Water Moon Mirror Splendor (2)

The turmoil in his chest surged like tidewater, yet the moment his fingertips touched the other's thin shoulders, he still loosened his grip.

Before he could open his mouth to rebuke him, the person in his arms pushed his luck even further. Using the motion of rising, that figure—already half a head taller than him while seated because of the transformation—leaned directly toward him, pressing most of his weight onto him as both arms slipped around his neck.

A sly smile suddenly bloomed on that face identical to Shen Yuxi's. "You think he had no choice? You think he stayed in this manor because he had the bigger picture at heart?"

Flame Fox leaned close to his ear, its breath as warm as a lover's whisper, yet its words were like ice-tempered awls, stabbing into his heart again and again. "But for this so-called bigger picture, he could even sacrifice himself?"

Its fingertip lightly brushed the back of Chu Shihan's neck, deliberately ticklish. "Earlier, you said my imitation was clumsy. But look—wasn't he doing the very same thing right now? Going along with my sister's wishes, staying by her side, even doing other, deeper things you didn't get to see..."

"What difference was there between what he did and what I did? And—" It deliberately drew out the words, malice flowing through its eyes like an undercurrent, "—the object wasn't even you."

"You asked what I understood about him? The facts are right before your eyes. Compared to you, his 'senior brother,' I really did understand him better, didn't I?" Its fingertip traced Chu Shihan's cheek instead, the gesture filled with provocatively tender pity. "Watching the person you care about most obey someone else in everything—could you truly... not feel unwilling?"

"There was never anyone my sister set her sights