Lu Xueqi Acts as a Domineering and Fierce Paladin

The innkeeper did not close up shop despite the beast tide, convinced that since he had paid the city lord so much, he would surely be safe; thus, he was dozing behind the counter.

Creeeak!

The innkeeper was startled awake by the sound of the door being pushed open, and he rubbed his eyes as he looked up.

He saw a woman in white dragging a man in green inside. The woman's face was as cold as frost, and she gripped the man's wrist with enough force to make it seem as though she might crush his bones.

The man wore a smile on his face, as if he were quite happy to be dragged along.

"One top-tier room." Lu Xueqi's voice was so cold that the innkeeper shivered.

"Yes, yes, yes, last room on the left upstairs." The innkeeper hurriedly handed over the key, not even daring to ask for a deposit.

Lu Xueqi took the key and pulled Lu Jiuyuan upstairs.

As soon as the door opened, Lu Xueqi pushed him inside and shut the door behind her.

Then, she gave him another shove.

Lu Jiuyuan stumbled, his knees hitting the edge of the bed, and he fell backward onto the mattress.

The coarse bedding let out a dull thud, and the bed frame creaked and swayed beneath him.

Before he could even prop himself up, Lu Xueqi had already surged forward, straddling his waist and pinning his hands to his chest, anchoring him firmly to the bed.

The cool, refreshing fragrance of Lu Xueqi wafted over him—not the deep, hooked scent of Jin Ping'er, but something lighter, like a pine forest after the snow has cleared.

Her long hair fell from her shoulders, brushing against his cheeks, tickling him.

Lu Xueqi's fingers pinched his chin, applying slight pressure to force him to look up at her.

Her eyes were bright, like two black grapes soaked in ice water; there was shyness and nervousness in their depths, but more than that, there was a sense of burning one's bridges.

"Husband." Lu Xueqi's voice was soft, the tail end rising slightly with a deliberate, unprecedented languor. "You've bullied me for so long; now it's my turn to bully you."

Lu Jiuyuan was stunned.

He looked at her sitting atop him, watched her fingers pinching his chin, and gazed at her face, which was impossibly beautiful in the sunlight. His mind went blank for a moment.

Is this Lu Xueqi?

Is this the Lu Xueqi who was usually as cold as frost, who found it a bother to say even one extra word?

Is this the Lu Xueqi who would blush for half a day just from a single kiss?

Right now, she sat on him, looking down from above with a faint, elusive smile on her lips. Her eyes surged with emotions he had never seen before—assertive, domineering, like a cat that had finally unsheathed its claws.

She saw his dazed expression, and Lu Xueqi grew bolder.

She released his chin, her fingers sliding down his jawline to his Adam's apple, where she pressed down lightly with her fingertips.

Lu Jiuyuan's Adam's apple bobbed, and she felt it, the curve of her lips deepening.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Lu Xueqi's voice carried a hint of teasing. "Aren't you usually quite the talker?"

Her hand moved from his throat to his collarbone, her fingertips picking at the toggle buttons of his robe.

The first one, then the second; her movements were slow, so slow it felt like she was deliberately torturing him.

Her fingers were cool, and with every button she undid, her pads brushed lightly against the newly exposed skin, leaving a trail of faint, chilling sensations.

Lu Jiuyuan's breathing began to grow ragged.

"Xueqi!!!"

"Shh." Lu Xueqi leaned down, her heavy bosom trembling slightly, her alluring red lips brushing against his earlobe, her voice as soft as a secret. "Husband, I am the one bullying you now; you are not allowed to speak."

Her hand continued downward—the third toggle, the fourth. His robe fell open, revealing his chest. Her fingers paused over his heart, feeling its powerful rhythm, beat by beat, fast as a war drum.

"Your heart is beating so fast." She lifted her head to look at him, her eyes sparkling in the moonlight with a touch of cunning. "Husband, are you nervous?"

Lu Jiuyuan took a deep breath and reached out to grab her waist, intending to flip her over and pin her beneath him.

This was his usual tactic; whenever her teasing became too much to bear, he would flip the script and take control.

But this time, the moment his hands touched her waist, she pinned them down.

"No." Lu Xueqi's voice was not loud, but it was firm.

She pressed his hands down on either side of his head, her fingers interlacing with his, locking them tight. "Today, I am on top."

Lu Jiuyuan looked at his trapped hands, then back at the woman straddling him, his mouth twitching.

When did she learn this trick?

Where did the Lu Xueqi who used to blush for half a day after a kiss go?

Lu Xueqi leaned down, her long hair falling to veil their faces.

Her lips pressed against his—not a fleeting, dragonfly-like kiss, but a deep, hot, and unyielding one.

Her body pressed against his, and through the thin fabric, he could feel the faint sheen of sweat on her skin and that increasingly potent, cool fragrance that was uniquely hers.

Lu Xueqi released his hands, sliding them down his arms to his shoulders, then from his shoulders to his chest.

Her fingertips traced circles on his chest, moving slowly and lightly, like a cat's claws scratching at his heart.

Lu Jiuyuan's body began to burn.

That heat didn't come from the outside; it burned from within the marrow of his bones, scorching his entire body with feverish intensity, making his breathing ragged as his blood surged through his veins as if it were boiling.

He wanted to roll over, to pin her beneath him, to reclaim the initiative, but every time, she skillfully maneuvered to keep him under her control.

It wasn't through brute force, but through something more subtle, something that left him unable to resist.

She whispered "don't move" into his ear, and his body felt as if it had been struck by a binding spell, rendering him completely unable to stir.

It wasn't a charm, nor was it sorcery, but something more fundamental—something that made him willing to submit.

Lu Xueqi's breathing also grew rapid. Her cheeks were flushed crimson, her lips slightly swollen, and the mist in her eyes thickened, as if veiled by a thin layer of gauze.

The desire within her heart was completely ignited at this moment—not a physical desire, but another, deeper, more primal craving.

She did not want to wait any longer.

From that morning in the abandoned village, from the moment Jin Ping'er appeared before her wearing that moon-white and pale-green dress, from the instant the hickey on Lu Jiuyuan's neck stung her eyes, she had been waiting.

Waiting for an opportunity, waiting for a reason, waiting for a moment that would allow her to cast aside all her reserve and pride.

This moment, right now, was that instant.

She wanted Lu Jiuyuan to know that she was not someone who would only passively accept things.

She could be cold and aloof, she could be reserved, and she could maintain the dignity of a head disciple of Xiaozhu Peak in front of others.

But when it was just the two of them, she could be someone else entirely—more real, more tender, and far more domineering.

She wanted to hold him firmly in her grasp, and she wanted to hold his heart firmly in her hands as well.

Not through the seductive methods of Jin Ping'er, but through her own way.

Lu Xueqi's hands wandered over him, from his chest to his lower abdomen, and from his abdomen to his waist.

Every inch of his skin was meticulously traced by her, as if she were confirming his existence, or perhaps marking her own territory.

Her body twisted slightly against his, soft and warm, like a fish struggling in shallow water.

Her voice grew softer and softer, gentler and gentler, carrying a kind of allure that even she had never heard before.