"What are you in such a hurry for?" Snow Empress's face flushed red as she pulled her hand from Xu Lanqing's.
A round chandelier hanging from the ceiling cast a soft glow over the room. It was warm as spring, and the atmosphere was intimate.
Xu Lanqing looked at the bashful Snow Empress. All traces of her earlier aloofness were gone, and he grinned mischievously. "My dear Snow Maiden, you're just too beautiful."
He stepped forward and embraced her, rubbing their cheeks together as he breathed in the rich fragrance of her hair.
Snow Empress pushed Xu Lanqing away and turned her face aside with a displeased look. "You reek of blood. It's awful. Go take a bath, right now."
"Do I?"
Xu Lanqing raised his arm and sniffed his sleeve. It did seem to smell a little.
He lowered his arm and blinked. "Then you need to wash, too, don't you? We might as well bathe together. It'll save time. Look how late it is already. If we don't go to bed soon, we won't have any time to sleep."
"No. Go wash by yourself!" Snow Empress rejected him outright without giving it a second thought.
Sleeping together was already the limit of what she could accept. The very thought of bathing together made her feel ashamed.
"Alright." Seeing that there was no chance, Xu Lanqing nodded helplessly and turned toward the bathroom.
Watching Xu Lanqing disappear into the bathroom, Snow Empress sat on the edge of the bed and let out a breath. Her heartbeat gradually settled.
Luckily, Xu Lanqing hadn't insisted. Otherwise, she definitely wouldn't have been able to bring herself to refuse him in the end.
The bathroom was filled with steam. Xu Lanqing soaked in the tub, imagining what he and Snow Empress might get