling Yue. Thank you for your support, and thank you for accommodating me.”
“If I want to be your lover… I must be considerate of you. I think that it would be the same… whether it was Nier or Lucia, right?”
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